THE STEAM CRANE FOR OAMARU.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 230, 1 August 1873, Page 6

THE STEAM CRANE FOR OAMARU.

A contract of a very large character is being carried out steadily at Oamaru. it will be remembered that a jetty was constructed there, which, very soon after completion, was entirely destroyed—entailing., a loss of many thousand pounds. Oamaru was not, however, to be beat, but after persistent agitation, succeeded in getting the work undertaken on a more permanent basis. This year there is £22,263 appropriated under the North Otago Loan for the erection, construction, and maintenance of Harbor Works at Oamaru. The contractors who have undertaken this work are

carrying it out with great spirit. 80 much so, indeed, as to give every reasonable justification for a belief that their efforts will be successful., A: ' solid wall is being , built from the Point out into the sea, sufficiently far for steamers and ships -to be- - moored safely inside. There is a reef. running from near where the wallis.to end, and at right angles to it to the beach ■ which it is proposed eventually to build a wall upon, and' thus enclose a large natural dock. The tremendous. force with .which the sur£ breaks round the Point, makes it a work of, great' difficulty to get stones into permanent . place, and great quantities of .machinery and general plant have been lost, A plan is now'adopted of casting solid. " blocks of conglomerate, each weighing from thirty to forty tons, made inframes,, of cement, sand, broken rock,, and gravel. A difficulty however occurs, how to handle these immense stones with sufficient facility to ensure their being deposited with the precision that is necessary. To obviate this, Messrs "Walkem . and - Payman, after attempting ineffectually to-get what, they wanted.from England, persuaded Messrs Kincaid and M'Queen, ■ of Dunedin, to construct a travelling steam crane for theny the cdntract price of which was to be £I6OO. This has now been done, and is a work of which any foundry in any country might feel proud. The carriage carrying the crane travels on four, rails—either backwards or forwards—on this frame is fixed a circular iron band, on which the crane engine and machinery revolves. The force of the engine can, • ;by an ingenious contrivance, be di- ! recte.d to propelling the whole mass on the rails,. or to the movements of the crane, to lift,- deposit, or to rotate on the frame, with or without the 'suspended burden. On a late trial, thirty j tons of iron rails, ballast, &c, was 1 lifted, and moved about in any direction with perfect facility, and without ; the least noise. This was highly satisfactory, because the foundation on which the rails were temporally laid was not of such a solid nature as will . be.offered by. the.made, wall of the jetty, iind'the frame was only temporalily bolted together. The object .of. the - double movement is partly to let., the machine be driven back out o£ danger when storms occur. The blocks are intended to be lifted on the. trucks by the crane at the shore .end where moulded, then run down the : wall as made, to be followed by the crane, which will then lift them from the trucks to lower them in. their final « resting place in the wall. The cost before being put to work-at Oamaru, of this fine piece of machinery, is- calculated at £2OOO. Messrs TCincaid and M'Queen employ nearly eighty hands, including thoroughly skilled mechanical engineers, and young apprentices. The machinery*in their foundry is of a first class character, and is being constantly added to. A new planing machine is being erected at a cost of £160,. to plane iron as easily as -wood. A steam hammer is in constant use, and hits, when under fair steam, pressure, a blow of a ton, and can also be. graduated to a very light and even stroke ; quickly reducing an unseemly mass of half molten iron to shape and symmetry. "Works of all kinds are undertaken at this foundry, from chaff-cut-ting machines to engines and-boilers for steamers, not forgetting the monster crane that we have directed especial attention to. Such industries are worthy of all commendation, for they are as beneficial to the public as to the owners—and are the real truth of -the country's- prosperity, to a far greater degree than the sale of a few thousand acres of land in Southland.