The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1888-04-12
A GREAT ENGINEERING FEAT.
Successful Removal of Huge Building
Driving Locomotives Tandem.
Baltimore Sun


One of the most remarkable feasts in
engineering is the removal, now in
progress, of the Brighton Beach Hotel,
on Coney Island. For some years past
the sea had been steadily encroaching
ON the land in front of the hotel until
bv the heavy storms last fall the shore
was so entirely eaten away that the
piles on which the hotel was built were
exposed, and doubt Wa: expressed as to
whether the huge building would sur
vive the winter. How to secure it from
wreck, if that were possible, and to
move it bodily inland distance Of five
hundred feet from its present site was
the problem to be solved. A contractor
was found who, for the sum Of twenty
thousand dollars, undertook the work
of removal. The building IS four hum
dred and sixty feet long, with an aver
age depth Of one hundred and seventy
feet. Its estimated weight is five thous-
and tons, or ten millions of pounds, If
it had been a compact mass, covering a
c0nparatively small area, thework of re-
mOval, with the engineering appliances
of the day, would have been an ordi-
nary undertaking; utspread as it was
over surface of four hundred and sixty
feet, cut up in the interior into multi
tude of compartments, aud rising to
the height of three and half stories,
exclusive of five towers, in which the
building is carried story higher, the
difficulties Of moving it intact to the
new site on which it is to stand will be
readily comprehended. The first thing
that was done preparatory to removal
was to raise the entire structure IN the
air by series Of jackscrews, and when
Il sufficient height was attained to lay
beneath the building twenty-four rail-
road tracks, having on them one hun
drpd and twelve platform cars. When
this was done the jackscrews were set to
work again at lowering the building
until it rested on the flat surfaces OF the
cars This having been successfully ac-
complished, the question then arose as
to the way in which the building could
he moved to its new site with perfect
regularity Of motion and evennesS in
I'LL its parts. The plan adopted was to
place six locomotives ninety feet apart
ON the rails connecting outside with
the track under the building, in two
sets of three each. From these two sets
Of locomotives, placed in front of each
other, and each set carrying one-half OF
the hotel, two radiating lines Of cable,
spread out in the form OF fan, were
carried to every other platform car
bearing the building, and returned
thence to immense pulley blocks an
chored to the rails in the open and
weighted down. The work of the loco
motives was not to draw the twenty
four cars bearing the hotel, as it were,
bodily, but to bring all their strain
upon the blocks and tackles which
were, so to speak, the moving power. 1t
is obvious that spread out as these ca
bles were in the form Of fan, they
were of uneven length, and the doubt
expressed by engineers who were on
the ground watching the operations
was as to the effect of the strain OF the
pull on ropes of different lengths. 1t
is plain, it was said, that a rope run
ming directly from the centre of the
building to the locomotives must be UNI
der less tendency to stretch than one
running from remote corner. An un-
equal stretching Of the ropes would in
evitably tend to pull the middle of the
hotel faster than the ends, and thus
bring danger of a collapse. This dan
ger was obviated by short hauls and
Shifting the tackle. There was also
danger that the pull Of the locomotives
would not be simultaneous, or that the
cars bearing the main towers would
break down from overweight, but
nothing of the kind occurred on Tues
.y,N|
back steadily, and on an even line, one
hundred and fourteen feet without
starting a fastening, bulging a corner
or losing piece of plastering, and if
the rest of the journey to the rear be as
successful it will be another triumph
of American engineering.