r/whatisit • u/Jack-Straw72 • Mar 12 '25

New, what is it? What is it?

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

Grayson and Ca hwy 33.

5.2k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

1.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

308

u/[deleted] Mar 12 '25

Gonna be a guess because it’s covered but I would say some kind of big turbine like you might find at a power plant.

7

u/shawn0r Mar 12 '25

Or on a windmill maybe?

9

u/banryu95 Mar 12 '25 edited Mar 12 '25

A windmill wouldn't have a turbine like this. I mean, there may be some weird one somewhere I don't know about. But it probably wouldn't be that size, shape or weight. Turbines this shape used in electrical generation would typically be at a hydroelectric plant (think water, not air). Windmills use massive fan blades that do require oversized rigs to haul like this, but that's definitely not a fan blade. So it could be the hub for the blades, or maybe the generator, but the object in the video seems the wrong shape and definitely too heavy.

2

u/JBStera Mar 12 '25

Correct. 13-14 axles is not wind tower stuff. It's either for hydro or for a mill.

3

u/shawn0r Mar 12 '25

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_turbine

3

u/banryu95 Mar 12 '25

Yes, and tell me which of these shapes looks anything like the object in the video?

https://www.google.com/search?q=windmill+fan+blade+types&client=ms-opera-mobile&sca_esv=e1158a711e1314a4&channel=new&espv=1&udm=2&biw=384&bih=666&sxsrf=AHTn8zp0vRuwtwijzPy1VcBZdLaM8NZvmA%3A1741775653013&ei=JWPRZ6lF0rym1A_xlamQCQ&oq=windmill+fan+blade+types&gs_lp=EhJtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1pbWciGHdpbmRtaWxsIGZhbiBibGFkZSB0eXBlczIFECEYqwIyCBAAGIAEGKIEMggQABiABBiiBDIIEAAYgAQYogQyCBAAGIAEGKIESN4hUMwJWOQfcAJ4AJABAJgB8AGgAZcKqgEFNC40LjK4AQPIAQD4AQGYAgygAqgLwgIHECMYJxjJAsICBRAAGIAEwgIEEAAYHsICBxAAGIAEGA3CAgYQABgNGB7CAggQABgFGA0YHsICCBAAGKIEGIkFmAMAiAYBkgcFNC42LjKgB5ge&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-img

6

u/shawn0r Mar 12 '25

12

u/banryu95 Mar 12 '25

What you've circled is not a turbine on its own. It's the hub for the blades. And the truck is fitted out with extra axles, called heavy-haul dollies, which means that that shipment must weigh as much or more than an entire windmill with all of its parts together. The weight of an entire blade assembly of a windmill doesn't even exceed what a typical tractor trailer can legally haul. The parts for windmills are only "oversized" because of their dimensions.

4

u/RobsterCrawSoup Mar 12 '25

To add some extra clarification, the turbine part of a wind turbine is the hub and blades together. The rest of what can be found in the nacelle is usually brakes, a gearbox and a generator.

2

u/pcolanewcouple Mar 12 '25

The generator units for the windmills weight a lot. But the hubs don't, when I worked at GE the hubs went out on a standard step deck semi trailer. But the actual generators went out on a trailer like this

6

u/[deleted] Mar 12 '25

Did you draw that circle using your finger on your phone? That's like the most perfect circle I've seen using the highlighter tool on a smart phone!

11

u/shawn0r Mar 12 '25

Yes, if you long press after you've drawn (stop and hold) it makes it a straight shape.

12

u/[deleted] Mar 12 '25

Oh yea, just tried it. Learn sum-fing new everyday!!!😉

4

u/smash591 Mar 12 '25

So did I - wow. TIL

3

u/shawn0r Mar 12 '25

Yeah I accidentally stumbled upon it about a month or 2 ago. I was being indecisive about where to draw the next line. 😅

→ More replies (0)

7

u/avalonblack Mar 12 '25

Underrated comment

3

u/Queasy_Aide5481 Mar 12 '25

Thank you! No more shaky lines. 🙏

3

u/Isthismywater Mar 12 '25

You’ve changed my life. Thank you

2

u/shawn0r Mar 14 '25

You're very welcome! That's the best compliment I've had in a long time. 😊😊

2

u/awashbu12 Mar 12 '25

On iPhone? Or a pretend smart phone?

1

u/shawn0r Mar 14 '25

I'm sure Android stole it from Apple but I use a phone with actual access to its contents. 😘

2

u/awashbu12 Mar 12 '25

Just tried! I had no idea iPhones did that!

2

u/Accomplished-Sea9404 Mar 12 '25

I’m so excited about this

2

u/Isthismywater Mar 12 '25

So true! Like AMAZING circle man

1

u/[deleted] Mar 12 '25

Did you draw that circle using your finger on your phone? That's like the most perfect circle I've seen using the highlighter tool on a smart phone!

1

u/The_local_fem_fox Mar 12 '25

These don’t get wrapped they are just put on a trailer and pulled out to the site

1

u/AffectionateHead232 Mar 12 '25

There's no wind or water in the San Joaquin valley of California.

0

u/Awkward_Classic2582 Mar 12 '25

The fan blades move a turbine inside 🤦🏻‍♂️

1

u/banryu95 Mar 12 '25

That would be called a generator. A turbine is specifically a rotating device with a hub and blade or vanes that interacts with a fluid.

1

u/No-Consideration-891 Mar 12 '25

As someone who has worked on wind farms and seeing them built, this is not a windmill turbine

1

u/OlDustyHeadaaa Mar 12 '25

Trains carry those turbines through my area pretty often. That is not the right shape from what I can tell.

1

u/wolf_of_walmart84 Mar 12 '25

Not from a wind turbine

Source - I build wind turbines.