Overhead track installation 1890's

[Jd755]

From here PHOTO - CHICAGO - ELEVATED - UNDER CONSTRUCTION - EARLY 1890s - READY FOR 1893 WORLD'S FAIR

It is often argued "Horses and carts didn't built this/" well here is a superb example of man, horse and cart working in conjunction with a temporary machine to show just how naive that argument is.
The machine is a travelling crane which is made from wood and steel and it travels along the rails as the overhead track progresses through the street constructing the next section its going to travel on. Once complete all traces of the clever machine vanish as it is dismantled save for photographs we would have no idea "how" it was done. Once such common sense solutions are accepted and applied to other constructions many remain mystery no more.

Just found this site. How Chicago's Loop came to be
Which carries a much larger image. https://arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tronc.s3.amazonaws.com/public/FMF24MONTRDCPKJMBX26TUNUGM.jpg

 

[wommak]

From here PHOTO - CHICAGO - ELEVATED - UNDER CONSTRUCTION - EARLY 1890s - READY FOR 1893 WORLD'S FAIR

View attachment 29967​

It is often argued "Horses and carts didn't built this/" well here is a superb example of man, horse and cart working in conjunction with a temporary machine to show just how naive that argument is.
The machine is a travelling crane which is made from wood and steel and it travels along the rails as the overhead track progresses through the street constructing the next section its going to travel on. Once complete all traces of the clever machine vanish as it is dismantled save for photographs we would have no idea "how" it was done. Once such common sense solutions are accepted and applied to other constructions many remain mystery no more.

Just found this site. How Chicago's Loop came to be
Which carries a much larger image. https://arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tronc.s3.amazonaws.com/public/FMF24MONTRDCPKJMBX26TUNUGM.jpg

View attachment 29968​

I can't help myself to say those two look cut and glued in.

And why I am seeing a double barrel here?

What the? Clumsy cut and glue artist? By the closer look this picture looks doggy to me. Does not mean that it cannot be constructed by crane and cart.

 

[Jd755]

I can't help myself to say those two look cut and glued in.

View attachment 29991​

And why I am seeing a double barrel here?

View attachment 29992​

What the? Clumsy cut and glue artist? By the closer look this picture looks doggy to me. Does not mean that it cannot be constructed.

What do you think the point of post processing fiddling with this image would be?
I can wander off topic in my own thread I hope!

 

[wommak]

What do you think the point of post processing fiddling with this image would be?
I can wander off topic in my own thread I hope!

That is the right question. Myself? No idea. One could assume to obscure history?
Fact is it has been constructed, not gonna argue with that. Showed gun to my missus, she said it could be gunsmith there
For me I would dissmis this photo as valid evidence to anything except trolling or cut glue artist, confusion, shitstirring. I am more and more sceptic to anything nowdays, especially when it's claimed to be from past.

I am gonnna look at this website with photos right now, maybe more clues. Interesting find jd755

 

[Jd755]

Thanks. Sceptic has become my middle name. That said I cannot see any purpose in fiddling with this photo either when it was processed or when it was digitised.

I found a couple of pile drivers putting in trestle bridges. These steam powered machines were assembled on site, used for the job and then disassembled and taken away.
From here The Cedar River logging trestle, 203 feet high & 843 feet long, in Washington State, ca. 1917

The Cedar River logging trestle, 203 feet high & 843 feet long, in Washington State, ca. 1917​

From here Construction crew with pile driver and railroad trestle under construction, Saginaw Timber Company, possibly in Grays Harbor County, Washington, between 1909 and 1934

Construction crew with pile driver and railroad trestle under construction, Saginaw Timber Company, possibly in Grays Harbor County, Washington, between 1909 and 1934​

 

[sekito]

What do you think the point of post processing fiddling with this image would be?

That said I cannot see any purpose in fiddling with this photo either when it was processed or when it was digitised.

I have already gave up trying to figure out "why" lies are sold to the public. One will have to accept that we will never know: not even if someone "in-the-know" came forward and exposed "everything", because we can never ascertain if they are being completely honest or of it is just a limited hangout; or maybe they themselves was sold a lie.

That being said, not knowing WHY does not prevent us from figuring out whether something is true, or at least probable. For example, modern science cannot explain why the Sun has an 11-year cycle, but that the Sun cycle exists has been largely accepted.

I agree with @wommak the first photo seems manipulated: if one focus on the two men standing on top of the structure, it would seem the whole contraption is on a different layer than the background (buildings) layer.

I also noticed the advertisement banner closer to the camera seems cut off for no reason.

There is a fine distinction between what is "possible" and what is "probable". Anything with a probability larger than 0, say 0.000000000001 is "possible". It doesn't mean it makes sense.

Once such common sense solutions are accepted and applied to other constructions many remain mystery no more

That there exists a machine or "technology" (of sorts) for constructing so-and-so only makes the construction "possible", but the question is open as to whether it is "probable". Other considerations such as time, manpower, availability of materials, transport of materials, the presence of a community that supports the construction industry etc. has to be evaluated as well.

