Heavy Metal

[amazinblue82]

Worlds Biggest Tow truck (as of 2014).

SOURCE: World's largest tow truck - Kelowna News

What can you get for nearly $1M? How about the largest factory built tow truck in the world. That's exactly what Kelowna based Mario's Towing has done.

The truck, built at NRC in Quebec, rolled into town last Wednesday.

Mario's GM, Nicholas Moretto, says it's taken a lot of work and planning to get the truck here.

"We've been working for nearly a year to build a twin steer, tri-axel rotator. With the winch package and the boom package, it's the largest factory built tow truck in the world," says Moretto.

"It's an 80-ton boom with a 60k winch package on the back. That configuration makes it the biggest in the world."​

 

[amazinblue82]

Maybe somebody knows something about these vehicles.

Sittin at restaurant when this thing pulls up right outside the window. A guard gets out and collects the restraurants cash I presume. I went outside to look at the truck.

This pic doesnt do justice. The tailpipe looked to be at least four-plus inches in diameter for several feet, I could hear the truck running of course (it didnt blow smoke) but it sounded like no diesel I ever heard .. like it was extraordinarily "powerful", had a huge dual rear end with a pumpkin that looked to be 2 ft in diameter, exposed gas tanks on both sides, and looked to be about the length of full-size P/U truck.

In the meantime the guard came out, eyeballed me pretty hard, I said "Say, can I ask you a ..", as he ignored me and hopped in the truck and then it split like it was in a hurry (i guess it was that or stay there and shot me )

All that to say, I don't know anything about armored cars and their construction, capacity, differences vs regular trucks that arent obvious, etc... do any of you?

Second, i thought they couldnt be owned by private citizens, till I found this. A 1996, 200K miles, $75,000 dollars. several other examples are on Ebay.

1996 International 470 Matte Black Bulletproof Armored VIP Limo

 

[cantflip]

Maybe somebody knows something about these vehicles.

Sittin at restaurant when this thing pulls up right outside the window. A guard gets out and collects the restraurants cash I presume. I went outside to look at the truck.

This pic doesnt do justice. The tailpipe looked to be at least four-plus inches in diameter for several feet, I could hear the truck running of course (it didnt blow smoke) but it sounded like no diesel I ever heard .. like it was extraordinarily "powerful", had a huge dual rear end with a pumpkin that looked to be 2 ft in diameter, exposed gas tanks on both sides, and looked to be about the length of full-size P/U truck.

In the meantime the guard came out, eyeballed me pretty hard, I said "Say, can I ask you a ..", as he ignored me and hopped in the truck and then it split like it was in a hurry (i guess it was that or stay there and shot me )

View attachment 114239

All that to say, I don't know anything about armored cars and their construction, capacity, differences vs regular trucks that arent obvious, etc... do any of you?

Second, i thought they couldnt be owned by private citizens, till I found this. A 1996, 200K miles, $75,000 dollars. several other examples are on Ebay.

1996 International 470 Matte Black Bulletproof Armored VIP Limo

View attachment 114238 View attachment 114237 View attachment 114236 View attachment 114235 View attachment 114234

No expert, never worked on any (thank goodness)... as far as I know they are mostly run of the mill medium duty trucks... not terribly different from many school bus chassis. Most I have seen for sale are the same smaller truck diesels you might find in a schoolie or box truck... most seem to be some form of hydraulic braking, but the bigger ones may be air.

I don't know about armor either, but they seem to just be heavy plate from what I see... plenty of stopping ability for a handgun... nothing like ready for military ordinance. All I ever really knew for sure is they are too heavy to be any fun to work on and are slow in traffic.

 

[amazinblue82]

Since anybody can buy one .. which is kinda scary if true?

Ford F-650 Cash In Transit Vehicle For Sale

YEAR: 2017
MAKE: Ford
MODEL: F-650
BODY STYLE: Cash In Transit
ARMOR LEVEL: BR7
GVWR: 55,000 lbs
TRANSMISSION: 6-Speed Automatic
ENGINE: 6.7L Diesel V10
HORSEPOWER: 300hp @ 2,800
TORQUE: 725 ft-lbs
DRIVETRAIN: RWD
DIMENSIONS (MM): 7235 x 2210 x 2640
WHEELBASE (MM): 5690
SEATING CAPACITY: 3-5
FUEL CAPACITY: 142 L
AVAILABILITY: Special Order

