Utterly fascinating I imagine once a person mastered theses beasts, it becomes a monotonous job. Maintenance would be constant. The machines we built a century ago are still engineering marvels. The sheer size and complexity, to say nothing of being basically built by hand . . . Thank you for posting this
Eh… I wouldn’t say engineering marvels. And most of it definitely was not built by hand. I’m sure cranes and pulley type systems were used. The iron beams had to be sent through a rolling mill after they went through the long and quite literally a hot & hellish process starting with ore shoveled out of the ground to the loading of certain Iron beams onto rail cars. It was not just dug up out of the ground and carved with chicken bones(ancient aliens reference😁) and pulled to the site on wooden skids and a team of 10,000 Egyptians. If anything I think the hulett loaders are an Area 51 conspiracy coverup using illegal physics & powers not of this world.
@@MrRusty-fm4gb It was not designed or built by computers and robots. Everything was done with damned hard work and engineering learned by doing. I'm sure you would gain a new appreciation of just what factories and mills were like if you could step back in time. Stamping mills, presses and smelters; no worker safety, long hours, no 'labor saving' tools . . . And yet, they produced machinery with close clearances, strong castings, safety features of sorts. I choose to be impressed
Brings back fond memories of the two summers I sailed on the SS Lackawanna and Ben E Tate during the War when I was 16 & 17 --hard to believe 75 years have passed so quickly!!!
Such precious little remains of the Huletts, this must be like gold to those who have had them a part of their lives while they were in operation. Considering the time period they were built, and what little technology available, this was a huge contribution to the industrial machine America was assembling. Thank you for sharing this inspirational video of the historical past works of human industrial efforts.
When I was 4-5 years old we had a sailboat at Edgewater, and my dad used to go over and we'd anchor just on the other side of the ore boat! It was as surreal as the best science fiction movies of today! The jaws would open wide and go 25 feet below the waterline to scoop out the remaining ore! Each scoop was the equivalent of a couple of luxury cars. Sometimes two or three freighters 6-800ft would be waiting in line. The noise they made was a giant grrrrrr-ing like nothing else, and they had the appearance of a gigantic praying mantis when in motion. 50 years later and they are still clear in my mind.
I watched them in Ashtabula when I was in my teens... and I could hear them going all night, the trains banging cars, the big trucks on the freeway... all from my upstairs window at Grandmas house...
Looking at how these operate, fascinating and impressive as they are, it makes me wonder about how the conversation started that led to this design. Engineer: "As you requested, I've designed a very simple and efficient way of loading and transporting the ore. We just use gravity loaders and pour the ore through giant hatches into box shaped cargo holds built into the hull of large boats - simple. We've already started building the loading docks and a fleet of boats". Steel company CEO: "That's fantastic! So now tell me your simple and efficient plan to unload the boat when it gets to its destination?" Engineer: "You need to unload it too?"
Fascinating to watch at, how these monstrous machines behave in working mode. Surprised and unexpected too see these guys actually working from within the enormous vertical arm above the shovel and scoop out all the resources to the distributor. Well documented, thumbs up! Hope this one ends one day in a museum as proof of their existence.
mesmerising watching them at work....like giant mechanical monsters from War Of The Worlds...be unhealthy operating one though...inhaling all that coal and iron ore pellet dust...like they are virtually right above it...these guys couldn't have lived into their old age and if they did...chronic lung problems...added to that..this is the era when smoking cigarettes and chewing tobacco were thought to be harmless..."Miller time"
I always looked at the skyline and wondered how those things did what they did. The skyline has changed quite a bit, but at least now that old question has been answered. Great video. I'm glad it's still up and glad I stumbled across it. Please leave it up.
Grew up in Huron and went to high school with the kids of guys who ran the Huletts in the 1970s. Those are long gone now. Glad I stumbled across this video.
Magnificent piece of engineering. Utterly fascinating to watch these beasts in operation. As a young boy i could have sat there and watch this for hours. It's sad that they didn't preserve one of this machines.
I watched a small documentary video on these unloaders recently and the narrator said that preservationists were trying to get the last two operational units preserved. So instead of being scrapped they reached a disassembled state and have been like that since. They've been trying for years to get them placed in an area where they can be fully assembled so people can see them. But the few museums willing to display them only want to display a single piece and not the entire units. So it's pretty much been the lack of a place to erect them. Which is understandable from the preservationists point of view as they're trying to preserve the whole thing and not just a part of it. Sadly because of how massive they are you can't just stick them anywhere. I'm not from PA so I never knew about this neat machines until recently. :)
Brings back memories. I worked on that boat during those times. I guess I didn't really appreciate it back then. Wish I could go back in time. I loved sailing on that straight decker, but it was hard, hot and dirty work.
