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SPOTLIGHT
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Click on any picture for bigger image
Speedcrane By 1959 when Coles took over Taylors the Series 50 Jumbo was well developed and when the Coles design team joined forces with Taylors they decided to develop this machine.By 1959 when Coles took over Taylors the Series 50 Jumbo was well developed and when the Coles design team joined forces with Taylors they decided to develop this machine.
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Between 1960 and 1966, Coles design team worked with the staff of Taylor to develop the hydraulic concept. The easiest to develop, was from the Taylor Series 50 machine. This small general purpose crane had a one man chassis mounted cab, with a telescopic boom extending to give 37 ft height of lift. By 1962 this concept had been refined into the Taylor Jumbo Speedcrane.(image left) |
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The first real development was to see the end of the rather awkward front window driver access. By making the cab slightly bigger by extending it slightly forward a step could be formed for a small side door.(Inage 3.) |
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This unit (seen right) was the last development seen under the Taylors banner. This line of general purpose machines was refined over the years since their introduction and bacame one of the most popular machines of their type in the world. The characteristics of front wheel drive/rear wheel steer, which give it excellent manoeuvrability, compact overall dimensions and automatic hoist-rope compensation, have remained fundamental to the design of Speedcranes to the present day. |
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The design update of the Taylors crane saw three basic changes. Firstly as seen above the cabin was made deeper with slightly more room for the opperator. Secondly the engine was moved back, putting more weight over the rear wheels and allowing more room for the gear box and hydraulic pump, this also freed up space for the larger cabin. Thirdly the tower holding the jib was removed and replaced with an L shaped jib carrying arm. This was facilitated by the development of the rotating hydraulic valve, previously the tower or similar space was needed to allow the hydraulic hoses movement as the jib rotated. Jibs before this had to be prevented from rotating over 360 degrees. Lastly the mudguards were made part of the decking structure, this was partly a safety feature to prevent items from falling between the body and steering wheels and fowling the steering gear. This updated unit became the Coles Speedcrane. (Illustrated above) For the full specification of a typical speedcrane
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) 8.7 + 8 Showing the three section jib fully extended.
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) 9.9. Cable drum behind jib in counterweight. |
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By the seventies there was a range of Speedcranes from the smallest 3 Ton to the largest 7 Ton. This range gradually in increased in capacity upto ten tons, lifts above this required a larger machine and was taken up by the Hydra lorry crane range which began with the ten tone machine. Below is a list of the range produced from 1969 until 1981.
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Hydra Speedcrane 3 GT Hydra Speedcrane 4 T Hydra Speedcrane 5 T Hydra Speedcrane 6 T Hydra Speedcrane 7 T Hydra Speedcrane 4/6 T Hydra Speedcrane 5/7 T Hydra Speedcrane 7/9 TMkV Hydra Speedcrane 6/8 T Hydra Speedcrane 9/10 T |
1969 -- 1970 1969 -- 1970 1969 1969 1970 1972 -- 1975 1971 -- 1974 1971 -- 1976 1974 -- 1974 1976 -- 1981 |
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The operators cab is dropped partly into space between the front chassis frame members (image 18 above). The cab is entered from the side via a full width door (seen in image 15 painted yellow) and an access step has been incorporated in the front mudguard, this is necessary as the driver has to climb over the side chassis member to get in. The chassis side member clearly seen at the bottom of photo 17, a view of the cabin with the door open.
The driving position and levers for operating the crane can be seen in image 16 above. |
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| The last wiff for the Coles speedcrane was for the Coles logo to be tagged onto the Grove name on Grove version of the Speedcrane with the lovely name of AP415. | ) 19.
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Thanks - 1:2 Ian Curry |
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