Erie Canal Lock Refurbished With Help From Two Link-Belt Cranes

---

The 248 HYLAB 5 removed the 100,000-pound lock gates for repairs and lifted them back into position. (Photo courtesy of Link-Belt.)

Work on the Erie Canal typically requires the use boats rather than cranes, but when repairing Erie Canal Lock E-7, two Link-Belt cranes were recently used around and inside the canal structure to refurbish components like the valves, gates, and electrical and concrete basin. Link-Belt’s 200-ton (181-metric-ton) 248 HYLAB 5 lattice boom crawler crane was lowered into the dry lock by the 275-t (250-mt) Link-Belt ATC-3275 all-terrain crane. The repairs, which were finalized in May prior to navigation season, performed by the 248 HYLAB 5 crane included lifting, removing, and positioning the 100,000-pound (45,359-kilogram) lock gates for repairs.

Lowering The Boom & Everything Else

Civil construction group D.A. Collins used the Link-Belt ATC-3275 to lower everything the 248 HYLAB needed for the repair, including timber planks and the crane’s tracks, carbody, and lattice boom sections. The reach (223 feet, 67.9 meters) and lift capabilities of the ATC-3275 proved useful for anything beyond the perimeter of the lock, as well.

“This was the first time we had lifted our 248 into and out of a lock, so we communicated with our Link-Belt dealer, CRW Corp. of Williston, Vermont, to get correct information on the lifting points and recommended rigging needed to lift the house of the crane (main transport load) properly,” says D.A. Collins crane operator Bill Staley.

---

Link-Belt’s 248 HYLAB 5 lattice crawler crane worked in the dry lock, while a Link-Belt ATC-3275 was used to lower and lift equipment in and out of the lock. (Photo courtesy of Link-Belt.)

Working In The Dry Lock

D.A. Collins equipped the 248 HYLAB 5 with a 90-ft (27.4-m) boom, which provided the necessary reach in the dry chamber to support the proper gate motion when they were lifted and moved for repairs. The crane itself was placed on Flexifloat barges covered in timber planks and steel ramps that allowed the 248 HYLAB 5 to navigate in the dry lock’s base.

Source: Link-Belt