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As we continue with our series of reads about the Eiffel tower, let us go through some of the reasons why the Eiffel tower is so famous. We may just be looking at it as one of the wonders of the world without really taking time to understand it’s history and the reason for being there. Let us summarize some of the reason for its fame.

Sadly the other buildings were destroyed, which would have gained in popularity over time too, I guess.So, it’s popular because it looks like nothing else in the world. Because you can actually go in with an elevator or also climb your way up and get an insane view of Paris and hundreds of kilometers around Paris. Because it represents the industrial era. With France being one of the pioneers of the Industrial revolution with stainless steel manufacturer and largest producer of these metal drivers of the revolution.

It’s famous because it was never supposed to stay there.Because it’s a worldwide famous French symbol (during the industrial era, it screamed “France owns lots of metal!”). Gustave Eiffel designed it for the temporary Exposition Universelle, and a lot of crazy other buildings and constructions were all around the Eiffel Tower during the Exhibition. But it looked so strange and became so popular that they didn’t destroy it. If they had planned to build it in Paris, it would have had to meet requirements, blend in, etc. but since it was a little crazy thing that got built, they allowed themselves to be more creative and make it look like it comes straight out of a Jules Verne novel.

It’s popular because it’s a phallic construction and yet retains feminine attributes.It’s popular because of all the artists who wrote about it and filmed it.

As we all know, Eiffel Tower is famous for its height and it ever was the highest tower all around the world. Nevertheless, whether you know the other side of it? Today I’ll introduce some parts that you ever heard about.

Introduction

Eiffel Tower is one of the landmark in Paris, and stands on the south bank of the Seine, Champ de Mars. It is called as La Tour Eiffel in French and in English is the Eiffel Tower.  The Iron Tower has been a symbol of France since it was built in 1889. The 324M building, connected by 12,000 metal components, shares more than 9,000 tons of steel. The French love romance, and  instead of calling the behemoth “the Great Hero” or “the great husband” , they affectionately refer to it as the “Iron Lady”. The Eiffel Tower, Tokyo Tower together with The Empire State Building are called the “ Three Famous Building of the West.”

Now I will introduce 17 facts that you didn’t know about Eiffel Tower, you can check whether you know, as follows:

1. The Eiffel Tower is one of the most well-known architectural landmarks of Paris.
2. It was constructed in 1889, to memorize the centennial of the French Revolution and to show off France’s industrial power to the world.
3. The Eiffel Tower was named after Gustave Eiffel, the French engineer who construct the Eiffel Tower.
4. It was well-known from inside and outside the country as La Tour Eiffel and it also has a nickname as La Dame de Fer which means ‘ The iron Lady’.
5. It measures 1050 feet in height and it is the highest man-made architecture in the world before defeated by the Chrysler Building in New York.
6. It is made of iron and weighs about 100 million tonnes.
7. It is painted for almost every 7 years in order to prevent from rust.
8. It almost spent about 50 tonnes of paint to paint the entire tower.
9. It is painted in three shades of brown, brightest at the top and darkest at the bottom.
10. If we want to clean the Eiffel Tower, it needs more than 4 tons of dusters and cleaning cloths. 400 liters of detergents and 25,000 bin bags are also needed to clean.
11. The heat of sun causes the tower to grow about 6 inches.
12. There are over 5 billion lights on the Eiffel Tower.
13. There are 108 floors, 1710 steps in total of the Eiffel Tower. However, tourist can only climb stairs to the first platform.
14. There are two huge elevators can take tourists to the upper platforms. These elevators cover a distance of about 103 thousand km every year. And it is almost 2.5 times the circumference of the entire Earth.
15. The tower also has two restaurants, a banquet, a champagne, several buffets and a number of unique gift shops.
16. It is open for tourists and visitors for 365 days a year.
17. was constructed for 20 years and sold as scrap. But as time goes by, the people of the city gradually fell in love with it so that it remains to exist and now it has been the landmark of Paris.

What we concern about most is about Eiffel Tower tickets and tourists season. By using the elevator to get to the fist floor, adults and children over 12 will cost 4.3 Euros per person. Under 12 and over 3 years old, you will cost 2.4 Euros per person. Similarly, to get the to second floor,  adults and children over 12 will cost 7.7 Euros per person. Under 12 and over 3 years old, you will cost 2.2 Euros per person. To the top, the former will cost 11 Euros, the latter will cost 6 Euros. If you choose to climb stairs to the first and second floor, over 25 years old will 3.8 Euros per person, and 3 Euros per person for adults under 25. What’s more, all tickets are free for children under 3 years old.

There are almost 6,980,000 visitors to the Eiffel Tower in 2011. What’s more, over 27 million people went to the Eiffel Tower in total in 2010. It can generate 1.5 billion Euros in tourism revenue for Paris each year.

