Nutcracker growing Christmas tree rigging help

[farniwho]

We have a 22' tall, 16' wide painted tree for our nutcracker production we are hoping to have grow from 15' (at its lowest height), to 22' (tallest height). We have no fly system, but we do have structural I beam 33' above the stage floor.
Originally we thought a simple pulley system would work, but with addition of paint, some 1"x1" ribbing running its width to keep its structure, and about 15 pounds of Christmas tree lights, it will take an incredibly strong (and safe) person to lift this tree well.
Help!!
Again, we have a structural beam above the stage to run cable, attach pully's, etc, but we are needing a way to 'mechanically' help lift and lower the tree safely. All thoughts and suggestions are greatly appreciated!

 

[Amiers]

A geared hand crank with a brake is the first thing that comes to mind. A quick google search pulled this up. Crank Link.

 

[z2oo]

If you wanted to get fancy with pulleys, going for something like a mechanical advantage of 3 or 4 could certainly help, especially with the addition of what Amiers says -- a crank/winch system would work wonders. As always, use correctly rated equipment, and make sure safety is your first priority.

 

[AudJ]

I'll start by saying, I am not a rigger, and this is my unprofessional opinion. Raising something of that size and weight 7 ft. is dangerous, and should not be done without significant input from someone who is trained in calculating the acceptable loads associated with such a move. There are a lot of questions here, I'll ask some of them, but only for the sake of someone else taking a look:

How do you know the beam can support the weight of the tree and all of the cabling and hardware it would take to support it?

What is holding together the tree, and what are the tolerances of it?

How is the tree constructed? (Flats, luan, etc.)

Are you moving the tree behind a raised platform of some sort, or is it lowering into the floor?

I would hire a rigger to do the lift as you suggest.

 

[TheaterEd]

This is a relatively scary post. My thought is, if you have to ask, you should consider hiring a professional to come out for a couple of hours and set this up for you.
If it is too heavy for a person to lift, then I feel like it is too heavy to do without proper training.

Please stop by the new member board and tell us more about yourself so the professionals on this site can better advise you.

 

[MPowers]

Well, there are safe ways to do this and not so safe ways. It is not performer flying and the rig is not directly above a performer, so that removes the two primary safety issues. The rigging can be fairly simple. You have a number of factors to consider:
1. What is the combined weight of the tree, lights, etc., combined?
2. Will the attachment point support that weight without tearing out?
3. Will the upper structure off the tree support the rest of the tree when fully extended?
4. How are you going to access the beam? 33' up is a ways!
5. How are you going to attach the riggig to the beam. Remember you have horizontal loads as well as vertical.
6. Who is going to be the rigger? Even though it is a fairly simple rig, if it fails there is potential for serious or even fatal injury ( think 5 lb pulley falling 33' and hitting a child on the head).
6. Who will be the operator? Because of item 5, it must be a very skilled, reliable person.

Because of the time factor to raise and lower the tree, a hand crank winch is probably too slow. A 2:1 or 3:1 block and fall is probably your best bet if you rig it to be manual operated.

Simple gag? Yes. To be taken lightly? No. Hope I've given you enough info to safely proceed from here.