The Walking Dredge And The Great Development
In the year 1924, there was a walking dredge that was built in Bay City, Michigan and this was then shipped to Florida, then later sold to a construction company, during the 1927 and 1928, the dredge was used for used as construction equipment to help with the Tamiami Trail. After the completion of the Trail, the machine was then stored at an intersection of the US41 and FL92, this land was then bought by a Mr. Ellis who then used the land to construct a restaurant as well as a filling station, which to this day still exists. This goes to show that the walking dredge has been around longer than any of us has been.
This amazing piece of construction equipment that was developed for the sole means of correcting something, has now become the one hundred and eighth national historic mechanical engineering landmark. When this landmark is looked at, it resembles the beginning of a new evolution in mechanical engineering and is said to be visited by many chemical engineers of the time. The collections museum is one that holds more marks that has a lot to do with the development of historical objects. There is a plaque that is on the Bay City dredge, and it states on there that it was indeed the earliest used dredges that were developed and that it was used for the use of swampy terrain, the machine was able to use its own weight and allocate its weight over the shoes of the machine. In addition, for this reason, there were middle shoes that were put into place to balance out the weight evenly. The frame was then able to pull itself forward approximately ten feet, and this was with the use of the on board winch as well as the shovel bucket. It also states that the use of the machine was to fill the Tamiami Trail that ran through the everglades.
When we take a look back and see how they made the most amazing machine with the least technology available to them, this is one of the greatest successes of our time. It is understood that we have truly and most definitely evolved into a new age era and there is no contractors that would have turned down the opportunity to work with this piece of equipment. There is nothing more than real genuine pride that shows on the faces of all contractors that does come across the plaque and read it, it is almost as it they were there.
At the time that this walking dredge was utilized, is was most definitely one of the most popular apparatus around as there were only two men that were needed to operate the machine, there were no trackmen that were needed, and thereafter, every machine that was developed, was made to walk or move at a rapid pace.
The walking dredge of this day and age is one that is more technical and obviously more developed in many areas, let us just not forget where and how this technology and ideas came from, as there are many that get too involved in technology and they do not stop and think about how and where.