And then is the tourist season. The peak tourist reason is from June to September, and it need to queue for 2 to 3 hours. If you want to avoid the peak tourist season, you can choose another period. I believe it will give a better enjoyment.

However, unfortunately, according to the French media, the Eiffel Tower will be closed indefinitely, due to the security strike, and will temporarily prevent visitors from reaching the Eiffel Tower.

We all know that steel pipe is a very important tool to establish the buildings, bridges and other pipeworks. But it is also dangerous. So there provides some safety tips for steel and pipe work.

Before we acknowledge the safety tips of the steel and pipeworks, we should acquaint with the various kinds of them. Because there is different ways to handling, storage, and transporting with different forms of the steel pipe. The types of the steel pipe include the flat plate, coil, round and squared bars, beams, pipes, and many other shapes. We need some specific tools to deal with the steel pates and bars, such as chains, clamps, and hooks. We need ensure the property of storing those fittings, attachments, and implements which used for handling steel plates and bars for our safety. We also can’t slip and fall the equipment. The following will introduce some methods of protecting the employees when they construct or repair the buildings, bridges or other structures where steel erection occurs.

The employees who use those dangerous equipment need have the basic ability required. If necessary, they should get corresponding certificate and gain enough safety knowledge.

1. When the employees handling the steel pipe, they need wear the safety equipment, such as hard hats, steel toed boots and gloves.
2. The equipment, such as cranes, forklifts, or hoists, which used to handle the steel pipe must be inspection qualified. The limitation and the load chart should be shown clearly in the surface.
3. The lifting attachment must be load rated sufficient for the job.
4. only one piece of steel can be lifted by the plate or dog clamps at one time.
5. The chain would fail to work and cause the load to fall when it was installed improperly or using over its road rating.
6. The road rating of the web slings should be ensure within its scope. And it can’t be contacted with the sharp edges.
7. In order to prevent the road swinging on the floor or ground, the crane or hoist should be positioned directly over the load.
8. Storing and transporting the steel pipe must be very careful, cause of there is some risks. If we don’t make any limits or fixation, the steel material may roll, slip, slid, or fall over. If the system of the storing space is not designed properly, the shelves or racking may breakdown. So, a professional designed inter-space is necessary for the steel material storage.
9. In order to prevent the collapse, we must cross braced the racking or shelving systems.

Additional considerations

11. We should install the bollard posts in order to prevent the storage systems is been damaged by the forklifts or equipment.
12. In the prominent locations of the system, the safe load capacity of storage systems should be clearly displayed.
13. The weight of every kind of the steel pipes must be clearly knowledgeable by the employees.
14. In order to promote the use of plate clamps, we should offset the steel plate stored on end or upright.
15. If the round bar, pipe and steel coil are inclined or stopped, they should be stored in racks. If not, the material would rolling off.
16. The storing of the large steel pipe is particularly. It should be stored lying flat and chocked, or secured in cradle in cradle racks. And we should use pipe cradles to transport these pipes.
17. We must handle and store the coil steel properly. Because it is very dangerous and we would easy be injured by it. The coil steel is divided into different forms by the size and weight. Some may weight up to 15 tons. If the coil steel is uncoiled without restraint, it would be hazardous.
18. Smaller coils should be put on the top, because the weight of the larger one would push apart it, then produce danger.
19. Both the large diameter steel pipe and the coil steel should be transported in cradles.

Closing the gaps

20. Steel is usually transported by the flatbed trucks and semi trailers. But what we should remarkable is that headboards should be provided in the trucks. It can protect the driver from the load moving forward. In addition, a trail board is also necessary. It can protect other drivers from loose material.
21. In order to prevent the lateral movement of the load, the stanchion pins that suitable to the load should be placed in the rail post pockets.
22. A special lane should be provided for the transportation of the steel pipe. As for the inside of the trucks, there should install a grab bucket between the cab and the headboard so that it can provide a safe vantage point for loading and unloading the operations directly. In order to ensure the safety of the load, drivers should check the load hourly.
23. The rated load of the chains which used to fix the load and tied the steel pipe for transportation should be operated properly.
24. Don’t park the trucks in an uneven ground to unload the cargo. If the destination is not suitable to unload the steel materials, the drive should inform the superiors to find another suitable place to load the steel pipes safely.
25. The stanchion pins should be left in place and the binders should be loosen slowly while unloading the steels, especially the pipes and coil. Besides, it should be unloaded one by one. And it can’t be loosen completely until all the chains are loosing and there is no indication show that the load has transferred. Also, in order to prevent load shift hazard, the steel material should be re-tighten between the shifts while unloading.

Under any circumstances, when handling the steel, we should always be very carefully and slowly. With their different weight and the destructive capability, we should handle it in different methods. We should also notice that don’t neglect the safety to speed up the handling process. Remember forever that the safety is always the first priority.

