The lifting shovel is model No.6 in the 1954 series of No.10 instruction leaflets. I built the model using a contemporary Number 10 set. The model needed some simple modifications to fit together. An interesting feature is the Meccano E20 motor that fits where the engine would be in the prototype. I never did get to make the winding drum brake operating mechanism to work satisfactorily. The end result though was an attractive and nicely proportioned model certainly one of the better models in the 1954 number 10 instruction series. Meccano must have thought so too as it was frequently featured in their advertising over many years. As can be seen in the advertisement on the left is from a Meccano Magazine from the1960s.

If you look at the black and white picture below, which is taken from the Engineering Notes of September 1947 Meccano Magazine you can see how close the Meccano model is to Chaseside machine, that must have been the prototype for the No.10 model.

The picture at bottom of the page was taken at Barleylands Steam Fair, Billericay, Essex, on September 10th 2000 of what looks like the same type of machine.   The  machine below is a "Chaseside Rope operated loading shovel" built in 1950 based on the Fordson Major tractor chassis with a Perkins P6 engine.

All the operating features of the machine are replicated on the Meccano model. The driver of the Chase side had to struggle with counter balanced levers and winding drums to operate it all without the use of hydraulics.

Page revised April 15 2015

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