Changing the face of Charleston : The unbuilding of the Grace and Pearman Bridges
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Unbuilding Highlights
(Apr 10)
Meeting St. Stories
(Jul 10 2006)
East Bay Stories
(Oct 10 2006)
Drum Island Stories
(Feb 17)
Pearman Bridge Stories
(Apr 3)
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(Apr 3)
Imposions: Prep and boom
(Mar 27)
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Unbuilding Stories
(Mar 13)
Video and Sounds
(Feb 28)

January 11, 2007: Loading T-1 for Friday's Blast

Here is T-1, the worksite with Mickey, Ken and Jackie Sherrel loading and sequencing the dynamite for Friday's implosion

jan_11_sparky_081_worksite.jpg

Ken and Jackie going up to load the cross-member

jan_11_sparky_002_loading.jpg

while Mickey is busy working on the tie-in at the base of T-1. Note the barrier of freight containers

jan_11_sparky_003_mickey_wall.jpg

Ken on the cross member

jan_11_sparky_013_ken.jpg

Receiving a powder punch for inserting the detonator with a tube of dynamite and tamping rod in his left hand

jan_11_sparky_014_ken_dynamite.jpg

Here, inserting the detonator

jan_11_sparky_017_insert_detonator.jpg

and tamping the dynamite in place - while holding the shock tube coil

jan_11_sparky_019_ken_tamping_shock_tube.jpg

Getting the next tube of dynamite

jan_11_sparky_026_next.jpg

and a bucket of stemming (small crushed rock to pack the hole

jan_11_sparky_033_stemming.jpg

A nice view of the worksite with Ken in position

jan_11_sparky_054_worksite.jpg

And Mickey, the architect, with his container shield

jan_11_sparky_073_shield.jpg

and sequencing the ignition pattern

jan_11_sparky_101_mickey_sequencing.jpg

Tieing in the shock tubes.

jan_11_sparky_103_tie_in.jpg

A view of the packed hole

jan_11_sparky_107_packing.jpg

The shock tube array (close). The red lines introduce a 25 msec delay while the yellow introduces a 9 msec delay. Thus the ignition sequence travels rapidly vertically (via the yellow shock tubes) before the lower detonators are triggered. The result, one of Mickey and Ken's perfect vertical drop implosions.

jan_11_sparky_108_shock_tube_array.jpg

A good view of the shock tube array climbing the column

jan_11_sparky_109_shock_tube_array.jpg

Day's end

jan_11_sparky_113_days_end.jpg

and sunset.

jan_11_sparky_129_sunset.jpg

and Sparky going home after a very long day

jan_11_sparky_135_going_home.jpg

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Attribution: C. Frank Starmer and Sparky Witte from http://oldcooperriverbridge.org