RAAF Derrick Trucks

[Mike Cecil]

..... and a few more spanners, since we are continuing on this topic, from the Encyclopedia Britannica:

'Derrick, a type of crane; the name is derived from that of a famous early 17th century Tyburn hangman, and was originally applied as a synonym (see Cranes). The derrick of the petroleum industry is a skeleton framework or tower of wood or steel for hoisting or lowering from a fixed point. It is used to raise or drop the drilling tools and also to insert and remove the well casing or pipe.'

And from the Shorter Oxford: the original definition was simply 'A hangman; hanging; the gallows' . And on that note, I think I've 'hanged about' in this thread long enough.... I'm off to the Town Hall to meet up with Lang!

Mike C

[Richard Farrant]

Originally Posted by Mike Cecil

I'm off to the Town Hall to meet up with Lang!

Mike, I would join you two at the Town Hall, but you will probably be gone by the time I got there, its a long walk from here

[Lang]

Richard,

I think it is to do with both universal traditional (bastardised) and local dialect usage. You seem to have different usage of terms.

Luffing is the universal term for raising and lowering crane booms and all cranes in Australia and those sourced from USA and Japan have Luff Up and Luff Down on their controls. Riggers and Dogmen if talking to the crane driver always say Luff Up or Luff Down. Raise and Lower are the terms for the rope/hook but when working, drivers know if it is not preceded by "Luff", the more commonly used "Up" and "Down" refer to the rope/hook.

Obviously if you have a non-extendable boom and do not have a running rope (just a hook on a pole), "Luff Up" is exactly the same as "Raise" -or just "Up" -and "Boom in" so the dogman has a choice of 3 correct instructions for the same movement!

Enough from me.

Lang

[Tony Wheeler]

Originally Posted by Mike Cecil

I'm off to the Town Hall to meet up with Lang!

Hurry up guys, I'm here waiting for you! I'm worried about my demountable crane, should I be calling it a derrick instead?

[Lang]

Tony,

As you are in Australia it is definitely not a derrick (no slew).

I think the logging guys would call it a lifting pole but if you want to get posh a crane would cover it.

Lang

[Tony Wheeler]

Thanks Lang, I'm relieved to hear it's still a crane in Australia, it's not easy being an international pedant!

[Mike Cecil]

And what an UPLIFTING thread..... takes the WEIGHT from my shoulders .... certainly no LET DOWN .....

Mike C

[gordon]

... till the Americans get here with their 'gin poles'

Business is picking up

[Hanno Spoelstra]

I think we should assign this case to Oberinspektor Derrick!

He would find this discussion sehr erhebend

H.

[Keith Webb]

I'd just call it very useful.

Originally Posted by Tony Wheeler

Hurry up guys, I'm here waiting for you! I'm worried about my demountable crane, should I be calling it a derrick instead?