Lifting

摘要

Archimedes said that with a long enough lever, he COUld lift the Earth. Last week while passing a 12-foot-wide Man-itowoc crane on the highway, I counted seven axles with 84 tires. It seemed to me this must be a record for over-the-road vehicles. It turns out I was wrong. A few years ago the moisture separator-reheaters were replaced in the Millstone Nuclear Power Plant in Waterford, Conn. Each unit is 73 feet long, 12 feet wide and weighs 241,000 pounds. They were transported over the road on a 12-axle, 96-tire trailer. Lifting and maneuvering these 120-ton units into the opening in the side of the plant and transferring each one to the overhead crane inside the building was as delicate and precise an operation as having the crane operator pick your teeth.