The "J.L. Mauthe" still sails as the barge "Pathfinder" in combination with the Tug "Dorothy Ann" as an ATB (Articulated tug/barge) Still generating revenue for Interlake Steamship Co. She of course has been converted to a "self unloader". In itself, an adaptation of old tech to function with the new methods.
Glad to have this visual record of these amazing machines. They would look quite at home in the first Dune movie, with its mix of far-out fancied future machinery and the use of such archaic devises as pneumatic controls and noisily clacking relays.
Great to see video of these giant amazing machines! Incredible location for the operator, what a ride it must have been, talk about being one with the machine! Thanks for sharing.
Being from cleveland its really cool to see these in operation after having only seen them standing when I was young. I also like how you got a tour when they saw you standing there, now a days they would arrest you, thumbs up to you
I had permission to be there, it took a letter of introduction plus 2 releases, one from Conrail and one from Hanna Mining to be allowed to video, and then only because I was a Conrail employee.
This is extremely valuable video. The Whiskey Island section is wonderful and rare. All of the boats shown are still running. First is McKee Sons, now a tug-barge, but kept its distinctive wide wheelhouse. Second looks like Algolake, still running. Third is J.L. Mauthe at Whiskey, now the barge Pathfinder. We see them all frequently. Toledo, Ashtabula and Sandusky are active, but Conneaut is a shadow.
INCREDIBLE, ABSOULETLY INCREDIBLE!!! I wish I was old enough to remember this stuff. I grew up in Toledo and remember when my Dad would put our boat in at Point Place in Toledo. When we left the dock you had an impressive view of the Presque Isle (C&O) and Lakefront docks (B&O/NYC). I remember the Huletts but had no idea what they were then. I just remember they looked really weird. All the machines at Lakefront must have fallen in the 80's. The three coal machines at Presque lasted somewhat longer. CSX was still using number 3 machine into the 90's. It fell around 98-99 I think. I hope the folks in Cleveland go that extra mile and save at least one Hulett. Our industrial heritage deserves it. With all the automation now and sterile equipment we have, the sight of actual moving parts with guys running the equipment is impressive. Our history deserves a Hulett! Thanks for sharing, the video was a class act!!
I have just watched this again, what an absolutely fascinating piece of footage. I am trying to imagine it all in it's hey-day, with steam locomotives dragging coal cars to the Huletts. They must have been impressive beasts to see in action...
What amazing machines. I can see where Frank Hornby got his Meccano idea from ! Why is it that all the old, interesting things like these get scrapped. Huge electric motors, Big old contactors that flashed and banged, growling gears, little mining motor locos, all gone by now.
I was so hungry and baked a pizza and right after my first bite, this video gets recommended and now I don’t have an appetite. That sound a little after the 7 minute mark sends chills down my spine. These things are massive and very ugly. I wonder who would win in a fight? God? Or a Hulett Loader. Great video. I’m very happy to stumbled on this in my automatic recommendations. Thanks for sharing!
your videos are such a treasure !!!!! to say I'm jealous is an understatement. For you to have had the privilege of being right there, watching, and recording them in action......wow. If it's allright to say, I have a number of your videos in one of my personal [private] playlists - ''Old Train Films'' - from turn of the century to late 1990's, and it's what I have on when I'm sleeping. We are all so lucky that you've been going thru your ''archives'' and downloading them here to see -- history is not lost when you and others do this. Blessings and Cheers from Connecticut !!!
I worked in the early 90's unloading Gypsum from ships, Our conveyor belts and tripper used 460 volts. I find it amazing that the massive Huletts ran on 250 volts.
Growing up in Lorain, Oh., just a stones throw from the Black River and the 3rd largest bascule bridge in the world. Loved seeing the lakers come in and out. A couple a day all season long feeding the giant U.S. Steel facility which employed 14,000 strong at the time. The whining of the cables unloading the ships would put me to sleep.