ARMOR LEVEL
(UP TO)
AMMO
7.62mm

CEN 1063
BR
7
EXPLOSION
2 x DM51

Special Features Standard

• Entire perimeter protection of the passenger compartment
• High quality multi-layer bullet resistant glass
• Integrated access control module
• Protection for battery and electronic control module
• Reinforced door hinges and other critical structure points
• Reinforced suspension
• Runflat devices
• Smart locking system designed for cash in transit usage
• Vehicle security system accessible from front cabin
• Video surveillance of both internal and external viewpoints

Options

• Light-weight armoring package
• Emergency lights system
• Siren/PA/Intercom system
• Driver-controlled remote locking system
• Fire suppression system
• Heavy duty brake system and components
• Heavy duty wheels

 

[barnfind]

This was in my feed today

 

[Fratzog]

This machine is out of this world...
Delta IV Heavy - Wikipedia

 

[cantflip]

This was in my feed today

Perfect thing to watch when it seems the world is taking a bite out of your ***...

 

[65sporty]

This was in my feed today

That was awesome, I was waiting to see how it handled the engine but not a problem for it.

 

[amazinblue82]

Not exactly "heavy" metal --- but compared to other machines of this genre, this thing is six feet tall, and .. well you decide what you think.

 

[300rag]

This is only 6 cylinders. Each piston weighs in at 5 1/2 tons.

The height of a four-story building, the Wärtsilä RT-flex96C is a two-stroke turbocharged low-speed diesel engine designed by the Finnish manufacturer Wärtsilä.

It is designed for large container ships that run on heavy fuel oil. Its largest 14-cylinder version is 13.5 metres (44 ft) high, 26.59 m (87 ft) long, weighs over 2,300 tonnes, and produces 80,080 kilowatts (107,390 hp). The engine is the largest reciprocating engine in the world.

The 14-cylinder version was put into service in September 2006 aboard the Emma Mærsk.

The design is like the older RTA96C engine, with common rail technology instead of traditional camshaft, chain gear, fuel pumps and hydraulic actuators. All this provides the maximum performance at low revolutions per minute (rpm), lower fuel consumption and lower harmful emissions.

The engine has crosshead bearings so that the always-vertical piston rod allows a tight seal under the piston. Consequently, the lubrication of the engine is split: the cylinders and the crankcase use different lubricants, each being specialised for and dedicated to its role.

The cylinders are lubricated by continual, timed injection of consumable lubricant, formulated to protect the cylinders from wear and to neutralise the acids formed during combustion of the high-sulfur fuels commonly used. The crosshead design reduces sideways forces on the piston, keeping diametral cylinder liner wear in the order of only about 0.03 mm per 1000 hours.

The descending piston is used to compress incoming combustion air for the adjacent cylinders which also serves to cushion the piston as it approaches bottom dead centre(BDC) to remove some load from the bearings. The engine is uniflow-scavenged by way of exhaust valves that are operated by electronically controlled, common-rail hydraulics, thus eliminating the camshaft.

Configuration

Turbocharged two-stroke diesel straight engine, 6 to 14 cylinders
Bore 37.75 inch (960 mm)
Stroke 8.4 feet (2,500 mm)
Displacement 111,063 CI (1,820 litres) per cylinder
Engine speed 22–102 RPM
Mean effective pressure 1.96 MPa @ full load, 1.37 MPa @ maximum efficiency (85% load)
Mean piston speed 8.5 meters per second
Specific fuel consumption 171 g/(kW·h)
Power Up to 5,720 kW per cylinder, 34,320–80,080 kW (46,680–108,920 BHP) total
Torque Up to 7,603,850 newton metres (5,608,310 lbf·ft) @ 102 rpm
Power density 29.6 to 34.8 kW per tonne, 2300 tonnes for the 14-cylinder version
Mass of fuel injected per cylinder per cycle ~160 g (about 6.5 ounces) @ full load(Whole motor uses up to 250 tons of fuel per day.)
Crankshaft weight 300 tons[
Piston weight 5.5 tons
Piston Height 20 feet

 

[amazinblue82]

This is only 6 cylinders. Each piston weighs in at 5 1/2 tons.

View attachment 118857

View attachment 118858

 

[amazinblue82]

If you're someone who is difficult to impress, this post isn't for you

The year is 1956. The cargo? A Five (5) Megabyte Hard Drive.

2015. A Five Hundred (500) Megabyte Hard Drive

 

[65sporty]

If you're someone who is difficult to impress, this post isn't for you

The year is 1956. The cargo? A Five (5) Megabyte Hard Drive.

