US Naval Base, Pearl Harbor, Naval Shipyard, Crane
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U.S. NAVAL BASE, PEARL HARBOR, EXTERIOR CRANES, HAER Hl-68-C BRIDGE GANTRY CRANE NO. 1 Hl-68-C (U.S. Naval Base, Pearl Harbor, Naval Shipyard, Crane BG-1) Welding slab along Third Street, near intersection with Avenue G Pearl Harbor Honolulu County Hawaii PHOTOGRAPHS WRITTEN HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE DATA HISTORIC AMERICAN ENGINEERING RECORD PACIFIC GREAT BASIN SUPPORT OFFICE National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior 1111 Jackson Street Oakland, CA 94607 HISTORIC AMERICAN ENGINEERING RECORD U.S. NAVAL BASE, PEARL HARBOR, BRIDGE GANTRY CRANE 1 (U.S. Naval Base, Pearl Harbor, Naval Shipyard) (Crane BG-1) HAER No. Hl-68C Location: Welding Slab Located along Third Street near the Intersection of Avenue G Pearl Harbor Naval Base City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii UTM: BG-1 is no longer extant. This mobile structure was located within the UTM coordinates of the Pearl Harbor, Naval Shipyard as defined in the location section of the main report, HABS No. Hl-483. The crane's UTM coordinates are: 04.607280.2361650. Dates of Construction: 1941 Builder: Judson-Pacific Corporation (Manufacturer), Pacific Bridge Corporation (Subcontractor) Present Owner: United States Navy Present Use: Crane Significance: Bridge Gantry Crane BG-1, along with a similar crane BG-2, were key tools that facilitated the successful construction of Dry Dock Nos. 2, 3, and 4 at the Pearl Harbor Naval Base. BG-1 and BG-2 were skillfully integrated into the construction process and were the primary means of constructing and placing all forms, and the primary means of carrying concrete buckets to the tremie rigs. Please refer to HAER No. Hl-68 Exterior Cranes for more complete information of the cranes and crane history of Pearl Harbor. Historian: Lorraine M. Palumbo, Architectural Historian, of Mason Architects, Inc. Project Information: Photo documentation and recordation of this facility by the Navy has been done in anticipation of future alterations or potential demolition of the structure. Photo documentation of historic facilities by the Navy assists in expediting planned undertakings by having the documentation prepared prior to taking actions. Also, photo documentation assists the Navy in gaining more information about its historic facilities to assist in making proactive management decisions. This project is being supervised by Jeffrey Dodge A.I.A., Historic Preservation Specialist at the Pacific Division, Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC EFD Pacific). The photographic documentation was undertaken by David Franzen, photographer. Lorraine M. Palumbo, Architectural Historian, of Mason Architects, Inc. prepared the written documentation. The field work and research was conducted for this report between January 2002 and August 2002. U.S. NAVAL BASE, PEARL HARBOR, BRIDGE GANTRY CRANE NO. 1 (U.S. Naval Base, Pearl Harbor, Naval Shipyard) (Crane BG-1) HAER No. Hl-68C (Page 2) Description: The bridge gantry is an assembly of two steel trusses supported on H section columns. It has a 340-foot distance between legs, which completely spanned the width of Dry Dock Nos. 2 and 4. The crane is powered by electric motors. Two traveling power carriages have a lifting capacity of 30 tons each, at 30 feet a minute. The entire assembly moves on steel rails along the full length of the dock. These rails are supported on wood pilings. The weight of the crane is 800,000 pounds. The track gage is 341'-7-'W' center-to-center of rails. The overall dimensions of the cranes are as follows: The length of the crane measures 401'-7-'W'. The height of the crane from the top of the rail measures 93'-8-%", with the horizontal flat steel truss portion being 30' of the overall height. The horizontal truss is comprised of 9 central sections that are each 31 '-W' in width which are flanked by two outer sections of 31'-1-W' and 30'-0" respectively. The cross sectional width of the body of the crane is 50' overall. The length of the truck frame is 69' overall. In cross-section, the two legs are tied together with a 'pinned tie truss' located at the base of the legs. The 'pinned tie truss' measures 2'-6" in height. The track locks are attached to the pinned tie truss and help to prevent the crane from overturning in strong winds. The two machinery cabs, called trolleys, and their adjoining hoist mechanisms, travel between the rails of the lower chords of the horizontal steel truss structure. The cabs each measure approximately 5' x 10' feet in plan and 8'-10-'W' in height. The hoisting