Herman Brood, the Dutch artist was invited by Cargotec in 2000 at the RAI exhibition, to paint a HIAB loader crane. At the RAI exhibition that took place this year, on the 20th of April, the same HIAB 102 crane was auctioned to fund money for War Child, an independent charitable organization.

Cargotec Netherlands’ Marketing Manager Paulo Cardoso stated that the HIAB 102 painted by Herman Brood was going back to Amsterdam – the same city in which it was created. He also shared his happiness by saying that they couldn’t have hoped for a location better than Amsterdam for the crane, and that a staggering figure of 11,750 Euros would be transferred to the humanitarian organization.

One of the departments of Amsterdam, Afvalservice West stole the show with its bids, beating all others in the active auction at the RAI exhibition. Afvalservice West, a department in the city of Amsterdam, worked closely with the city’s department for culture and the goal is to feature the crane for display at Stedelijk Museum – the City museum of Amsterdam.

The late Herman Brood, a multi-talented artist, musician and painter, was among the most popular residents of the city of Amsterdam. Lola Brood – his daughter, in attendance at the auction, stated that her father’s long-time wish to have his work displayed in Amsterdam’s masterly museums is now a reality.

Paulo Cardoso said that their goal of having a positive influence on community and humanity has been met. He assured that the public will be able to enjoy a fine piece of art, and that the money will be put to good use by War Child. He also took time to thank Troostwijk Auctions for their efforts in contributing to help achieve the outcome.

If you think electric cars are good for the environment, wait till you hear about the Moffett E2. This environment-friendly truck mounted forklift has all-electric operation, which translates into zero CO2 emissions. This interesting load handling solution was previewed at the 2012 RAI Exhibition Centre in Amsterdam this week.

The electric E2 is an extension of the Moffett M-Series. Sharing the successful M2′s chassis, the E2 offers the kind of reliability that is associated with its parent model. Its lift capacity is rated at 1200 kg.

The forklift’s zero emissions and quiet operation make it well-suited for both indoor and outdoor applications, as well as night-time deliveries in semi-industrial and urban areas. The E2 comes with Cargotec’s Pro Future™ certification, which is the company’s own designation for products with a smaller footprint. To qualify as a Cargotec’s Pro Future™ model, the E2 passed industry-leading criteria measuring among other things, emissions, energy efficiency and recyclability.

How does it work? It comes with an on-board charger that can be charged from a domestic plug socket or trickle charged. Its state-of-the-art lithium-ion batteries offer long operating hours and consistent performance.

To aid night-time use, the Moffett E2 has LED road lights and work lights, as well as a digital display that interacts with the CAN BUS wiring system. A silent helical gear pump driving the hydraulic components ensures noise-less operation.

The Moffett E2 truck mounted forklift has been nominated for the SV Innovation Award that honors innovative designs in the transport industry. The new Moffett should be available in Canada in early 2013.

2000′s RAI exhibition saw Cargotec taking the artistic route to support an important charitable cause by having a HIAB loader crane transformed into a pop-art piece. Famous Dutch artist Herman Brood was invited to paint the HIAB 102. This year’s RAI exhibition, scheduled on 17 April – 21 April will have Cargotec auctioning the crane to raise funds for War Child, a humanitarian organization that helps children and youth affected by war.

Brood, who is no longer with us, is a well-known cultural personality in the Netherlands and abroad. His swift and masterful strokes were on full display to an audience of suits, media personalities and exhibition visitors. It was indeed quite a sight as Brood used a ladder, paint rollers and spray painting cans to paint images and text onto the HIAB 102.

Cargotec’s HIAB cargo-handling products are known for their excellent performance and safety. The HIAB 102 holds the distinction of being one of the best-selling loader cranes in the world. A pop-art 102 with Brood’s distinctive style etched on it, makes for an interesting and valuable buy. The most important thing to note is that the proceeds from the sale of the crane will be given to an independent charity that offers psychological counseling and help to young victims of armed conflict.

Cargotec takes corporate social responsibility very seriously, and this upcoming auction is one way in which it is doing its bit for the community. The auction will be held at Cargotec’s stand at the RAI exhibition, on Friday April 20 at 17.00 hrs

If you already know that present-day HIAB cranes have been used for animal-rescue operations, this blast from the past won’t come as a big surprise to you: the HIAB 174 Speedloader was used to feed wild beasts in a Swedish zoo. Yes, even forty years ago, HIAB cranes came to the aid of animals, and not just the pet kind, but bona fide wild African animals! Amusingly, the Speedloader used for this purpose went by the name of ‘Elefant’.

