Industrial swan song

In a manner of speaking, scrap recyclers always are processing pieces of history. Every item that passes through their yards has served a previous purpose, perhaps on its own, often as a part of something bigger, and almost always without the processor’s knowledge of that previous life.

At times, however, a project comes about that warrants extra attention. Such was the case when Cleveland-based Northern Ohio Scrap Services won the bid to process a bit of the city’s industrial history.

At a site called Whiskey Island on the Lake Erie waterfront, a powerful GXT 995R shear from Superior, Wisconsin-based Genesis Attachments LLC helped the company process a pair of Huletts, massive machines once used to off-load iron ore from Great Lakes freighters.

For the Rosenberg family, Northern Ohio Scrap’s owners, it was a rare chance to use modern technology to bring a chapter of the city’s storied industrial history to a close.

Historical game-changer

By the mid-1800s, Cleveland had established itself as a key port for the intake of iron ore needed to feed the nation’s ever-growing steel industry. Off-loading the ships, however, was a laborious process, generally taking 100 people using shovels and wheelbarrows 12 hours to unload 5,000 tons of ore.

Enter George Hulett, a forwardthinking, Ohio-based inventor whose patented design for the Hulett Ore Unloader used cantilevered arms and massive buckets to automate and streamline process of unloading the freighters.

With a single pass, each 100-foot-tall, 800-ton machine was capable of moving up to 17 tons of iron ore, coal or limestone from a ship’s cargo hold into waiting rail cars. This reduced the time needed to empty a typical 600-foot freighter from one week to just half a day. With 14 Huletts dotting its waterfront, Cleveland quickly became a world leader in steel production.

By the late 1980s, however, Great Lakes freighters had transitioned to a self-unloading design, making the Huletts all but obsolete. The last four Hulett Ore Unloaders at the Cleveland Bulk Terminal on Whiskey Island were idled at the end of the 1992 shipping season. Two were immediately dismantled and sold for scrap. The remaining two were stored for possible sale and reassembly; but, after more than 25 years of debate about cost and feasibility, a decision was made to scrap the remaining pair of machines, a task that fell to the Rosenbergs’ company.

No small deal

To dispel any notion that a Hulett is a simple piece of machinery—and that this has been a simple demolition effort—a bit of description is in order. Each unit consisted of six major components: a 480-ton gantry, which sat on railroad tracks and allowed the Hulett to move horizontally; a trolley, which weighed 150 tons and moved laterally to and from the ship’s hold; a 150-ton walking beam; a 25-ton tail piece; a boom brace that weighed 25 tons; and a 50-ton bucket arm, which, in operation, actually went down into the cargo hold.

“There were other separate components on-site which had to be dealt with,” says Matan Rosenberg, the operator heading up the dismantling effort. “For example, there was a ‘larry car’ into which the ore was dumped prior to loadout, as well as a pair of small electric locomotives that we are trying to see if we can save.”

Those massive sizes drove the decision to go with the Genesis 995R, a 20,000-pound shear with a 39-inch jaw opening and a reach in excess of 14 feet. Matan says every individual component was so large it was impossible to be moved whole.

“In order to deal with literally anything, we had to cut pieces up in place until we could get it small enough to drag it out and really begin work on it,” he says. “While that added to the difficulty, it also reinforced our choice of the larger shear and the Doosan 530 we have it mounted on. We use both at our yard and know their capabilities.”

YouTubing it

With decades of scrap processing experience under their belts, the Rosenbergs appreciate that preparation is key for any systematic dismantling effort. Addressing the Huletts was no exception. Prior to starting the project, Matan says he and other family members watched YouTube videos of the units when they were still in action around the country. At one point, as many as 77 Huletts were at work around the Great Lakes—14 in Cleveland alone.

“The videos really helped us better understand how they worked and formulate something of a game plan for the demo,” Matan says. “Our entire family really likes machines, so this was right up our alley. As we saw the Huletts moving and the functions they performed, it helped me know better where to make cuts, where to tear a section, etc.”

Even after the project started, Matan said he went back and rewatched some of the videos to understand where each piece was riveted or bolted together and to identify any weak spots.

“There weren’t many,” he says. “In fact, there are laminations consisting of as many as six layers of half-inch steel, so we’re sometimes facing steel that’s 3 inches thick. That was a real test for the power of the shear, and it came through nicely.”

Planned to perfection

In the name of “good prep,” Northern Ohio Scrap capitalized on a short window in which asbestos—primarily found in electrical components—was abated. Matan says the timing of the abatement process could not have been better.

“Because we knew the tight Whiskey Island worksite would force us to process some extremely heavy steel at the outset—material that is tough on blades—we brought the shear here with heavily worn blades and did that work,” he says. “Then, we used the asbestos period to change blades, maximizing the shear’s cutting power for the larger main components.”

The logistical challenges Matan faced on a daily basis were vexing—the walking beam mentioned previously is just one example. Its location beneath the arched profile of each gantry made accessing it extremely challenging.

“Because of where it was situated, the only way I could really get to it was to use every inch of that 14-foot reach, then repeatedly nibble at it until it was light enough to be dragged out,” he says. “Each walking beam took maybe a day or a day and a half to initially downsize, drag out and finish cutting up. With those gone, we sheared the boom braces and some other components, which then gave us the room we needed to drop a gantry, really opening up the site for us.”

Family effort

Matan used the shear for equal parts cutting and ripping, but it all was skilled processing. “Some of the material … could be pulled until I could get it into small enough pieces to cut,” he says. “But a lot of it was very straightforward cutting, which is right in the 995’s wheelhouse.”

Much of what Matan was processing was cut to a size that will fit into a trailer and hauled to the company’s yard, 15 minutes from the Whiskey Island site. There, it was further downsized by Ben Rosenberg, Matan’s brother, using a Genesis 995R. However, if the yard was extremely busy, Matan would start the downsizing effort at the site.

“If we needed material for Ben to cut, then I would just rip it down and get it small enough to go into a trailer and get it to them,” Matan says. “But if they’re busy—and they are often very busy—I would take what I cut down to prepared size. We had that flexibility, and it worked out well.”

Putting it in perspective

The Rosenberg brothers’ shear skills notwithstanding, some material would be torched upon its arrival at the Cleveland yard, including axles from the trolley’s wheel sets and pieces that are heavy cast. However, most of the Huletts would go through the jaws of a 995R in one way or another, yielding an impressive 1,600 tons of scrap—or roughly 10 times the weight of the Statue of Liberty.

“It’s been great to work with The Port of Cleveland, and anytime you can be shearing on the Cleveland lakefront in summer, it’s not a bad day,” Matan says. “The Huletts were a challenge but, as a company, we tend to excel at those kinds of projects—we’ve already dismantled several massive tunnel boring projects.

“But this one was special because it was a part of local history, it showcased our expertise, and it allowed the equipment we used to shine. The fact that we will be able to have one of the Hulett’s loading arms featured prominently at our new facility is just icing on the cake.”

Larry Trojak is the owner and president of Trojak Communications. This article was submitted on behalf of Genesis Attachments LLC.