Hello
I found this in a 1950's mag.
Hydrostatic transmission with two lever control and high line sprockets all in 1958!!!
It was the BB90 made by a company called Bagnall. It was powered
by a Meadows Diesel and weighed in at 8 tons. Apparently dozers and loaders were developed for it.
The opperator sat sideways and the instruments were duplicated back and front.
It did'nt catch on. Must have been before its time!!! [img]

Very interesting Fred

Wonder if a certain big yellow american co got some ideas from that ?

What book was it in ?

wonder if they were related to Lansing Bagnall the Forklift firm ?

Dave

Hello Dave
The mag. was Farm Implement and Machinery Review.
The maker was W G bagnall Ltd., locomotive builders since 1875. They ceased trading in 1962 when they were taken over by English Electric.
This is only four years after the BB90 tractor was launched. Probbably why it died?
There was a link to Lansing Bagnall, and yes, I think yet another British idea taken abroad for development.

Fred

The Hi-drive idea goes back further than that. The Cletrac Model F manufactured by the Cleveland Tractor Company between 1920 and 1922 used this system. Cletrac also pioneered an early version of oil lubricated track rollers and used a planetary differential steering system which, unlike the more usual clutch and brake system, maintained full power to both tracks during turns.
Contemporary reports quote Cletrac as deriving 15% of its business from parts sales while Caterpillar was said to get 30%. The implication being that the Cletrac was a better build machine!
The Dinky Super Toys bulldozer of the 1950s was a Cletrac fitted with a Blaw Knox hydraulic blade.
Angus

Interesting, not being a dozer driver but not sure I would want to spend all day looking sideways. Might have been better with a fully reversible drivers seat? Hydro was certainly innovative in 1958.

Hi pete

Suppose the idia was instead of twisting round when reversing, which can be 50% of time

Think hydro had been tried pre war but hydraulics got a lot better after wartime development. the Silso reasearch establish ment built a international (i think it was) with radial wheel motors, sorry cannot find article with it in to check date at the moment).

Might end up a bit dizy swiveling round every couple of minutes ?

Dave