Scrapped, I imagine. Nowadays, ships have their own unloading systems (cranes and/or conveyor belts), which made these things redundant. It's a damn shame, but that's progress for you. Large, heavy, mechanical machines were replaced by hydraulics and electronics. Pity one of these wasn't preserved, but that's a mistake of the past we can't correct. Building these required a heavy industry, which has been in decline in both America and the rest of the developed world - partly due to jobs being exported into foreign countries, and due to a decrease in demand - as never technologies replace old ones, the need to manufacture giants like these had all but disappeared. Other giants, such as large ships, oil platforms, and other industrial facilities are still needed, so it's not all completely gone, but the age of the mechanical crane is reaching its end.
Nice footage! I just found out about these Huletts last week, despite being a crane/ heavy equipment student for decades...It's sad that they're long gone...:(...Thanks for the upload though!
Its amazing that they made these to do one job. It beads shoveling it by hand. You must have balls of steel to operate them. If one was preserved and working, it would be a scary site to see it in action in todays world.
To be able to throw a BIG switch or stand back and mash a green button and hear one of these things start to turn over.........it still stands the hair up to think about it. Thanks again FM NUT!
It is hard not to think of the David Plowden images of the Great Lakes ships and have a better appreciation for his photos. The dynamic that your video's give is so impressive. As a side note a PRR ore car shunter that was at the RR Museum of PA or the PA RR museum was moved to Youngstown, OH to the steel museum there. Until your video, I had only seen pics of them as well as manufacturer catalogs. To actually see one (even on video) is so neat! Keep up the great work. There is a generation coming up that needs to see stuff like this so they are hopefully more appreciative that they don't have to work as hard as these people did and in the conditions they did.
In the late 1970's after being discharged from the military I worked at The American Shipbuilding Co in Lorain Ohio as a shipfitter. I remember working on the James Barker and the George Stinson.They were 1,000 ft self unloaders that put these machines out of business.
The funny thing is, the canadians are still having 'straight deckers' built in China for them for the grain trade. But they still have to run taconite to stay busy all year round. They could use those things ar their docks instead of the clam diggers. Those monsters were actually called hullets
Awesome machinery I have never seen sir. Just wonder if the clam shells could rotate 90 degrees as it appears from the first images in this video? What was off-load rate?
@@samboslc not 100% sure of the unloading rate, but found some info saying 10 tons per scoop, and 275 tph. I think it later rose to 17 tons per scoop. I also read they could turn to bucket to any angle, but not sure how far clockwise they could turn until they had to turn counter-clockwise.
Saw the J L Mauthe. Many was the time was on that boat with my dad as she was being unloaded at Cleveland’s lake front doc. My oldest brother sailed on her as one of the engineers
that is amazing!! At first I thought I used to dream this but its real!! I remember seeing this as a kid ONCE in Chicago. These are the Dark Monsters I used to dream about.
I’d imagine a lot fewer ore freighters come in winter, seeing as most of this comes across dangerous waters from Lake Superior and Lake Michigan, and all the Great Lakes see substantial ice formations that prevent ship traffic for several months. Lake Superior had the notorious wreck of the _Edmund Fitzgerald_ back in the 1970s. So operating these Huletts in winter or snow would not likely have been a thing.
@@P_Rund1952 you may not have experienced the Arctic air coming in off of Lake Erie in winter. 🥶 it just goes right through you! The Lake doesn’t heat up beyond 80 degrees in late summer, so there’s a very pleasant cool lake breeze coming off of it that keeps things from getting too awful most of the time. I’m sure these guys still had to drink plenty of water to stay hydrated, and it was often pretty miserable, but those in loaders probably stayed out of the sun most of the day because the ore terminal faced north, keeping the workers in the shadows most of the day.
i'm glad to say i have seen most of these in operation myself. i used to go to the one in lorain ohio and spend hours there just watching them load the ships.
Great video. Thanks for your work to capture this. If you decided to remaster this video, can you transcribe some of the commentary that can be overheard during some parts? Thanks
I saw both the Huletts and the coal dumpers when working on the ore boats in the 1970s. To me the Huletts looked like giant mechanical flies. I wonder if there are movies online showing the coal dumpers. It was amazing to watch the movements of the hopper cars up the ramp, lifted and dumped and running down the ramp on the other side. There are videos of working model coal dumpers online. Shorty parker's ho scale coal dumper for one and McMyler coal dumper as seen in model railroader.
For those still interested in reading up on the Huletts, I found the Cleveland State Univ Libraries sites: www.clevelandmemory.org/glihc/hulett/index.html and www.clevelandmemory.org/glihc/articles/sia.html ***** Thanks for "preserving" at least this video of the unloaders in action. I only now have become aware of the magnificent machines 100 years+ after their invention and implementation.
