The lifting shovel is model No.6 in the 1954 series of No.10 instruction leaflets. I built it using a contemporary Number 10 set. The model needed some simple modification to fit together. An interesting feature is the Meccano E20 motor that fits where the engine would be in the prototype. I never did get to make the winding drum operating mechanism to work satisfactorily. The end result though was an attractive and nicely proportioned model certainly one of the better models in the 1954 series. Meccano must have thought so too as it was frequently featured in their advertising for many years. The advertisement on the left is from a Meccano Magazine from the 1960s.

If you look at the picture below which is taken from the engineering notes of September 1947 Meccano Magazine you can see how close it is to what must have been the prototype for the No.10 model. The picture at bottom of the page was taken at Barleylands Steam Fair, Billericay, Essex, on September 10th 2000 of what looks like the same type of machine.   The  machine below is a "Chaseside Rope operated loading shovel" built in 1950 based on the Fordson Major tractor chassis with a Perkins P6 engine.

All the opertaing features of the machine are replicated on the Meccano model. The driver of the Chase side had to struggle with counter balanced levers and winding drums to operate it

Page revised May 08 2009

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