Changing the face of Charleston : The unbuilding of the Grace and Pearman Bridges
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Unbuilding Highlights
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(Jul 10 2006)
East Bay Stories
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Drum Island Stories
(Feb 17)
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(Apr 3)
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(Apr 3)
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(Mar 27)
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(Feb 28)

March 10, 2007: Manny and his lifting and drivving act

Today most of the action centered around Manny and the guys driving steel somethings into the riverbottom around the Seabreeze Marina pier. Here is the worksite.

mar_10_sparky_001_worksite.jpg

Another view of the wrapped left side and the guys working on the right

mar_10_sparky_006_wrapping.jpg

While Manny is still in the fetching and toting business with a twist - using a hydraulic hammer to drive the steel somethings into the river bottom

mar_10_sparky_012_manny.jpg

Here is the barrier building site

mar_10_sparky_019_barrier.jpg

and the setup. The steel beams being lifted from the barge and then placed against the edge of the Seabreeze pier. To the left you can see the hose assembly for feeding the hydraulic hammer

mar_10_sparky_020_setup.jpg

and the hammer

mar_10_sparky_023_driver.jpg

Jaws - literally, for holding the beam in place while being hammered down into the Town Creek floor

mar_10_sparky_026_driver.jpg

Here is the hammer assembly in position with a beam

mar_10_sparky_029_driver.jpg

and the start of the barrier - with welding generator in the background

mar_10_sparky_030_barrier.jpg

Positioning the next beam

mar_10_sparky_037_position.jpg

a closer view - is that Scott in a Green helmet - and Stan in the welding helmet

mar_10_sparky_046_position.jpg

Down come the beam with Stan watiching and Scott directing traffic for Manny

mar_10_sparky_056_position.jpg

A Sparky-art photo. Looking up the side of the barge spud as Manny positions the beam

mar_10_sparky_058_pile_driver.jpg

Click to watch Manny drive the beam down

mar_10_sparky_073_driving.jpg

Lower with Stan on the left and Scott on the right

mar_10_sparky_074_driving.jpg

and lower

mar_10_sparky_078_driving.jpg

and then Stan welding it to the adjacent beam

mar_10_sparky_086_welding.jpg

Stan makes nice clean welds

mar_10_sparky_122_weld.jpg

Positioning the next beam - Scott on the left and Stan exchanged his welding helmet for his blue hardhat

mar_10_sparky_135_positioning_next.jpg

and here is a great photo - Manny in the spread-eagle position with baseball cap in place with Scott and Stan positioning the beam

mar_10_sparky_148_positioning.jpg

Down it slowly comes - looks like Carlos with this white hat - but white hats can be tricky to recognize

mar_10_sparky_153_positioning.jpg

Scott encouraging the beam into the proper position with Stan wondering looking at the alignment

mar_10_sparky_168_positioning.jpg

While our sky team is busy positioning themselves

mar_10_sparky_172_sky_team.jpg

Then Manny lifts another beam

mar_10_sparky_182.jpg

Up, up and away

mar_10_sparky_189.jpg

Watch Manny lift another

mar_10_sparky_192.jpg

until it is positioned. Then attach the hammer, reposition next to the pier and drive it into the Town Creek floor

mar_10_sparky_226.jpg

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

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