21 replies to this topic

[crazyskier91]

All of the websites I have visited have lacked info on Constam lifts. I got bored one day and found this. It has a bit of info on this mysterious brand.
 us_hof_ernst_constam.pdf (77.5K)
Number of downloads: 91

The PDF no longer works please scroll to post # 22 for an extensive history - Admin

[liftmech]

That's more than I knew before...
I think the old T-bar up at Climax was a Constam. There are or were many of his T-bars in Colorado.

[crazyskier91]

I read about one in North Carolina and there was also one at Pico Vermont.

[Dr Frankenstein]

Constam (I think) T-Bar, Mont St-Sauveur :)

Attached File(s)

•  DSCF0128.JPG (640.94K)
  Number of downloads: 60

[crazyskier91]

I think that is a Constam, it seems like he used wooden towers a lot, I don't know if anyone else made wooden towers. Anyone know if there are any left operating.

[floridaskier]

Wooden towers were used for the first lift at Snow Park Resort, the predecessor to DV in the 40s and 50s. The owners built it themselves though

[crazyskier91]

Most lifts if not all with wooden towers have been demolished for obvious reasons.

[Dr Frankenstein]

Constam double. Credit: chairlift.org

[ODDfreakPERSON]

not much greater then wood
well maybe it is...

[SkiBachelor]

The reason why a lot of lifts back in the day used 'wood towers and terminals' was because of the lack of steel from the Korean war.

[liftmech]

That's an interesting photo. You don't see portal towers much anymore, and especially not guyed off like that one is. Now it's all tube steel and massive concrete footings, and only for heavily loaded depression towers.. Also- note the seat/basket is not centred on the stem- I suppose it's for counterweight purposes. That's a little odd to me because it appears that those chairs have a tendency to swing out if left neutral, while most others swing in.

[Dr Frankenstein]

Liftmech said:

I suppose it's for counterweight purposes

Yes it is.

You can also see there's no sheave liner.

Why is there only two sheaves on the loaded side?????

[crazyskier91]

Those must be very strong, I know that the old T-Bar at Pico ran single chairs in the summer as a sight seeing ride. What I don't get is why they didn't use the chairs in the winter too, a lot of people must have fallen near the top and that would reduce the times the lift would start and stop.

[Dr Frankenstein]

Because T-Bars can run faster.

[crazyskier91]

I suppose that does make sense, well I guess i'm not always right but sometimes I think that my thoughts are fact.

[floridaskier]

Dr Frankenstein, on Jun 2 2004, 08:34 PM, said:

Why is there only two sheaves on the loaded side?????

There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of angle change, if any, and it's probably not too heavy. You hardly ever see that now

[TRosenbaum]

That picture of the guyed tower structure looks very similar to the Constam T-bar that used to operate at Cliffs Ridge (now Marquette Mountain in Marquette, MI, USA). The sheaves were not rubber lined. There was quite a jolt and clunk-clunk sound as the T-bar passed over the sheaves. The Tees were horribly leaky things with an oil-damped shock and large external spring. Under certain weather conditions the Tees would freeze up (or require more force to extend) thus providing us with a thrill ride as we (as small children) were lifted several feet into the air for much of the ride (and sometimes spun around backwards).

[Warren733]

crazyskier91, on May 30 2004, 08:39 AM, said:

I read about one in North Carolina and there was also one at Pico Vermont.

The one in NC would have had to have been at the original Cataloochee Ski Area on Fie Top, unlike it is today on Moody Top. They moved to Moody in 1967/1968. It had opened on Fie Top in 1961.

Attached File(s)

•  Cataloochee__s_Old_T_Bar.GIF (157.22K)
  Number of downloads: 38

[ceo]

TRosenbaum, on Jan 11 2007, 04:58 PM, said:

That picture of the guyed tower structure looks very similar to the Constam T-bar that used to operate at Cliffs Ridge (now Marquette Mountain in Marquette, MI, USA). The sheaves were not rubber lined. There was quite a jolt and clunk-clunk sound as the T-bar passed over the sheaves. The Tees were horribly leaky things with an oil-damped shock and large external spring. Under certain weather conditions the Tees would freeze up (or require more force to extend) thus providing us with a thrill ride as we (as small children) were lifted several feet into the air for much of the ride (and sometimes spun around backwards).

Sounds exactly like the five old T-bars Sugarloaf/USA in ME used to have (and that's the same tower design). One had been replaced with the Double Runner chair by the time I started skiing there, and two others upgraded to reel-type Ts (is there an official name for these?). Those old telescopic Ts on the long, slow #5 T-bar would lift up small children even when they weren't frozen up. All are now gone except #3 (Bateau), which provides upper-mountain access on windy days (and has updated sheave trains etc.).

I think Pleasant Mountain (now Shawnee Peak), also in ME, used to have one of those chairlifts. They certainly had an ancient double with guy-stayed portal towers and no safety bar the one time i was there (in 1977). They'd retrofitted it with actual seat belts.

[Allan]

ceo, on Jan 22 2007, 11:36 AM, said:

... and two others upgraded to reel-type Ts (is there an official name for these?).

They're called springboxes.