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Print Post Approved Issue 536 September 2015 NO PP331387-00004 Peter Jackmans balance plough being unloaded at the National Steam Centre In This Issue Thermo Lab Followed Up Club Cranes Tassie Steam Sept 2015 STEAM SUPREME 2 John Meade and Laurie Hall gallop over to inspect what Mick Black and Peter Jackman have just turned up with Ever since the club acquired it’s Fowler Z7 Ploughing engine in 1971 there has been dreams of being able to give Steam Ploughing demonstrations . These heightened with our move to Scoresby and the acquisition of the back paddock but still to no avail due to lack of a suitable plough . The dream only intensified with the arrival about 12 years ago of a second ploughing engine Peter Jackman’s Susie Jane. Incredibly this is the sister engine to the clubs as evidenced by the consecutive serial Nos . Ploughing engines were always supplied in handed pairs as they are designed to work by pulling a double ended balance plough back and forth between them . Now with a matching pair of engines back together after 70 years Peters search for a balance plough intensified but they are very few and far between in Australia and seldom come up for sale . Peter kept his eye on one in Queensland for many years hoping that one day the balance would swing in his favour and it would come up for sale but it disappointingly appeared to have been spirited away . The one that got away . Peter lusting over a balance plough Above Ploughing at Goldsmith the balance plough is somewhere in Queensland pulled back and forth between 2 engines ( arrows ) fitted with winding drums . The plough being double ended with the shears at each end facing the opposite direction and being balanced so it see -saws can plough going in both directions Then out of the blue Sam Newman heard a whisper of a plough in outback northern NSW . Recognizing the opportunity and with no time to loose he quickly negotiated it’s securement leaving the details to be worked out later . To Peter Jackman’s great credit he was in a position to respond immediately and close the deal . He was then off with Mick Black in his vintage semi to return 6 days later with the dream of a life time. So now at MSTEC there is a complete set of working steam ploughing tackle something very rare in Australia . This is guaranteed to be a major attraction during our rallies and gives the opportunity for special themed run days during the year . Where else in the world can the public see steam ploughing demonstrations in a capital city ? This surely leaves no doubt we are the National Steam Centre ! Warwick Bryce Sept 2015 STEAM SUPREME 3 The two cranes owned by the club were built at a Club Cranes time when Australia had a strong local crane Part 1 manufacturing industry. This two part series looks at the history of the club’s 3 ton crane built by BHB in Western Australia, and the larger 10 ton Conquip crane made in New South Wales. By Rohan Lamb tractor cranes by which BHB became well known, but in all areas of mobile plant. As the business grew, the company listed on the stock exchange in 1962, and took over several other businesses including a foundry. In the early 1960s, Chamberlain pressed BHB to develop a tractor crane, and supplied a spare tractor for this purpose. This project was not given a high priority until Chamberlain BHB Chamberlain 3 ton Crane delivered an ultimatum to either build the crane or return the tractor. Unable to find all In this first part we look at the BHB Mobilift TC 23 crane. the parts of the tractor, BHB elected to build a crane. Designed by This crane was built by BHB Engineers Pty. Ltd., in Bayswater, Dinko Miocevich, this machine was a great advance on previous Western Australia. The crane was built in 1971 (serial no.4349) and cranes available on the market, offering Orbitrol steering for greater rated to 3 tons with a slewing jib, and mounted on a reverse-drive control, and an underslung turntable for greater visibility. The crane Chamberlain industrial tractor. BHB developed a strong relationship was based on a Chamberlain Mk I 6G Industrial tractor with Perkins with Chamberlain, and used their industrial tractors as the basis of L4 diesel, and had a manual extension jib and a capacity of five tons. many of their yard cranes. In this case, the tractor used was a The first few machines were actually built by Chamberlain to BHB’s Chamberlain Mk 3 industrial model (serial no. 2412) built in 1971, design, until BHB was able to undertake their manufacture in-house. and fitted with a Perkins 4-236 diesel engine rated at 67 This was