NEW HARBOUR CRANE

Taranaki Daily News, 4 November 1926, Page 11

NEW HARBOUR CRANE

TENDER FOR £5404 ACCEPTED. INSTALLATION IN NINE MONTHS. After serious consideration on the part of the Harbour Board and the engineer G. W. B. Lowson), of 13 lenders ranging from £532 1 4s to £8193, at a special meeting of the board yesterday morning the tender of John Chamber and Son, Ltd, Wellington, the New Zealand agents for Babcock and Wilcox, London, of £5404 was accepted for the supply, delivery and erection with accessories of a 30cwt travelling crane for use on the Newton King wharf, the erection to be completed in nine months. The crane, as described to a Daily New reporter yesterday by Mr. Lowson, is of the latest type, and is made in Renfrew, Scotland. Provided with a separate motor for each of its four movements, hoisting, slewpag, luffing and travelling, the crane will span three lines of rails and with a maximum raidus of 57ft 6in, will be able to cover the whole wharf. Its minimum raidus is 20 feet, while the maximum height of the hook is 612 feet above tile level of the wharf. A feature of this type of crane is the luffing arrangement. It is provided with .the horizontal luffing patent and the Babcock and Wilcox patent balance lever luffing gear, including the Wylke lever, besides limit switches for the luffing motion in conjunction with a magnetic brake to guard against over-lufipig in either direction. Extra wheels will be inserted on the front track to distribute the load. The travelling, hoisting and luffing ißotions are equipped with Solewood brakes and the hoisting with an auto-centrifagal brake to prevent loading at an excessive speed, as well as a foot brake to enable a load to be lowered at any de sited speed. Cranes of this type are capable of dealing with from 90 to 95 per cent, of the lifts usually takefn and specially suitable ior a narrow wharf. They have been installed on wharves at various ports in New Zealand, while a number of a similar make are at present being erected at Lyttelton. If this crane proves satisfactory, said Mr. Lowson, it is probable that others will be installed up to three or five tons. The choosing of New Plymouth’s first electric crane has been settled only after much debating and observation, extending over some months, of results elsewhere. Since the tenders were closed the Harbour Board has held a number of special meetings in connection with the crane, while Mr. Lowson has been investigating the minutest details in order that the crane might prove a success.