Main construction contractor Azco Inc. Integrated Construction erected the structural steelwork to support the weight of the drum.
The large lattice-boom construction cranes that it commissioned for steel erection could not gain access to the interior of the structure to place the steam drum.
Azco project manager Robert Brockington and field superintendent Mark Rozmarynoski designed and engineered a monorail fitted with three 37t capacity JD Neuhaus air-powered chain hoists to roll the steam drum into position.
Two construction cranes lifted the steam drum in tandem to about 140ft (42.5 m) high. Then one end of the drum was connected to the first air hoist and disconnected from the first crane. As the second crane slewed around, the air hoist trolleyed into the building and pulled the drum in.
“Air chain hoists are simply amazing when you compare their size and weight to lifting capacity ratio to other means of lifting,” says James Kowalik, general manager of the hoist supplier, Industrial Hoist Services.
It took two days to set the beam, hoists and drum. The drum was tied off into its permanent supports in early August 2005.
Industrial Hoist Services, based in Brazoria, Texas, supplied the hoists on a week’s rental. The business now has about 1,200 JD Neuhaus air hoists, and some Ingersoll-Rand hoists. It also sells and services hoists. Kowalik says that the company bought the first 100 JDN hoists with the warehouse from the German hoist manufacturer’s previous US distributor, which closed in the early 1990s.
