Fork lifts and then there are fork lifts.

[rvannatta]

Here is a fork lift that photographed to day where I was delivering a load of logs. This was simply the truck in front of me in the Queue.

These forklifts come in various sizes but I think this is a 30 ton model---it might be more. These fork lifts work well for handling logs, and with a different set of forks they are also very suitible for handling containers at the port docks.

The forklift shown here is a "LeTourneau" Note that the forks are elevated with a winch and most of the other functions are racks and pinions. That is because this machine is entirely electric. the engine in the back turns a generator.
There are electric motors in each wheel and electric motors for all the other functions. This particular machine likely dates to the 1970s, but was still working in a sawmill as of this afternoon when I took this photo, and this style of machine
is still manufactured. Sawmills usually run multiple shifts, and if one of these things can work a couple shifts a day and still be going strong after 35 years, you know they have to have a solid design.

LeTourneau1.jpg

LeTourneau2.jpg

Letourneau3.jpg

[Holger]

Amazing! Thank you for these photos!
I have never seen such a machine.
Didnt know LeTourneau made fork lifts!

[rvannatta]

Amazing! Thank you for these photos!
I have never seen such a machine.
Didnt know LeTourneau made fork lifts!

They are really very efficient for this job. Kenworth Dart, and Wagner also made hydraulic machines of a similar size 30 years ago, but are not doing so now. the industry standard for handling loads of logs now is either a Cat 988 or a leTourneau. The Cat 988s are cheaper but the twisting on them takes its toll and they dont last nearly as well as the LeTourneaus. the 988 booms crack up and they break in half, but for 25% less money you get what you pay for.

[Lars-Gunnar]

I have never seen such a ugly and old forklift. We have forklifts in Sweden too and they is heavy and have a more moderh look. It is typical use winch when Kalmar and SMV forklift is wery modern and can be heavy. They use also hydraulic to 100 percent. In sawmills they use mostly 5-9 tons forklifts for sawed wood as will be stacked into a store or wood drier.

Link: http://www.kalmarind.com/show.php?id=1020747
Link: http://www.smvlifttrucks.se/index.cfm?id=18&l=9

Lars-Gunnar

[rvannatta]

I have never seen such a ugly and old forklift. We have forklifts in Sweden too and they is heavy and have a more moderh look. It is typical use winch when Kalmar and SMV forklift is wery modern and can be heavy. They use also hydraulic to 100 percent. In sawmills they use mostly 5-9 tons forklifts for sawed wood as will be stacked into a store or wood drier.

Link: http://www.kalmarind.com/show.php?id=1020747
Link: http://www.smvlifttrucks.se/index.cfm?id=18&l=9

Lars-Gunnar

Do remember that that is a style of the 1970s. Here are photos of a couple new ones. Functionally there are the same
buy the styling is new


Certainly hydraulics work, but it has never been the style of LeTourneau, and as people have now come to understand the LeTourneau design without hydrualics can be more enviromentally friendly. when the hydraulics rupture a hose (and they do) they quickly pump several hundred gallons of oil out on the ground. an electric system has no oil to spill.

The fact that many of the machine 30 and 40 years old are still in service working hard for long hours attests to
the reliability and and good function of these machines.

See the LeTournau web site and standard specifications here:

http://www.letourneau-inc.com/forestry/pdf/5092-94.pdf

[Lars-Gunnar]

Using wires, have their newer happen a wire have been broken? Have LeTorneau double secure system if a wire break?

And you are right, a lot of oil leaks on the ground isn´t good for the environement

Lars-Gunnar

[rvannatta]

Using wires, have their newer happen a wire have been broken? Have LeTorneau double secure system if a wire break?

And you are right, a lot of oil leaks on the ground isn´t good for the environement

Lars-Gunnar

the only thing that uses a cable is the main lift. Everything else is rack and pinion, although I think the new model
went to hydraulic for steering. I dont knowif there is an elevator brake in event of cable failure or not.

I do know they will pick up more than a Cat 988 which is the other machine commonly found in the mills for log handling.

In years past there were a few International Harvester payloaders in the mills, but they havent been around for a long time.
The loads of logs that come in by truck will weigh 25-30 tons which really puts a 988 to its limits.

Efficiency sort of demands that the whole load be handled at once. Many mills receive up to 100 truck loads of logs a day and there is not a lot of spare time.

[Niklas Eriksson]

I really like the looks of LeTourneau logging machines. I always have! They look so mean compare to for example Swetruck or Kalmar machines. Would very much want to see one in action!

[rvannatta]

I really like the looks of LeTourneau logging machines. I always have! They look so mean compare to for example Swetruck or Kalmar machines. Would very much want to see one in action!

the only things that are a little unique being around them, are some of the sounds. --- Since the engine is turning a generator, it runs at full throttle all the time----actually probably an optimal speed for the generator... but at any rate a constant speed that never changes.

The drivers sit in the things sort of crossways usually and may have some swivel ability. since the driver can see better to the rear than the front, if they have a ways to go---they often backup. There are a variety of growls and clicks associated
with operating the functions. Ive never driven one or been in the cab of one, but Ive driven truck that has been unloaded by them hundreds of times. In fact these photos were taken from my truck that was next in queue to be unloaded.

We often have to pass paperwork to the operator (load slips and the like), and standard protocol for the machines is
a string hanging out the window with a clip on the end of it. The operator is perhaps 3 meters or 4 meters above the ground so you clip your papers on and the operator pulls them in.

Every log yard has their own way of how they want the paperwork done. At the yard where the old stacker is,
when you arrive at the log yard you drive past a scaling ramp, where log scalers (from an independent company) will come out and measure each log and grade it for you. then they give you a computer printout of the size (scale) of each log and the grade. then you proceed to the unloading area, and give one copy of the scale slip to the stacker driver, and keep a copy for yourself, and that is the basis on which you get paid for your logs.

At other places they do a roll out scale. --- In these operations you usually staple a tag with ID information on the end of a log (and depending on the yard rules may or may not give a copy of it to the stacker operator. Those logs
are then unloaded from the truck and rolled out on the ground (or pavement or whatever) and the log scaler
will measure and grade each log as shown in the following photo.

The scaler will print up a manifest of the logs (diameter, length, and grade) and you pick up a copy of the scale ticket as we call it, from his office the next time you go there.

At this mill the logs are quite valuable because of their size, so the scaler attaches a tag with a number and a bar code
to each log for inventory control. With an assistant he has previously here chalked the length in feet of each log,
and is now going through the logs measuring the diameter on the small end. He has a hand held computer in his left hand,
and a scalers axe under his arm. It has a narrow sharp bit on the end of it so he can chop into the log a little to see if it is rotten or has other defects. He will make deductions from its value based on defects..... The logs you see in the photo have quite a few defects.---mostly crooked.

[dozeron]

Hi Robert,
Interesting to read about the log grading etc. Back in the early 90s I was a mill engineer and my son was the apprentice saw-doctor. This was in NZ. Our method of excepting a load of logs was, if there were more than about 16 to a load then they were too small for cutting and only suitable for chipping, hence not really worth the work. This is the only shot I have of a logging truck. My son took it when he was working at a mill in the taupo area of NZ back in 1992. The T&T were carrying shorts to the mill via a private road. Truck was a Mack. Cheers, dozeron.