E is for Equipment

Tonight my wonderful, loving husband, Pete, is going to blog about some equipment I think is fascinating.  I know nothing about it so Pete, who works in the shipping industry, is stepping in for me.  One of the surveyors in his company took this picture as it was being loaded on a ship to go out to the site of the drilling rig accident.  Thank you Pete.

"Equipment" describes the man-made machines that make modern life possible from the cars we drive and the ships that bring our oil to the cranes and bull dozers that allow our society to grow. The picture included is a huge hydraulic shear that is the size of a large SUV and the same weight as three of the same SUV's. It is basically a giant pair of scissors capable of biting through a 3 ft. diameter steel pipe in one bite. It can be and may be dropped to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico on the end of a crane wire to cut apart the steel debris from the recent drilling rig accident. I love "equipment" and all of the benefits we receive as a society from it.