The impact of falling oil prices isn’t contained to just the oil industry and also the steel pipe industry. Some experts think the price of oil will remain low for some time and will affect the demand of steel pipe, especially stainless steel pipe.

Steel Companies, Next Victim?

Manufacturers are bracing for impact as plunging crude oil prices force energy producers to cancel or postpone new drilling projects. No industry operates in a vacuum. The impact of falling oil prices isn’t contained to just the oil industry, also the steel industry.

After reaching historic levels in the past few years, growth in U.S. oil production is beginning to taper off due to rapidly falling prices.  Lower oil prices have decreased demand for pipes, tubes and other energy-related steel products. Northeast Ohio was worrying about the rebirth of its steel industry partly because steel prices have dropped significantly since 2014.

Even though stronger demand from the construction and manufacturing sectors, declining demand of the energy sector and a recent surge in imports still gloomy the future of the steel pipe industry. Prices for hot rolled coil are down, as is demand for sheet steel and bars for seamless pipe. Steel is faring better than other metals, like copper and aluminum, which have seen great changes in commodity prices since the oil bubble burst. But major steel pipe producers are already feeling the effects. Some leading manufacturer United States Steel Corporation announced it would lay off more workers in which produces steel pipes and tubes for the oil and gas industry.

The Oil Price

Much more steel workers are out of work than a year before. What cause this thing happened? We have to admit that it is the price of oil. Oil was selling for more than $100 a barrel in 2011, and drillers were scrambling to get to it, whether it was trapped in the tar sands of Canada, the shale plays of the Dakotas or just about anywhere else below ground or water. Recently, oil is worth half that and has been trading at or below $50 a barrel. As a result, the number of rigs drilling in the United States which finally causes the demand of steel pipe declines. It’s one of the worst oil-price crashes in history, say economists.

While demand from the energy sector is declining, a rash of imported steel is flooding the U.S. market, particularly from China. Oversupply in the industry has put pressure on steel prices as Chinese steel production has outpaced demand. The low costs of production in China enable the local producers to sell their product at cheaper rates, leading to an industry-wide price decline, hurting margins and earnings power of U.S. steel makers in the process. U.S. Steel has also been rattled by surging inflow of imported oil country tubular goods products into the American market in recent years. What’s more, an appreciating U.S. dollar has bolstered the purchasing power of domestic buyers sourcing foreign-made goods. Chinese steel imports are also cheaper than their U.S. counterparts, further boosting their appeal in the eyes of U.S. buyers. Domestic steelmakers has suffered heavily due to a surge of cheap steel imports, reflected by declined orders, idling of mills and jobs losses.

A Challenging Time

For some companies who are being tied to just one market could prove damaging for some businesses. For metal fabricators who have the ability to diversify their markets and interests, now is the time to explore a greater variety of business partners, thus mitigating the negative impact of the low oil price. Some experts have said that it is exactly the right time for some companies to pursue or further existing relationships with automakers, as they make the most value-added steel. Overall, I have to say that the industry outlook is positive. While this could be a challenging time for some metal fabricators, it isn’t likely to cause serious harm to the industry as a whole.

Steel Pipe Price

However, steel pipe prices are not much impacted by crude prices. The factors affecting steel pipe prices are cost of raw materials (Iron ore, coking coal, limestone, alloying elements etc.), fixed costs, manpower productivity, world capacity (China in particular), exchange rate etc. In fact, coking coal price impacts steel prices the most. Due to overcapacity in China, steel prices everywhere have fallen and steel industry in both developed and developing countries is finding it hard to survive the Chinese onslaught. Crude price at best can affect the cost of power used in production of steel if the power source is dependent on liquid fuel. In most of the cases, power production in steel plant is done using gases generated during the iron & steel making process and thus, there is limited use of oil even in this scenario.

The US is the world’s biggest importer of steel, purchasing 35m ton of raw material in 2017 of which 6.6m ton came from South Korea, Japan, China and India. But Donald Trump on Thursday rolled out his new tariffs on steel and aluminum.

Trump’s announcement on tariffs underlined concerns about rising U.S. protectionism, which has sparked bouts of turmoil in global financial markets as investors feared a damaging trade spat would shatter a synchronized uptick in world growth. Both stock markets and economists tend to loathe tariffs, which hamper the basic efficiency of the market, rarely accomplishing more than saving a few jobs in exchange for higher prices across the entire economy. Stocks sank sharply after his remarks, as investors, already nervous about rising inflation and interest rates, began to worry that tariffs would push up prices of goods and lead to tit-for-tat measures from China and others. The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 420 points.

Is it a good news for steel pipe suppliers or consumers who purchase steel pipe or things like that?