Nine Tons of Trouble - Part 2 of 3
- littlerockrepairsh
- Apr 1
- 2 min read
Nine tons. That’s three elephants. That’s a city bus. And that’s what we had to lift, straight up, without twisting, without cracking, without throwing the whole mechanism further out of sync.
I’d seen Herschell’s work before. A marvel of American engineering—built tough, built smart, built for the road. The core of the machine was a steel column, wrapped in gears, arms, and a floating deck. Everything moved together, every piece dependent on the last.
When the alignment slipped, so did the whole operation.
The Heart of the Machine
The carousel worked like this:
A central column held everything up, the spine of the whole operation.
Three primary gears turned the world beneath the riders.
A system of arms and pivots kept the horses galloping, rising and falling like waves in a steel sea.
And a floating deck kept the weight balanced, giving just enough flex to keep it all in motion.
When everything was lined up, it was perfect. When it wasn’t? It was a slow-motion disaster.
Balancing the Past and the Future
Restoration isn’t just about fixing what’s broken. It’s about understanding what was. It’s about seeing the machine for what it is—a puzzle with pieces worn by time.
We needed a plan. One that wouldn’t crack the foundation, wouldn’t throw the weight off balance.
The real challenge? Getting that central column up—nine tons of steel and history, lifted straight into the air, without so much as a wobble.
Brute force wasn’t the answer. This job needed finesse.
The lift is just the beginning. Now comes the real test—finding the perfect alignment, restoring the carousel’s rhythm, and making sure it runs like it did decades ago. One wrong move, and the whole thing could fall out of sync again. Stay tuned for the next chapter in The Case of the Crooked Carousel.
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