Elefant was mainly used for the zoo’s transportation tasks. Clearly, the crane’s more interesting job was delivering elephants, giraffes, rhinos and zebras their meals for the day. Exciting afternoons for truckers and a good dining experience for the beasts!

The HIAB 174 Speedloader was well-known for its far reach and flexibility. It was commonly used to hoist roofs in many parts of Europe as well as North America. The Hiab 174 Speedloader was more compact than bulky building cranes while offering the same reach. The extensions built into the 174 Speedloader allowed it to lift weights upto heights of eleven meters, almost four floors high. It is the same lightweight mechanism that allowed Swedish truckers to feed large animals like elephants and giraffes safely.

The Hiab 174 Speedloader’s sleek design was also useful for other activities like pouring concrete into pipes and laying them in position. With great heating systems, power steering and a swiveling driver seat, truckers were at ease when handling the Hiab 174 Speedloader for lifting heavy objects, transporting loads or simply feeding grass to zoo residents.

Read more about HIAB 174 Speedloader used to feed the animals in a Swedish zoo.

Looking back over 40 years ago, there were initiatives by the Western Geophysical Company to find oil off the US west coast. And, of course, the efforts were supported by HIAB, with HIAB loaders becoming an integral part of this process.

What does the oil exploration job entail? Back in the Sixties, it started with studies of the geology of the seabed with the help of a survey vessel. Known as the Dantzler Spruce, this survey vessel studied the features of the seabed using different methods including shooting powerful sound waves into the surface of the ocean, a method similar to SONAR. These sound waves are reflected back from the various layers of the seabed and recorded by the sensitive equipment aboard the vessel.

These sensitive recordings provided geologists with an approximation of what the seabed is comprised of. The readings also indicate the possibilities of finding oil beneath the seabed, under the numerous layers of earth.

Two HIAB loaders accompanied the Dantzler Spruce. One of the loaders included the HIAB Titan that lifts heavy cannons used to fire sound waves into the ocean. These heavyweight cannons weigh almost four tons and are loaded in two wells aboard the vessel. Licensed under HIAB Italy, Titan can easily reach both wells on the Dantzler Spruce to switch cannons. When the vessel is docked, HIAB Titan is used to hoist equipment on and off the vessel.

The HIAB 174 Speedloader was used to lift delicate and sensitive equipment that was generally towed behind the vessel. Owing to its flexibility and expansive reach, the 174 Speedloader could clutch and lift delicate instruments away from the ship without risking any damage.

Read more about the HIAB Loaders used in Undersea Oil Prospects.

Can you imagine a time when loading and unloading was done only by hand? Before cranes, workers had to rely only on their strength and makeshift arrangements like planks to discharge loads. HIAB METHOD looked back at the good ‘ol days with Enstaberga Cementgjuteri, a pre-cast concrete works in Stockholm, started by brothers Georg and Sivert Karlsson in 1945.

Enstaberga truck driver Rune Eriksson spoke about the difficulty experienced in loading and unloading bigger pipes. The concrete pipes had to be rolled off by many workers. They were eased down using ropes tied to the front wall of the truck’s deck. Rolling them off one by one involved tipping the desk, but this had to be done carefully so that the pipes didn’t fall on top of each other and break.

This tiring loading and unloading work by hand became a thing of the past once the HIAB Model 193 wire-rope crane was purchased by the company. It brought down the workload and the requirement for many hands for the job. But with the free-slewing jib, the unloading task had to be done carefully as the load would swing to and fro, and more so when the truck was not standing perfectly level. The solution to this problem came in the form of the 173 Speedloader. When mounted on the truck, it could unload almost a ton at a time.

Even better is the new rotator-equipped 174 Speedloader, says Eriksson. The rotator keeps the load from twisting during the lift. Positioning the pipes exactly and laying up high pipes is also easier with the hydraulic extension. Rune Eriksson says that he can deliver thrice as many pipes a day as he could previous to the 174.

Take a look at the HIAB Method Magazine No. 8 from 1967.

HIAB’s just announced XW Wireless Crane Scales really look like they are going to set a new standard in the material handling, recycling and forestry industries. This comes courtesy of the integrated motion control and the high-resolution load cell. The former enables dynamic weighing while the latter ensures torque and overload protection.

Ideal for rough working conditions, the typical jobs these weighing systems are expected to serve include recycling industrial and household waste, transporting and forwarding timber, and scrap handling to name a few. They are available as automatic scales (OIML R51, class y(b) 500 divisions) and static weighing non-automatic scales. They are packaged to satisfy the recommendations of the OIML or Organization of Legal Metrology. This body establishes the requirements for meteorological characteristics of specific measuring instruments, and advises on how to verify their conformity.

