Filmstrip: UNISPHERE Biggest World on Earth (continued)
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Designed, analyzed and approved, fabrication and construction could begin. Thousands of different pieces had to be cut, formed, assembled and welded. Box girders. Tubes ...
... Beams. Channels. Angles.
Special automatic and manual welding methods were employed. An upper meridian section is welded.
The South Pole is assembled.
Land areas were fabricated and assembled on this turtle-shaped fitting table which duplicated the exact curvature of UNISPHERE.
Conformed to United States Army Corps of Engineering contour maps, mountains and valleys are shown in exaggerated relief in order to achieve effective visualization of elevation.
Wrapped to protect the stainless beauty, sections were shipped by rail and highway ...
... to UNISPHERE's site.
Just ahead of the construction of the pedestal, thirty USST-1steel anchor bolts are set ...
... and a concrete base poured around them.
First structural member to go into place is the South Pole.
Next, one of UNISPHERE's largest members, a lower meridian ...
... is fitted into the South Pole and laid across the pedestal.
Actually welded girders, the lower meridians will support the entire structure.
Right at the site, many of the members are field-welded into sub-assemblies nick-named "orange peel sections."
To provide support and access, a temporary mast is placed along UNISPHERE's Polar axis.
When the structure is complete, UNISPHERE will be self-supporting and the mast removed.
The Southern Hemisphere, like a giant bowl, is completed in 83 days.
The bowl becomes a world of stainless steel when the last, flag-topped section is set in place.
