University of Toronto

This was a fun project. The university, under Professor Michael Collins, was working on a project to test the strength of reinforced concrete. Various mixtures, along with reinforcing rods in different patterns, made the test samples. We were asked to become involved by supplying the hydraulic equipment required to apply the forces to the test samples. A 12 foot reaction frame was manufactured and we supplied 37 hydraulic cylinders that were certified to apply the same load at a given pressure. These cylinders had the ability to apply a force of 25 Tons if supplied hydraulic fluid @ 10,000 PSI. Now that we had the force in place we had to design a system that would allow the students to apply forces in 4 directions. They could pull it apart, crush it, or even shear the sample. Strain gauges were used to read the fail points and determine the ultimate strength of the samples.


This all sound interesting but what, you ask, would anyone do with this information. Well, this was around the time they built the CN Tower. We had to be on call 24 hours a day for that one because they used our hydraulic pumps to post tension it and our pumps and cylinders to level the communication tower when it was put in place by a helicopter. We even had one occasion when my mother was the only person available at midnight to open the office so that BBR could get a fitting.

This information was used by countries that built with concrete structures and were located in high stress areas. Hurricanes, tornadoes & earthquakes effect the   type of structures built in certain locations. Countries with severe conditions who wanted to build with concrete commissioned Universities, among others, to study the effects of stress on various reinforced concrete mixtures. We may see much more sophisticated testing done today but that one was high tech enough for me to talk to a professor at the University to see what would be involved in studying Engineering as a mature student. Suffice to say, I really enjoyed this project but I did not become an engineer. Our expertise is knowing what our equipment will do and how to use it.

We designed and built this control panel. Why was it so large? Well the University wanted a work surface and they wanted the controls spread out. Today, you would have a laptop and control the preprogrammed system at a desk. Back then, we built them what they ask for. At one point in the pretesting we even discovered that we had a potential bomb but with a little modification, we eliminated that problem. We modified existing equipment that U of T already owned to look and operate as if it was brand new.

After this system was completed and the original study was over the University continued to use the equipment. Professor Collins wrote a paper in Europe on the system and acknowledged the important part we played in its creation. I am lead to believe that a much more significant study took place in Japan and the system designed at the University was used as the prototype for their larger, more high tech project.


We thank Professor Michael Collins for involving us in this project. We learned from this exposure and have used the knowledge we gained many times over the years. This was truly one of the highlights of my working life.

Daryl McBurney

The reaction frame has 37 hydraulic cylinder and 3 fixed arms. Each cylinder was capable of applying 25 tons in either push or pull mode. The fixed arms were designed to help eliminate twisting within the fixture.

Over the years we supplied a few repair kits for the cylinders. I can't remember a repair on the system and, of course, we did supply a few replacement hoses. This was a great system and one that we are proud to have been involved in.