Crane match trucks

[TEAMYAKIMA]

Stupid question...…...

 

Crane match trucks - in particular industrial cranes.

 

Match trucks - was the purpose to support the jib vertically or stop it swinging around when the train went around curves?

 

Any photos?

[Gordon A]

The match truck would do both. The jib would be lowered so that the truck takes some of the weight and the jib cables are slack. It would also steer the crane into the curves. The crane body would be free to rotate. Also it protects the jib from being impaled end on into locos or other stock and can act as a carrier for various bits of lifting equipment such as beams and chains. 

By placing the far end of the jib on a match truck when travelling to or from a job it reduces the strains on the rocking motion caused by having the jib at a low angle to pass under bridges etc.

 

Gordon A

[Wickham Green]

2 minutes ago, Gordon A said:

The match truck would do both. The jib would be lowered so that the truck takes some of the weight and the jib cables are slack. It would also steer the crane into the curves. The crane body would be free to rotate. ..........

Not always : many later cranes had 'articulated' jibs which had freedom at the pivot when there was no load - so there was no stress in guiding the crane body into/out of curves and that body, being fixed in transit, could be built to full loading gauge.

[Gordon A]

2 hours ago, Wickham Green said:

Not always : many later cranes had 'articulated' jibs which had freedom at the pivot when there was no load - so there was no stress in guiding the crane body into/out of curves and that body, being fixed in transit, could be built to full loading gauge.

True as far as I am aware for the bigger cranes, but the match truck still guided the jib.

And as far as I am aware articulated jibs were not fitted to industrial cranes, which is what was mentioned in the original post.

However I am happy to be proved wrong and learn.

 

Gordon A

[jonhall]

Industrial cranes may not have used a match truck at all - it depends how big the site they were working on was - I'm sure that if the jib was already up, and the crane self-propelled, then it would be moved over shortish distances in that condition (loading gauge allowing,.) . It wouldn't surprise me if they were often also used as simple shunters to move the odd wagon to where it was unloaded.

 

A lot of handcranes, including the type modelled by Triang had a self-supported jib (if the jib could be raised or lowered at all).

 

Jon

[Wickham Green]

15 hours ago, jonhall said:

Industrial cranes may not have used a match truck at all - it depends how big the site they were working on was - I'm sure that if the jib was already up, and the crane self-propelled, then it would be moved over shortish distances in that condition (loading gauge allowing,.) . It wouldn't surprise me if they were often also used as simple shunters to move the odd wagon to where it was unloaded.

 

A lot of handcranes, including the type modelled by Triang had a self-supported jib (if the jib could be raised or lowered at all).

 

Jon

Few industrial sites would have had a loading gauge as such - in most the sky's the limit, unless entering buildings perhaps. Yes some cranes were used for shunting - and some shunters had cranes on them : Doxford's a prime example. 

[Compound2632]

The Midland Railway Study Centre has posted a drawing of a crane match truck of the 1890s - this particular example being for the Cowans Sheldon 15 ton steam cranes the Midland bought at that time; the type represented by the D&S kit. This drawing shows the construction of the jib rest very clearly.

[96701]

I'm going to get pedantic now. The jib of a crane in train formation runs on the runner wagon. If the runner wagon is too short, a match truck is used to makeup the difference in length.

 

The point at which a fixed jib needs to swing to prevent going out of gauge on corners is it's length. Most of the Civil Engineer's fixed jib cranes were short enough for the jibs not to swing relative to the superstructure, so the jib rests on a bar that is almost the width of the runner wagon, and so is allowed to slide around on it. With a longer jib such as on a breakdown crane, the jib is held captive on the runner wagon and is articulated at the superstructure. The act of dropping the jib into the cradle pulls it from the jib foot pin on the superstructure.

[Compound2632]

5 minutes ago, 96701 said:

I'm going to get pedantic now. The jib of a crane in train formation runs on the runner wagon. If the runner wagon is too short, a match truck is used to makeup the difference in length.

 

 

This would seem to reflect variation in nomenclature with time and place. The Midland referred to all the wagons that ran in direct support of a crane as match wagons. The Cowans Sheldon 15 ton steam cranes had just one match wagon, with a jib rest. Some hand cranes had weight boxes on framing that overhung at the opposite end to the jib; for these, there were match wagons with a rebate in the end bodywork to accommodate the weight box and frame - these seem to have been sometimes referred to as "tail" match trucks.

 

I suspect that it was only in later years, with 45 ton and 75 ton cranes with longer jibs needing a runner wagon between the crane and the wagon with the jib rest that a distinction in terminology arose.

[96701]

1 minute ago, Compound2632 said:

 

This would seem to reflect variation in nomenclature with time and place. The Midland referred to all the wagons that ran in direct support of a crane as match wagons. The Cowans Sheldon 15 ton steam cranes had just one match wagon, with a jib rest. Some hand cranes had weight boxes on framing that overhung at the opposite end to the jib; for these, there were match wagons with a rebate in the end bodywork to accommodate the weight box and frame - these seem to have been sometimes referred to as "tail" match trucks.

 

I suspect that it was only in later years, with 45 ton and 75 ton cranes with longer jibs needing a runner wagon between the crane and the wagon with the jib rest that a distinction in terminology arose.

I take your point, but having seen a lot of blueprints (literally) from different steam crane manufacturers the consensus is that the jib runs on a runner wagon and short wagons are without a jib running on them are called match wagons.

[Compound2632]

Interesting. I had thought of a runner as a non-load-bearing wagon, for example if there was an overhanging load or three timber trucks with the load supported on the outer two trucks - this is the term used in this BR document. So, different use of the same term in different contexts.

[96701]

1 minute ago, Compound2632 said:

Interesting. I had thought of a runner as a non-load-bearing wagon, for example if there was an overhanging load or three timber trucks with the load supported on the outer two trucks - this is the term used in this BR document. So, different use of the same term in different contexts.

Correct. This is the difference between Operations (none engineering)  and crane manufacturers (engineers). Such terminology discrepancies still occur today.

Edited October 23, 2019 by 96701

[Poor Old Bruce]

10 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

I suspect that it was only in later years, with 45 ton and 75 ton cranes with longer jibs needing a runner wagon between the crane and the wagon with the jib rest that a distinction in terminology arose.

 

The short wagons between the crane and the jib runner were weight relieving bogies to spread the weight of the crane when in transit mode. They were load-bearing.

 

Some CE cranes had old coach underframes to act as jib runners, others had old bogie wagons or two four-wheel wagons, one as a spacer and the other (further from the crane) to support the jib in transit.