Ruud Schreijer used the EDA conference to unveil a timely glimpse of the future.
Some people fantasise about fame. Some people fantasise about money. Personally, I tend to fantasise about Keira Knightley being overcome by an uncontrollable and insatiable lust for middle-aged demolition journalists.
Fantastical? Possibly. But is it any more fantastical than the fantasies of Ruud Schreijer, the man behind the world’s largest high reach excavator?
Having conquered the heights, Schreijer is now turning his attention to the depths with a self-propelled underwater attachment to cut down offshore oil rigs without the need for costly heavy lift barges. Looking like something straight from an episode of Thunderbirds, this concept machine would use a series of remotely-controlled thrusters to locate the unit onto the steel sections to be cut. Together with designers from attachment specialist Genesis, Schreijer has even conceived a new style of shear that would weigh around 50 tonnes and that would feature a two function jaw set: the first locking the shear in place; the second cutting the beam.
With an eye to the failed “top kill” attempt to stem the flow of oil into the ocean in the Gulf of Mexico, Schreijer believes that the unit could also be employed to control oil spills. “We could fit the machine with jaw sets containing no cutting blades,” he says. “These could be used to ‘crimp’ a burst pipe to help stem the flow from an oil spill.”
So will this concept machine ever make it off Schreijer’s prolific and imaginative drawing board? “If a contractor ordered one, we could probably have it ready in six months,” Schreijer concludes. “But if President Obama wants one for the Gulf of Mexico leak, we could probably do it in a month!”
