When we opened the Fishery last September, one of our favorite parts was the giant steel screw conveyor* that cranked the fish up to the ceiling, only to drop them down various chutes back to ground level -- we called this "The Auger". After a few months, it began to stick, and the fish would jam, and the auger would lock up until Matt came along to un-stick it. And more recently, it's been stuck more often than not, and (in spite of a few rounds of re-design) we've been forced to accept the fact that unless we want our visitors to be frustrated by a piece of broken equipment (we don't!), we have to come up with another solution.
So we're replacing the auger with a new slot conveyor, but we're keeping the horizontal crank, in case someone in a wheelchair comes along (from a chair, this is an easier motion than the vertical crank-wheels on the other conveyors...on the other hand, the horizontal one is pretty tough for toddlers, so we've got both kinds.)
We think this replacement is for the best, but we will really miss the Auger. So I'd like to request a moment of silence for the Fishery Auger, born in the dog days of July 2007, which served faithfully through 9 months of hauling fish -- red, yellow and blue -- to their destination.
* footnote:
As a children's museum director, I would be remiss if I did not inform you that the Auger was actually an archimedes screw and you can learn more about it all over the web.
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