Here’s more on the main features of HIAB XW Wireless Crane Scales. For starters, wireless operations translate into minimal installation costs. The weighing scales offer a ready plug and play solution as they come pre-calibrated. Another distinguishing feature of these weighing systems is that they consume very low power yet provide an outstanding radio range. Some useful options that come with these wireless scales include bar code reader, GPRS, GPS, USB storage, data download to PC, etc.

The choices you have are: XW 50, XW 50 BS (in sizes of 80/35 and 100/45), XW SH SHV, LHS 125 HD and XW 70 BS (in sizes of 80/35 and 100/45). The weighing system kits include the weighing link/hook with two batteries and a battery charger, and a Hand Unit/ComBox. The accessories include a foot pedal for cabin mount and a battery-operated Bluetooth printer.

The HIAB Method Magazine No. 8 from 1967 shone the spotlight on a simpler day and age when faced with fewer effective loading solutions, workers would lift loads manually or use ropes and other rudimentary tools to discharge and move loads at job sites. The improved HIAB 174 Speedloader ushered in greater load-handling efficiency and performance. While the star of this issue of Method was clearly the 174 Speedloader, the magazine also featured articles on the BL7 bogie lift and the 177 Speedloader.

The featured articles showed through customer testimonials and photographs, how the 174 helped out at different job sites. From a scrap yard in England to a precast-concrete cast works in Stockholm, the 174 served various kinds of jobs diligently. The extensions built into the crane allowed it to lift weights at a height of eleven meters. This, combined with its lightweight mechanism saw the 174 being used to feed animals like elephants and giraffes safely. When it came to versatility, the 174 delivered brilliantly.

The magazine tells us how HIAB products were the top choice of many industries back in the 60′s as well. Even as the technologically-advanced HIAB cranes of today offer wireless warning and remote control in risky environments, it is great to read about the developments made by HIAB’s products over the years. While the emphasis in the early days was to get the job done as efficiently as is possible, many more factors like ease of maintenance play an important role in the design of modern-day truck mounted equipment from the manufacturer.

Imagine this, testing a customer’s crane in temperatures down to -14°C, winds and sleet that could scour a frying pan clean, and watching a snowstorm brewing. Those are the conditions that two of our brave employees found themselves a couple weeks ago in Northern Quebec.

Two of our experienced technical experts, Stirling Robertson and Marc Mayodon, travelled to the site to carry out and supervise stability testing for a HIAB 477HiPro crane with the Variable Stability Limit (VSL) in the town of Havre-Saint-Pierre, Quebec. The crane was mounted on a rail service vehicle made by Mecfor. The HIAB 477HiPro is used to maintain the track, which shuttles people and equipment in and out of the titanium mine. The time taken by this train ride was about 50 minutes.

The crane was put through an intense day of testing. During the time of testing, the climate posed quite a challenge. The staff and HIAB 477HiPro had to work in the midst of sleet and hail. The crane first handled the material, i.e. the rail in this case, without its stabilizing legs being deployed. The HIAB crane control system was used to perform additional hydraulic functions on the rail car itself. It also monitored the position of an auxiliary high rail system. HIAB’s latest generation crane control systems improve lifting efficiency and cuts fuel consumption to reduce the environmental impact.

The crane easily handled the tough environment and scored top marks on its test! This stability test further strengthened our confidence in the ability of our cranes to perform exceedingly well all across Canada. And our staff deserves full marks for braving the winter conditions.

The risk of electrocution runs high at construction sites with high voltage power lines, and often proves fatal. Atlas Polar recently introduced the wireless warning system HiVolt Alert™, a useful tool to help crane operators haul loads safely in such risky environments. It is has been noticed that in most cases of electrocution, the operator is unable to verify the actual distance of high voltage power lines. HiVolt™ addresses this by sounding an alarm to notify the operator that a hazard exists on-site.

This warning sensors are entirely wireless and can be placed anywhere on the equipment. There is also no need to reprogram the sensor to suit each environment. Once the sensor has been installed, it can be used at any job site. The sensors can be attached to extension equipment like boom arms and masts.

To effectively detect danger, two sensitivity levels have been assigned to the sensor. The ‘Near Work Zone’ is less sensitive and can be used at low risk sites while the ‘Far Work Zone’ is extremely sensitive and is most useful at dangerous sites. Atlas Polar recommends the use of this warning system not just at construction sites but also on fire department ladder trucks, dump trucks, tree trimming trucks and logging trucks.

Each HiVolt Alert™ warning system comes with a display hub, alarm indicators and sensors that contain visual and audio indicators. Three levels of alarms are used to indicate the level of emergency. The sensors are built with high capacity rechargeable batteries and are supported by solar cells for additional power.