December 14, 2005:
Early morning girder harvesting
Work starts early each morning for our Unbuilders - this is what
Mt. Pleasant looks like at 6:33 looking east. (The time is recorded
by the camera as part of the
EXIF data -
the learning lesson for today).
Look south-west from the Grace Bridge, Chris's 7550 is in place for
harvesting more concrete girders
Walking up the Pearman - another view of the early morning wakeup. The lights
in the lower middle are from the jack-up barge in its sleeping position
A closer view of the jack-up barge waking up
Here is the 7550, the underside of the Ravanel and the vertical jack-up
barge supports
Concrete cutting was finshed yesterday by Ted,
which in Boston English is
pronounced Tad. Today, John, Stanley, Scott and
Chris will do their high girder act
while Chris Vocci positions himself in the warm comfort of his 7550 cab
for gentle lifting, rotating and lowering each girder.
The end of the lift bar, a nice view of the east Ravenel tower Chris
watching us and Stanley
starting to warm up a bit.
Its 6:57 and the jack-up barge is in its elevated configuration. The
transition from the resting to elevated configuration was so quiet
that I failed to notice its ascent.
Here, the sun longer wave length light (red) is beginning to touch
the fluffy clouds - and the lift bar
on the left and jack-up barge legs on the left. In the middle is
Bob McCabe, the director of this ensemble.
The Scott Stone and Chris Wakeman start to prepare the lift bar
with Bob's blur (always checking on things)
The first taste of morning color and the 7550
as Scott and Chris prepare to mount the girder and connect the lift bar
Here Bob is checking something - but look at the clouds!
Here John is making his way to the far end of the girder
and in position. Note the tie-off cable looped around the lift bar
In the background, you can see the hydraulic hammer hovering over a Pearman
support (M-8), slowly chipping away at it.
Here, John and Stanley at the far end and Chris and Scott at the near end
secure the lift bar to the girder
with Chris Vocci looking on (in his Tonka-toy-on-steroids).
All the while Bob is checking
With the far end attached, John and Stanley wait
while the Chris and Scott finish their attachment. Also a nice view
of the Ravenel
The last step is to cut the metal that links the girder to the support -
here, just after ignition.
Then cutting through the attachments
and near the end of each cut is a burst of sparks
Then Chris starts to lift the girder in the comfort of his heated cab
while we are freezing. Click for a synthesized
video from individual photos
Then he rotates the girder
Better seen here
Chris will place the girder on top of the left and right shoulders - with a
little encouragement from the team.
In its resting position
Here is Jackie - ready to move in with his shear
and after a few bites, cuts the girder into several segments
Scott (Billingsley) is driving the forklift on steroids
and here Jackie hands a girder segment to Scott who takes it to the
Coleman recycle center for later transplantation to an artifical reef
From the Grace - here is a view of the harvesting process
Initial lift
rotate
and lower onto the shoulders
Nice start for the morning - but my hands are freezing,