Priestman VC15 Long reach at Threlkeld Quarry
Priestman started in Hull in 1876.
History
The Priestman story began when William Dent Priestman in 1876, who had founded an engineering firm in Hull six years earlier, was asked to build a winch and grab for work off the west coast of Spain, in an attempt to locate lost gold. Though nothing was ever found, the mechanism that William Dent created was found to be equally effective at dredging mud and silt in docks, rivers and harbours.
It was used soon after at Hull Docks – with such success that it was soon in demand all over the world. Success after success followed, before the firm went into liquidation in 1895.
Restructuring followed, and Priestmans began to shine brightly once more. By the First World War, its cranes were being used to rebuild French villages , and by 1921, a small "ditcher" for field drainage was produced, followed by funding from the Ministry of Agriculture for further developments.
Face shovels, dragline excavators and backactor ditching machines as well as power grabs became the mainstay of the expanding Priestman company.
In 1928, Priestmans produced the first of their "animal-named" excavators. Such names as the Lion, Tiger and Panther would later become synonymous with Priestmans. Early machines were very crude with the driver sitting next to the engine.
The machines an be configured as Draglines, Face Shovel, Bach hoe, Skimmer and Cranes, by changing the Jib / Boom and ancillary equipment.
Work started on their Marfleet base in 1950. It would eventually cover 63 acres in Hull, and by 1963, when the firm embraced hydraulic power, it had long been a household name.
In the 1970s they developed a range of hydraulic excavators. The VC range of dredging machine with long reach booms to replace draglines. his had an innovative sliding counter weight to balance the boom at long reach. These were popular with small sand and gravel pits and with the drainage board and water companies in Lincolnshire for cleaning dykes. They also built special versions on tall pedestals for dock side loading duties.
In 1970 it merged with a Coles of Sunderland and in 1976, began building offshore cranes for North Sea oil rig platforms.
Today, what is left of the firm trades in Bradford under a new owner but its legacy will live on.
Model Range
- Beaver Mk I 1965 (Hydraulic version of Cub)
- Cub
- Hydro-Cub
- Lion
- Wolf
- Tiger
- Panther
- Mustang
- Preistman VC 15
Preserved Machines List
- Beaver Mk I of 1965 (S/N A12202) @ Threkeld, fitted with Lister HB4
- S.E. Davis & Son Ltd. have a Cu in there fleet, at Redditch.
See Also