chim
Elite Member
What jobs have you had when you first got out into the "real world" as my parents called it?
There's a thread in the Snow Removal section with a link showing dump trucks backing out on concrete ramps to get rid of snow. It reminded me of one of my first jobs.
One of the first jobs I had after graduating was driving a box truck for a printing company. Then I drove a Euclid at a quarry. A few of us younger guys felt we were the best drivers in the world and invincible. Most of the days were pretty routine, so we jumped at any chance to do something different. One of the best was when the quarry wanted to enlarge. They'd bring in pans to get as much as they could, then start cleaning out as much earth as they could with track hoes. They'd start at the existing wall (cliff) and work away from it. Their goal was to get as much dirt / mud off the top of the rock before blasting. Too much dirt in the crushed stone didn't make customers happy.
Our fun was prepping for the wagon drills. After the dirt was cleaned out as best they could to expose the rock, we built a road running along the edge of the existing wall of the quarry. This was done by backing out toward the wall and dumping the load of 2A modified. Then each successive load made the "road" a few feet longer. They had a small tracked machine that would smooth it out every few loads. The road ran close to and parallel with the existing quarry wall. We all thought this was great fun. Today I'd probably get nervous walking where I used to drive backwards using mirrors.
When the wagon drills came in, they'd use our road to get to where they needed to be. Well casing was used to get down through the crushed stone we placed and bore into the rock. They kept records as to what they hit as they drilled so the proper charges could be set. Every now and then it was obvious they didn't have it down to an exact science. Like the time a rock went out of the quarry and over a railroad track and a road. Little too much DuPont Pourvex on that hole
They also had us help load the holes. I remember the first time I helped. The blasting company came with a box truck and drove to the holes and unloaded by tossing the boxes of Pourvex out of the truck onto the ground. That made me more than a little nervous even though the foreman said it can't blow up without the cap and primer. The caps had to be inserted into the donut-like primers with the wires wrapped a certain way to make them stay put. The explosive was packaged in what looked like a plastic-cased sausage that was held at the top of the casing. Then a pocket knife slit at the bottom and top would release the material that resembled a big snotty batch of tapioca with little beads in it.
We finished off by filling the casings with stone dust on top of the charges. Then someone who actually knew what they were doing would twist the cap leads together into a circuit (and I think) test them with a galvanometer. Everyone except him would pull back to the weigh station and KA-BOOOM
This was in the late '60's and before OSHA got very involved in workplace safety.
There's a thread in the Snow Removal section with a link showing dump trucks backing out on concrete ramps to get rid of snow. It reminded me of one of my first jobs.
One of the first jobs I had after graduating was driving a box truck for a printing company. Then I drove a Euclid at a quarry. A few of us younger guys felt we were the best drivers in the world and invincible. Most of the days were pretty routine, so we jumped at any chance to do something different. One of the best was when the quarry wanted to enlarge. They'd bring in pans to get as much as they could, then start cleaning out as much earth as they could with track hoes. They'd start at the existing wall (cliff) and work away from it. Their goal was to get as much dirt / mud off the top of the rock before blasting. Too much dirt in the crushed stone didn't make customers happy.
Our fun was prepping for the wagon drills. After the dirt was cleaned out as best they could to expose the rock, we built a road running along the edge of the existing wall of the quarry. This was done by backing out toward the wall and dumping the load of 2A modified. Then each successive load made the "road" a few feet longer. They had a small tracked machine that would smooth it out every few loads. The road ran close to and parallel with the existing quarry wall. We all thought this was great fun. Today I'd probably get nervous walking where I used to drive backwards using mirrors.
When the wagon drills came in, they'd use our road to get to where they needed to be. Well casing was used to get down through the crushed stone we placed and bore into the rock. They kept records as to what they hit as they drilled so the proper charges could be set. Every now and then it was obvious they didn't have it down to an exact science. Like the time a rock went out of the quarry and over a railroad track and a road. Little too much DuPont Pourvex on that hole
They also had us help load the holes. I remember the first time I helped. The blasting company came with a box truck and drove to the holes and unloaded by tossing the boxes of Pourvex out of the truck onto the ground. That made me more than a little nervous even though the foreman said it can't blow up without the cap and primer. The caps had to be inserted into the donut-like primers with the wires wrapped a certain way to make them stay put. The explosive was packaged in what looked like a plastic-cased sausage that was held at the top of the casing. Then a pocket knife slit at the bottom and top would release the material that resembled a big snotty batch of tapioca with little beads in it.
We finished off by filling the casings with stone dust on top of the charges. Then someone who actually knew what they were doing would twist the cap leads together into a circuit (and I think) test them with a galvanometer. Everyone except him would pull back to the weigh station and KA-BOOOM
This was in the late '60's and before OSHA got very involved in workplace safety.