Trivia: The operators that actually road along on the machine to operate it were named "ore hogs". HA, ok. The little electric pusher trains were called "tenders" and were powered by a 3rd rail in between the other tracks. Specifically made for this task of "shunt tending". Even more cool!
they look like giant dinosaurs picking at a dead carcass , like they are alive and very dangerous to go any were near . a fantastic machine that should be rebuilt and kept in running condition before all the men that worked on them are dead.
Utterly fascinating
I imagine once a person mastered theses beasts, it becomes a monotonous job.
Maintenance would be constant. The machines we built a century ago are still engineering marvels. The sheer size and complexity, to say nothing of being basically built by hand . . .
Thank you for posting this
Couldn't have said it better!
Also I was amazed by the picture quality, I never would've guessed it was recorded in '88 and '92.
Eh… I wouldn’t say engineering marvels. And most of it definitely was not built by hand. I’m sure cranes and pulley type systems were used. The iron beams had to be sent through a rolling mill after they went through the long and quite literally a hot & hellish process starting with ore shoveled out of the ground to the loading of certain Iron beams onto rail cars. It was not just dug up out of the ground and carved with chicken bones(ancient aliens reference😁) and pulled to the site on wooden skids and a team of 10,000 Egyptians. If anything I think the hulett loaders are an Area 51 conspiracy coverup using illegal physics & powers not of this world.
@@MrRusty-fm4gb
It was not designed or built by computers and robots.
Everything was done with damned hard work and engineering learned by doing.
I'm sure you would gain a new appreciation of just what factories and mills were like if you could step back in time.
Stamping mills, presses and smelters; no worker safety, long hours, no 'labor saving' tools . . .
And yet, they produced machinery with close clearances, strong castings, safety features of sorts.
I choose to be impressed
I choose to be impressed. I love that quote. Consider it stolen :)
I didn’t some research on them. This day and age, they seem alien.
Brings back fond memories of the two summers I sailed on the SS Lackawanna and Ben E Tate during the War when I was 16 & 17 --hard to believe 75 years have passed so quickly!!!
@Bigga Nigga why would he be a liar?
Such precious little remains of the Huletts, this must be like gold to those who have had them a part of their lives while they were in operation. Considering the time period they were built, and what little technology available, this was a huge contribution to the industrial machine America was assembling.
Thank you for sharing this inspirational video of the historical past works of human industrial efforts.
When I was 4-5 years old we had a sailboat at Edgewater, and my dad used to go over and we'd anchor just on the other side of the ore boat! It was as surreal as the best science fiction movies of today! The jaws would open wide and go 25 feet below the waterline to scoop out the remaining ore! Each scoop was the equivalent of a couple of luxury cars. Sometimes two or three freighters 6-800ft would be waiting in line. The noise they made was a giant grrrrrr-ing like nothing else, and they had the appearance of a gigantic praying mantis when in motion. 50 years later and they are still clear in my mind.
Never in my life have I seen these machines before. Unforgettable for sure. Time Passages.
I watched them in Ashtabula when I was in my teens... and I could hear them going all night, the trains banging cars, the big trucks on the freeway... all from my upstairs window at Grandmas house...
Truly surreal!
Looking at how these operate, fascinating and impressive as they are, it makes me wonder about how the conversation started that led to this design. Engineer: "As you requested, I've designed a very simple and efficient way of loading and transporting the ore. We just use gravity loaders and pour the ore through giant hatches into box shaped cargo holds built into the hull of large boats - simple. We've already started building the loading docks and a fleet of boats". Steel company CEO: "That's fantastic! So now tell me your simple and efficient plan to unload the boat when it gets to its destination?" Engineer: "You need to unload it too?"
Great video. I never knew machines like that existed I was blown away by their complexity. It's truly amazing the stuff we used to build.
Complex? :-D Nothing complex at all, pretty dumb machine i would say.
@@julianreverse The mechanism isn't complex but the totality of the machine is so cool.
i am so glad that people have older videos preserving what once was. it does bring one back in time and appreciate how things were
Fascinating to watch at, how these monstrous machines behave in working mode. Surprised and unexpected too see these guys actually working from within the enormous vertical arm above the shovel and scoop out all the resources to the distributor. Well documented, thumbs up! Hope this one ends one day in a museum as proof of their existence.
