For the past few weeks, workers have assembled, used and dismantled a large crane across the street from my office building in Downtown St. Louis, Missouri.  Several of the attorneys at my office have found ourselves checking on the crane several times a day.  A reason I find it interesting is that it seems like it is too big and heavy to lifted from the fulcrum next to the cab–it’s a naturally occurring optical illusion.  When it was laid out on the ground, the crane was considerably more than a block long. Only when one walks close to the crane can one appreciate the mass and thickness of the metal and the steel cables of the crane.  Even the turnbuckle (if that is the right word) looks like it weighs many hundred of pounds.

Somehow, though, the crane was able to lift off the ground, and then, once it’s in the air, it was capable of carrying extremely heavy looking equipment to the roof of the building across the street. Just for fun, I’m sharing a few of the images of the crane. Click on the images to enlarge them.