As was the case with its 65C, Raymond made multiple improvements to the Vulcan 80C hammer, but used a slightly different approach. Probably because the patents on the Super-Vulcan hammers hadn't run when Raymond saw the need to modify the Vulcan hammers, Raymond started by extensive modifications on the Vulcan 80C, which are similar to … Continue reading Raymond-Vulcan 80C Hammer: Specifications and Information
Without a doubt, one of the most interesting photos Vulcan had in its collection was this one, taken of a Vulcan #0 driving reinforced concrete sheet piles 500 mm x 600 mm x 21.9 m long (20" x 24" x 72') for the New Harbor Wall in Havana, Cuba. The piles are being driven off … Continue reading Pile Driving in Old Havana, Cuba
An interesting example of late Soviet commercial art (no, that's not an oxymoron) is this one, the cover to the literature for the SP-88 concrete pile cutter, from 1989. The array of cubes on the cover represents square concrete piles; the one in the lower left hand corner has been cut. An interesting graphic presentation. … Continue reading Product Literature Cover for Soviet SP-88 Concrete Pile Cutter @sovietvisuals
It's evident that Vulcan had some difficulty in getting the right combination of economy, operating pressure and configuration with its 65C and 65CA hammers. Did Raymond, which made many of its own designs of Vulcan style hammers, do any better? Based on its experience with the Vulcan differential hammers, Raymond designed several differential-acting hammers, including … Continue reading Raymond 65C Hammer: Specifications and Information
One of the more interesting products that Vulcan spent a great deal of time on but was not able to actively pursue was the concrete pile cutter. The technology for the cutter was developed by two Soviet institutes: VNIIstroidormash in Moscow and Dalniis in Vladivostok. How Vulcan obtained the rights to the patent was an … Continue reading Concrete Pile Cutter SP-88 Operations Manual
Yu. V. Dmitrevich, VNIIstroidormash L.V. Erofeev, Stroifundamentservice V.A. Nifontov, Stroifundamentservice D.C. Warrington, Vulcan Iron Works Inc. This article was originally published in 1993 or 1994. The graphic above shows a 9 kJ unit mounted on an excavator. Introduction Hydraulic demolition hammers mounted on hydraulically powered excavators are becoming increasingly widespread in world practice. They allow … Continue reading Russian Hydraulic Demolition Hammers
In his assessment of the prospects of US-China relations, former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd makes the following suggestion to resolve intellectual property (IP) issues: Intellectual-property protection, however, is deeply problematic. Previous agreements reached under US president Barack Obama’s administration could be reconstituted. But the jurisdictional enforcement of breaches is still hopeless. One possible mechanism … Continue reading An Old Idea Comes Back: China-US Arbitration in a Neutral Country
On this site I have posted several articles on Soviet (and after that Russian) pile driving equipment, such as diesel hammers, concrete pile cutters, and vibratory and impact-vibration hammers. These are very specialised topics, even by construction industry standards; here I want to present some photos of more general interest to you heavy equipment fans. … Continue reading NPO VNIIstroidormash: Soviet Construction Equipment Technology
In early 1994 I went to Russia for the purpose of visiting a factory in Bryansk, which is located at the meeting point of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. This was not a factory producing high tech military hardware, but something more prosaic but important for our modern world: diesel pile driving equipment, used in the … Continue reading Half a Million Roubles. Is it Enough?
Our family business' first trip to the then Soviet Union was an interesting experience. Our objective was to sell the Soviets (as they were called then) our offshore pile driving equipment for their offshore oil production work. Their idea was to get us to sell their diesel pile driving equipment and other Soviet technology in … Continue reading Who’s this idiot? That’s me!
