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Coke-in-MN 
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Joined: 12 Sep 2009
Location: Afton MN
Points: 41567
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 Topic: AC and Panama Canal
Posted: 11 Jan 2010 at 11:20pm |
Hi there. I am an archaeologist working for the Panama Canal Expansion Project, and we have just found the remains of a huge stone crusher complex with the Allis-Chalmers branding all over. We think it was built during 1939-1942, when the American government decided to widen the Panama Canal, because the machinery is sited right next to one of the ditches they dug.
I was wondering if there was possible access the Allis-Chalmers archives to see if the architectural or engineering plans or blueprints for this site still exist. We want to document it as thoroughly as we can, before the Canal expansion goes ahead.
Thanks so much for any help you could give me. My emails are
tomas_mendizabal@yahoo.com
or
Seen this in another post in help section and figured i would repost here
Coke
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Faith isn't a jump in the dark. It is a walk in the light. Faith is not guessing; it is knowing something.
"Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful."
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ChuckLuedtkeSEWI
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Joined: 11 Sep 2009
Location: Jackson, WI
Points: 1826
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Posted: 12 Jan 2010 at 6:07am |
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Coke, the division that built all the crushers was up in Appleton WI area and I believe has survived but been taken over by another company. My wife works at an aggregate quarry; I'll ask her if she knows the current company that took that AC division over. It might be a good place for him to start.
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Calvin Schmidt
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Joined: 11 Sep 2009
Location: Ontario Can.
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Posted: 14 Jan 2010 at 10:27am |
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I may be able to help. We are going to Panama on the 25th for a weeks holiday.
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Calvin Schmidt
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Location: Ontario Can.
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Posted: 23 Jan 2010 at 7:36pm |
Got an email from Tomas today. We will be getting together next week in Panama.
We can't visit the site but he has lots of pictures. I'll post the report in about 10 days.
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Kcgrain
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Joined: 24 Sep 2009
Location: Wisconsin
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Posted: 24 Jan 2010 at 10:13am |
I lived in Appleton, for 20 years small crushers and portable screens were made there, large crushers were built in West Allis,
(the only place in north America with machine tools big enough to do such a project) when Allis Chalmers went out of business the crushers built in Appleton were sold to a swedish firm Svedalia, even though the crusher was still an Allis Chalmers sales dropped to nearly nothing, they than rebadged the line Svedalia-Allis some interest, than was rebadged again to Allis, but by than the gig was up and Svedalia went back to Sweden, as far as I know the AC line of crushers stopped, maybe they took the line back to Sweden and still build the exact unit, but I doubt it. The large crushers that were built in West Allis ceased to exist when Allis Chalmers closed, the large mills ,lathes etc were all sold on auction, some of the large machine tools are in the York PA plant, where the hydo equipment was built, and still is, but to my knowlege no crushing equipment was made in York.
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HD6GTOM
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Joined: 30 Nov 2009
Location: MADISON CO IA
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Posted: 24 Jan 2010 at 3:55pm |
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If there is any chance of pictures PLEASE post them, for those of us stuck up here in the snow, THANKS
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MilesGray (CO/KS)
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Joined: 13 Sep 2009
Location: CO/KS
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Posted: 25 Jan 2010 at 1:29am |
http://www.czbrats.com/Builders/100years/rockscement.htm
Just a little information on the Crushers used in the building of the Canal.
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Miles Gray (CO/KS)
5 1938 B's, 1940 B, 1944 WF C, 1948 NF C, Gleaner A, White Top Rotobaler, 1957 IH Golden Jubilee... I'm either a collector, or crazy!
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MilesGray (CO/KS)
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Joined: 13 Sep 2009
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Posted: 25 Jan 2010 at 1:31am |
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Main shaft for crushing plant at Porto Bello.
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Stone Breaker
(Photos supplied by the Allis-Chalmers Company, Milwaukee, Wis.)
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Miles Gray (CO/KS)
5 1938 B's, 1940 B, 1944 WF C, 1948 NF C, Gleaner A, White Top Rotobaler, 1957 IH Golden Jubilee... I'm either a collector, or crazy!
