A Brief History of Blocksetting Cranes

Meccano Limited originally released model plans for the Giant Block-setting Crane as a means of promoting sales of their new Geared Roller Bearing, part 167.  The model was based on the photograph below, that appeared in the 1928 Meccano Book of Engineering and the May 1929 Meccano Magazine. 

This photograph was  taken at Stothert & Pitt's construction yard in Bath, England.  Some creative art work was applied to it along with the label: "Two huge Block-setting Cranes at work on harbour construction".   The crane was sent to Antofagasta, Chile.  It had an a-typical articulated undercarriage that allowed it to make very sharp turns.  The man that can be seen slightly above and to the right of the centre, would have controlled the mechanism when it was laying blocks.  A diver using a telephone would have instructed him when to raise or lower the block.

The machine was driven by a steam engine in the boiler house at the rear of the crane.   Underneath the boiler house were large hydraulic reservoirs.  The free-wheel decoupled reciprocating hydraulic brakes were the true glory of these machines, allowing infinitesimal adjustments of the height of the load.

There were several design flaws in the original model that I have corrected in my model.  Firstly the base was too high, the undercarriage was not articulated and unless you had a very efficient and powerful motor the crane simply would not move!   If you look back at the last page you see the difference in the proportions between my Blocksetter and the original plans above it.  I also used an improved design for the drive mechanism so that the machine will move backwards and forward on it's rails.   On the next page you can see details of how I articulated the undercarriage.