Does Practice Make Perfect?

// Posted elsewhere in forum:

Quote from: Sane on August 27, 2007, 02:51:12 AM

Does anybody have info on one of these ever being used.

thermate is tried and true and I cannot imagine them doing a project like this without some test runs. there must have been something maybe overseas to test this thing on steel beam structures. I think that might lend more credibility to your case (if I missed it in the body of this topic, please repost).

I'm responding in part to this quote, not answering the question of where else (??) termate may have been used on steel test beams // but what I do have is still quite interesting -- testing structures made mostly of steel // I found these two immediate references:

REFERENCE 1
Gettysburg Battlefield Tower will 'drop like a tree' 3 July 2000
http://web.archive.org/web/20011109112253/http://www.gburgtimes.com/archives/archives2000/june/6-28.htm
By ROBERT HOLT - Times Staff Writer
Mark Loizeaux, president of Controlled Demolition, with Tower in background. No public access will be allowed into this 9,000-square-foot area inside heavy black line.

The 1,000-ton National Gettysburg Battlefield Tower will drop like a tree within 20 seconds when 11 pounds of explosive charges are ignited, according to plans outlined by a demolition expert Tuesday.

“Envision the tower, basically, as a steel tree,” said Mark Loizeaux, president of Controlled Demolition in Phoenix, Md.
(and this -- the same project)
http://www.gettysburgaddress.com/HTMLS/currentnews.html(
***extract***
The lawyer raised the issue after Mark Loizeaux of Controlled Demolition in Phoenix, Md., said Tuesday it would typically cost $75,000 to $100,000 to knock down the 307-foot tower with explosives.

Controlled Demolition is doing the project at no charge, but holds national media rights and salvage rights for collapsing the 1,000-ton all-steel tower. Loizeaux said he has a contract with Mayer-Pollock in Pottstown, Pa., to buy the scrap steel, with an estimated value of $33,000.
(and this***extract***)
National Gettysburg Battlefield Tower owners have two weeks to clear out after a federal judge Monday granted the National Park Service approval to quickly seize the site for a planned explosive demolition.

(and this)
"Mostly we're upset for the people who have worked for the tower and have worked there for years, "said Overview Limited attorney Irwin Aronson, said referring to several staff who have been on the payroll for more than 20 years. "They are kind, decent, hard-working, dedicated folks who don't deserve to be whipsawed like this by their government," Aronson said, noting staff were told as soon as he received the order.

(and this)
http://www.civilwarnews.com/archive/articles/tower_fitts.htm
***extract***
The company will employ RDX, a liquid explosive designed by NASA to sever booster rockets from the Space Shuttle. It is poured into conical-shaped copper sheathing, hardened, and cut into appropriate pieces.

(and this)
CDI was founded by Loizeaux's grandparents, Jack and Freddie Loizeaux. In 1947 Jack Loizeaux was "the first person to use explosives to bring down a man-made structure," according to his granddaughter, who described him as the "pioneer" of implosion technology.

CDI works all over the world, razing an average of 1.5 buildings a week year-round. Among the 7000 buildings, bridges and other structures that they have blown up they are credited with demolishing the tallest and largest building ever imploded, the J.L. Hudson Department Store in Detroit, 439 feet high and 2.2 million square feet.
_______________
(My Thoughts) The tower at Gettysburg, PA // A structure mostly of steel beams resembling a tall tree but one with an observation deck at its top. CDI doing this as a service for FREE although some residents are not wishing the tower to be destroyed and apparently required federal judge to declare otherwise -- doing it for FREE on 3 July 2000.

**************************
REFERENCE 2
The Maspeth (New York) Gas Storage Holders, 15 July 2001
http://www.billburg.com/community/article.cfm?id=102
***extract***
Compared to other methods, which involve months of disassembling with torches and cranes or jacks and which pose a risk of accidental collapse and release of lead vapor (due to heat from the torches), implosion takes only one minute and reduces the chance of lead contamination, Ms. Sevos said.

Implosion is carried out when explosives are inserted into holes in the structure, allowing it to collapse, according to Jim Santoro, a representative of Controlled Demolition Incorporated (CDI), the firm contracted by KeySpan to do the work. He said CDI has taken down over 6,000 structures worldwide, and he laid out all of the steps leading up to the demolition, including various safety precautions, and the process for removal of the debris afterwards. Once the structures have been demolished, the metal will be cut up with mechanical shears, a procedure which helps prevent the release of lead, he said.

After the presentation, most of the community members who spoke expressed opposition to the plan, saying they were worried about potential property damage and release of lead dust. They also asked why the community had not been notified of the plan sooner, so that it could have more input.
(and this)
... it was apparent that several of those who attended the hearing believe the tanks have become an important landmark for the neighborhood. Eliciting cheers and applause

VIDEO CLIP OF THE PROJECT
http://www.setstatic.net/content/2001/maspethHolders.html

USNews & World Reports
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/030630/30unbuild_2.htm
"Bringing Down The House"
By Michael Satchell
Posted 6/22/03
***extract***
The tools of destruction range from standard dynamite, used to shatter concrete, to linear shaped charges that concentrate the force of a high explosive called RDX, slicing through steel with millions of pounds of pressure per square inch. In a 2001 project, for example, it took a mere 80 pounds of shaped charges to bring down each of two New York gas storage tanks built with 5 million pounds of steel

CDI Website -- PRESS RELEASES
http://www.controlled-demolition.com/default.asp?reqLocId=3
05/01/2007 Vegas Landmarks: Demolition Man
05/21/2006 Trojan Cooling Tower
11/06/2005 Baptist MBF Patient's Tower Implosion
01/23/2005 The Everglades - Forever Gone
09/27/2004 Nuclear Plant Containment Brought Down By Dynamite
03/01/2004 Hall of Fame Inductee Announced at ISEE’s 30th Annual Conference
09/07/2003 Kokomo Gas Holder - Kokomo, Indiana
06/20/2003 CDI Receives IWF Safety Award
03/26/2000 Kingdome - Seattle, Washington
02/27/1999 St. Louis Arena - St. Louis, Missouri
10/24/1998 J.L. Hudson Department Store - Detroit, Michigan
06/23/1998 Omega Radio Tower - Trelew, Argentina
05/24/1995 Alfred B. Murrah Federal Building - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
_______________
(My Thoughts) These 'twin' steel towers were demolished just two months before the WTC demoltiion; note that the project seemed to have been rushed, people wanted more time to fight the demolition but lost the battle. Mentioned in an article two years after the WTC -- yet the same project IS NOT listed among the 'select others' on their CDI website // the website does make reference to another gas storage holder that they demolished in 2003 in Kokomo, Indiana. Is that a bit strange or not? // Indiana but no mention of NYC (the far larger project) -- mentioned in USNews & World Reports but NOT among their pride and joy list. When does NOTHING mean SOMETHING? We can see they list OKC Federal Bldg. Explore the CDI website and learn much (example: How many people would it take (??) to bring down the World's Tallest Department Store, the J.L. Hudson Department Store) // In 24 days, CDI's 12 person loading crew placed 4,118 separate charges in 1,100 locations on 9 levels of the structure ... etc.

Very interesting, I think.