selston nottinghamshire england uk products cranes spares fabrication owner delden cranes ltd website rb cranes 1 bedford truck fitted with ruston bucyrus drilling rig in lixouri greece ruston bucyrus no4 front shovel of 1931 at great dorset steam fair 2008 . ruston bucyrus 10 rb in the united kingdom . ruston bucyrus ltd was an engineering company established in 1930 and jointly owned by ruston and hornsby based in lincoln england and bucyrus erie based in bucyrus ohio the latter of which had operational control 1 and into which the excavator manufacturing operation of ruston and hornsby was transferred . the bucyrus company proper from which the bucyrus component of the ruston bucyrus name was created was an american company founded in 1880 in bucyrus ohio . during the second world war the company developed a trench cutting machine known by the code name cultivator no. 6 at the behest of winston churchill . 2 a limited company ruston bucyrus ltd. was formed in 2005 by paul and frank murray brothers as co directors . this has no ties to rb cranes which holds all of the original machine information & drawings contents 1 ruston bucyrus ltd era 2 the r b international era 3 rb cranes era 4 see also 5 references 5.1 further reading 6 external links ruston bucyrus ltd era edit gradually universal excavators designed by bucyrus erie replaced ruston and hornsby designed models . 1 the original range of standardised rope operated machines included 10rb 17rb 19rb and 33rb and were upgraded through some intermediate models including the 54rb to a main selling range in the 1960 s of 22rb 30rb 38rb 61rb and 71rb . in addition there were the large machines including the 110rb which evolved into the 150rb . the 22rb was the most popular machine which was assembled on a production line basis . the machine concept was a standard base to each model on which optional front end equipment could be mounted with appropriate counterbalances crawler track frames and minimal additional machinery . the most common variants included face shovel dragline lifting crane and grabbing crane . less common variants included drag shovel skimmer and pile driver . some cranes were also lorry mounted . all machines had 360 degree rotation on a conical section roller path . the machines were operated initially by a system of levers which operated toggle clutches into the drumshafts . despite the significant power being transmitted the lever system was if set up correctly relatively easy for the operator to use . the main control functions were later superseded by pneumatic control . most machines were fitted with diesel engines . the 22rb typically used a 6yda ruston and hornsby engine . electric motor options were available and often used on the large machines . the model size an elusively defined number was possibly the standard face shovel capacity in cubic feet . all the above machines were mounted on crawler tracks . the company also manufactured walking draglines which were very large capacity machines model 5w the most common with the upper machinery deck on all excavators known as the revolving frame mounted upon a circular tub with motion provided by overhanging cams with paddle feet which when rotated lifted the entire machine and produced individual steps of forward motion a waddling action somewhat like a duck as the end of the boom would raise and lower . because of the size and weight walking draglines were transported to site in sections and assembled in situ . these large machines were used for removal of overburden on for example opencast coal sites . in the late 1960 s the company designed a range of 360 degree hydraulic backactors 15h 20h and 30h which were popular in the far east and extended the life of the company . in the early days of rb they also produced a few other products including a range of lorry mounted drilling rigs primarily used for water bore holes . they also produced a design for a self erecting tower crane in an era when tower cranes were rare . in the 1960 s there used to be a bridge over the high street in lincoln stating that ruston bucyrus was the largest excavator manufacturer in the world . the factory ran the length of beevor street about 900m apart from a short piece on the north side where a drivebelt manufacturing business was based . the grounds were up to 400m wide . there were more than 30 bays in the factory most of which were about 150m long nearly all fitted with overhead cranes . at the far end of the works there was an extra large bay for assembly of the large machines including the 150rb and walking draglines . beyond that was the testing area where cranes were taken for calibration . the company employed up to 2000 persons on the site with manufacturing on both day and night shifts . with exception of foundry work virtually all manufacturing processes were completed on site . the machine shops used for the period the latest in technology including tape programming and high speed tipped tooling . there were eight service depots around the uk and a team of service engineers operated from the lincoln works to service international customers . ruston bucyrus cranes and excavators had been exported to most parts of the world . the period of the smaller quarry excavator was lost when quarrying turned to more substantial blasting and the use of wheeled loaders . the r b international era edit in 1985 ruston bucyrus was bought by its management severing all links with bucyrus erie resulting in the formation of r b lincoln which became r b international a subsidiary of lincoln industries part of the heather corporation ltd . 