Platforms

reminds me almost of a video game.

Abandoned city...this is what I get for watching Robots with my little brothers! LoL! I love it!

Great shot Motts. I love the way the light crawls across the walls and balconies on this one.

Motts a question for you, what were the platforms used for???? to oversea production???

Reminds me of the Galatic Counsel in the newer starwars movies(yeah, I'm a geek, I know it)

I think I figured out the balconies a few pics ago thanks to the before and after shot- to recap a large gantry crane appears to be no longer there is visible in the vintage pic. It could probaly travell the lenght of the room an tracks above the ceiling as well as move right and left. This means that it could pick up loads of raw materils from the incomeing train cars and deposit them directly onto the appropriate balcony for storage or use in production. Also could do the reverse op for assembled components.
Notice there are no two balconies stacked above each other. This allows all balconies to be serviced by the crane.
Any other ideas??

Yeah, and referring back to your comments on the first page, that totally explains how an ill designed plant could bankrupt a company. What a klunky system! Its interesting that the two companies that leased the plant after Stude shut down also went bankrupt. Of course Lee Iaccoca pulled Chrysler out of its slump, but IH shut down most of its operations for good. I wonder if this plant was the cause?

SLS, that seems to be the perfect reasoning for the balconies. Makes a ton of sense to me as well!

thanks SLS totally makes sense to me!! ;-)

Romeo, Romeo, which balcony are you on Romeo.....

Cool picture!

The blue of the windows in the top corner and centre of the shot break it up perfectly! Not to mention the unbeleivable contrasts the whole shot holds, amazing....nuff said!

You are correct SLS, the balconies were used to move parts that were both produced at the plant and came in from suppliers. Compact multifloor assembly plants, like this, are highly inefficient this balcony type system was likely an effort to make the system more efficient. Clearly that did not work.

Ah yes, the balconies. I do recall that Michelle and I used to frequent the one on the top right. You can probably find the candy wrappers all over the balcony. Then there was Becca on the balcony to the left. I never could use the same balcony as I changed girlfriends. Something about each one, I just could not ruin the memories by bringing in a new woman to a place shared with someone else. sigh

Great stuff Motts! That's the funkiest materials handing scheme I've ever seen in a factory. It's the damndest thing. In the old/new photos a couple images back, one of the traversing cranes can still be seen on the top way off at the far end.

jane, these buildings were built in 1919 and were state-of-the-art then. Everyone used multi-story assembly plants, even Henry Ford. And IH didn't shut down most of it's operations for good. They still build trucks under the International name and Case New Holland bought the off-road operations.

Super Mario Bros. anyone...?

Ah, it's so wonderful to see such wonderful artistic talent in the world of photography. This photo is the perfect marriage between architecture and ,you could almost say, abstractness. I wish more people could see the world through this most astonishing point of view!

You are so right Susie! this photo really spoke to me! That photo really was a great marriage in architecture and abstract art. When i saw this photo, my life nearly changed, i know it sounds corny, but it really did. motts you really know how to take superlative photos.

Kinda reminds me of a scene from Fritz Lang's Metropolis

My very first thought when I took one look at this photograph was the movie "Star Wars".

Those platforms jutting out like that remind of some of the large ships in the Empire's fleet.
I can just see Darth Vader standing on one of these platforms cursing Han Solo.

Signed: An American Soldier stationed in Germany.

i had a friend who worked at ford he put the grills on the 64 tthunder birds birds he said those plants were loud that's why the use the air horns to tell you lunch and clock out

This picture is truly beatiful. I just love how the light hits the center. It reminds me of how the light hits a freshly glazed doughnut. All shiny and bright and delicious. I also love howw the windows are square because squares are my favorite geometric figure.

To SLS earlier. I am familiar with anything to do with studebaker. You are EXACTLY correct.