on the 14 feb 2006 someone posted shots of a tracked excavator sitting
atop a low loader zipping along at freeway speeds that had the arm
come up and spear through an overhead concrete road bridge.

(it really was that long ago)

does anyone know what eventuated out of the accident?

was the bridge repaired in situ or was the span demolished and
replaced?
what happened to the company that owned the excavator?

these photos resurfaced in an email recently and it piqued my
interest.
I've always wondered what the consequential happenings were regarding
that accident.

thanks
Stealth Pilot

From the looks of things, the cleanup cost $134,000, the offending span
was completely replaced at a cost of about half million.

http://c141heaven.us/jokes/truck_bridge.html
Scroll down to the bottom for a June news article.

http://www.cjonline.com/stories/062406/kan_hays.shtml

The Kansas DOT site has the worst search engine I've used in a while!!

Stealth Pilot wrote:
on the 14 feb 2006 someone posted shots of a tracked excavator sitting
atop a low loader zipping along at freeway speeds that had the arm
come up and spear through an overhead concrete road bridge.

(it really was that long ago)

does anyone know what eventuated out of the accident?

was the bridge repaired in situ or was the span demolished and
replaced?
what happened to the company that owned the excavator?

these photos resurfaced in an email recently and it piqued my
interest.
I've always wondered what the consequential happenings were regarding
that accident.

thanks
Stealth Pilot

A guy was pulling a car behind his RV some years ago. The brakes on the
car hung up and started spewing sparks, etc. The driver didn't notice.
Sparks caused organic trash on the roadside to ignite, which in turn
caused a forest fire. They located the guy and billed him something
over $1 million for the firefight and restoration. He had to pay.
He wrote this in to an RV magazine some years ago. He was sad. The
thing,of course destroyed their retirement plans for the rest of their
lives.

Pete Stanaitis
-----------------

Stealth Pilot wrote:

on the 14 feb 2006 someone posted shots of a tracked excavator sitting
atop a low loader zipping along at freeway speeds that had the arm
come up and spear through an overhead concrete road bridge.

(it really was that long ago)

does anyone know what eventuated out of the accident?

was the bridge repaired in situ or was the span demolished and
replaced?
what happened to the company that owned the excavator?

these photos resurfaced in an email recently and it piqued my
interest.
I've always wondered what the consequential happenings were regarding
that accident.

thanks
Stealth Pilot

On 2008-03-22, RoyJ wrote:
From the looks of things, the cleanup cost $134,000, the offending span
was completely replaced at a cost of about half million.

http://c141heaven.us/jokes/truck_bridge.html
Scroll down to the bottom for a June news article.

It is amazing how little visible damage was sustained by the Huindai
excavator.

i

http://www.cjonline.com/stories/062406/kan_hays.shtml

The Kansas DOT site has the worst search engine I've used in a while!!

Stealth Pilot wrote:
on the 14 feb 2006 someone posted shots of a tracked excavator sitting
atop a low loader zipping along at freeway speeds that had the arm
come up and spear through an overhead concrete road bridge.

(it really was that long ago)

does anyone know what eventuated out of the accident?

was the bridge repaired in situ or was the span demolished and
replaced?
what happened to the company that owned the excavator?

these photos resurfaced in an email recently and it piqued my
interest.
I've always wondered what the consequential happenings were regarding
that accident.

thanks
Stealth Pilot

"Ignoramus21938" wrote in message
...

It is amazing how little visible damage was sustained by the Huindai
excavator.



Visible being the key word. From the pics you does not look like it has any
major damage, but I got to believe that excavator was twisted beyond repair!
Greg

Doesn't surprise me too much. The excavator arm was pointed forward,
caught the bridge beam, and then tilted up and back. The main forces on
the excavator put the first arm into straight compression with all the
resulting force into the base casting of the frame and then out to the
tracks. No bending moments involved. The main cylinders would have been
in tension, that will blow the seals and end caps out, again, no big
damage. In one of the pictures in the middle of the sequence, you can
see the right side main cylinder sticking straight up, no shaft sticking
out. The left side cylinder is intact, must mean that the lower mount or
eye is broken.

Ignoramus21938 wrote:
On 2008-03-22, RoyJ wrote:
From the looks of things, the cleanup cost $134,000, the offending span
was completely replaced at a cost of about half million.

http://c141heaven.us/jokes/truck_bridge.html
Scroll down to the bottom for a June news article.

It is amazing how little visible damage was sustained by the Huindai
excavator.

On 2008-03-22, Greg O wrote:
"Ignoramus21938" wrote in message
...

It is amazing how little visible damage was sustained by the Huindai
excavator.



Visible being the key word. From the pics you does not look like it has any
major damage, but I got to believe that excavator was twisted beyond repair!

I agree. I am sure that it is beyond repair. Probably will show up on
eBay as "looks good, untested, sold as is".

i

On Sat, 22 Mar 2008 13:01:58 -0500, RoyJ wrote:

Doesn't surprise me too much. The excavator arm was pointed forward,
caught the bridge beam, and then tilted up and back. The main forces on
the excavator put the first arm into straight compression with all the
resulting force into the base casting of the frame and then out to the
tracks. No bending moments involved. The main cylinders would have been
in tension, that will blow the seals and end caps out, again, no big
damage. In one of the pictures in the middle of the sequence, you can
see the right side main cylinder sticking straight up, no shaft sticking
out. The left side cylinder is intact, must mean that the lower mount or
eye is broken.

