MARFELL AUTOMATIC CRANE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3265, 11 October 1916, Page 50

MARFELL AUTOMATIC CRANE.

Mr Peter J. Marfell, of Dunedin, has patented an automatically-balanced crane, and an exhibition of the model was given yesterday in Mr Anscombo’s rooms in the presence of civil engineers, contractors, architects, and other gentlemen. The principle of the crane is that a counter-weight automatically moves backwards on a track and comes to rest at a position that balances the load it is lifting. The heavier the load the further back the counter-weight moves. This is a problem that has been engaging the minds of engineers and others for many years, and it is claimed by the inventor that this is the only crane in the world that will do what is claimed for it. It has always been recognised that great economies could bo effected by the building of a crane which would automatically balance itself under all conditions of loading, and this the inventor claims he has succeeded in doing. The reports of Mr J. Blair Mason and Mr E. H. Drew, two well-known engineers of this city, speak highly of the invention, and a company has been formed for the purpose of acquiring the patent rights of the invention. Mr Marfell is indebted to the editor of Engineering for the groat deal of trouble he has gone to in order to ascertain if there are 1 any automatically-balanced cranes in use anywhere. Only recently ho received a letter from the editor, stating that ho had made further search, and the only reference ho could find was in a book, translated from the German, of a crane built many years ago. Several cranes were built after this pattern, but they did not prove a commercial success.