Friday, Facts & Fotos 4 19 August ’22
Walking Crane
One of the more unusual items at Newport was the 1924/5 “Walking Crane” in the machine shop that was in 2 road at the east end of West Block It was an electrically operated jib-crane which runs on one rail set into the floor (carrying the vertical load), and another rail attached to the bottom of the roof trusses (carrying the lateral load). The crane has a central post carrying the jib, winding gear and operators cabin. It could handle loads up to 5 tons with a 14-foot radius, and could rotate 360 degrees. It ran nearly 600 feet (approx.180 metres) through the original machine shop to the end of the machine shop extension in the west block annex. It was used to service heavy machine tools and remove castings and finished jobs from machine shop. It also transferred heavy goods on or off a trolley that ran at right angles across the tracks in West Block and connected with the stores building in Centre Block.
The first photo from the PROV shows the ‘Walking Crane’ in operation in the machine shop. The second and third photos show the crane today – it is safely tucked away at the back of West Block annex ready for the world to see when Newport is developed into a heritage precinct.
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