LETTER TO THE EDITOR

I refer to your advertisement feature on Grove Crane’s GMK 5180 in the October issue, in which an illustration is shown of the operator’s tilting cab. Here is a photograph of the tilting cab which was fitted 35 years ago to the 50 ton Hydrocon cranes, where I was chief engineer at the time. The cab was of glass fibre construction (as were all Hydrocon cabs) and was hydraulically operated. We thought at the time that this was the first time such a feature had been introduced.

It may be of interest that this model was tested with a 50% overload on a 60ft (18.3m) jib. The jibs were made from 45 ton yield steel which had to be imported from America since such a steel was not available in the UK at the time.

Many Hydrocon cranes contained novel features, but unfortunately the company did not survive after the death of its founder, George Jesner.

I trust this letter will be of historical interest.