Ignoramus21938 wrote:
On 2008-03-22, RoyJ wrote:
From the looks of things, the cleanup cost $134,000, the offending
span
was completely replaced at a cost of about half million.

http://c141heaven.us/jokes/truck_bridge.html Scroll down to the bottom
for a June news article.

It is amazing how little visible damage was sustained by the Huindai
excavator.


There's probably some severely damaged pivots and bearings, and possibly
stripped gears, however. I wouldn't be surprised if the chassis wasn't
all bent down in the middle, too.

That sucker had to have hit hard.

--
Tim Wescott
Control systems and communications consulting
http://www.wescottdesign.com

Need to learn how to apply control theory in your embedded system?
"Applied Control Theory for Embedded Systems" by Tim Wescott
Elsevier/Newnes, http://www.wescottdesign.com/actfes/actfes.html

"Ignoramus21938" wrote in message
...
On 2008-03-22, Greg O wrote:
"Ignoramus21938" wrote in message
...

It is amazing how little visible damage was sustained by the Huindai
excavator.



Visible being the key word. From the pics you does not look like it has
any
major damage, but I got to believe that excavator was twisted beyond
repair!

I agree. I am sure that it is beyond repair. Probably will show up on
eBay as "looks good, untested, sold as is".

i

Be careful so you don't bid on it!!
It is probably like some other auction stuff you drag home!
Greg

Greg O wrote:

"Ignoramus21938" wrote in message
...
On 2008-03-22, Greg O wrote:
"Ignoramus21938" wrote in message
...

It is amazing how little visible damage was sustained by the Huindai
excavator.



Visible being the key word. From the pics you does not look like it has
any
major damage, but I got to believe that excavator was twisted beyond
repair!

I agree. I am sure that it is beyond repair. Probably will show up on
eBay as "looks good, untested, sold as is".

i

Be careful so you don't bid on it!!
It is probably like some other auction stuff you drag home!
Greg

I'd take it. The boom might be wrecked, but I expect the entire base was
just fine and would make quite an ATV...

Stealth Pilot wrote:
on the 14 feb 2006 someone posted shots of a tracked excavator sitting
atop a low loader zipping along at freeway speeds that had the arm
come up and spear through an overhead concrete road bridge.

(it really was that long ago)
That was the one at Hays, Kansas, I remember that detail because
my wife has family there. Somebody's insurance is going to pay
a big bill on that one. I was quite confident from the pics
that there was no way to repair that bridge, too much damage to
the concrete and rebar. Seems that was quite right.

Jon

On Sun, 23 Mar 2008 03:54:51 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

On Mar 22, 2:52 am, Stealth Pilot
wrote:
on the 14 feb 2006 someone posted shots of a tracked excavator sitting
atop a low loader zipping along at freeway speeds that had the arm
come up and spear through an overhead concrete road bridge.

(it really was that long ago)

does anyone know what eventuated out of the accident?

was the bridge repaired in situ or was the span demolished and
replaced?
what happened to the company that owned the excavator?

these photos resurfaced in an email recently and it piqued my
interest.
I've always wondered what the consequential happenings were regarding
that accident.

thanks
Stealth Pilot

That also happened here in Hawaii. Damaged a pedestrian bridge. It was
replaced.
Karl
Had one here last fall where one pre-stressed beam out of eight was
damaged, one lane of the overpass (four lanes over four lanes) has
been closed all winter. It will be interesting to see how they go
about replacing an interior beam.
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada

On Sun, 23 Mar 2008 22:06:51 -0400, Gerald Miller
wrote:

On Sun, 23 Mar 2008 03:54:51 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

On Mar 22, 2:52 am, Stealth Pilot
wrote:
on the 14 feb 2006 someone posted shots of a tracked excavator sitting
atop a low loader zipping along at freeway speeds that had the arm
come up and spear through an overhead concrete road bridge.

(it really was that long ago)

does anyone know what eventuated out of the accident?

was the bridge repaired in situ or was the span demolished and
replaced?
what happened to the company that owned the excavator?

these photos resurfaced in an email recently and it piqued my
interest.
I've always wondered what the consequential happenings were regarding
that accident.

thanks
Stealth Pilot

That also happened here in Hawaii. Damaged a pedestrian bridge. It was
replaced.
Karl
Had one here last fall where one pre-stressed beam out of eight was
damaged, one lane of the overpass (four lanes over four lanes) has
been closed all winter. It will be interesting to see how they go
about replacing an interior beam.
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada

it struck me as a fair bugger of a job. over here in australia the
bridges are usually cast on the approaches of the unfinished road then
slid into position on the supports then the road surface and the road
is completed.
I suppose you'd need the precise dimensions. set up the form work and
prestressed reo make the span then low loader it across one of the
existing spans then heavy lift crane it into position. then rebuild
the road surface.

the question in the photo shoot was how much energy was expended.
the answer is half the mass of the tracked excavator and trailer in
lbs times the velocity in ft per second squared. it is the kinetic
energy absorbed bringing the traffic to a halt.
actually seems to be an easy question to answer on reflection.

thanks for the updates btw.
Stealth Pilot

On Mon, 24 Mar 2008 22:26:17 +0900, Stealth Pilot
wrote:



the question in the photo shoot was how much energy was expended.
the answer is half the mass of the tracked excavator and trailer in
lbs times the velocity in ft per second squared. it is the kinetic
energy absorbed bringing the traffic to a halt.
actually seems to be an easy question to answer on reflection.

You need to divide your result by 32.2 ft/sec^2 (gravity). Dontcha
love the FPS system?

--
Ned Simmons