I would have loved to operate one of those. Until I saw the guy getting in, had no idea that’s where he sat. Amazing!
Me too!
I was wondering where operater was, that is unworldly!
Kudos to them, but I'll pass!
And I always thought the operators cab was somewhere at the top! Boy was I wrong!
Not a great job.
mesmerising watching them at work....like giant mechanical monsters from War Of The Worlds...be unhealthy operating one though...inhaling all that coal and iron ore pellet dust...like they are virtually right above it...these guys couldn't have lived into their old age and if they did...chronic lung problems...added to that..this is the era when smoking cigarettes and chewing tobacco were thought to be harmless..."Miller time"
I always looked at the skyline and wondered how those things did what they did. The skyline has changed quite a bit, but at least now that old question has been answered. Great video. I'm glad it's still up and glad I stumbled across it. Please leave it up.
Grew up in Huron and went to high school with the kids of guys who ran the Huletts in the 1970s. Those are long gone now. Glad I stumbled across this video.
Wow, the operator RIDES THE BUCKET!!! That blew me away. What a way to spend your work day.
I was wondering where the operator's position was.I couldn't find him...but now,on the BUCKET?!!
No windows and lots of dust! I'm amazed they stayed in service as long as they did
@@dingledooley9283 The machines or the operators?? :) (or both?)
Unforgettable video! A different perspective of the Huletts and what we lost to the wrecking ball
I think I watch this video a few times a year.. absolutely fascinating to watch these Huletts work!
Darned good video! Growing up in greater Cleveland I never photographed these. Glad you have them preserved on video.
Magnificent piece of engineering. Utterly fascinating to watch these beasts in operation. As a young boy i could have sat there and watch this for hours. It's sad that they didn't preserve one of this machines.
I watched a small documentary video on these unloaders recently and the narrator said that preservationists were trying to get the last two operational units preserved. So instead of being scrapped they reached a disassembled state and have been like that since. They've been trying for years to get them placed in an area where they can be fully assembled so people can see them. But the few museums willing to display them only want to display a single piece and not the entire units. So it's pretty much been the lack of a place to erect them. Which is understandable from the preservationists point of view as they're trying to preserve the whole thing and not just a part of it. Sadly because of how massive they are you can't just stick them anywhere. I'm not from PA so I never knew about this neat machines until recently. :)
It's incredible what man makes or does in the name (?) of progress. Staggering machines!!!! Thanks.
Thank you for documenting this bit of history. Fascinating and amazing!
Love how the cab is right above the bucket. And something about the mechanical movement is very cool looking!
Brings back memories. I worked on that boat during those times. I guess I didn't really appreciate it back then. Wish I could go back in time. I loved sailing on that straight decker, but it was hard, hot and dirty work.
The "J.L. Mauthe" still sails as the barge "Pathfinder" in combination with the Tug "Dorothy Ann" as an ATB (Articulated tug/barge) Still generating revenue for Interlake Steamship Co.
She of course has been converted to a "self unloader".
In itself, an adaptation of old tech to function with the new methods.
Glad to have this visual record of these amazing machines. They would look quite at home in the first Dune movie, with its mix of far-out fancied future machinery and the use of such archaic devises as pneumatic controls and noisily clacking relays.
Great to see video of these giant amazing machines! Incredible location for the operator, what a ride it must have been, talk about being one with the machine! Thanks for sharing.
This is great stuff just like your other one showing them in action... Thanks so much this is all from a bygone era.
Being from cleveland its really cool to see these in operation after having only seen them standing when I was young. I also like how you got a tour when they saw you standing there, now a days they would arrest you, thumbs up to you
I had permission to be there, it took a letter of introduction plus 2 releases, one from Conrail and one from Hanna Mining to be allowed to video, and then only because I was a Conrail employee.
@@fmnut well I'll be damned. I was wondering how you got so close up to begin with
This is extremely valuable video. The Whiskey Island section is wonderful and rare.
All of the boats shown are still running. First is McKee Sons, now a tug-barge, but kept its distinctive wide wheelhouse. Second looks like Algolake, still running. Third is J.L. Mauthe at Whiskey, now the barge Pathfinder. We see them all frequently.
Toledo, Ashtabula and Sandusky are active, but Conneaut is a shadow.
We will need these again some day,at least that's what I think. Ingenious engineering for the time. They will be missed.
They'll never be needed again. Ships nowadays can unload themselves.
@@blackshadow3132 True. The self unloaders are interesting too.
