Jeff Clark Hulett Unloader collection

Collection

Identifier: GLMS-0106

Staff Only

Collection Overview

Abstract

This collection documents the history of Hulett unloaders, machines designed by George Hulett to empty the cargo holds of Great Lakes freighters. These machines greatly increased the efficiency of the unloading process beginning in the early 20th century. A major portion of the collection is made up of architectural plans and drawings, but also contains correspondence, reports, newsclippings, and photographs, 1908-1990.

Dates

Creation: 1880-2007
Creation: Majority of material found within 1898-1998

Extent

11.14 Cubic Feet (8 records storage cartons, 1 letter manuscript box, 1 half letter manuscript box, and 1 roll storage box)

Creator

Clark, Jeff (Person)
Wellman-Seaver-Morgan Company (Organization)

Scope and Contents

This is composed primarily of blueprints of design plans for industrial machinery used at docking facilities to unload freight vessels. Files in this collection date from 1908 to 1987. These Hulett unloaders were standard features of many Great Lakes harbors for much of the twentieth century. Three cubic feet of plans record the details of the hoisting and bucket devices used to remove bulk commodities such as coal or iron ore from Great Lakes freight vessels. There files date from 1908 to 1978. A small correspondence series from 1974-1976 describes renovations to the Presque Isle dock at Toledo, Ohio. Plans are included for the project. A series of reports from 1944-1977 cover statistics for cargoes unloaded at Toledo and Cleveland, Ohio. Harbor improvement projects for these cities are also documented. The service of a vessel crewman is recorded in the Continuous Discharge Book for ordinary seaman Michael J. Mackow of Cleveland, Ohio. This document records the trips on which Mackow sailed in the shipping seasons of 1945 and 1946. A comprehensive collection of photographs and photonegatives of construction and operation of Hulett Unloaders spanning from 1946-1990 visually documents the era of Hulett Unloaders on the Great Lakes. News clippings for 1950 to 1987 complete the collection. Hulett unloaders are the main focus of these clippings.

Historical Note

From the 1850s until 1898 the process of unloading Great Lakes vessels carrying coal or other bulk cargos was a laborious manual effort. Bottlenecks at dock sites caused delays in shipping commodities to manufacturing plants. George H. Hulett, a native of Ashtabula, Ohio, applied his engineering training to the design of a mechanical device to hoist loads out of the cargo holds of Great Lakes vessels.

On March 20, 1898 the first “Hulett” unloader was installed at Conneaut, Ohio for the Pittsburgh, Shenango and Lake Erie Railroad Company. Andrew Carnegie sponsored the construction with $40,000. The success of the design was immediate. Large crews of shovelers were no longer needed to scoop out the vessel cargo holds. The bucket and hoist of the Hulett device could reach over 90% of the hold in most vessels. Only 3 shovelers were needed to unload the remaining cargo.

About 80 Huletts were built from 1898 to 1954. The Cleveland-based engineering company of Wellman-Seaver-Morgan constructed most of these machines. The plans in this collection are in most cases Wellman-Seaver-Morgan products. The early Huletts (1898-1903) were steam driven. The second generation models were electrically powered. Bucket sizes grew from the original 10 ton scoops to a 20 ton capacity. The machines weighed as much as 1,500 tons in their later forms.

Hulett unloaders helped the growth of steel manufacturing and other industries through streamlining the unloading of raw materials from transport vessels. The Huletts themselves were rendered obsolete with the development of self-unloading vessels. Fewer ports required the Huletts. None were built after 1954.

Cleveland’s Whiskey Island dock for the C & P Railroad was the last place where Huletts were used on a large scale. Use was halted in Cleveland after the December 15, 1992 unloading of the LEMOYNE. As of 1993, 2 Huletts were still in limited service at Chicago. Local preservation efforts in Cleveland are designed to preserve the Whiskey Island Huletts as part of Cleveland’s industrial history. As of 2024, the preservation efforts were not successful, and the remaining Hulett components were scrapped.

Conditions Governing Access

No known access restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Researchers using this collection assume full responsibility for conforming to the laws of libel, privacy, and copyright, and are responsible for securing permissions necessary for publication or reproduction.