CN Tower

The CN Tower is a highlight of our Toronto landscape. When it was built, it was the tallest freestanding building in the world and we sold equipment used to pre-stress the continuously poured concrete. They started to pour concrete and they pre-stressed the reinforcing rods throughout the structure. It was continuous from beginning to end. Our deal was to be available 24 hours a day in order to supply parts or fittings when needed.

There was a time when BBR, the contractor on the job, required a fitting and the only person available was my mother. Now mother was not used to pulling parts off the shelf but when BBR phoned she told them that if they would pick her up (she didn’t drive) and take her to the office, she would open the building and if they could find the fitting, they could take it to the job after they had taken her home. This call came at 12:30 in the morning. They found the fitting and the job carried on.

Not only did we sell pumps to pre-stress the concrete, we rented the cylinders used to level the communications tower at the top of the building. Those 50-ton cylinders were subsequently rented to another contractor and lost off the side of a barge. They now sit at the bottom of the St Lawrence River.