mechanisms each have two hooks, a main hook and a secondary hook. Only one of the cabs has bridge control, which is the control of the movement of the entire bridge crane structure along its tracks. The following describes the crane's basic specifications in detail: Maximum Hook Loads Primary Hooks 2 hook loads of 30 tons each @ 100' center-to-center or 2 hook loads of 20 tons each @ 14' center-to-center, or 1 hook load of 30 tons and 1 hook load of 12 tons @ 14' center-to-center Secondary Hooks 2 hook loads of 6 tons each Trucks Number of Wheels: 16 Wheels Geared: 4 Wheel diameter: 24" Gear Ratio: 141: 1 U.S. NAVAL BASE, PEARL HARBOR, BRIDGE GANTRY CRANE NO. 1 (U.S. Naval Base, Pearl Harbor, Naval Shipyard) (Crane BG-1) HAER No. Hl-68C (Page 3) Travel Truck Brakes Number of Brakes: 2 Torque each: 525 lb/ft Size (dia. and width): 13" x 5" Speed Data Crane Speed: 75 or 100 F.P.M. Trolley Speed: 400 F.P.M. Primary Hook: 30 Tons@ 30 F.P.M. or 12 Tons@ 75 F.P.M. Secondary Hook: 6 Tons@ 75 F.M.P. A study of crane travel brakes, done in 1963, showed that even with the use of liberally estimated track locking strength, the bridge gantry could oppose wind velocity of only 44 MPH. It was also noted that at a wind pressure of 26.4 #/ft2 (==76 MPH) BG-1 would start to lift its windward trolleys off the tracks and tip over (Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard 1963). Historical Context: The expansion of facilities of Pearl Harbor under the National Defense construction program began in the fall of 1939, together with the fortification of other Pacific Island possessions. Some of the major projects were the construction of Dry Dock Nos. 2 and 3, and later No. 4 (see HAER No. Hl-65A, Hl-65B, and Hl-15, respectively). The construction of these dry docks required the purchase of two Bridge Gantry cranes, BG-1 and BG-2, both manufactured by Judson Pacific Corp, subcontracted by the Pacific Bridge Corp. 1 BG-1 was built under contract number NOy-5049 in 1941 for a cost of $325,000. Judson-Pacific Corp. was a bridge manufacturer, which built several of the larger bridge cranes and bridge gantry cranes for the Navy (Kilikewich 2002). Crane BG-2 was received a year earlier than BG-1. BG-1 was received in 1941 but both were used to build Dry Dock Nos. 2, 3, and 4. Both cranes were built with the same span between legs (340'), which was necessary to span the width of· the dry docks. However, BG-2 had a 148' cantilevered arm that was used to build the smaller, Dry Dock No. 3, simultaneously with the larger Dry Dock No. 2 (Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard 1946). The cranes were used to install the 180-foot tremie trusses of Dry Dock No. 2; handle 1 The contract to begin building Dry Dock Nos. 2 and 3 was signed on December 20, 1939 and final plans issued December 22, 1939. Fieldwork for Dry Dock No. 2 was begun December 27, 1939. Construction length was anticipated to be 2 years; however, the dry dock was completed faster than scheduled, and several weeks before the Japanese attack, Dry Dock 2 had been brought to a stage of completion such that it was used to repair Navy craft affected by the "blitz." Construction of Dry Dock No. 3 was constructed concurrent with Dry Dock No. 2, but it was completed just after Dry Dock No. 2, in 1942. Construction of Dry Dock 4 began in October 1941. Construction of Dry Dock No. 4 differed from that of Docks No. 2 and 3 in two main ways. First, the types of piles used were different. Second, most of the dock was poured to high-water line by the tremie method, whereas the walls of the Dry Dock Nos. 2 and 3 were poured entirely in the dry (Pacific Bridge Company 1944: 84). U.S. NAVAL BASE, PEARL HARBOR, BRIDGE GANTRY CRANE N0.1 (U.S. Naval Base, Pearl Harbor, Naval Shipyard) (Crane BG-1) HAER No. Hl-68C (Page 4) cofferdam sections, form panels, reinforcing steel, and deposition of tremie concrete for the dry docks (Pacific Bridge Co., n.d.: 29). The successful construction of Dry Dock No. 4 depended upon the skillful integration of many plant set-up items. Crane BG-2 was moved without disassembly, by extension of its tracks to Dry Dock No. 4. Its original gantry cantilever extension was removed. The second bridge gantry crane (BG-1) was erected on the same tracks. These two gantries, BG-1 and BG-2, "were the primary means of constructing and placing all forms, and carrying concrete buckets to the tremie rigs" (U.S. Department of the Navy, Bureau of Yards and Docks 1947: 125). After the construction of the dry docks was complete, jurisdiction of BG.,.1 was given to Shop 72, and it was brought to the Welding Slab located along Third Street near the intersection of Avenue G.