Fairbairn cranes

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About Fairbairn cranes

This group is designated for pictures of Fairbairn cranes around the world.

The Fairbairn crane is identifiable by its curved jib, made of riveted wrought iron platework to form a square-section box girder ("wrought iron tubular crane"). Fairbairn cranes may either be hand operated or steam/electrical powered.

The design was patented in 1850 by Sir William Fairbairn and his factory William Fairbairn & Sons in Manchester made several, but it was also licensed to other factories in the UK (like Stothert & Pitt in Bath) and abroad (like "The Prins van Oranje" in The Hague, The Netherlands).

The last surviving examples (to our knowledge now) are in:

● Bristol, at the Bristol Docks (Bristol Floating Harbour), part of M Shed city museum, the only steam powered and most photographed one (Wikipedia: Fairbairn steam crane).

● Dover, on Esplanade Quay at the east side of the Wellington Basin (Wellington Dock), Dover Marina, Kent.

● Sevilla, originally placed on the Muelle de Nueva York along the Canal de Alfonso XIII (Guadalquivir), in 2005 moved 500 meters to a plaza at the Puente Alfonso XIII (Wikipedia [Spanish]: Grúa Fairbairn).

● Valladolid, Castilla y León, at the Dársena del Canal de Castilla, Spain.

● Middelburg, province Zeeland, The Netherlands, believed to be the oldest one (1861).

● Koog aan de Zaan, province Noord-Holland, at the Zaan, The Netherlands.

● Frankfurt (Oder), land Brandenburg, at the Oder, Germany.

● Langenargen, land Baden-Württemberg, at the Bodensee (Lake Constance), Germany.

● Rorschach, kanton Sankt Gallen, at the Bodensee (Lake Constance), Switzerland.

● Vienna / Wien, at the Donau, Austria.

● Helsingør, isle of Zealand, Denmark, at Kongekajen along the Havnegade (NEW ADDED March 2012 !)

● Visby, on the isle of Gotland, Sweden, electrified, in full working order