Reinstalling
the windmill was an arduous affair.
All the components were disassembled in their
entirety
so that they could fit into the freight elevator to the third floor.
The
next step was to secure sufficiently large I-beams
which could support the 35,000
pound weight of the
windmill plus the 20,000 pound weight of the stone block to
be
lifted. All suspended out in thin air over a three story space!
Here we
are loading a 66 foot long, 30 inch high
I-beam which weighs 6000 pounds.
When
the crane lifted up the I-beam a mother skunk and a whole
family of little babies
walked single-file to the next pile of iron.
This should have been construed as
an omen of future dealings with City Museum.
To
get the I-beams up to the third floor,
a window had to be removed and they were
lifted up by a large crane.
After
the I-beams were installed, the windmill components
were reassembled (gears put
back in gear boxes etc.)
and jacked up on wooden caissons so they could be
rolled
into place.
The
main gearbox as seen in the above photo
weighs 8000 pounds! It was lifted one-half
inch at a time
by four railcar jacks (seen on each corner).
This took an entire
Sunday!
After
each component was raised to the height of the I-beams,
it was rolled over onto
them.
Here
it is possible to see the gearbox and generator
plus the low-speed shaft and bearings
in the foreground.
The low-speed shaft was converted into the take-up reel
for
the 20,000 pound granite block.
Here
are all the windmill components installed, waiting for paint
and waiting to be
connected to the granite block.
Here
final adjustments are made to the switching mechanism
for the granite block which
is already in the air.
Here
is a view from beneath the stone showing it
being lifted up to the third floor
from the first floor.
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