Gizmodo Australia » cranes

45,000kg Crane Smashes House In Half

Dan Nosowitz — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:40:00 +0000

This 45,000kg crane was removing a tree when the tree broke loose, sending the crane’s massive boom down onto the owner’s house, smashing it like a Play-Doh sculpture. Check out the carnage.

[SFGate]

This Is How Kiwis Trim The Top Of Their Hedges

Sean Fallon — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:40:00 +0000

New Zealanders do it with a crane people… with a crane. It makes perfect sense now.

I mean, the manual for the ride-on lawnmower did not specifically state that you couldn’t raise it up with a crane to trim the top of a very large hedge, so that’s just what two lunatics from Cambridge New Zealand did.

“The mower was doing an all-right job, but I reckon it would work better on a hedge that’s not so spiky.”

Maybe they need one of those Zero-Turn mowers with a larger cutting deck instead of a basic lawn tractor. Yeah, that’s the problem with this whole setup. [Stuff NZ via Fark]

Floating Cranes Are Unnatural, Physics-Defying Monstrosities

Wilson Rothman — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Those coolhunters over at Oobject have uncovered another gem of engineering: the floating crane. Because the cranes require a massive superstructure and a relatively shallow hull, designers have to approach them pretty much the opposite way they approach typical ship design. They weigh many thousands of tons, and yet somehow manage to lift thousands of tons, too—engineering that truly borders on magic. There are two more insane crane shots below; feel free to hit up Oobject for all the crane porn you’ll ever need. [Oobject]

How the Weird Mars Science Laboratory Floating Sky Crane Works

Jesus Diaz — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 03:10:00 +0000

When I read that the UFO-looking Mars Science Laboratory’s aeroshell would use a floating crane–called Sky Crane by NASA–to softly land the rover on Mars, I couldn’t believe it. Now, watching this hyperrealistic NASA simulation showing how the mechanism actually floats, lowers the rover, and then flies away, I still can’t believe it. This is the kind of stuff that makes the kid in me wake up and pay attention with my eyes and mouth wide open.

The rockets of the aeroshell–a protective armour that will protect the MSL and guide it through its descent–will fire to steer the capsule towards the desired angle. When this is achieved, a long parachute will open to slow down the Mars Science Laboratory as it enters zooms down the Martian atmosphere. As soon as the capsule slows down, the heat shield will eject leaving the rover exposed inside the aeroshell, attached to the floating crane mechanism.

That’s when the whole landing process gets weird: The floating crane’s rockets will fire up to further slow the descent. The top part of the aeroshell will then detach completely, leaving the sky crane alone holding the MSL rover, slowly descending towards the planet’s surface. A few hundred metres above the terrain, the floating sky crane will start lowering the rover down using “a trio of bridles and one umbilical cord” until it touches down. At that time, the sky crane will detach from the rover and fly away, probably to fall over the home of some poor old Martian grandma.

I don’t know about you, but the whole operation mesmerises me to no end.