Warehouse & Logistics News is proud to bring you the forty-first instalment in our exclusive series on the history of the fork lift truck, the machine that over the decades has revolutionised the face of materials handling around the world.
Our writer is James Brindley, an acknowledged authority on fork lift trucks. James’s distinguished career has involved engineering and management roles with BT Rolatruc and serving as a Director of the Fork Lift Truck Association, before he set up the National Fork Truck Heritage Centre in 2004 as Britain’s first such collection open to the public.
The Heritage Centre continues to need your support in 2009, and if you or your company would like to help in any way, you can contact James on the number below. Now sit back and enjoy the latest part of this fascinating series.
Episode 41: 1963: Wilkes Berger buys Wessex Engineering after Elwell Parker deal
July 1963 saw Wessex Engineering of Poole back in the headlines, when Wilkes Berger Engineering bought them just a month after Wessex signed a sales agreement with Elwell Parker. The takeover included the entire share capital of Wessex Industries, and helped form a new licensing agreement with Elwell Parker. Under the terms of the deal Elwell Parker made available to the new company its designs, technical data and shop practices. It also gave the company the right to manufacture and sell a range of electric fork lifts and other trucks from Elwell Parker.
Also in July, Wingrove and Rogers officially launched their new battery operated counterbalance forklift. The model BEV CH 23 had a 23 cwt lifting capacity and was claimed to be much safer because of the dead man brake feature. This made sure the driver was seated before the brake could be deselected, and also ensured a travel direction could only be selected when this had happened.
During August Matbro Ltd had a major disappointment when the British government placed an order for forklift trucks with an American company. A spokesman for Matbro said this was done without any consultation with British manufacturers, and that none had been invited to quote. The requirement was for a number of rough terrain forklift trucks, which according to Matbro were to a specification the company had already supplied to the War Office.
In a bid to contradict a government statement that there were no British trucks that could meet these requirements, Matbro arranged a truck demonstration for MPs, the War Office and other government officials. The forklift trucks used were their models Mastiff Minor and Mastiff Series II, which both negotiated the difficult conditions whilst carrying full loads. The final demonstration was with the 8,000lb capacity “Series II” truck carrying a 3.5 ton tree section up a 1 in 1.5 inch (66%) virgin ground hill. The message sent seemed clear that in future the War Office should look very carefully at British-made products before placing orders overseas.
One American forklift truck that British manufacturers could not compete with at the time was a machine built especially for heavy lifting work in steel mills and similar environments. The American Range 700 was the largest truck made in the series by Clark Equipment of Battle Creek, Michigan, and had a lifting capacity of 70,000 lbs to a maximum height of 210 inches. The photograph shows some of the people who helped in its construction.
News in brief for this period included Yale, who extended their new series D.51 range with a LP gas version. These trucks had a Ford engine of 60 BHP, which they stated gave high performance in acceleration and climbing power. They also launched a new hydraulic hand pallet truck called the Hylite, which could lift 2,500lb loads to a height of 5 inches above the floor. From this time the competition for the leading position in hand pallet truck sales was fierce, with Steinbock joining Jungheinrich and BT Rolatruc in the contest.
To be continued
By James Brindley, Director, National Fork Truck Heritage Centre
If you would like to support the National Fork Truck Heritage Centre, please call James Brindley on 0780 195 4167
2 Comments
Hi My name is Glenys,
I am the proud owner of a 1958/60 Wrigley auto truck, made by Wessex industries Poole Dorset, I have been all over the internet trying to find out some history about the old girl, both my hubby and I have restored her and want to keep her in good running order, but try as we may we cant find out much about them only a few photo`s and not a lot of info, I have managed to get a manual for the Villiers engine
but as we show this as an exhibit at steam rallys I would love to be able to make a board with all the information on to show to the public but havn`t as yet been able to find enough to make it an interesting read for anyone,PLEASE can you help do you know of anyone who may be able to help with info all we know is it is a seated version seat is metal (like a tractor seat) we were told it may be a 202s or something like that the man wasn`t sure of the numbers,any help is appreciated
Regards Glenys
hi my name is lynette my grand father who sadly died some 10 plus years ago was the owner of wessex vulcan trucks in poole dorset along side arthur wrigley my grandfather was mr george jerrard. My mother has many pictures of the various trucks made by their company. I am not sure if we would have the information you require but may well have photo giving you the required information. Please feel free to e mail us on the above address. lynette.