Comments

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Come back soon Motts we miss you
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That is the last section of the overhead body conveyor.. Bodies were assembled in the large four story plant that is close to the Railroad. Until 1953, they were trucked three or four at a time from the body plant to the Assembly area. After 1953, they made the one and a half city block trip in the conveyor. A section of the conveyor ran through the top floor of buildings 53/58, across Sample Street, and entered the Stamping/Assembly buiding as pictured.
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Looks like you found the former motor pool where all the traucks and tanks were stored
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Nice Pic, If I can remember and I should thats the building behind the bowling alley up on top of the hill in the 80's we partied in the field near the tree line and we would always hear people screaming and stuff. I lived right there and that place is EPIC plus look on the map to the east a bit. about 300-400 yards west of the baseball fields is a bunker that goes way under the grounds. Always was rumors about a huge complex under the grounds and the bunker door is right there Spent years exploring there in the 80's From creepy gear and rooms where they treated the patients in the late 1800's to hanging dead cats in an attic. The place was and may be still EPIC. I hear the last bit of it closed so its all done. new bldgs to check out. Anyway I lived there so I want to point out a HUGE BUNKER that goes towards and I believe under the grounds. Check it out on the Map. Just west of the lake and base ball fields.
nothing a little sandblasting couldn't cure
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The cemetery is still there.
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Just watched Sessions. Since I spent time in an Iron Lung in the fifties, with Polio, I realize how lucky I have been. Being a kid in an Iron Lung is not fun!
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Regarding the grouping of Tap Bells with Mouth Gags: one of my lasting memories from a series of circa-1990 invasions is from one of the nurses's closets not far from what looked like an x-ray room. The shelves were labeled with those same Dyno labels, and the shelf for "Jaw Locks" was just above the one for "Bedpans". As often as a bedpan may have been needed, it was disturbing to see that they kept the "Jaw Locks" just as near to hand. Sadly, the shelf was empty (though there were a few bedpans nearby on that floor).

As upsetting as it may be to think about having a Mouth Gag used on you, I have to think that a Jaw Lock would have been worse. Frankly, even a routine dental procedure involving either would probably freak me out enough for nightmares.
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boiler1220, thank you!
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P.
Couldn't be spoken better :)
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Although I would need to see it to confirm, I strongly suspect this is the steam line to the boiler feedwater pumps. Since the 60s, BFPs have generally been driven by electrical motors. However, in the early days, steam was extracted from the intermediate stages of the steam turbine and used to power the BPFs. (This is why they kiind of look like mini-steam turbines - the previous shot shows this a little better). Since the pipe has an expansion loop (needed because it is very thick walled alloy steel-chormium pile and not flexible during thermal expansion and contraction as others have pointed out) and insulated, it is most likely a steam line.
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Neat site; it appears I'm abit behind the main following. Having built power plants all my life, I believe these are the traveling water screens that remove debris, small fish, and the like from the cooling water used in the condenser under the steam turbine. The cooling ater never mixes with the steam from the turbine, but is condensed back to water and pumped back to the boiler. The traveling water screens dump the debris into a tray that is cleaned o na regular basis. Having been abandoned, the cleaning process halted and plant matter that required a little light and a moist environment has thrived, and thus the green. Usually these are below the level of water inthe Bay, so the intake and discharege tunnels and thus the water screens would always have a source of water even during abamnonment.
Grace hope that your pilgramige to the Ranch met expectations things have changed but not that much. Post a comment on what you took away from your visit..Mike
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In most the institutions I have been in there is a culture of disrespect for the patient. They were regarded as below the staff in that they were "abnormal" or "fucked up" or "damaged". Having someone with zero training who works in the boiler room working on the units goes to show you the unit staff and patients weren't treated with value. Staff on units should have specialized training just like someone who works in a boiler room should have specialized knowledge and training, and unit staff should not fall asleep because there are people who need them. Not that it is I Worked There's fault that he was given that opportunity and staff weren't required to have specialized training, and he sounds like overall he was a nice and kind staff person. The liberal way and the method in which seclusion and restraint and the common interactions that staff had with the patients at Gaebler tells me that there was a pervasive culture of disregard and disrespect and dislike toward the patients. It was an unsafe place for a person physically, emotionally, and sexually. It is hard to see how a staff member can not see what is going on around them, but society was different back then. Even in the toughest hospitals to be in (whether public or private) there have always been gems of staff members who have a sense of humor, are competent, and stick up for you if not to the administration at least to their fellow staff members, and they set a good example for the others. In some ways it sounds like I Worked There was a good example and kind. Typically no one is all good or bad. No matter the job a person fills in the hospital the way they interact with the patients can have a great impact, and it just goes to show you the difference we can make in each others lives for better or worse.
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Boiler1220, I agree. Sometimes I can really feel the heightened emotions of some posters (and can feel mine), and I feel bad that the person that perhaps the person might be experiencing some of the same negative emotions they went through then. But all the posts give me insight into how it was back then just like the pictures and I never want to forget.