Opinion ID: 1594315
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Overhead Rail Crane

Text: The overhead rail crane was sold to Oglebay Norton under a proposal dated April 28, 1964, and was shipped to the Thunderbird Mine facility on December 23, 1964. The purchase documents required the crane to be erected by Oglebay Norton. On June 8-10, 1965, an employee of Harnischfeger performed a final checkout of the installation. The overhead rail crane had a shipping weight of 71 tons and a cost at the time of purchase of $80,955. The crane can be dismantled without destroying or tearing down the crusher building. Cranes similar to the one at issue in these cases have been relocated. The crane is listed as production equipment on Oglebay Norton's fixed equipment list. The crane is connected to the crusher building by means of its rail transport system. A system of catwalks and platforms has been erected within the crusher building to facilitate use and maintenance of the crane. These catwalks and platforms are incorporated into the building's design. There are two hoist mechanisms on the crane. The main hoist has a lifting distance of 113 feet and a lifting capacity of 80 tons. The auxiliary hoist has a lifting distance of 150 feet and a lifting capacity of 15 tons. The crane is equipped with two limit switches designed to prevent overtravel when hoisting, the geared limit switch and the HB limit switch. The limit switches stop the hoisting action of the crane, thus establishing an upper limit for load block travel. The geared limit switch would normally be activated before the HB limit switch. At the time of the accident, only the HB limit switch was operational. The geared limit switch had been disconnected about ten years earlier by employees of Oglebay Norton because of problems experienced with its use. Oglebay Norton did not have a continuing maintenance or inspection contract with Harnischfeger. Rather, Harnischfeger provided assistance to Oglebay Norton as needed and when called. On those occasions, Harnischfeger's service representative conducted inspections and submitted field service reports making recommendatons to Oglebay Norton. Oglebay Norton was then free to perform the recommended work itself or to request assistance from Harnischfeger. In November 1984, Oglebay Norton requested that Harnischfeger send a service representative to its facility. The request was made because Oglebay Norton had experienced a bearing problem on a drum that is part of the small hook. [2] The crane inspection report indicated that the service representative had adjusted a component of the brakes. His report noted that the condition of the limit switches was o.k. and that the general condition of the crane was satisfactory.