A GIANT CRANE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLII, Issue 9373, 31 October 1921, Page 3

A GIANT CRANE

The Philadelphia Navy Yard boasts of the most powerful crane m existence. It can lift 350 tons at a distance of 115 feet out from its tower, and 50 tons on a reach of 190 feet. In its test for acceptance it lifted a.maximum load of 490 tons. Its extreme height is 230 feet. The rotating part of the crane, with its maximum load, weighs 2917 tons, and the total weight of the crane as it rests upon its pile foundations is 4000 tons. A gigantic structure m very truth. Recently there was constructed at the outer end of the pier on which the big crane stands a smaller crane of the travelling type. It was built at the outer end of- the pier for convenience, and after completion it had to be moved past the big crane, so that it might operate on the shore end of the pier. How to make this transfer wag a problem, until someone suggested that, since the yard possessed a crane of sufficient power and reach to lift the smaller crane bodily, it would be a good plan to lift the little fellow up bodily, swing it around over the water, and place it again on the pier m the required position — which was done. "We hear much m these days about relativity, and m the present case, although the lifted crane was small m comparison to its big brother, it weighed no less than 310 tons. Many, of us can hark back to the day when a 310-ton crane would haye been spoken of as "mammoth" or "giant."