INCREDIBLE, ABSOULETLY INCREDIBLE!!! I wish I was old enough to remember this stuff. I grew up in Toledo and remember when my Dad would put our boat in at Point Place in Toledo. When we left the dock you had an impressive view of the Presque Isle (C&O) and Lakefront docks (B&O/NYC). I remember the Huletts but had no idea what they were then. I just remember they looked really weird. All the machines at Lakefront must have fallen in the 80's. The three coal machines at Presque lasted somewhat longer. CSX was still using number 3 machine into the 90's. It fell around 98-99 I think. I hope the folks in Cleveland go that extra mile and save at least one Hulett. Our industrial heritage deserves it. With all the automation now and sterile equipment we have, the sight of actual moving parts with guys running the equipment is impressive. Our history deserves a Hulett! Thanks for sharing, the video was a class act!!
Such a shame to lose this all to the people who are trying to kill us...
It's videos like this that make me feel I was born in the wrong decade, if not the wrong century.
The ultimate in steam-punk, come to life.
Go give daddy a hug son
An interesting piece of history. Thanks for posting it.
I have just watched this again, what an absolutely fascinating piece of footage. I am trying to imagine it all in it's hey-day, with steam locomotives dragging coal cars to the Huletts. They must have been impressive beasts to see in action...
A seventh day wonder at the time, but the bucket size and speed was surpassed by the self unloading ship. Amazing machines!
What amazing machines. I can see where Frank Hornby got his Meccano idea from ! Why is it that all the old, interesting things like these get scrapped. Huge electric motors, Big old contactors that flashed and banged, growling gears, little mining motor locos, all gone by now.
I love the sound of those old Fairbanks-Morse diesels, in the beginning. Takes me back to my childhood with my dad and pap at the railroad.
That Bessemer engine at the beginning is an EMD SD9, not an FM. Sorry. Still a 2 stroke, anyway.
I'm writing a book about a freighter that took on coal at the coal dock on the Cuyahoga River on May 17, 1920. Thank you for posting.
Grace full giants. . Amazing vid of machines now gone forever. .
Wow this is cool i remember seeing the huletts on whiskey island as a kid my grandfather was a railroader and he took me there
Wow, very cool video...I remember watching these as a kid from my parent's boat back in the 70's & 80's. Thanks for posting this!
I was so hungry and baked a pizza and right after my first bite, this video gets recommended and now I don’t have an appetite. That sound a little after the 7 minute mark sends chills down my spine. These things are massive and very ugly. I wonder who would win in a fight? God? Or a Hulett Loader. Great video. I’m very happy to stumbled on this in my automatic recommendations. Thanks for sharing!
your videos are such a treasure !!!!! to say I'm jealous is an understatement. For you to have had the privilege of being right there, watching, and recording them in action......wow. If it's allright to say, I have a number of your videos in one of my personal [private] playlists - ''Old Train Films'' - from turn of the century to late 1990's, and it's what I have on when I'm sleeping. We are all so lucky that you've been going thru your ''archives'' and downloading them here to see -- history is not lost when you and others do this. Blessings and Cheers from Connecticut !!!
There will is a man in the arm of the clamshell bucket!!!! I never new that!!!!!! Best video!!!!
What is he doing there? Is the machine operated from the arm itself?
@@xxJohnxx77 That was the operator and that's where he operated it from. Blamed interesting!
I never saw ships unloaded like that! Truly incredible!
Really. Great. The video covering the last part of this is fascinating, as is your other Hulett Unloader video. Thanks.
Watching these huge machines work is just mesmerizing.
I worked in the early 90's unloading Gypsum from ships, Our conveyor belts and tripper used 460 volts. I find it amazing that the massive Huletts ran on 250 volts.
Growing up in Lorain, Oh., just a stones throw from the Black River and the 3rd largest bascule bridge in the world. Loved seeing the lakers come in and out. A couple a day all season long feeding the giant U.S. Steel facility which employed 14,000 strong at the time. The whining of the cables unloading the ships would put me to sleep.
Very interesting video of some rather ingenious pieces of engineering. Thanks so much for sharing your videos :)
Fascinating yet creepy at the same time.
If the "Alien" built shovels...
What happened to them & why aren't they used today?
Scrapped, I imagine.
