Great engineering

[ericbphoto]

Having a quiet morning at work. So I was able to watch the final disassembly of a rather large crane. I'm amazed at the engineering that goes into these things. Not only can it lift up to 200 tons, and when assembled with all it's boom and jib sections can reach a height in the neighborhood of 340ft. But it can assemble and disassemble itself with minimal assistance from another crane, mostly for the boom sections. I didn't see them remove the counterweights yesterday. So I'm not sure if it needed the second crane for that.

Just amazing.

 

[JohnnyO]

The largest construction crane operating in America right now is two miles down the road from me.

https://www.timesonline.com/news/20180920/two-of-worlds-largest-cranes-come-to-shell-cracker-site

 

[sgtsandman]

Two miles? You live not far from me then.

 

[ericbphoto]

sheesh! Y'all should be able to see that thing out your windows. In fact, if I was still living over in Berwick, PA, maybe a good pair of binoculars could pull it in. That is huge.

 

[JohnnyO]

sheesh! Y'all should be able to see that thing out your windows. In fact, if I was still living over in Berwick, PA, maybe a good pair of binoculars could pull it in. That is huge.

I can if I walk down to the corner where other houses don't block it.

 

[JohnnyO]

Two miles? You live not far from me then.

Rochester. I put Pittsburgh on my profile because no one knows where Rochester is.

 

[sgtsandman]

Same with Hopewell and PA has two Hopewell Twps.

 

[Dirtman]

What is this "biggest crane in america" crane doing?

 

[JohnnyO]

What is this "biggest crane in america" crane doing?

Shell Chemicals is building an ethane cracker plant to process the natural gas found in the area. There is a lot of fracking going on in western PA and eastern OH so it's a good location with access to major highways, rails, and rivers. The site used to be a zinc mill for 100 years but they closed and built a new mill in another state. We could use the jobs here since the steel industry collapsed in the 80's. Even the Democrats were on board.

 

[Dirtman]

Wait... isn't fracking under ground... cranes go up, not down!!!

 

[ericbphoto]

What goes up must come down.

I think they're building a plant to make crackers. I like crackers. They go good with chowdah.

 

[Dirtman]

There's no chowdah in western Pennsylvania! They eat like rocks or something out there...

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

There's no chowdah in western Pennsylvania! They eat like rocks or something out there...

Factually correct.

 

[JohnnyO]

There's no chowdah in western Pennsylvania! They eat like rocks or something out there...

No but we put the french fries ON the sandwich.

 

[Dirtman]

I think I'd rather have the rocks...