Classic curved arm FEL

[bam747]

And here we all thought the current curved arm FEL design was something new!

Saw this "classic" Ferguson tractor with original curved arm FEL in the "used" lot at a JD dealer in Colorado.

Just thought the TBN community might be, at lease, ammused to see this old tractor and FEL. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[bam747]

And here we all thought the current curved arm FEL design was something new!

Saw this "classic" Ferguson tractor with original curved arm FEL in the "used" lot at a JD dealer in Colorado.

Just thought the TBN community might be, at lease, ammused to see this old tractor and FEL. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Bob_Skurka]

GOOD FIND! I've never seen one like that.

As far back as the late 1950's there have been curved arm loaders on Ford N series tractors, those were actually made out of bent and welded pipe and had a lattice work look to them. Many of them appeared to have been made by farmers and often had a 'trip' bucket instead of full hydraulics. I can't tell for certain, but it looks like that uses a manual trip bucket system on the tractor in your photo. As the Ferguson was a near twin of the Ford N series, it makes sense to see a similar loader as would have been seen on the Fords.

In the late(?) 70's or early(?) 80's in Japan, Shibura used curved arm loaders on their tractors, they manufactured tractors for Ford and still make them for New Hollnad.

For some reason the curved arm loaders died out and high profile dog-leg style loaders became prevalant on AG and CUT size tractors. At the same time that high profile (low visibility) designs dominated the AG and consumer markets, the industrial loaders and industrial TLB units were shifting over to LOW profile steeply raked loader arms that offer even better visibility than the best of today's curved arm loaders.

Todays commercial TLBs (like Case, JCB and Volvo) still use the low profile arms and are a dream to use. The attached photo shows a modern JCB with its high visibility steeply sloped hood and its low profile lift arms. Logically we should see CUT loaders evolve to something similar to this in time.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

GOOD FIND! I've never seen one like that.

As far back as the late 1950's there have been curved arm loaders on Ford N series tractors, those were actually made out of bent and welded pipe and had a lattice work look to them. Many of them appeared to have been made by farmers and often had a 'trip' bucket instead of full hydraulics. I can't tell for certain, but it looks like that uses a manual trip bucket system on the tractor in your photo. As the Ferguson was a near twin of the Ford N series, it makes sense to see a similar loader as would have been seen on the Fords.

In the late(?) 70's or early(?) 80's in Japan, Shibura used curved arm loaders on their tractors, they manufactured tractors for Ford and still make them for New Hollnad.

For some reason the curved arm loaders died out and high profile dog-leg style loaders became prevalant on AG and CUT size tractors. At the same time that high profile (low visibility) designs dominated the AG and consumer markets, the industrial loaders and industrial TLB units were shifting over to LOW profile steeply raked loader arms that offer even better visibility than the best of today's curved arm loaders.

Todays commercial TLBs (like Case, JCB and Volvo) still use the low profile arms and are a dream to use. The attached photo shows a modern JCB with its high visibility steeply sloped hood and its low profile lift arms. Logically we should see CUT loaders evolve to something similar to this in time.

 

[Scrounger]

Everyone made such a big deal out of the curved arms when Kubota introduced them on the BX24 too. Pretty cool picture. I best they still want a pretty penny for that old machine too.

 

[Scrounger]

Everyone made such a big deal out of the curved arms when Kubota introduced them on the BX24 too. Pretty cool picture. I best they still want a pretty penny for that old machine too.

 

[Hib]

Here are a couple pics of the 'high lift' loaders Ferguson introduced in the early fifties. They were often called banana loaders from what I've read.

 

[Hib]

Here are a couple pics of the 'high lift' loaders Ferguson introduced in the early fifties. They were often called banana loaders from what I've read.

 

[Hib]

And one more

 

[Hib]

And one more

 

[JerryG]

Hi Bob,
It looks to have a single dump cylinder.

 

[JerryG]

Hi Bob,
It looks to have a single dump cylinder.

 

[RobS]

That is excellent! I wonder if the current NH designers were aware of that or did they happen upon their curves by themselves /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[RobS]

That is excellent! I wonder if the current NH designers were aware of that or did they happen upon their curves by themselves /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Rob, just my guess, but I doubt if the NH engineers happened upon it all, my guess is they just brought it over from Shibura who had been making them that way. Shibura make the Ford CUTs and now makes the Case and NH CUTs. It is likely that NH saw the design on the Shibura tractors, tested it, refined it, and realized they could dramatically improve FEL visibility by using the curved arm design.

The difference between the old Fergusons we see in this thread, and the original Shibura loaders is that the Shiburas had full hydraulics where these all appear to be trip bucket designs on the old Fergies.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Rob, just my guess, but I doubt if the NH engineers happened upon it all, my guess is they just brought it over from Shibura who had been making them that way. Shibura make the Ford CUTs and now makes the Case and NH CUTs. It is likely that NH saw the design on the Shibura tractors, tested it, refined it, and realized they could dramatically improve FEL visibility by using the curved arm design.

The difference between the old Fergusons we see in this thread, and the original Shibura loaders is that the Shiburas had full hydraulics where these all appear to be trip bucket designs on the old Fergies.

 

[Hib]

"these all appear to be trip bucket designs on the old Fergies"

Not so. I may have resized the two pics too small, but if you look closely they are both hydraulicly controlled buckets. Here is a link to larger pic:
banana loader

 

[Hib]

"these all appear to be trip bucket designs on the old Fergies"

Not so. I may have resized the two pics too small, but if you look closely they are both hydraulicly controlled buckets. Here is a link to larger pic:
banana loader

 

[dubba]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( we should see CUT loaders evolve to something similar to this in time )</font>

I think if we could live with nondetachable loaders this could become a reality. The loader posts are so beefy on these designs it has got to be hard to make them quick attach.

 

[dubba]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( we should see CUT loaders evolve to something similar to this in time )</font>

I think if we could live with nondetachable loaders this could become a reality. The loader posts are so beefy on these designs it has got to be hard to make them quick attach.