Nowadays, ships have their own unloading systems (cranes and/or conveyor belts), which made these things redundant. It's a damn shame, but that's progress for you. Large, heavy, mechanical machines were replaced by hydraulics and electronics. Pity one of these wasn't preserved, but that's a mistake of the past we can't correct. Building these required a heavy industry, which has been in decline in both America and the rest of the developed world - partly due to jobs being exported into foreign countries, and due to a decrease in demand - as never technologies replace old ones, the need to manufacture giants like these had all but disappeared. Other giants, such as large ships, oil platforms, and other industrial facilities are still needed, so it's not all completely gone, but the age of the mechanical crane is reaching its end.
SONBoomer two from a Cleveland were disassembled and saved in 2000. They have not been re-erected though.
Nice footage! I just found out about these Huletts last week, despite being a crane/ heavy equipment student for decades...It's sad that they're long gone...:(...Thanks for the upload though!
And now I know - thanks for capturing and sharing this bit of history....
Its amazing that they made these to do one job. It beads shoveling it by hand. You must have balls of steel to operate them. If one was preserved and working, it would be a scary site to see it in action in todays world.
Such good footage, the whole grand tour!
To be able to throw a BIG switch or stand back and mash a green button and hear one of these things start to turn over.........it still stands the hair up to think about it. Thanks again FM NUT!
Those Hungry-Hungry Hippos - steampunk style!
1st time I saw a hulett in action. Very neat. Thanks.
It is hard not to think of the David Plowden images of the Great Lakes ships and have a better appreciation for his photos. The dynamic that your video's give is so impressive. As a side note a PRR ore car shunter that was at the RR Museum of PA or the PA RR museum was moved to Youngstown, OH to the steel museum there. Until your video, I had only seen pics of them as well as manufacturer catalogs. To actually see one (even on video) is so neat! Keep up the great work. There is a generation coming up that needs to see stuff like this so they are hopefully more appreciative that they don't have to work as hard as these people did and in the conditions they did.
Nice video I would have loved to seen them in action in person.
Looks like something on the Death Star... dang cool machinery !!! I’m mesmerized 👍🏽
In the late 1970's after being discharged from the military I worked at The American Shipbuilding Co in Lorain Ohio as a shipfitter. I remember working on the James Barker and the George Stinson.They were 1,000 ft self unloaders that put these machines out of business.
And the"bow thrusters"put a lot of the tugs out of business.Nothing or nobody can stop progress.🗽🗽🗽
The funny thing is, the canadians are still having 'straight deckers' built in China for them for the grain trade. But they still have to run taconite to stay busy all year round. They could use those things ar their docks instead of the clam diggers. Those monsters were actually called hullets
Fascinating machines! They definitely have a steam punk quality about them.
Thank you for sharing. Very much enjoyed.👍
Incredible, beautiful industrial might! When we were great and built things. We were the envy of the world.
Awsome Awsome machines. Being a desert rat I have never seen anything like them. Thanks for sharing this.
Mike
wow that is really cool. good stuff never saw nothing like it
Amazing video
I was one of those operators
as if
bshoneyfarm Thank You For Working here
Awesome machinery I have never seen sir. Just wonder if the clam shells could rotate 90 degrees as it appears from the first images in this video? What was off-load rate?
@@samboslc not 100% sure of the unloading rate, but found some info saying 10 tons per scoop, and 275 tph. I think it later rose to 17 tons per scoop. I also read they could turn to bucket to any angle, but not sure how far clockwise they could turn until they had to turn counter-clockwise.
Back when the US was great a industrial power house now all just so much scrap metal a real shame we will never see those days again .
True story
Alao Due to lots of Corporate Greed.. cheap China pop medal (steel) and labor cost, just agreeing and adding my 2 cents . ✌ 2 all..
At the Sandusky coal dock. We lived aboard interlake steamship’s newest ore carriers over winter lay up late 1950’s thru about 1970.
I used to watch them a lot growing up in conneaut.. l miss seeing them..
I used to listen to them on calm summer night you could hear them running.
I could spend a whole day watching them work!
Saw the J L Mauthe. Many was the time was on that boat with my dad as she was being unloaded at Cleveland’s lake front doc. My oldest brother sailed on her as one of the engineers
Hello John. Great to see you here. And like you, spent time at Cleveland dock while ships unloaded. Larry Eiden
Incredible video fmnut, real heavy industry!
I remember these as a kid in Ashtabula harbor. I used to go to the look out point by the lift bridge and watch the Conrail trains get loaded.
that is amazing!! At first I thought I used to dream this but its real!! I remember seeing this as a kid ONCE in Chicago. These are the Dark Monsters I used to dream about.
