Transitioning from old technologies to new technologies is a common thread in our history – one that’s well illustrated in the story of how our industrial cranes arrived at the powerhouse, how they were assembled, and how they were set in motion.
While parts to build our two overhead cranes journeyed to the Bull Run by train, our local rail line would be pulled from its path and scrapped in the 1930’s. The decision to decommission the line, which terminated at the powerhouse, was a result of landslides taking out portions of the tracks combined with a rising tide of automobiles in daily American life.
The cranes, however, still exist today and were riveted together on site – a technological advancement that joined layers of steel more tightly and securely than using screws of similar dimensions. The cranes’ studded outlines mark a moment in time when steel was king but space age metallurgy and modern welding techniques had yet to be perfected.
The cranes weren’t powered by electricity when they were first assembled, because there wasn’t a power grid to connect to. Instead, they were powered by belt drives that connected to the engine of a steam train or portable steam gin.
Steam trains and portable gins gobble coal to heat the water in their bellies. This creates a force of steam that pushes a piston back and forth, which causes a flywheel to spin. This flywheel can attach to another machine by belt – so when a gin’s piston starts pumping and flywheel starts spinning, the mechanics of the machine it’s belted to are also set in motion.
While the overhead cranes at the Powerhouse Center were first powered by belt drives, once there was an electric grid to plug into they were wired to operate at the push of a button. Such is how old technologies transitioned to new technologies on powerhouse grounds and how – in the process – our industrial cranes entered a dawning age of electrical convenience.
