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What is this?

skiNEwhere

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Saw this upside-down lollipop-like thing on tower 19 of the C-lift and have no idea what it is....ImageUploadedByAlpineZone1395366364.417132.jpg
 

Not Sure

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Looks like a way to keep the chairs from hitting the pole in windy conditions.Keeps the chairs from possibly hanging up ot the access ladder on the uphill side.
 

Handbanana

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Its a target. If you hit it with a snowball just right, it drops all the chairs to the ground.
 

skiNEwhere

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Lol, looking at it I was actually thinking it looks like one of those dunk tank targets you see at a carnival
 

Powda

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Windblocker for someone working on the lift??

I'm curious now.
 

skiNEwhere

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It's worth noting that this is the only tower that had this. The other riblets at breck don't seem to have these on any of their towers, but they also appear to be a different riblet model as well
 

4aprice

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It's worth noting that this is the only tower that had this. The other riblets at breck don't seem to have these on any of their towers, but they also appear to be a different riblet model as well

Towers are definitely Riblet, but the chairs look replaced. I too have seen the piece the op was about and haven't a clue as to what they do. Loved the old center pole Riblet doubles out west, with no safety bars. Some of the best tans of my life were on those things.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ
 

mister moose

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Vibration damper

If that's the case (because this sounds reasonable) why aren't this on every tower?

I agree with Big Bob, but with the glare and blur it's hard to see what the pendulum is attached too, but I'll go out on a limb anyway.

The disk at the end is heavy, it has a lot of inertia. Because it is fixed at one end, it is designed for rotational inertia. Guessing that it is attached to the bogey wheel main axle, it will intially dampen rocking motion on the entire bogey wheel carrier frame. More guessing that the period (Time for one complete oscillation) for the bogey frame oscillation is diffferent that the period of the pendulum, so resonance will not occur.

Why would you want this? Perhaps on surge loads only certain towers have enough distance and hence slack between them to cause the kind of oscillation that would require damping. Next time you're on the lift, look at how far apart the towers are on either side of the pendulum. Is it one of the farthest spans on the lift?

The one thing that I'm not getting is the restricted range of motion on the pendulm. If it starts moving, it will be free to move out and then hit the tower. Then move out, then hit the tower. Quite the bell ringer.

I've seen these around also.
 

TropicTundR

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I think only one tower has it because tower is a resonance node to damper oscillation between tower above and below.
 

Edd

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I put this question to a friend in the industry last week and just got a response. It's in line with the other guesses.

" The technical term for this is a 'tuned mass damper'. Check it out
on Wikipedia. The common term for them on Riblet chairlifts are
'lollipops'. Their purpose is to offset harmonic vibration that can
affect towers, communications cables, etc. They are found on some, but
not all
installations. There is a thread on Skilifts.org describing an issue
that Riblet had at one time with sheaves that were not bored exactly in
the center for the bearing, causing harmonic issues on the lifts. These
lollipops counteract the motion to minimize the reaction.
Variations are used on bridges, powerline towers, and tall
buildings."



Sent from my iPad using AlpineZone
 

4aprice

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I put this question to a friend in the industry last week and just got a response. It's in line with the other guesses.

" The technical term for this is a 'tuned mass damper'. Check it out
on Wikipedia. The common term for them on Riblet chairlifts are
'lollipops'. Their purpose is to offset harmonic vibration that can
affect towers, communications cables, etc. They are found on some, but
not all
installations. There is a thread on Skilifts.org describing an issue
that Riblet had at one time with sheaves that were not bored exactly in
the center for the bearing, causing harmonic issues on the lifts. These
lollipops counteract the motion to minimize the reaction.
Variations are used on bridges, powerline towers, and tall
buildings."



Sent from my iPad using AlpineZone

Makes total sense. I loved the old Riblet's ,from the old Cleopatra Triple at CBK (1964) to Aspen which was covered by them back in the 70's. Most had no safety bars. Ones that did were kind of weird. Does anyone remember the safety bar on the Mansfield Double which was a Riblet? I remember getting my ski caught on the footrest it as it swung out from underneath the chair But the grips were different then say the old Hall's (like say Smugglers chairs), it was sort of sewn into the cable and when passing over the sheaves it was a bumpy ride. They also liked to put towers in perpendicular to the slope so they look like they are leaning and about to fall over. Cleopatra Chair at Camelback (which has the original towers still in place) has a really cool array of five towers at the top. Not a whole lot of them left around. Bromley has one next to the T-bar.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ
 
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