SECTOR SNAPSHOT Ӏ BELOW THE HOOK
Caldwell’s Dura- Mod modular spreader beam is being utilised on the construction of The Giant Magellan Telescope
have significantly greater capability than the two existing tunnels while greatly reducing maintenance and operating costs. The research facility will enable NASA and industry partners to study the flow of air travelling around aerospace vehicles. “What we’re going to do with
this facility is literally change the world,” said Clayton Turner, director of NASA Langley Research Centre. “The humble spirit of our researchers and this effort will allow us to reach for new heights, to reveal the unknown, for the betterment of humankind.”
OUT OF THIS WORLD In another outer-space, science- related project US-headquartered below the hook lifting solutions specialist The Caldwell Group delivered a custom system for lifting and rotating a track section during manufacture of the world’s most powerful telescopes. The construction of the telescope is one of the largest public-private funded science projects in history. The Giant Magellan Telescope is under construction at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile’s Atacama Desert. The project has come about thanks to an international consortium of leading research institutions. The 30-metre-class telescope will, when finished, offer ten times
the viewing power of the Hubble Space Telescope. Initially Caldwell manufactured
a lifter/rotator based on a 242,500-lbs (110-tonne) capacity Dura-Mod modular spreader beam and two 20-tonne capacity RUD ACP-Turnado swivel hoist rings. Below the beam, rotation and landing assemblies on each side of the load facilitate positioning and securement of the track section from Rockford, Illinois-based Ingersoll Machine Tools. Two 85-ton capacity top shackles and two 55-ton capacity bottom shackles, also supplied by Caldwell, and lifting slings, are among other key components.
The spreader beam was positioned above, and connected to, the rotation assemblies fastened onto the track section. The system was raised by a hoist and adjusted by crane controls to keep the landing assemblies on blocking as the section was upended. Existing holes on the load were utilised to fasten both the rotation and landing assemblies using M24 nuts and bolts. The system was initially used to complete four lifts to flip and precision-machine both sides of the rotating track sections. Telescopes and wind tunnels are just the tip of the iceberg, however, when it comes to the range of unusual objects that spreader and lifting beams are being used to help lift. One reoccurring area of work that continues to utilise Modulift's spreader and lifting beams, for example, relates to various modes of transportation: specifically aeroplanes, boats, and trains…
Modulift’s MOD spreader beam is key to AMS’s Fuselage Lifting System
LIFTING PLANES
When it comes to planes over the last 18 years Modulift has worked closely with aircraft recovery
CRANES TODAY 15
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