Oliver Crosby Creates "the American"

[1dave]

In 1895, while building the world's largest crane, Oliver was thinking of all it's short comings. He needed a crane that could:

Prepare the Right of Way
Remove Boulders and Tree Stumps
Rail Loading and Unloading,
Track Laying and Relaying,
Material, Tie and Timber Handling,
Pile Driving,
Clean-up Train work,
Bridge and Building work,
Traveler for erecting or razing bridges, etc.
Steam Shovel work,
Locomotive Crane work,
Emergency Ditching, or Slide Removing,
Coal, Gravel or Riprap Handling,
Light Wrecking,
Log Loading,
Grab Bucket Work.

so he designed and built movable tracks:

Then he got down to designing a self propelling crane to ride on them.






The Box holds Fuel for the boiler.



And fitted a crane to it.


It could use the movable tracks to wherever it needed to go, load itself onto flat rail road cars, move from car to car, be where it needed to be.







Called "The American Railroad Ditcher, they were so successful that by 1920 over 500 were in operation.



A book was written promoting it:



"But even granting that the labor expended on the building of a railroad is superlatively intelligent, thorough and industrious, it can never equal the thoroughness and untiring industry in all kinds of weather of a perfect machine.

Such a machine is the "American" Railroad Ditcher, a machine which executes perfect plans perfectly, cuts down large
crews and, by reducing the fallible human element, diminishes the possibility of mistakes and poor work.
With it no other track building equipment is required, for it is twenty machines in one, as a reading of the
following pages will show.
Though admittedly this little book was compiled to exploit the "American" Railroad Ditcher, yet it was written by practical men and embodies the results of long experience. The methods described have proved money savers and should, therefore, commend themselves to all interested in the building of railroads and the efficient maintenance of right-of way."

It had proven it's worth in preparing the right to way.

[1dave]

The American for Coal Handling

[1dave]

The American Logger

The old Way:


The New Way:

[1dave]

The Sugar Cane Industry

Became big in Louisiana and they needed his equipment.



They needed a sling, so;





later on, they needed a grapple.





Then they needed a shock absorber.


Then they needed something for smaller loads.




What ever the buyers needed, he came up with a solution.

[rockjunquie]

Dang! IMPRESSIVE! What a legacy!

[ThomasT]

I wonder if there any left that haven't been melted down and recycled.

[Rockoonz]

Aug 30, 2024 10:04:56 GMT -5 ThomasT said:

I wonder if there any left that haven't been melted down and recycled.

A scale model

[1dave]

An Electric Model.