Knowing the nativity of Mobile Cranes!

The modern Mobile crane is the result of a very long story of evolution and development. Original Mobile cranes were basically simple lifting arms designed to carry and manoeuvre loads attached to a truck. Equipment Times looks into the history of the Mobile cranes – from inventions to improvements.

A mobile crane is a cable-controlled crane mounted on crawlers or rubber-tired carriers or a hydraulic-powered crane with a telescoping boom mounted on truck-type carriers or as self-propelled models. They are designed to easily transport to a site and use with different types of load and cargo with little or no setup or assembly.

Mobile cranes generally operate a boom from the end of which a hook is suspended by wire rope and sheaves. The wire ropes are operated by whatever prime movers the designers have available, operating through a variety of transmissions. Steam engines, electric motors, and internal combustion engines (IC) have all been used. Older cranes’ transmissions tended to be clutches. This was later modified when using IC engines to match the steam engines’ “max torque at zero speed” characteristic by the addition of a hydrokinetic element culminating in controlled torque converters. The operational advantages of this arrangement can now be achieved by electronic control of hydrostatic drives, which for size and other considerations is becoming standard. Some examples of this type of crane can be converted to a demolition crane by adding a demolition ball, or to an earthmover by adding a clamshell bucket or a dragline and scoop, although design details can limit their effectiveness.

Before 1870 cranes were fixed to a position, except for some mounted on flatcars, railroad cranes, which provided some restricted movement. Appleby Brothers demonstrated steam-powered cranes at Paris in 1867 and Vienna in 1873. In 1922, Henry Coles, manager of Appleby Corp., began producing truck-mounted cranes under the name Petrol Electric Lorry Crane. In 1939 the Coles were acquired by Steel and Co. Ltd. of Sunderland. Hiab invented the world’s first hydraulic truck mounted crane in 1947. The name, Hiab, comes from the commonly used abbreviation of Hydrauliska Industri AB, a company founded in Hudiksvall, Sweden 1944 by Eric Sundin, a ski manufacturer who saw a way to utilize a truck’s engine to power loader cranes through the use of hydraulics.

Major development…

Major crane development events include adoption of the internal combustion engine in 1922 and the invention of telescopic jibs. Before 1960, cranes carried additional booms with them to increase height, which increased operating costs. In 1959 crane expert R.H. Neal, hydraulics specialist F.Taylor, and design director Bob Lester integrated all three and modernized cranes. The Coles Hydra Speed crane appeared in 1962, further modified with the 10-ton fully telescopic hydraulic boom in 1966, followed in 1968 by the 30-ton “Husky” military versions with four-wheel drive. In 1972, Steels was forced to merge with the Acrow Group, losing some of their most valuable employees, including Don Hassel and Johnny Johnson who started a new manufacturing processes plant. With backing from the British Crane Hire Corporation they acquired a small factory unit and ordered every single element of their product from subcontracted suppliers. In 1976, the Cosmos team created a 25-ton crane that combined several new developments.

Hiab Cranes

Hydrauliska Industri AB, HIAB, was established in 1944 by Eric Sundin of Hudiksvall, Sweden. Sundin created a hydraulic crane to move the heavy wood he used for his ski manufacturing company, an invention that gave us the revolutionized load handling we have today. The company’s first model, HIAB 192, used the truck’s own engine as power source, creating the HIAB Method still used daily across the globe. Hydrauliska Industri AB is one of the leading manufacturers of on-road load handling equipment and continues the vision – “to unlock the full potential of load handling as a major contributor to industrial productivity.” Today, the company has around 2700 professionals working to provide high-performance product and service, with sales and service networks in over 100 countries.

 An elephant logo emblazons the HIAB headline and is a reminder of both the company’s history and their ongoing strength. The “Elefant” loader crane, presented by the company in 1956, led to today’s “knuckleboom” crane standard. In 1985, Partek Corporation, one of the leading industrial companies of Finland, acquired HIAB as part of their expansion into the engineering domain.  Innovation, service, and performance throughout the years has led them to be a part of many other leading load-handling businesses. HIAB acquired JONSERED Forestry in 1979, around the same time Partek bought Multilift group. KONE Corporation acquired Partek in 2002, becoming Cargotec Corporation. Hiab has been the name for the whole load handling business in Cargotec since 2004.

HIAB’s mission – to deliver load handling products that are reliable and efficient, so customers can run their businesses with sustainable profitability, pride and peace of mind – is evidenced in their ability to meet the needs of national, regional, and local enterprises that make up the their customer base and cover business areas such as construction, infrastructure, distribution, forestry, landscaping and agriculture, warehousing, waste and recycling, and defense. The product range now includes: HIAB loader cranes, JONSERED recycling and forestry cranes, LOGLIFT forestry cranes, MOFFETT truck mounted forklifts and MULTILIFT demountables, as well as DEL, WALTCO and ZEPRO tail lift.

Hiab X-Rail 192

The Hiab X-Rail 192 is the first model in a new range of loader cranes aimed at railway infrastructure companies. Based on Hiab’s 19 tonne/metre X-HiPro 192 and its 11.3 tonne/metre X-HiDuo 118, it has been modified for railway maintenance use. It can handle its maximum capacity of 4.7 tonnes at a radius of 3.3 metres and at a height just over 11 metres. It offers a maximum tip height of 15 metres and can handle 1,060kg at its maximum radius of 12.9 metres. Features include the company’s Automatic Duty Control (ADC) system, which can boost capacities by up to 10 percent, as well as its HiConnect telematics system which uses real time data to provide information on utilisation, operation and machine condition.

Manufactured at the company’s production facility in Zaragoza, Spain, the cranes will be mounted on lightweight passenger and material rail vehicles and predominantly used to lift and unload materials such as rail tracks and sleepers.

Source: Wikipedia.com, Hiab.com

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