1 production of existing ruston bucyrus designed cable excavator crane models from the 22rb to the 71rb continued at the lincoln factory with improved crane dragline versions also offered . from 1985 onwards all new machines carried the rb name instead of ruston bucyrus and in 1987 a new mechanical hydraulic powered 51 60 model developed from the 38 rb was offered for use as a crane or dragline excavator 1 in 1990 rb bought from its rival priestman the design and manufacturing rights to priestman s variable counterbalance hydraulic cable long reach excavator range and its extensive range of grabs . in 1992 rb introduced its ch series of fully hydraulic crane dragline models with further models added in 1999 . in 1996 r b changed ownership in a buy in management buy out 3 but in 2000 r b international entered voluntary administration as a tough trading environment including a strong pound and stiff competition from overseas competitors meant it could no longer continue as a going concern without a significant injection of capital . 4 5 rb cranes era edit having entered administration on 3 july 2000 5 and following unsuccessful attempts to sell the company to daniel e. davis former president of favelle favco 6 r b international was sold to langley holdings plc as a going concern on 22 december 2000 and a new company rb cranes ltd was created . a day earlier on 21 december 2000 langley holdings plc had acquired the material handling division of rolls royce plc which became the clarke chapman group comprising cowans sheldon rb cranes stothert & pitt wellman booth as its principal subsidiary companies . in january 2001 clarke chapman ceased production at rb s lincoln works with production transferred to facilities in retford and gainsborough . following a rationalisation of the rb product line as of 2008 rb continue to offer the ch40 ch50 ch70 ch80 ch100 ch135 and ch135lj hydraulic crawler cranes as well as specialist variants for dockside usage 7 8 rb also offer the ch e series ch50e & ch70e for dragline and clamshell grab applications 9 and the ch hd heavy duty series ch50d & ch70d for adaption for piling and foundation engineering applications e.g. as a piling rig . 9 rb continues to offer four models of variable counterbalance hydraulic long reach excavators the vc20 15 vc20 17 vc20 20 and vc20 22 10 and also continues to offer the rb priestman range of grabs for excavation and material rehandling applications . 11 on 14 october 2009 the business rb cranes was sold by langley holdings plc to delden cranes limited the business has been moved to delden cranes s pemises in selston nottinghamshire . the business will continue to service the complete range of rb machines priestman vc excavators and priestman grabs in addition to the range of b e bucyrus erie up to 88b . 12 in february 2012 delden cranes limited 13 acquired nck cranes nck 14 the other major uk crane & excavator manufacturer . delden cranes ltd still hire cranes manufactured by rb and nck as well as other manufacturers all over the uk and ireland see also edit ruston & hornsby nck references edit a b c the amazing story of excavators volume 1 . peter n grimshaw turner 1988 . p. 45 . http www.contractjournal.com articles 1996 08 22 24103 inbrief.html http www.contractjournal.com articles 2000 07 26 14563 r b international in admin.html archived 18 september 2007 at the wayback machine . a b https web.archive.org web 20100325042249 http www.cranestodaymagazine.com story.asp storycode 4011 . archived from the original on 25 march 2010 . retrieved 19 september 2008 . missing or empty title help https web.archive.org web 20100325042757 http www.cranestodaymagazine.com story.asp storycode 2001415 . archived from the original on 25 march 2010 . retrieved 19 september 2008 . missing or empty title help http www.clarkechapman.co.uk site 9 hydraulic crawler cranes.asp nav id 747 http www.clarkechapman.co.uk site 9 dockside mobile cranes.asp nav id 748 archived 25 july 2009 at the wayback machine . a b http www.clarkechapman.co.uk site 9 dragline clamshell cranes.asp nav id 749 archived 6 may 2008 at the wayback machine . http www.clarkechapman.co.uk site 9 long reach excavators.asp nav id 750 http www.clarkechapman.co.uk site 9 rb priestman grabs.asp nav id 751 archived 25 july 2009 at the wayback machine . http www.rbcranes.co.uk http www.deldencranes.co.uk http nckcranes.co.uk turner john t 1988 . nellie the history of churchill s lincoln built trenching machine . occasional papers in lincolnshire history and archaeology . 7 . isbn 0 904680 68 1 . further reading edit lincoln s excavators the ruston bucyrus years 1930 1945 by peter robinson external links edit rb cranes website clarke chapman rb cranes website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title ruston bucyrus & oldid 742734250 categories companies based in lincoln englandengineering companies of the united kingdomcrane manufacturersbritish companies established in 1930manufacturing companies established in 1930hidden categories articles with wayback machine linkspages with citations lacking titlespages with citations having bare urlsuse dmy dates from april 2014 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search 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