One of the more popular pieces on this site is A Few Words About the Telex, which documents Vulcan's history with this interesting piece of technology. Below is a video which also summarises that history: https://youtu.be/byMwNPj47X8 I'd like to add a few notes: First, from the 1930's to the 1950's Vulcan advertised its cable address … Continue reading A Nice Summary of the History of the Telex
From this: As steam power gave way to diesel in the late 19th century, the size and power of dredges grew. Developers in Los Angeles used centrifugal pumps to expand the city’s port and turn marshlands into seaside real estate. Sediment dredged from underwater built Boston’s Back Bay, as well as large portions of Marseilles, … Continue reading Aboard the Giant Sand-Sucking Ships That China Uses to Reshape the World
The vulcanhammer.info Guide to Pile Driving Equipment features the field service manual for the DGH series hammers. Here we find the following advice during the replacement of the piston ram: Place 1" (25mm) wide pieces of soluble paper (such as toilet paper) between the piston and lower ring grooves. Push the rings and paper into … Continue reading The Old “Toilet Paper” Trick for Piston Rings Takes on a New Meaning
This paper presents the displacement behavior of quay wall system, using Plaxis 3D version 2013. The horizontal displacement calculated by Plaxis 3D for existing quay walls case study located in Rotterdam Port in South Holland is evaluated by the field measurements. At first, the three-dimensional numerical performance of Rotterdam existing quay wall is compared with … Continue reading Comparative Analyses of Quay Wall Case Study Using Plaxis 3D
A few years ago I put out an article entitled Partying Like It’s 1987: Running WEAP87 and SPILE (and other programs) on DOSBox, where I describe the use of DOSBox in running engineering software (and also Windows 3.1.) A great deal of engineering software developed in the DOS era can still be used for engineering design … Continue reading Is the Best Place to Run Old Windows Software…on Linux or a Mac?
Above is an unusual photo from Vulcan's archives: a gathering for a test for the Vulcanaire Supertherm at the yard of Horn Pile and Foundation Corp. in Bellmore, Long Island, NY, 16 November 1964. It's the rare gathering in the construction (or just about any other) industry where everyone arrives in suits, but here they … Continue reading A Gathering for Energy Savings
Above is something you don't see much of any more: a hand-drawn artist's conception of a building that has yet to be built. In this case it's Vulcan's last all-new building: the Special Products Division at 2625 Electronics Way, West Palm Beach, FL, which was completed and opened in 1967. Afterwards some things changed along … Continue reading Those Aspirational Small Businesses
Although Vulcan would experience more than forty more years of life after it was over, Vulcan's Centennial Celebration in 1952 was both a milestone and a high point in its history. The "capstone" of the ceremonies was the keynote speech by Vulcan's President, Chester H. "Chet" Warrington, my grandfather. He put a wrap on the … Continue reading Liberty, Prosperity and Life
During Vulcan's first visit to Beijing in 1981, we saw many vehicles on the road we had never seen before. One of them was the Hongqi (Red Flag) limousine. The one above was parked in front of the Beijing Hotel, where we were staying. Jay Leno's Garage featured one back in 2016; here's the video … Continue reading Riding High in Beijing
Some of you may wonder what it was (and is) like to machine parts for Vulcan hammers, most of which are iron or steel castings. Some feel for it (and the decisions a machinist must make in the process) can be seen in the video below. https://youtu.be/L5yVpvCav_U Some comments: Although he doesn't say so, my … Continue reading Machining a Cast Iron Bearing
vulcanhammer.info 