Homeowner Forum / Construction / February 2007

Whilst pounding the pavement on 18 wheels I came up with a little gadget
purely as a fantasy thing.
Picture something like a high steel construction crane but on a smaller
scale.
My gadget will be centered around a simple pillar in the middle of a huge
parking lot.
So that the single arm swivels 360 degrees about the pillar. The arm would
reach out say like a 1,000 feet at the maximum point and be retractable.Or
perhaps have a "chair" movable about it. The only thing it would hold would
be something like a movie director's chair as seen on some pivoting cameras.
Got the idea?
Ok so the question is, what size steel beam would I need to extend to 1,000
feet? Keeping in mind that weight on the beam would probably be less than
1,000 pounds at all times.
Would pipe work better and have the "chair" inside a channel thing?
Purely fictional of course.
The main support pillar could also be placed beside a building. It would not
have to be in the center of the lot.