A wrecking ball is a heavy steel ball, usually hung from a crane, that is used for demolishing large buildings. It was most common during the 1950s and 1960s. Several wrecking companies claim to have invented the wrecking ball. An early documented use was in the breaking up of the SS Great Eastern in 1888-1889, by Henry Bath and Co, at Rock Ferry on the river Mersey.
With the invention of hydraulic excavators and other machinery, the wrecking ball has become less common at demolition sites because its working efficiency is smaller compared to that of long reach excavators. Although the wrecking ball is still the most efficient way to raze a concrete frame structure, it is decreasing in use.
Read more about Wrecking Ball: Construction and Design, Method of Use, Modern Equivalents
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“The symbolic view of things is a consequence of long absorption in images. Is sign language the real language of Paradise?”
—Hugo Ball (1886–1927)