Northwest Marine Iron Works Designs Unique Time Saving Propeller Lifting Carriage

Northwest Marine Iron Works of Portland, Ore., has designed a unique propeller lifting carriage which results in significantly less man-hours in the installation of skewed propellers.

Initial test for the carriage, which was built in conjunction with the Port of Portland, came during a recent overhaul of the S/S Maine, the newest vessel in the States Line's fleet of ro/ro ships.

"We removed the old propeller and installed a new Ferguson skewed propeller in less than 36 hours," said Jim Butler, general manager of Northwest Marine Iron Works' Marine Division.

The lifting carriage, designed with wheels, allowed Northwest Marine Iron Works to shift the propeller from a horizontal position to the critical vertical position very rapidly.

Propellers weighing up to 70 tons with 30-foot diameters can be handled by the lifting carriage. The six-bladed skewed propeller installed on the Maine was 22 feet in diameter and weighed 45 tons. The propeller removed from the Maine was of conventional five-bladed design.

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