Time flies! Clock face falls from crane, strikes two workers - No injuries? 3

[Spartan5]

It appears the 160' tall tower is only 23 years old.

Story:

https://www.jconline.com/story/news/2018/11/28/purdue-bell-tower-clock-crashes-ground/2137925002/

Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3khIRCssx1g

 

[RickyTickyTavi]

haha, Boiler up.

Saw that earlier today, didnt think to put it here.

There was a second photo on reddit yesterday showing pretty severely sun-bleached clock hands. I imagine that they were doing maintenance.

 

[msquared48]

Well, Purdue has had it's clock cleaned several times this year.

This is no surprise.

Mike McCann, PE, SE (WA)

 

[TomBarsh]

"The Clock struck two"

 

[kjoiner]

Here's the culprit.

 

[byrdj]

I cringe when I see vids of rigging failures (no matter if small loads)

the other safety observation besides the loss of the load was the workers were under the load when it fail.

this is the old face from reddit. can't make out how the face is attached to the cable.

 

[JAE]

That clock face is so similar to the "Back To The Future" clock it's amazing.

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[JStephen]

I guess they were sad when their face fell.

"Her face has fallen arches. It hangs just like a sack. She'd like to have it lifted, but she doesn't have the jack."- Homer and Jethro.

Come to think of it, I've heard that song since I was a kid, and never dawned on me that jack is slang for money, so a good pun was wasted on me there.

 

[RickyTickyTavi]

Maybe I'm acutely aware of any movement when I'm on an aeriel lift, but I'm surprised how little that thing moved when the clock face hit it. I was on 100' articulating lift a few weeks ago and I felt like it would move 1-2' everytime we boomed to a new spot.

 

[CWB1]

I'm not surprised when anything happens to that clock tower. The tower has fallen over in heavy winds twice already, this is the third tower and its had so many other issues over the years it has started its own myth - "walk under the clock tower and you wont graduate." Rather ironic to see such a thing at the central landmark of an engineering school.

 

[TomBarsh]

I just watched the video and feel guilty now for making light (above) of the situation for the two workers. It took me several times viewing (projected on my large television screen) to finally comprehend that there was that bucket lift with some workers on it, below the lifting crane. You can see their platform (them?) get struck by the clock face. Hopefully they are okay.

The sensation of realization was a bit like when I watched live news videos of the 1988 earthquake in San Francisco and realized that what I was seeing was double-deck highways that had collapsed. ...then realizing the cost in human lives could be very high; fortunately there were not many fatalities (any?) in that event.

 

[JAE]

The article said there were no injuries.

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[RickyTickyTavi]

CWB1,

Thats not quite correct. The first tower, which was built in a different part of the campus as a part of Heavilon hall. It burned down 4 days after completion of construction in 1894. The university raised funds to build a new building "one brick higher" (which is used in marketing even now for the university). The 2nd tower, seen below, lasted from 1895 to 1954. The 1954 building was demolished and replaced with a building of the same name (that exists today). There was no bell tower on the Purdue Campus until 1995. The belltower in the video was constructed in 1995, but the bells themselves (which are not really functional) are from the 1894 bell tower. The current iteration for the tower utilize electronic clappers for the chimes.

I graduated Purdue in 2008 and we actually did "wind calcs" as a practice problem on that belltower. I'm sure I did it wrong at the time, but it was a sort of interesting homework problem. I also used to (and still do) have a thing for the architecture and history of university buildings, including Purdue.

 

[EdStainless]

CWB1, ever since they took the old one down the new versions have been designed by architects not engineers.

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P.E. Metallurgy, Plymouth Tube

 

[JohnRBaker]

On my school's campus, Michigan Technological University, we also had some great looking old buildings that eventually fell to the wrecking ball. The first building of what was then known the Michigan Mining School was constructed in 1889:

The image below was taken just before they demolished the building. The modern high-rise to the right was the new Chem-Bio building, which basically replaced Hubbell Hall, on the left. I had only one class in the building my freshman year (1965/66), a chemistry lab, on one of the upper floors where the walls had cracks in them so large you could see the outdoors and the cold wind would blow thru (the school is located in Michigan's Upper Peninsula near the shores of Lake Superior).

September 1968 (Minolta SR-1)

Less than a month later, they had pretty much taken the building down.

September 1968 (Minolta SR-1)

While we never had an actual bell tower on campus, when they opened the new Library building in 1966, it included a modern electronic carillon which chimed the hours as well as being available for being played using an organ/piano-like keyboard located in the Library building.

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
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The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

 

[charliealphabravo]

I cringe when I see vids of rigging failures (no matter if small loads)

I had to inspect this metal grain bin that had reportedly been damaged by wind while it was being lifted off its foundation for relocation. Upon closer inspection it became evident that they had lifted the entire structure by straps looped through the internal wind rings--all light gauge metal and a few screws--and the bin had just pulled free and dropped to the ground.

 

[BridgeSmith]

"CWB1, ever since they took the old one down the new versions have been designed by architects not engineers."

As with most architectural structures, the architectural design (shape, size, features, finish, etc.) was likely done by an architect. The structural design, by law, would be the responsibility of the licensed engineer whose seal and signature are on the structural plans. Engineers are allowed to do architectural design, but architects are not allowed to do structural design, unless they happen to be a licensed engineer also.

 

[charliealphabravo]

...but architects are not allowed to do structural design, unless they happen to be a licensed engineer also.

I don't think that is true in Florida. There is parity in the language of both regulations that one is allowed to do "incidental" work in the other.

I think the judges have basically ruled that one is the same as the other where expertise can be demonstrated. Granted it might be a rare architectural bird that can do the structural design for a 3-story clock tower. There might also be restrictions for threshold buildings but I don't know where that language is.

 

[msquared48]

In WA, Architects can do minor structural design if they are comfortable with doing that, but most don't. Primarily simple beams and footings. No lateral.

Mike McCann, PE, SE (WA)

 

[MacGyverS2000]

Boilermaker from '03, myself (though I didn't see campus after '00 until I flew back to defend)... we hid the clock tower behind all of the engineering buildings (we put it close to the school of music ;-) ).

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com