View attachment 119043

2015. A Five Hundred (500) Megabyte Hard Drive

View attachment 119044

Crazy advances in tech, love it.

 

[Fury440]

Crazy advances in tech, love it.

Back about 1976 or 67 I bought a DEC PDP 11/70 computer for our time sharing business and one critical component was a hard drive that lived in a cabinet the size of a kitchen stove. I forget the capacity, but will guess about 20 MB. The removable platter assembly was foot and a half across and had maybe 5 or 6 platters. These platters were $1,000 each. The drive itself was $50,000 and fragile. Delivery day arrived and a monster Allied Electronic transport truck arrived. The truck was 100% air ride with so much padding I'd guess it's cargo could easily survive a rollover. Anyhow all the company brass are standing in the parking lot to witness the arrival of this ridiculously expensive box that I had convinced them we needed. To make matters more interesting it was pouring rain and everyone is trying to stay dry while the DEC people nattered with the trucker to make sure the box didn't get wet. The trucker manhandled the box on to his power tail gate type lift and before lowering it he covered everything with a plastic tarp. Then he pushed the control to lower the load and I guess got the wrong button because the platform folded straight down and the disc cabinet dropped 4' or so and landed face down in a puddle. Turned out these units were custom built and it was another 8 weeks before the replacement arrived. It arrived in the same truck, but with different driver who knew how operate the tail gate lift!

 

[amazinblue82]

1970's hard drives. look at the size of that thing (left photo in particular - the disc itself, the "read" arm, actuation, etc.).

just like Fury440 said

 

[amazinblue82]

We've done the Saturn V earlier in this thread. Just ran across this today.

source: Apollo 17 Gallery

Dec. 1972, Apollo 17 in launch countdown, with the Moon (not shopped, real thing) in the photo.

And we haven't been back since. We debated that in another thread .. I still think its a shame but that's how the Nation decided to roll.

 

[crv]

Big old French Berliet T100

truck

 

[70bigblockdodge]

The Nimitz-class carriers have an overall length of 1,092 ft (333 m) and a full-load displacement of about 100,000–104,000 long tons (102,000–106,000 t). They have a beam at the waterline of 135 ft (41 m), and the maximum width of their flight decks is 251 feet 10 inches (76.76 m) to 257 feet 3 inches (78.41 m) (depending on the variant). The ships' companies can number up to 3,200, not including an air wing of 2,480.

All ships of the class are powered by two A4W nuclear reactors kept in separate compartments. They power four propeller shafts and can produce a maximum speed of over 30 knots (56 km/h) and maximum power of 260,000 bhp (190 MW). This is then passed through four turbines which are shared by the two reactors.

The turbines power the four bronze screws, each with a diameter of 25 feet (7.6 m) and a weight of 66,000 pounds (30 t). The ships are capable of operating continuously for over 20 years without refueling and are predicted to have a service life of over 50 years.

The mention of the Nimitz, Carl Vinson, reminded me of a fact that got passed around while I was in the Navy. The USS Enterprise CVN 65 was the first Nuclear powered carrier, their were 6 planned ships of which only the Enterprise was built it was built in the same configuration as the fossil fueled ships that proceeded it so it was built with 2 nuclear reactors for every steam turbine pair(engines). It was rumored that the reactors being way more powerful than a boiler it was basically unlimited and would keep going faster till the propellers capitated very bad for them structurally or that the bow would not take the water pressure from the speed. I do not know this to be true but CVN 65 is a one of one all subsequent ships only have 2 reactors to feed all 4 engines, and they haul ***. They used to need 20 knots of air over the bow for F 14s and if you have a tail wind and need to keep moving in a certain direction thier speed could be higher, and launching planes.
Sadly the Enterprise was just stricken from list Feb 3, 2017 after 50 years 1962-2012 a one of one ship is gone.

 

[Polara_500]

The Enterprise, (CVN 65), could flat haul ***. Amazing how fast a huge chunk of steel can move through the water. Stories from her abound but I think the funniest one I heard was that they were leaving port at Coronado and kicked the engines while still way too close to the pier - story has it they put two city blocks awash from the prop wash. Of course, they couldn't do "warp speed", but still it was impressive.

 

[crv]

Not exactly "heavy" metal --- but compared to other machines of this genre, this thing is six feet tall, and .. well you decide what you think.

Good for home security applications...