Art, Poetry and Life

Cranes – The Mechanical Kind

I was very surprised and delighted the other day to see this very cool and visually interesting video on Allan’s blog post: The Crane because I’d been planning this post for a few days.

About once a month or so, I must run an errand to an office in one of our financial districts. It’s quite a nice area with lots of restaurants, nice office buildings and fancy shops. There is a new building going up and for months I’ve been passing by looking at the crane. As I am fascinated with many things mechanical, I knew I had to get some pictures and, finally, one day remembered to bring my camera.




The photo below I did not take but found on the net and is a huge floating crane that lifts submarines out of the water and puts bridges into place. It is Japans biggest floating crane and the lifting capacity is 3700 tons! "Boom length: 132m., built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Division."


On looking up information about cranes I found out that if an operator cannot answer these questions, it’s best he not operate the crane:

How big is the primary danger zone?
What does one cubic foot of steel weigh and how can one determine the correct loading for an overhead crane?
What is the defined purpose of the hoist hook safety latch?
What is the accepted grade of a sling chain?
What is the minimum safe sling leg angle to use as a standard practice?
How does the angle affect the capacity of a sling?
What is resultant sling angle? And why is it a killer?
How does an operator gain control of a swinging load?
What is the difference between a cable and a wire rope?
Are home made lifting devices legal? And what information is required on all below-the-hook devices?
What factor is used to de-rate the capacity of an eyebolt, when the eyebolt is being used horizontally?
What OHSA required safety precautions must be taken before working on a crane?

I also found out what the median expected salary for a typical Crane/Tower Operator in the United States is: $40,900. Hmmmmm.....seems to me they should make more than this for such a specialized skill.