Overhead Rope-Operated cranes. West Block 4 to 9 Roads

Friday Facts & Fotos. FFF 39 Friday 21st April ’23.

Overhead rope-operated cranes. West Block 4 to 9 roads.

One of the most fascinating features of early engineering still existing at Newport is the rope-operated crane in west block 7 Road.

Looking across the front of west block, it is easy to see that the six bays covering roads 4 to 9 have higher roofs. This was to accommodate the overhead travelling cranes. Each road had two cranes and the twelve cranes were built by CAMBELL, SLOSS & McCANN, Engineers, Boilermakers and Shipwrights in South Melbourne. The contract for 12 travelling cranes (two for each bay) was signed on 22nd August 1887 and the cranes were progressively installed in WB during the construction of the building.

A clever arrangement of pulleys and recirculating ropes enabled power from one of the fixed steam engines in WB to be transmitted to the overhead cranes via line shafting as they travelled the 91-metre length of the building. The driver suspended in a cage under the crane on one side could move the crane hook sideways, across, or up & down simply by pulling the appropriate rope. This operated a clutch on the line shafting to get the required movement. This was at least three decades before electricity was available in the workshops.

The cranes were originally designed to lift 25 tons but by c1930 they had been re-rated to lift 37 tons. Subsequently, some of these cranes were converted from rope drive to electric motor drive, but this conversion proved unsatisfactory and all were eventually replaced. All except one which is parked right down the back of 7 road. It has very high historical significance as it is one of the few 1888 machines still surviving in situ at Newport. It is not accredited and used by 707, but is technically complete with large parts of the rope drive mechanism still intact.

One other of the rope-operated overhead cranes was on the ground in WB yard in 1980’s which was subsequently sold to the manufacturer of the later replacement cranes. It sat in the crane manufacturer’s yard at Dandenong for 30 years and has now been donated back to the workshops as a future exhibit. Steamrail are now the legal owners.

Only one other rope-operated travelling crane is known to exists in Australia. So this feature has high international interest and UNESCO listing potential. These cranes are true gems of early Victorian engineering history. They need to be properly restored and made accessible to the public.