Trekking

Anecdotes of the Treadwheel Crane

In 1840, the Treadwheel Medieval Crane lifted its heaviest load on land: a steam locomotive for the Ducal Braunschweig State Railway. The locomotive was manufactured by George Forrester & Company (11) in England and transported by water to Germany. The weight of the locomotive was estimated around 9 tons. To operate the wheel crane, 38 men were needed at that time. 

 

As a load test, before the locomotive, a package with 80 railway tracks weighing about 9.2 tons (20,300 pounds) was made. The crane was rebuilt in the summer of 1797 by Master Carpenter GP Hintze as it appears on the plate.

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With the construction of the Hamburg-Hannover railway line (12), which arrived in Lüneburg in 1847, the transport of goods to and from Lüneburg went quickly from the waterway to the railways. As a result, the port and, therefore, also the crane quickly lost importance. In 1860, the treadwheel crane stopped working for economic reasons. 

  Medieval Crane: Ostricher - Germany

The construction and operation of a treadwheel crane in Germany, was until the nineteenth century absolutely, an archbishop's privilege in this area. Only a few cities in Rheingau and in other German areas had the right to operate a loading device.

We will cite Cologne, Trier, Würzburg, Andernach, Bingen am Rhein, Stade and Hamburg, as cities, without doubt privileged. In the Rheingau region in the 15th century, only Eltville, Rüdesheim and Lorch obtained this privilege.

The  history of crane in Oestricher is located on the right bank of the Rhine River, at kilometer 518.1, near Federal Highway 42. All treadwheelcranes from Rheingau and elsewhere, such as Trier and Andernach, were initially floating wooden cranes. These cranes were generally very prone to deterioration due to constant exposure to water and ice in winter.

This port treadwheel crane was begun to be built in 1744 (10). The boom of the crane is 12 meters. It has a conical roof to protect the crane. The conical roof with the ball and the tip of the roof is firmly connected to the upper end of a central column of vertical crane. Inside the crane house, there is a double wheel. The operation was in charge of two people per side.

The operating staff was well paid and affiliated with a guild called Aufläder. The load capacity of the wheel crane was approximately 2.5 tons. The crane today is functional.