 

[Jd755]

Just to nail the photo manipulation aspect. We here consult digital scans. The very process of substituting grains for squares (pixels) reduces clarity. Detail is the loser in these digitisations.
I have gone through countless photos on here, had my ignorance shown for what it is by timeshifter, who teaches photography and I am grateful for that.
Frankly unless there is some photo realistic drawings evident in the image I am beyond looking for manipulation. Only the original viewed in person with a magnifying glass in hand can reveal the manipulation be it in post processing of the film or post scan processing.
In this particular photo, I am guessing the others pass whatever 'fake filter' one carries within, there is no purpose to layering in those two men that I can think of.

As to the machine itself either you think it wasn't built and used as shown or you do. What I am doing with this thread is to document these build it, use it, dismantle it, machines through the photographic evidence for their existence.

So please any further speculation on these and subsequent images take it into a thread of your own where such speculation can be discussed by interested parties.

And next up is this magificent behemoth of a machine used to buld a breakwater in New Zealand in 1899.
https://natlib.govt.nz/records/23145713

 

[jeenam]

"the clever machine"

For those who have been on a construction site using cranes, I wouldn't describe the crane design as 'clever'. Modern cranes work the same way. As most are aware, one of the biggest fallacies is that humans are smarter, or somehow more advanced today than they were in the past. A couple hundred years, or even thousands of years ago, humans had the same cranial capacity. They were just as, if not, more intelligent than we are today.

I theorize that if we want to make ourselves more advanced from a brain-capability standpoint, we'll be genetically programming modifications to the neocortex to either add, augment or enhance existing capabilities. Think of a computer motherboard that can have additional devices plugged into it to add functionality. Akin to an SoC (System on Chip), our brains will be enhanced in a similar manner. Now if we only understood how to truly code DNA, as opposed to the blind hack job editing we currently implement. Perhaps we should look to the iChing for hints.

 

[Jd755]

"the clever machine"

For those who have been on a construction site using cranes, I wouldn't describe the crane design as 'clever'.

Perhaps we should look to the iChing for hints.

I have almost two decades of working with, around, on cranes so feel pretty sure I can say with conviction the op travelling crane is clever as in fact are all the other machines in the thread.
Having been born before the silicon chip I can also say it would never be built in today's risk averse 'everything solved by the device in hand' world. Innovation has been regulated out over my lifetime.

Your i-ching theorising thread is here Alternative Mega Theories

Now here's another machine. Very simple machine this time. One whose assembly and use solves all sorts of real world problems.
The Bosuns chair.

​

From here
Life as a Lighthouse Keeper’s Wife on South Solitary Island - Our stories

From here
GPO - OVERHEAD CONSTRUCTION - AERIAL CABLE - CANTENARY WIRE

A truly simple and effective machine that is portable. That's also clever.

 

[Deleted member 1432]

For those who have been on a construction site using cranes, I wouldn't describe the crane design as 'clever'. Modern cranes work the same way. As most are aware, one of the biggest fallacies is that humans are smarter, or somehow more advanced today than they were in the past. A couple hundred years, or even thousands of years ago, humans had the same cranial capacity.

Are you also theorising that there is a relationship between 'crane' and 'cranial'? Therefore the crane has never developed beyond its initial basic design because human cranial capacity has not developed further since then. So, in order to produce clever cranes we need artificially increased and enhanced cranial capacity. The greatest modern cranial capacity is 20,000 metric tons and belongs to Taisun, a crane developed in China - the same place that developed the I Ching, so there is obviously another relationship between 'crane', 'cranial' or 'cranium' and the I Ching.

Perhaps you should share all of these revelations with Klaus Swarb and his "hackable animals" Transhumanist agenda.

 

[Jd755]

Another small but incredibly useful machine that makes all sorts of impossible possible and all sorts of hard easy. Its invention and use is a fundamental that I reckon changed everything when it came to building and moving anything heavy in very short order. Portable, repairable, easy to make and durable.

The pulley block.
From here
Museo Galileo - Enlarged image - Block (pulley block)

And here https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2010/03/history-of-human-powered-cranes.html

Apologies to the photo examiners. I posted this thread in the wrong forum. It should have gone in generalnot photo analysis. I have asked trismegistus to move it for me.

 

[Jd755]

Another crane this time a tower crane assembled, installed, used then dismantled.

original 8 x 10 negative showing demolition of the 25-story palmer house garage (w.w. ahlschlager, 1930) to make way for federal courthouse site (22-30 w quincy street, chicago, ills).
the wrecking contractor for this project was cleveland wrecking company, using linden crane from denmark.
image taken march 30th, 1961.
note h.i. cobb's federal building and post office (1905-1965) in the background.
courtesy of timothy j. samuelson collection.

 

[Jd755]

Wow. Forgot all about this subject.
Here's another temporary travelling crane doing sterling work.
From here.
SH Archive - Wood. Cranes on rails.
Another thread I had forgotten about.