|
Titan Clydebank is a cantilever crane at Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. It was designed to be used in the lifting of heavy equipment, such as engines and boilers, during the fitting-out of battleships and ocean liners at the John Brown & Company shipyard. It was also the world's first electrically powered cantilever crane, and the largest crane of its type at the time of its completion. Situated at the end of a U-shaped fitting out basin, the crane was used to construct some of the largest ships of the 20th century, including the ''Queen Mary'', ''Queen Elizabeth'' and ''Queen Elizabeth 2''. The Category A Listed historical structure was refurbished in 2007 as a tourist attraction and shipbuilding museum. ==History== The shipyard at Clydebank was created in 1871 after the company James & George Thomson moved from the Graving Docks in Govan.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=John Brown's Shipyard )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=J. and G. Thomson )〕 John Brown & Company purchased the yard in 1899, and in 1905, a £24,600 order for the crane was placed with Dalmarnock based engineering company Sir William Arrol & Co.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=History )〕 Titan was completed two years later in 1907.〔 It was constructed by the Scottish engineer Adam Hunter, who was working as Chief Engineer for Arrol & Co., having served his apprenticeship on the construction of the Forth Bridge.〔 Stothert & Pitt of Bath, England, fabricated and installed most of the machinery for the Titan, including electric motors built by Lancashire Dynamo and Motor Co.〔〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Former John Brown Shipbuilding Yard, Titan Cantilever Crane, Including Former Fitting Out Dock )〕 The dock was used for fitting out vessels, and the crane would lift engines and boilers into ships.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Titan Clydebank )〕 The lifting capacity of the Titan, and the location of the yard at the confluence of the River Clyde and River Cart, contributed to the success of the yard as it could build extremely large ships.〔〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=John Brown & Company (Clydebank) Ltd )〕 When tested on 24 April 1907, Titan was the largest cantilever crane ever built with a capacity of at a radius of .〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=John Brown's Shipyard, Clydebank, Scotland )〕 The original lift capacity was uprated to in 1938, when it became apparent that the original specification would be insufficient to install the new long range gun's turrets into ships such as the ''Duke of York''.〔〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Scotland's Titan Crane dedicated by ASCE, ASME as a landmark )〕〔 On the nights of the 13 and 14 of March 1941, the Clydebank Blitz virtually destroyed the town. 528 civilians were killed, over 617 people were seriously injured, and 48,000 civilians lost their homes.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Clydebank Blitz )〕 Only seven properties in Clydebank were undamaged, in one of the worst bombing raids in Britain.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Clydebank Blitz )〕 The raids, involving 260 Luftwaffe bombers on the first night and 200 on the second, targeted the industry of Clydeside, but the Titan crane was undamaged.〔 In 1968, the yard was amalgamated into Upper Clyde Shipbuilders along with four others, in an attempt to increase competitiveness.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Upper Clyde Shipbuilders work-in 1971/72 )〕 The general elections in 1970 saw a change of government, and funding for the yard was withheld, resulting in the closure of John Brown's.〔〔 It was bought from the receivers by the Houston, Texas-based Marathon Manufacturing Company for oil rig construction.〔 In 1980 Marathon sold the yard to the French company Union Industrielle et d’Entreprise (UiE). UIE's owners, Bouygues Offshore closed the yard in 2001 and the site was earmarked for redevelopment. Ships constructed by the crane include ''HMS Hood'', the ''Queen Mary'', ''Queen Elizabeth'', ''Queen Elizabeth 2'', and the ''Royal Yacht Britannia''.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Titan Clydebank」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|