This showed up down the street from where I am doing some work. I can honestly say that I have never seen anything like this. It looks like a real pain to operate too. I took lots of photos!! What the HECK is it? Numbers on the engine seem to be 5721L and 8313-D Not positive on the numbers.
Numbers on the engine seem to be 5721L and 8313-D Not positive on the numbers. Numbers on the engine seem to be 5721L and 8313-D Not positive on the numbers.
Looks like a pipe layer, just a guess.
Looks like a early yard crane/widow maker, dump some gas in her & get going! http://www.antiquecaterpillar.net/A...1973-d4d-swing-crane-excellant-yard-cranevgc/
Tree shaker missing some parts.
I Know! It's a really interesting antique. I vote an incomplete yard crane.
Whatever its original purpose was, it was built on an International T9 ?. I have an International TD 9 which is the same tractor but had a diesel which started on gasoline and sparkplugs then switched over. May be an M Farmall gas engine.
Upon closer inspection it is indeed a IH tractor with a Austin Western upper half. I thought the dual cylinder gear drive looked familiar to what i saw on the circle drive of Dwan Hall's Austin Western grader photos. I have more photos that I will post tomorrow. Also the numbers on the side of the block appear to be 5.21L
Kinda looks like a letter opener for an EXTREMELY large envelope... :beatsme
from the looks of it future scrap iron...
I bet it starts hard.
IH tag says " Model T-9 Serial Number TCB 14928 T4 " Someone should be able to get some age from those numbers? Austin Western tag says " H706 "
That A-W tag has a US Navy stamp on it, not surprising.
Not quite the same one, but similar enough to draw some conclusions: http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/whi/fullRecord.asp?id=64115
When you look at that the good ol' days weren't that good !!!!!!!!! Don't know about Seattle but we would be ordered off the road chaining it on like that !!!:my2c
Yeah the chain down job is not up to par at all. But junkers are known to not use any chains at all so, its a start. :beatsme
I quess they might get some points for trying !!!!
I haven't got a clue, but when I saw it my first thought was military . It looks like it was designed by a goverment committie.
That was my first thoughts as well. There is a comedy movie about the making of the Bradley fighting vehicle that is quite humorous and that is what comes to mind when looking at this contraption.
I found mention of another one: http://discuss.ibdozing.com/discus/messages/3/317.html?1103421476
That one looks pretty much the same as this one.
Serial numbers are very close as well. Nice find 95zIV!
It seems an old model of crane or some other type of heavy machinery. But its really an interesting antique.
Perhaps it was used to load torpedos into submarines in places where no crane was available?
My take on that proposal is that the boom does not have the needed reach. Running the thing on a pier is not going to work either. Some suggested a pipe layer. Decent call . . . but, no counter weight. Another suggested a yard crane. Now this bears some consideration. That would be a very handy tool for maintenance on bigger equipment. It raises high enough to work on equipment, but not generally high enough for a crane per se. Something like that would be VERY good for dozer maintenance. I mean really good for removing and installing tracks, blades etc. Slide a transmission into a frame from the rear, engine etc. The operator has excellent visability to the hook area in most situations. I say its a yard crane but designed for large equipment maintenance and assembly. Very specialized and definitely something the naval construction battalion would want in order to get machines assembled and repaired quickly. The hydraulics seem to date it later than the 1940's tho. I put my $ on that, about $0.02
How about a crane to move PSP interlocking metal runways?
Wikipedia has a "List of International Harvester Vehicles", http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_International_Harvester_vehicles which has listed a "M5 tractor crane, 2-Ton, light tractor, TD9". I guess that is what the military called this machine. I have seen one of these up close, it was painted up nice and parked in front of a warehouse. Someone bought it, and I believe it still exists.
the 2nd one that I have seen there was one in a crane/yard in brisbane ,aust back inthe 1972 that i drove past going to work funny was only talking to a crane operator about it and he work it for a time they there pipe/layers
Well it has the brand name wrote on the side of it at the top in big black letters. I believe it's purpose is a giant pry bar.
Certainly a real military antique - and most certainly a machine dreamed up by a Navy committee! - who never had to drive the machine! I guess it would have been pretty handy though, when you had a lot of Navy stores to move around, and not enough labour. Note the smooth pads, she was designed to work on concrete or asphalt in stores yards/areas, or inside a warehouse. Not a lot of lift capability, but a very stable base. Not only would I not like to be the operator - due to the pathetic operator visibility - but neither would I like to be the mechanic who had to fix something under all that crane structure!
Its like a war equipment rather than earth moving equipment!
looks like an ol pipe layer from the 50;s
The Army Air Corps and the USN, in the WWII era, had many different small cranes for removing and remounting aircraft engines. The big round engines were big and heavy, and were removed frequently. Also the engines were high up in the air, especially when the flying boats (seaplanes) were ashore on beaching gear (wheels fastened to them so they could be pulled up a beach or ramp on to dry land.) The curve of the boom looks about right to clear the nose case of a large radial engine. Smooth track pads would be required if it moved anywhere on the hardstand of an airfield. The aircraft required smooth hard compacted runways and hardstands. PSP mat in Alaska and Philippines and crushed coral in the south Pacific.
On the Forestry thread about fire and water bombers, HeavyEquipmentForums , post #63 has a picture of a Martin Mars, engines off. Imagine that little crane next to the plane, the crane might be a little short for that big an airplane, probably the right size for a PBY Catalina.
i believe that a version on this was used to as part of the equipment train used to set up towed 8in and 240 mm artillery piecies. these piecies were so large tha had to travel in several pats and dug in and assembled on site, in a process that could take up to a day.
I don't think that the artillery trains included any US Navy cranes... That crane isn't off-road equipment. The 2 ton hand-cranked cable spool on the crane isn't for heavy duty lifting. AC engines weighed 2,000 to 3,500 lbs. Hand cranked is good for fine positioning/control. A crew could remove and replace two or so engines a day, say four, to max it out; a hand cranked hoist is fine for that, man power can provide that four times, or so, a day. No one would be hand cranking that crane for day long repetitive lifting.
its got a hand crank?????? oh my! My thoughts go the line of the temporary docks they installed like giant legos.I could see that thing position those pieces around. Cool old unit that's for sure!
This piece of equipment was known as the "ant eater". Its a significant piece of construction equipment history because it was the first hydraulic crane. Approximately 2 -3 years ago the HCEA magazine had an excellent article on the evolution of cranes. The "ant eater" was considered a milestone. I can dig up the article if anyone likes. Matt
Please do
Yes, it has a hand crank, but it also has a large cylinder in the center of the rotating section there to provide boom lift. Three valve sections, rotate, in and out, and lift. I love those twin cylinder crank setups to provide rotary power!
Okay found the article. Made by Austin-Western Road Machinery Company of Aurora, Illinois. Built during WWII as a bomb and material handler. Mounted on I-H crawler. The next evolution of the hydraulic crane was the Milwaukee Hydraulic Truck Crane in 1946. Much more similar to todays hydraulic cranes than the "anteater". Perhaps a picture tomorrow.
Thank you Matt, looking forward to the photo
Here's the picture from HCEA's Equipment Echoes, Summer 2011.
Thanks Matt! Boy I hope the one at the start of this thread went to be saved, not torched
Thanks Matt! I was wrong! I stand corrected ;-) That picture is a good find.
It's a really interesting antique thanks for sharing