not the first tractor crane built by BHB, as a small slewing horsepower.1 crane, based on an International tractor and with front wheel steer, The BHB name was derived from the initials of Bowra was built earlier for Westrail as a strictly one-off. Some cranes were Holcroft Buckridge, original partners in an engineering business also mounted on reverse drive tractors around this time. An which Cyril Bowra controlled prior to the advent of Bowra association soon began with Lin McPharlin, previously manager of Holdings. Bowra Holdings Limited began as a small engineering machinery distributor Wesfarmers Tutt Bryant, who saw the company founded by Cyril Bowra in 1949, but grew rapidly. By the potential of the crane and set up a distributor network, known late 1950s, it had become the major supplier of dozer and land initially as W.A. Tractor Company, and later as Linmac. The first clearing attachments for crawler tractors sold in Western Australia. machine, designated the Mobilift TC 35, was succeeded by a larger At this time it also built small numbers of truck-mounted cranes, six ton crane with two stage powered booms. The designation came generally backenders, although a handful of slewing cranes were from the rating of 5t capacity at 7ft radius, and this was followed for also made. the early cranes (TC 36 was 6t at 6ft, TC 48 was 8t at 6ft). In its early times, BHB also built Loadstar front end loaders In 1968, a new crane was developed. This was TC 23, a for tractors, and developed an association with tractor manufacturer three ton slewing crane based on a reverse-drive Chamberlain. This Chamberlain, for whom it supplied a batch of over 30 front end machine was developed for the Australian Army, and the initial loaders modified with a crane jib and lifting hook, and mated with a order for 25 machines really set the company on its feet. In 1969, the South Australian Proline rear auger for work with the Post Master range expanded to include an eight ton (TC 48), and later, a ten ton General (PMG). machine (TC 610); the latter using a Chamberlain Contractor 354 Dinko Miocevich was a mechanical plant engineer with the tractor for extra power, and two pairs of oscillating wheels to support Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) and had designed a grader for the boom. the DCA which was built by BHB. Dinko eventually left the DCA to BHB went on to develop rough terrain forklifts based on join BHB, and became a major design influence, not only on the Chamberlain tractors in the late 1960s and, in 1970, a truck mounted Sept 2015 STEAM SUPREME 4 crane. The closure of the Chamberlain factory in 1985 saw the end of using their industrial tractor as a base for cranes. BHB continued until 1993 when it went into receivership. The new owner CIC relaunched the business with a tractor crane based on a John Deere prime mover. It continued with various engineering work until 1996 when the assets were purchased by RCR Engineering.2 The TC 23 model was built between 1968 and 1978 with 107 cranes built. These production figures were recorded from the manufacturer’s records by Greg Load test of a TC23 crane before delivery to the Australia Army, 1969 Keane. Unfortunately the first (Australian Army Museum) owner of the club’s crane was not in very good condition. The first owner is not officially known, but is thought to have been BHP at Port Pirie.3 The crane does have a plate from the Department of Labour & Industry, South Australia, Lifts & Cranes Act 1960-1972, no. 841 which supports its use in South Australia. The crane was later used at the BHP Research facility on Wellington Road, Clayton, and when this facility closed some of the staff transferred to Monash University (MU), and they took the crane with them. The crane was then used infrequently by the MU Engineering Department at Clayton until it was donated to MSTEC in July 2013.4 Acknowledgements Greg Keane for providing his research notes on the history of BHB Paul Handel of the Australian Army museum for providing Australian Army TC23 crane (Australian Army Museum) photos Footnotes noted from these records, and with the closure of the company, the 1 Tractor serial number stamped on chassis frame. Build date from present whereabouts of the records is unknown (assuming they’ve Chamberlain. Australian Innovator, Bruce Lindsay, p.170 not been destroyed). The production date was noted, so we know 2 Abridged history from notes provided by Greg Keane the crane was built in 1971. 3 Bill Sides, pers. comm. Quite a few of these cranes have survived and continue in service 4 Hugh Venables, Monash University, pers.