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22 For information about advertising in or submitting articles for Construction Equipment Guide’s Crane Product & Service Guide, call 800/523-2200 or e-mail: [email protected] Universal Lorain Truck Cranes Historical By Edgar A. Browning SPECIAL TO CEG The first fully revolving crane mounted on a motor truck was designed and built by Universal in 1918. It was mounted on a Mack AC “Bulldog” chain drive chassis. The No. 1 Universal, as it was called, was rated at 3.5 tons with a 20 ft. boom at a 10 ft. radius. By 1938 the Universal truck mounted crane capacity had grown to 13 tons with booms available to 80 ft. or longer. The Elmhurst Contracting Company Inc. of Corona, Long Island, N.Y., had one of the largest fleets in the greater NYC area. Elmhurst owned 39 of the truck cranes the majority mounted on Mack chassis. (This story also can be found on Construction Equipment Guide’s website at www.construc- tionequipmentguide.com.) CRANE Looking Back: Edgar A. Browning photo A portion of Elmhurst Contracting’s fleet of Universal-Lorain truck cranes are lined up. The truck chassis’ are all Mack “Bulldogs”. Edgar A. Browning photo Elmhurst Contracting’s Universal-Lorains shown equipped with shovel and hoe fronts.
