On page 84 of the December issue of Model Railroader, is a picture of the Walther’s model of the “mechanical monster”,called the Hulett Unloader. After explaining how, where, and when these monsters operated, and how the model, which they call “A different breed”, can be put together, the last paragraph states, “For modelers, the next challenge will be figuring out how to animate one of these mechanical monsters”. Having just completed the (40 hr.) model construction of a pair of the Hulett Unloaders, my first thought was, “How can I animate them?” My first thought was using the electrical mechanism of the Heljan Container Crane, but having already spent 2 x $169.98 , I was more inclined to consider a manual method of providing the three directional movements that are required. Instead of using three sets of pulley loops, I came up with the idea of cutting two slots in the 1/2 inch plywood layout base, between the double rails upon which the Hulett base travels sideways,( from bin to bin of the ore boat) I installed two boards that are screwed to drawer slides, and are moved manually by the wooden bars attached individually to the boards and are reachable, for movement, from under the fascia. The second sub assembly, is the “Walking beam carriage”, that rides on double rails above and perpendicular to the base movement. By using a rubber band to pull this carriage “front to rear”. the “rear to front” motion is controlled by a string attached to the back end of the carriage, then passes through the base of the carriage through a copper tube, through a hole in the board which reaches to the fascia. By pulling on the string and then snugging it in a slot in the board, the carriage is in the foremost position. This so-called “walking beam”, (which is held at a maximum upward angle by a second rubber band, is then tilted down by a second string. The pivoted vertical arm with the ore bucket, is thus, lowered into the open bin, to (supposedly) pick up a load of iron ore pellets. The rubber bands will cont
Bill Day had his fully animated Hulett Unloader at the NMRA/MER Fall Convention in Hagerstown MD.
Bill loves to animate things. His bascule bridge won Best in Show at the NMRA national in Hartford, Conn. His Hulett used 10 miniature motors and totally functioned like the prototype. It was truly amazing.
Dale Latham, Piedmont Southern Railroad, GMR 2009
You Tube video about the Hulett unloaders. You can see the car puller that rides on a “I” beam rail. I believe two were preserved but in pieces at Whiskey Island, Cleveland, Cuyahoga, Ohio You can see the parts inside the loop on Google maps but hard to distinguish.
Model version.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKDO_kEf0QQ
Rich