Watertower signage creates powerful branding.
By Kurt Stoner
Kurt Stoner is the founder of Stoner Graphix (Hummelstown, PA).
The Turkey Hill Experience, a 26,000-sq.-ft. attraction in Columbia, PA, pays homage to Turkey Hill’s history while highlighting its ice cream and iced-tea-making processes. The Experience includes interactive exhibits, such as a make-your-own ice cream creation and star in a Turkey Hill TV commercial, as well as a café, gift shop, and lots of other fun things for the entire family.
The property, where a silk factory had previously operated, features a 130-ft.-tall water tower, which was an obvious choice to create great impact for the visitor center. The water tower is situated alongside the building and adjacent to the main highway, State Rt. 30, which visitors use to enter Lancaster and Hershey, PA.
Turkey Hill’s representatives quickly saw how the landmark could perform double duty as a sign. Many designs and diverse approaches were proposed, but a 3-D, multi-layered sign using the company’s “Experience” logo offered the most impact for the budget.
-->Hardware solutions
The client provided Adobe® Illustrator® vector files. To make the images ready for sign production, we manipulated and dissected them heavily using Illustrator and Gerber Omega Composer.
After we’d reached a consensus on imagery, we addressed engineering the fabrication. Eight “C” channel legs and flat-steel braces were combined to construct the four main legs, which support the tower. They were mounted at 45° angles to the tank and tapered in toward the tank as they ascended.
This created a significant design headache. To solve the problem and keep the faces “plumb,” we built mounting brackets that secure the sign at varying lengths. Each of the 12 main brackets on each side had to be measured and built according to their location and distance apart on the tower legs. We built them based on the legs’ 3° slant.
We MIG-welded a combination of 3- and 4-in.-diameter, steel-box tubing and steel angle to create a 216-linear-ft. framework that could be attached to the legs of the tower with adequate support and be adjusted to ensure a level product. We chose Grade 8 fasteners to ensure a long and secure life because they offer significantly greater tensile strength than Grade 5 hardware.
The tower structure was first surveyed by an engineer, and the footings were reinforced by a professional engineering firm to ensure the signs’ additional wind load would be easily supported.
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