Over the years, Cash & Associates' professionals have undertaken several "special" projects that offered unique challenges and opportunities to apply engineering skills and expertise.  The following "Special Projects" are examples of Cash & Associates' skill and creative thinking that is applied not only to unique projects, but to all projects undertaken:


SPECIAL PROJECT - HEAVY LIFT & TRANSPORT
Spruce Goose (HK-1 Flying Boat Relocation)
Port of Long Beach to Spruce Goose Dome

To create the Spruce Goose attraction in Long Beach Harbor, it was necessary to relocate this one-of-a-kind aircraft from storage in a specially built hangar in the Port of Long Beach.  Cash & Associates provided structural engineering services for development and design of a custom lifting cradle to remove the aircraft from the water to land for temporary yard storage during construction of the Spruce Goose Dome.  The Naval Shipyard's YD-171, "Herman the German", Floating Crane was used to lift the aircraft.  After two years of yard storage, the Dome was completed and Cash & Associates assisted in the second phase of the relocation.  The same lifting cradle was used to relocate the aircraft, via barge, to a static display within the Dome.  The Spruce Goose has a gross weight of 136,000 Kg (150 tons), a total height of 24 meters (79 feet), a total length of 150 meters (320 feet), and a wing span just over the length of one football field.




SPECIAL PROJECT - HEAVY LIFT & TRANSPORT
Spruce Goose Relocation
Long Beach, California to McMinnville, Oregon

To relocate the Spruce Goose to McMinnville, Oregon, it was necessary to disassemble this unique aircraft.  Cash & Associates worked with aerospace engineers to develop means and methods to disassemble the horizontal and vertical stabilizers and wings.  Working in association with the transportation contractor, Cash & Associates developed custom structural steel fixtures for transport of the wings, fuselage and vertical stabilizer to Oregon.  Aircraft components were wrapped in protective film and lowered into the fixtures via crane for barge shipment up the California/Oregon coastline.  Special elements of the work included preparation of "pitch and roll" calculations for the 890 nautical mile ocean journey from Long Beach Harbor to Astoria, Oregon.  From Astoria, the barge traveled 97 nautical miles up the Columbia River to Portland, Oregon.  Cash & Associates developed special lifting requirements to rotate the wing assemblies from a horizontal to a vertical position for transport via shallow water river barge from Portland up the Williamette River, through the Williamette Falls Locks at Oregon City, and cross country via flatbed trucks to the McMinnville museum site.  All work was accomplished under a fast-track schedule.

The purpose-built lifting cradle, originally designed by Cash & Associates, first used to relocate the HK-1 aircraft from its purpose-built Port of Long Beach hangar, then two subsequent moves, was last used to place the aircraft in its current home at Captain Michael King Smith Evergreen Aviation Educational Institute in McMinnville, Oregon.



R.M.S. QUEEN MARY
Long Beach, California

Due to a labor dispute between building trade and maritime unions, the R.M.S. Queen Mary was categorized as a building upon its arrival in Long Beach.  Extensive structural analysis of onboard structural elements was required to evaluate the ship in accordance with City building codes.  Computer modeling posed unique challenges as almost every structural member was composed of many different British standard shapes arranged in various configurations.  Approximately one-third of the total members had uniquely different member properties requiring separate calculations.  Following the evaluation, Cash & Associates provided engineering services to a several clients for over 45 projects to convert the ship to a tourist attraction.  Projects included modifications to various decks and shipboard locations to accommodate offices, restaurants, retail shops, and attractions.  Landside projects included a ticket purchasing area canopy, parking lot booths, a lighthouse, and entrance improvements.  Cash & Associates also provided structural design for an computer-based attraction within the Spruce Goose Dome and, most recently, preliminary consulting services related to a proposed shopping village to be located adjacent ship.





SPECIAL PROJECT - HEAVY LIFT
500-Ton Capacity Lifting Frames

Cash & Associates provided structural engineering for development of lifting requirements and design of two barge-mounted 45' high, 500-ton capacity lifting frames.   The purpose-designed and built frames were used to lift and place two identical ARCO seep structures on the ocean floor of the Santa Barbara Channel.  Each steel pyramid shaped seep structure measured 100' at its based and weighed 350-tons.  Since their installation, the seep structures have successfully captured hundreds of tons of escaping oil, tar and natural gas and, as an added benefit, reduced hydrocarbon air pollution.