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Hydrocon Cranes

Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 10:08 pm
by DaveS
I was down at the Summerlee Industrial museum in Coatbridge today, it's on the site of the ancient Summerlee Iron Works, but in more recent times was the factory for Hydrocon Cranes.

Hydrocon has been mentioned in another couple of threads, but I've never been able to find out much about their range etc.

My late uncle ran a fleet of them in Stirling originally for his structural steel business but moving into hire, beginning with one brand new 'Highlander' he had to obtain a second one rather quickly as it was never available for their own use due to always being out on hire! The fold-up jib types gave way to the telescopics eventually, but he was a dyed-in-the-wool Hydrocon fan.

When I was last at Summerlee, about 14 years ago or so, they had a Hydrocon round the back in a bit of a sorry state. I wonder where it went. There has been a huge refurbishment recently and there wasn't much in the museum about Hydrocon, but here's a couple of pages of Hydrocon literature that was on display in one of the cabinets showing the range in 1968 - I've left the files big so the details can be read :P

DaveS.

Re: Hydrocon Cranes

Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 10:53 pm
by tim
Hi Dave -there are over 30 pics of Hydrocon cranes on www.ccmv.fotopic.net :thumbs_up: Tim

Re: Hydrocon Cranes

Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 11:17 pm
by d4c24a
if i remember correctly claude fentons had one of these and it tipped over during a lift killing the driver
i will ask my dad ,but he went on holiday today ,so it may be a week or so
cheers graham

Re: Hydrocon Cranes

Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 11:24 pm
by DaveS
tim wrote:Hi Dave -there are over 30 pics of Hydrocon cranes on www.ccmv.fotopic.net :thumbs_up: Tim


Excellent link Tim, thanks.

DaveS.

Re: Hydrocon Cranes

Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 8:25 pm
by Gavin Phillips
As a separate note, perhaps its just pure coincidence but there was a 2-axle truck-mounted crane which Whitlock built, model 7T which had the same type of boom design.

Is this design feature standard of the era or did Whitlock and Hydrocon have some company partnership at one time?

Typically, at present I don't seem to be able to find a picture of the Whitlock 7T mobile crane...IIRC based on a Foden truck?

Re: Hydrocon Cranes

Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 9:29 pm
by DaveS
Gavin Phillips wrote:As a separate note, perhaps its just pure coincidence but there was a 2-axle truck-mounted crane which Whitlock built, model 7T which had the same type of boom design.


Hi Gavin,

Yes the Whitlock was very similar, as were some types from Allen of Oxford. Jones had a similar idea, but with a cantilever jib - as modelled by Dinky on the Bedford TK. But I've no idea about the design rights which is an interesting point.

The link given by Tim above has extended captions on the pictures, with some info from the original Hydrocon company owner's son.

Dave.S.

Re: Hydrocon Cranes

Posted: Wed May 06, 2009 9:38 am
by XS650
Hydrocon range brochure very interesting ,whats the difference between 'full circle slewing' and 'continuous circle slewing' options on the Highlander ?
Some pictures of Whitlock cranes ,believe there was only a MK1 and MK11 on Dodge D309 (LAD cab) and Dodge k500's(they also made Hiab type cranes as well);-
crane1.JPG

crane3.JPG

crane4.JPG

crane5.JPG

Re: Hydrocon Cranes

Posted: Wed May 06, 2009 10:03 am
by DaveS
Great stuff Craig! Thanks for posting.

There was one of those leaflets on Ebay a few weeks back. Whitlock stuff sells for good money now.

I see the Whitlock uses a separate cab for crane operations.

XS650 wrote:Hydrocon range brochure very interesting ,whats the difference between 'full circle slewing' and 'continuous circle slewing' options on the Highlander ?


I did wonder about that as I read it on Sunday, but I think the 'full circle' must be like the Hiab, where it will do 360 degrees (or more) but then hits a stop and you can only go back the way you've come! Whereas 'continuous' does as it says and allows you to go round and round to your heart's content! :D

Dave.S.

Re: Hydrocon Cranes

Posted: Wed May 06, 2009 11:22 am
by XS650
There was one of those leaflets on Ebay a few weeks back. Whitlock stuff sells for good money now.


Yes it certainly does ,managed to get a MK 1 crane brochure a while back.
There was a collection of Whitlock News's (which i'd never heard of before) up for sale a recently which I wish I had bought, missed the end bid date ,drat. :(
Reportedly Whitlock only made 20 cranes I wonder if any survive ?

Re: Hydrocon Cranes

Posted: Wed May 06, 2009 6:00 pm
by Neversweat
Image
URL of the original image: http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd109/NEVERSWEAT/COMMER%20DODGE/27-10-2008140312.jpg

Steve