Ruston-Bucyrus
Encyclopedia
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
company established in 1930 and jointly owned by Ruston and Hornsby based in Lincoln
Lincoln, Lincolnshire
Lincoln is a cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England.The non-metropolitan district of Lincoln has a population of 85,595; the 2001 census gave the entire area of Lincoln a population of 120,779....
, England and Bucyrus-Erie based in Bucyrus, Ohio
Bucyrus, Ohio
As of the census of 2000, there were 13,224 people, 5,559 households, and 3,552 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,812.0 people per square mile . There were 5,955 housing units at an average density of 816.0 per square mile...
, the latter of which had operational control and into which the excavator manufacturing operation of Ruston and Hornsby was transferred.
During the Second World War, the company developed a trench cutting machine known by the code name Cultivator No. 6
Cultivator No. 6
Cultivator No. 6 was the code name of a military trench-digging machine developed by the British Royal Navy at the beginning of World War II. The machine was originally known as White Rabbit Number Six; this code name was never officially recognised, but it was said to be derived from Churchill’s...
at the behest of Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
.
Ruston-Bucyrus Ltd era
Gradually Universal Excavators designed by Bucyrus-Erie replaced Ruston and Hornsby designed models.Ruston-Bucyrus built larger machines for the British market to Bucyrus-Erie designs. The Bucyrus-Monigan 5W was a top seller for export by Ruston-Bucyrus, thus they started building it. This was a walking dragline
Dragline excavator
A dragline excavator is a piece of heavy equipment used in civil engineering and surface mining.In civil engineering the smaller types are used for road, port construction, and as pile driving rigs. The larger types are used in strip-mining operations to move overburden above coal, and for...
, with either Diesel or electric powered options.
The R-B International era
In 1985 Ruston Bucyrus was bought by its management, severing all links with Bucyrus-Erie resulting in the formation of 'R-B Lincoln', which became R-B International, a subsidiary of Lincoln Industries (part of The Heather Corporation Ltd).Production of existing Ruston-Bucyrus designed cable excavator/crane models from the 22RB to the 71RB continued at the Lincoln factory with 'Improved Crane Dragline' versions also offered. From 1985 onwards all new machines carried the 'RB' name instead of 'Ruston-Bucyrus' and in 1987 a new mechanical/hydraulic powered 51-60 model developed from the 38-RB was offered for use as a crane or dragline excavator
In 1990 RB bought from its rival Priestman
Priestman Brothers
Priestman Brothers was an engineering company based in Kingston upon Hull, UK that manufactured diggers, dredgers, cranes and other industrial machinery...
, the design and manufacturing rights to Priestman's Variable Counterbalance hydraulic/cable long reach excavator range and its extensive range of Grabs
Grabs
Grabs is a municipality in the Wahlkreis of Werdenberg in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland.-History:Grabs is first mentioned in 841 as Quaravedes. In 979 it was mentioned as Quadravedes, then in 1235 as Grabdis and in 1253 as Graps.-Geography:Grabs has an area, , of...
.
In 1992 RB introduced its CH series of fully hyrdraulic crane/dragline models with further models added in 1999.
In 1996 R-B changed ownership in a buy-in management buy out but in 2000 R-B International entered voluntary administration as a tough trading environment including a strong Pound and stiff competition from overseas competitors meant it could no longer continue as a going concern without a significant injection of capital.
RB Cranes era
Having entered administration on the July 3, 2000 and following unsuccessful attempts to sell the company to Daniel E. Davis, former president of Favelle Favco R-B International was sold to Langley Holdings plc as a going-concern on December 22, 2000 and a new company 'RB Cranes Ltd' was created.A day earlier on December 21, 2000, Langley Holdings plc had acquired the material-handling division of Rolls-Royce PLC which became the Clarke Chapman
Clarke Chapman
Clarke Chapman is a British engineering firm based in Gateshead, which was formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange.-History:The company was founded in 1864 in Gateshead by William Clarke...
Group comprising Cowans Sheldon, RB Cranes, Stothert & Pitt
Stothert & Pitt
Stothert & Pitt were a British engineering company founded in 1785 in Bath, England. They were the builders of a variety of engineering products ranging from Dock cranes to construction plant and household cast iron items. They went out of business in 1989...
, Wellman Booth as its principal subsidiary companies.
In January 2001 Clarke Chapman ceased production at RB's Lincoln works with production transferred to facilities in Retford
Retford
Retford is a market town in Nottinghamshire in the East Midlands of England, located 31 miles from the city of Nottingham, and 23 miles west of Lincoln, in the district of Bassetlaw. The town is situated in a valley with the River Idle and the Chesterfield Canal running through the centre of the...
and Gainsborough
Gainsborough, Lincolnshire
Gainsborough is a town 15 miles north-west of Lincoln on the River Trent within the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. At one time it served as an important port with trade downstream to Hull, and was the most inland in England, being more than 55 miles from the North...
.
Following a rationalisation of the RB product line, as of 2008 RB continue to offer the CH40,CH50,CH70,CH80, CH100,CH135 and CH135LJ Hydraulic Crawler Cranes as well as specialist variants for Dockside usage
RB also offer the CH E (Series CH50E & CH70E) for dragline and clamshell grab applications and the CH HD (Heavy Duty) (Series CH50D & CH70D) for adaption for piling and foundation engineering applications e.g. as a piling rig.
RB continues to offer four models of Variable Counter-balance hydraulic long reach excavators, the VC20-15, VC20-17,VC20-20 and VC20-22 and also continues to offer the RB Priestman range of grabs for excavation and material rehandling applications.
On October 14, 2009 the business RB Cranes was sold by Langley Holdings plc to Delden CSE Limited, the business has been moved to Delden CSE's pemises in Selston, Nottinghamshire. The business will continue to service the complete range of RB machines, Priestman VC excavators and Priestman grabs in addition to the range of B-E (Bucyrus-Erie) up to 88B.