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BOAT UNLOADING BRIDGE AND PART OF THE HARBOR OF BUFFINGTON, FORMALLY OPENED BY VICE PRESIDENT CHARLES G. DAWES ON JUNE 9. harbor. It is now in regular’ op- eration under government control. It is built from top to bottom of reinforced concrete and rests on a concrete base 30 feet in diameter and 38 feet thick which in turn is sup- ported on a thousand tons of stone held together by a ring of interlock- ing steel piling driven into the lake bottom 27 feet below. The structure is 50 feet high and carries a 4000- candle power electric light which can be seen 13 miles away. It is con- trolled and operated from shore by switches with submarine cables con- veying the current to the light. In its design and construction it meets with the full approval of the United States lighthouse officials of the twelfth district. Calcite limestone is carried from Rogers City, Mich., to this harbor in freighters of the Pittsburgh Steamship Corp. Co. and the Bradley Transportation Co. controlled by the United States Steel The vessels of the first com- pany are standard lake bulk freight- ers and are unloaded by the traveling bridge on the dock. The freighters of the Bradley company are of the self-unloader type which discharge their own cargoes by means of belt conveyors and an elevator at the rate of a ton a second. Buffington harbor was designed and its construction was supervised by the engineering department of the Uni- versal Portland Cement Co. The dredging pile driving and _ concrete work were done by the Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co. The travel- ing bridge was designed and built by the Mead Morrison Mfg. Co. and the American Bridge Co.; and the con- veying system by the Robins Con- veying Belt Co. THE HARBOR IS OWNED AND OPERATED BY THE UNIVERSAL PORTLAND CEMENT CO. When a visitor steps on the dock he is at once impressed by the boat unloading bridge which towers over his head and which is one of the heaviest in the Chicago district, weighing nearly 900 tons. Its center span is 385 feet; length overall, 640 feet; height rail to rail, 70 feet; bucket capacity, 10 tons, trolley speed, 800 feet per minute; hoist speed 225 feet per minute; moving speed of bridge, 75 feet per minute; the elec- tric power is 500 volts and direct current; skewage, 5 degrees each side ‘of center to permit holding one end at a certain point and to discharge at another; and equipped with an anemometer which cuts off power un- der high wind. This bridge also has automatic rail clamps and _ buffers; and apron hoist; clean-up grab for securing the material underneath the hatches; power operated lift beam SELF-UNLOADER T. W. ROBINSON OF THE BRADLEY TRANSPORTATION CO. DELIVERING A CARGO OF 12,000 TONS OF LIME- STONE AT THE FORMAL OPENING OF THE NEW HARBOR AT BUFFINGTON 30 MARINE REVIEW—August, 1927