Nabeaquam
BoTM Winner
It’s in Sault Ste. Marie Michigan, 230 km east of me. It’s where Lake Superior dumps over a rapids, then through the St. Mary’s River and into Lake Huron. Uncle Georges lock is currently not used as it’s too small. Their going to take his and another small lock out and replace it with one 110 feet wide and 1200 feet long to accommodate the new Great Lakes freighters, which are 105 feet wide and 1000 feet or a little more long. The old locks were narrow, but took two shallower draft 600 foot freighters at once. These 600 foot ships are almost all gone, replaced by 729 foot freighters that can get into the St Lawrence River and the 1000 footers that stay in the upper Great Lakes. The Edmund Fitzgerald was 729 feet long. We do freighter watching but it’s lost it’s appeal as the big ships each replace many more interesting smaller ones. Here is the Locks at the Sault with a footer in the big lock. The two locks on the left are planned for replacement. This is an old photo, perhaps the 70s as these smaller ships are just about gone. The ones that remain have been fitted with a huge self unloading conveyer on the deck.I think I have the fork forming sussed!...well it works in my head! ....I thinkThe brazing....I really don't know enough about but we're talking of a time when skill was common place... everyone had a trade!
I can't see the forks being formed to a curve after being made into a tube....I reckon that would cause way too much stress to those toothed joints...the braze wouldn't let go but the steel would.
Does the joint size between main tubes,forks and stays vary much or is it all consistent and the same?
I'll have to have a look at the Mary's falls locks....big stuff..like it! I have french cousins who do big maritime civil engineering.
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