Fascinating, I have downloaded a copy to my files. Thanks for sharing!
That must been fun to ride in the scoop arm.
Machinery at work! State of the Art when new!! Massive engineering achievements!!
Stunningly wonderful videos !
What a great video, thank you for sharing it.
those beasts look like something out of a steampunk fantasy movie.
Iron monsters. American ingenuity. The envy of the world.
Impressive ! Thanks for sharing this video.
This looks like it was taken on a relatively nice day. Imagine having to operate these machines in driving snow in the dead of winter.
It would sure be there all right!
I’d imagine a lot fewer ore freighters come in winter, seeing as most of this comes across dangerous waters from Lake Superior and Lake Michigan, and all the Great Lakes see substantial ice formations that prevent ship traffic for several months. Lake Superior had the notorious wreck of the _Edmund Fitzgerald_ back in the 1970s. So operating these Huletts in winter or snow would not likely have been a thing.
I would think hot, humid days of summer would be the worst. Once all that steel heated up it would stay hot in that little cab for a long time.
@@P_Rund1952 you may not have experienced the Arctic air coming in off of Lake Erie in winter. 🥶 it just goes right through you! The Lake doesn’t heat up beyond 80 degrees in late summer, so there’s a very pleasant cool lake breeze coming off of it that keeps things from getting too awful most of the time. I’m sure these guys still had to drink plenty of water to stay hydrated, and it was often pretty miserable, but those in loaders probably stayed out of the sun most of the day because the ore terminal faced north, keeping the workers in the shadows most of the day.
@@LeeHawkinsPhoto lakes close once the Soo locks are down for maintenance
Freaky looking monstrous size machines.
i'm glad to say i have seen most of these in operation myself. i used to go to the one in lorain ohio and spend hours there just watching them load the ships.
Great video. Thanks for your work to capture this. If you decided to remaster this video, can you transcribe some of the commentary that can be overheard during some parts? Thanks
The ore boat in the picture was converted into a self unloader barge , called pathfinder 3
I saw the boat come into the shipbuilders and leave as the Pathfinder.
Don Jon Shipbuilding, Erie, PA is where it was done
I saw both the Huletts and the coal dumpers when working on the ore boats in the 1970s. To me the Huletts looked like giant mechanical flies. I wonder if there are movies online showing the coal dumpers. It was amazing to watch the movements of the hopper cars up the ramp, lifted and dumped and running down the ramp on the other side. There are videos of working model coal dumpers online. Shorty parker's ho scale coal dumper for one and McMyler coal dumper as seen in model railroader.
See my video "Reading Marine Facilities Remastered" for a good look at the old style (pre-rotary) car dumper.
@@fmnut
Thank you
For those still interested in reading up on the Huletts, I found the Cleveland State Univ Libraries sites: www.clevelandmemory.org/glihc/hulett/index.html and www.clevelandmemory.org/glihc/articles/sia.html
***** Thanks for "preserving" at least this video of the unloaders in action. I only now have become aware of the magnificent machines 100 years+ after their invention and implementation.
Trivia: The operators that actually road along on the machine to operate it were named "ore hogs". HA, ok.
The little electric pusher trains were called "tenders" and were powered by a 3rd rail in between the other tracks. Specifically made for this task of "shunt tending". Even more cool!
+Ji Fi-01 (Jif) At the C&P dock they were known as "shunts".
they look like giant dinosaurs picking at a dead carcass , like they are alive and very dangerous to go any were near . a fantastic machine that should be rebuilt and kept in running condition before all the men that worked on them are dead.
I fell asleep three times watching this.
Coffee is good for that.
Great Video, thanks for making it!!
I re watched this video like 10 times
I want to see more
Yeah,realistically you right. I just really admire the engineering of the day.
I remember seeing these on the Des Plains North Branch & South Side Shuffle in the 80-90s & didn't know what they were
That's a mechanical beast for only one scoop at a time.
It reminds me of the 1950s film 'The War of the Worlds'. Clanking great monsters from yesteryear.
I got to get a full tour of the car dumper at Sandusky while it was in operation, pretty neat.
My Grandpa Frye worked at the Lower lakes coal dock in Sandusky for about 35 years
This was way before one of our freighter ships have boom conveyors that's been installed onto them to unload their own load.
damn. never expected that the operator would be at the bucket end!
Yes. Since the bucket was "steerable", he had to be in a position to see exactly where he was putting it.