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Byron WC in SW Wi
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Joined: 11 Sep 2009
Location: Wisconsin
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Posted: 26 Jan 2010 at 3:14pm |
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My goodness. How would you like to be next to that baby when it was running?
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LouSWPA
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Joined: 11 Sep 2009
Location: Clinton, Pa
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Posted: 26 Jan 2010 at 3:29pm |
 Byron WC in SW Wi wrote:
My goodness. How would you like to be next to that baby when it was running? |
No thanks! LOL
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Rick of HopeIN
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Joined: 11 Sep 2009
Location: Hope, Indiana
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Posted: 26 Jan 2010 at 5:38pm |
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I wonder if someone had to drive a little railcar mover across that open mouth. Looks like the tracks ran across it and they tipped cars into it.
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Coke-in-MN
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Joined: 12 Sep 2009
Location: Afton MN
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Posted: 26 Jan 2010 at 8:40pm |
one of the first things they did was build a narrow gaughe rail line coast to coast, also used narrow line in cut to move material .
If you want some history and lot of information read the book Paths Between the Sea by David McCullough
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Faith isn't a jump in the dark. It is a walk in the light. Faith is not guessing; it is knowing something.
"Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful."
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JeffHillNC
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Joined: 12 Sep 2009
Location: maysville, NC
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Posted: 26 Jan 2010 at 10:09pm |
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Up until about 8 years ago our local Martin Meriatta stone quarry in belgrade had a 42in allis chalmers jaw crusher. When I worked at the old New Bern quarry I got pulled into helping do a bearing job on it, apparently it had been installed in the 50's when the quarry was superior stone co. As we were disassembling the old new bern plant we also ran across 5 or 6 allis chalmers electric motors that worked but were sent to scrap what a waste.
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DMiller
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Joined: 14 Sep 2009
Location: Hermann, Mo
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Posted: 30 Jan 2010 at 2:33pm |
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We still use 3 AC electrical motors built in the seventies, 3000shp three phase 4160v for our condensate pumps, continuous duty motors drawing 300 amps. Great equipment as a replacement from another manufacturer is a quarter size larger and is the current smallest available motor.
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Richard Slaughter
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Joined: 21 Oct 2009
Location: Columbus In.
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Posted: 31 Jan 2010 at 9:02pm |
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May be a little bit off subject,but home we live in belonged to a lawyer who was commisary manager on building the original canal. i have maps and journal as well as pictures of big 4 tractors that did grading and other work on canal. His 2 daughters went to American school in Panama canal zone during this time.
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Calvin Schmidt
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Joined: 11 Sep 2009
Location: Ontario Can.
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Posted: 05 Feb 2010 at 1:25pm |
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I met with Tomas Mendizabal in Panama last week. He is a very interesting young guy working on a fantastic project. I was able to help him to identify the Allis-Chalmers crusher as a "Blake type" jaw crusher and not the Hydracone type that I expected to see. I have pictures amd map but he asked that they be confidential until he files his report and it becomes public domain. Since the project was cancelled in 1942 long before concrete would have been needed, it appears that the crusher installation was never completed and therefore the crusher has very likely never been run. The new third lane and locks that are being constructed now are in the same location as was started in 1939, however the locks will be longer and wider than the 1939 plan makeing it necessary to destroy this crusher installation site. They hope to have the new lane operational by 2014. The new locks will be 1400' x 160' as compared to the existing locks that are 1000' x 110'. They are also hoping to increase the draft from 45' to 60'.
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Coke-in-MN
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Joined: 12 Sep 2009
Location: Afton MN
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Posted: 06 Feb 2010 at 9:16am |
The present locks were set to the width to accommodate the largest warships the US had at the time with some room to spare . Later all battleships were limited to the width of the canal locks.
Modern carriers are both to long and to wide to fit through the present canal, so the trip around the horn or sailing west to circumnavigate to globe is the only option.
Glad the fellow was helped , just shows the information that is known by the great people on this site.
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Faith isn't a jump in the dark. It is a walk in the light. Faith is not guessing; it is knowing something.
"Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful."
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