Destruction anyone?

[ROBBYBOBBY64]

Okay here is a little history. The palisades cliffs along the hudson river was at one time in the early 1900s threatened with total annihilation. They were drilling and blasting the cliffs for the stone. It was stopped when the womans club moved to have the cliffs made into protected area called the palisades interstate park. It extands from New Jersey just below the George washington bridge north into New York State. I was walking around the river banks and saw this rusty thing peeking out. I looked at it and after some googling and detective work i figured out what it is. The item i found is a drill tip for drilling rock so they could blast the rock with dynamite. I found rocks drilled out by a bigger but similar bit. The drill bit tip i found goes on the end of a rod and into a drilling machine usually hydraulic man operated. I dont know if it is from the destuction or the construction of the park. They built stone stairs retaining walls and buildings during the Great depression. I cleaned it up a little i like a rustic look. It may not be a bottle but it is a cool tooltop! LOL! ROBBYBOBBY64

 

[Cola-Coca]

Interesting find, looks well used.

 

[ROBBYBOBBY64]

Interesting find, looks well used.

The stone that makes up the Palisade cliffs is called Diabase. It is igneous (volcanic) looks like salt and pepper. Very hard and unforgiving to the drill bits. The palisades cliffs were made from a large eruption that ended its flow up against a dam of softer stone. Over millions of years rain and wind eroded the softer stone revealing the diabase palisade cliffs that we know today. They are at the highest point over 100 feet straight drop to the Hudson river.

 

[embe]

Really neat. 2" diameter?

 

[ROBBYBOBBY64]

2.5" is the measurement across. I see some holes 4 inch diameter, 3", and 2.5". They used a 3/4"-1" drill in a line about 3" apart to split the rock. Like the Egyptians as well as other archaic people did. I dont know if they used wood pegs driven into the hole then they pour boiling water in each hole the wood swelling would split the rock. Very neat huh?

 

[embe]

Yep, hydraulic pressure in those drilled holes would probably do the same in a NY freeze/thaw cycle but TNT works faster

 

[ROBBYBOBBY64]

Yep, hydraulic pressure in those drilled holes would probably do the same in a NY freeze/thaw cycle but TNT works faster

Yes it does. Nothing like a little dynamite! That was Just a little history of controlled rock splitting.