The machine being demonstrated is a newly available self-propelled, four wheel steering transport system. Ladybird Crane Hire is the first UK company to have invested in this technology and ran a demonstration day to promote the benefits of the machine to customers and other crane owners with a view to hiring out the machine in the future.
The ‘GAPO’ has been developed over a period of eight years by Perugia-based firm Gavarini, one of Italy’s major distributors and hirers of Potain tower cranes.
The remote-controlled system is composed of two independent hydrostatically driven wheels mounted either side of the engine and a hydraulic arm that connects to the crane capable of lifting 10 tons. The unit also has an auxiliary hydraulic circuit which is used for steering the rear wheels. In this way the machine can turn cranes in their own length and even drive them sideways. Maximum speed is 5 km/hr.
Gavarini has made about 30 of the patented machines since launching the design at Bologna’s SAIE show in October 2008. “We are currently industrialising, but the global crisis has not helped,” Marco Gavarini told Cranes Today. It has since sold machines to France and Germany as well.
There are two models, the DA 10 and DA 16, with pulling power of 10kN and 16kN, which Gavarini said was powerful enough to tow any self-erecting tower crane. They are powered by a three-cylinder, 28kW Yanmar diesel engine.