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| August Issue Post Date 8/20/05 | www.mcelroy.com | |
| CONTENTS |
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Note From The Editor The twelve hundred pound coil of polyethylene pipe groans as it separates from the ground and slowly sways back and forth on a thin cable like an elephant sitting in a child’s swing. I am operating the hydraulic controls that are lifting the massive roll of pipe. I stop to think about what I am doing. My mind is not in tune with the physics involved with this maneuver. It should be left to the men who do this kind of work for a living and understand it. I don’t. Better to stop, take my time, and concentrate on every motion of my shaky hands so I don’t drop this pipe and have the crew tag me as the “writer-idiot” who screwed up the job. We are installing four miles of water pipeline for a Boy Scout camp in the Kiamichi Mountains in Southeastern Oklahoma . McElroy donated the pipeline to the Boy Scouts because our owner is an Eagle Scout and has fond memories of traipsing through these same woods earning merit badges with a gang of 11-year-old, neckerchief-clad pals. The pipeline is an example of the ‘ Boy Scout Way ’ in that it is an environmental and water conservation masterpiece as far as pipeline projects go. The Scouts are using it for water at several of their camps in Oklahoma because it doesn’t leak and they can’t stand the thought of wasting the precious wet stuff. The crusty crew that I am working with is excited at the idea of having me along to break in and generally hack on as much as possible. The first thing that Terry Silkey , the foreman, teaches me is that if we have to work on the sewer system, there is one fundamental rule – “Never chew your fingernails.” Silkey is a Training Manager for McElroy and has been working with underground piping systems in one form or another for over thirty years. He began his career giving demonstrations about polyethylene pipe to gas companies and is now doing the same thing for water companies and McElroy distributors. Silkey is a steel-toed philosopher who has a teaching style that encompasses all of the methods of my sophomore drama teacher and Knute Rockney. He is also a combat veteran of Vietnam and although there are several different contractors doing the makeover on the scout camp, no one is confused about who is in charge. Silkey did the original upgrade to the water system and the completion of the main line will make this a completely fused, total polyethylene water system that serves 600 scouts every day. It is a unique experiment. Only in Oklahoma does the latest technology for water distribution get used first by the Boy Scouts of America in the middle of a heavily timbered, lightly populated region where more people are likely to be on well water than a treated system. In fact, we are so far out in the boonies that Silkey tells me I shouldn’t stray too far from the jobsite because, “These hills just might hold toothless, banjo musicians and you’re a lot prettier than Ned Beaty,” which receives unbridled laughter from the rest of the crew. The basic method we use to install the pipeline is to cut a 4-foot deep ditch through the dense forest and lay 600-foot lengths of polyethylene pipe into the open cut. The pipe is then fused together and the ditch covered. The pipe arrives in the coils previously mentioned and has to be loaded into a LineTamer to take the coil set out of the plastic pipe. I feel the pressure from the eyes of the onlookers while I continue raising the massive coil of pipe into the air. There are no written directions. I just have to eyeball the situation and choose which lever to pull or push and decide if I need the hydraulic arm higher or need to take up more slack in the cable. The coil makes a loud clang when it falls too quickly onto the support roller. The trailer shakes a little, but the pipe is where it needs to be and the lack of criticism from the crew is as good as a complement. Larry Buchanan glances over at me and smiles his approval. He has trained countless operators from the Americas to Russia on how to use McElroy equipment and could have performed the task I just completed wearing a blindfold. He only takes a few seconds to find amusement in my nervousness and readies himself to pull the pipe through the rollers that take the set out of the coil of pipe. I rush to get my part of the job done so he doesn’t get that perturbed look on his face that precedes foul language. He stands with his hands on his hips staring over my shoulder while I tighten the pulling head to the end of the pipe. He walks off muttering something about “seeing grass grow faster,” and climbs into the cab of a big rubber tire forklift. He looks into the rear view mirror to see if I am ready for him to start pulling the pipe. I give the hand signal and he slowly crawls away dragging the pipe behind him. Five weeks into the project and I have callused hands and pains in every part of my body but have managed to keep all of my limbs. This job reminds me of what hard work really is and gives me a indisputable respect for the men and women across the country that do this kind of work for a living. No more complaining about carpal tunnel and the lumbar support on my office chair. When your waiting in the predawn darkness outside the rat motel, holding a sandwich in a worn paper bag and a shovel in the other hand and shivering while regretting the choice to not wear one more layer of clothing and wondering why your ride is late; a remark about the thermostat setting in the office seems to be a comment only a wimp would make. We tie the last one hundred feet of pipeline to the four-mile stretch and tap it to the main line. I feel a huge sense of accomplishment and pride in the completion of the project and feel as if champagne is in order. No one else seems to feel the same way I do. Silkey and Buchanan are discussing their next project as if this wasn’t a milestone in pipe laying plateaus. I realize that several hundred Boy Scouts will shower and brush their teeth every morning without ever knowing about what I have created for them. Maybe I am just in high spirits because I don’t have to do this any more and can go back to the computer where the biggest struggle is coming up with the just-right word. Besides, my fingernails are getting very long.
Drew L. Wilson; Editor Magazine Highlight
September: October: We at McElroy hope the readers of McElroy Connections along with our distributors will support the magazine by taking advantage of the great opportunity to advertise in these two upcoming issues. There will be extra copy distribution at the ICUEE show in Louisville and the WEFTEC Conference in Washington, D.C. To contact Underground Construction go to: http://www.undergroundinfo.com/UC/Uchome.html Or contact: McElroy In The News Using state-of-the-art electronics and the computing power of a wireless Pocket PC, the DataLogger provides contractors, municipalities, and anyone involved in pipe fusion with the opportunity to record and document key parameters of the fusion process. For many users, this has become a valuable tool for quality control, training, and on-the-job documentation. The DataLogger offers users a competitive advantage since a similar recording device does not exist for other piping materials. The new DataLogger also has a list price of $3,053 which is significantly less than previous models. Information on the new DataLogger is available in our new catalog and also on our website at http://www.mcelroy.com/fusion/products/datalog.htm. If you have any questions, please contact your McElroy Distributor. Case Studies Infrastructure Rehab Links North American Society for Trenchless Technology American Water Works Association American Society of Civil Engineers Foundation Newsletter Links Water World - Receive news from WaterWorld, Industrial Waterworld and Water & Wastewater International. Water Tech Online North American Society of Trenchless Technology Insider and Pipeline Newsletter If you would like a link to your newsletter posted in McElroy Connections, contact Drew L. Wilson at 918-831-9286 or McElroy Connections welcomes your feedback, story ideas, tips, or anything else related to PE Pipe and Pipe fusion. Please email your comments and story ideas to: FOR NEW SUBSCRIPTIONS: To subscribe, visit http://www.mcelroy.com/fusion/forms/newsletter.htm McElroy Connections is published by McElroy Manufacturing Inc. The information contained within each issue is meant as a service to our customers, distributors, and those involved with Polyethylene Pipe applications. |
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Prime advertising opportunity:
A joint effort between Timberline Tool and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has sped commercialization of the first “keyhole” squeeze-off tool for 4- to 6-inch polyethylene pipe. Through a Small Business Innovation Research grant, DOE funded the research and development of Timberline’s TopReach 650, an innovative tool that gets natural gas pipeline operators out of the trenches and lessens the monetary and environmental impacts of pipeline repair. 
