Bing 1930ish 10/684 gantry crane, Update

Here pictures from the 1930 BING catalogue (catalogue number 10/684):

The same crane body was used on other cranes.

A picture of the same crane that has suffered less:

Regards

Fred

Excellent!  Thank you Fred that is exactly what I was looking for.  I was seeing pictures on line for several of the other cranes in the catalog, but not much for the 10/684 crane I have.  I am curious to know if it is particularly hard to find or not.

The crane in the photo looks really nice.  I'll have to resolder the bottom base part on one side, but at least it is present.  Then I can decide if I want to repaint the red superstructure.  The picture you posted also gives a good idea on the relative size to the trains. At 33 cm (13.2"), it is fairly tall!  I just hope I can find a spot on my layout for it.

that's a nice find Dennis! post up more pics when you find a home for it.

Will do Dave, I can't wait for it to show up!

Old and broke? Check.

Pretty nice piece. Now time to get tin knockin.

Old and broke sometimes means I can afford it

that makes two of us brother!

The crane arrived  yesterday so I had no choice but to take it apart and start working on it.  At this point I think I have the girder base mostly straight and soldered back together.  Still have a joint or two to clean up but it is basically there.  I think the litho cab will clean up pretty well as well.  At this point, I still need to beat the cab floor back in to shape, get some chain and a hook, and then paint it.  I think the only thing missing is one of the little wheels.  Even they were tinplate.  I've got some red paint that looks fairly close to the nice crane that Fred posted above so we'll see how that turns out.  I also  found as Fred mentioned that the cab and boom part was used as far back as 1910 base on some catalog images I found on line.  I also found a 1932 Bub catalog that listed the crane which seems to make sense if Bub took over Bing around that time.  Someone can correct me on the dates. Also check out the worm that rotates the cab, and see that it is really a coiled wire wrapped around the shaft and soldered on the end.  I think I could get it apart, but it would be hard to get it back together after paint so I'll leave it as is.

Dennis,

the wheel is the same wheel Bing used on their table top railway coaches.

watch the bay for a battered coach (unless you know someone with a collection of Bing Table top who may have a spare wheel)

Roland

Nice find Dennis. very cool. Can't wait to see the restoration. It's amazing that is in such good condition.

Bob

Hey Roland, That is great!  Thanks for that tidbit if info, I will be watching for them now for sure

Hi Bob, I stumbled across it on the bay with a buy it now of $40.  I set it to watch then did some quick searching to see if I could find anything on it.  When I could not, I decided to go ahead and buy it now.  Maybe spent more than I should have, but I've never seen one and thought it was really cool. 

I'm no Bing expert by any means, but for $40 I think you did fine. When's the last time you saw another one?

Never.  It's a nice size too, I think it might fit better in the spot I was going to put my Lionel 165 crane.  Unfortunately, I'm discovering that Bing, Jep, Marklin, Hornby and others made some really neat tinplate trains.. It's like a whole new world and a bad slippery slope.

actually it's a sickness and the only cure is to get more!

A little crane update, I got the superstructure all resoldered and smoothed out and gave it a coat of paint.  I then realized I had forgotten to cover up the nail holes that someone put in the feet many years ago as well as I have a rough spot right in the middle of the horizontal girder.  I'll clean those areas up and shoot it again.  So far I like the color though.

The color looks very good.

Regards

Fred

wow! that looks great!

Here's a little something to help further reduce the coefficient of friction on the slippery slope you mentioned above with respect to your attraction to Bing trains.

Hammer Head Crane (17.5 inches bottom of base to top of crane shed. Hammer Head is 12 inches long. The gearing at the base is a clutch assembly which controls the up and down movement of the hook and crane rotation)

Good job !

Robert S. Butler posted:

Here's a little something to help further reduce the coefficient of friction on the slippery slope you mentioned above with respect to your attraction to Bing trains.

Hammer Head Crane (17.5 inches bottom of base to top of crane shed. Hammer Head is 12 inches long. The gearing at the base is a clutch assembly which controls the up and down movement of the hook and crane rotation)

Yes, I have seen that one and would love to pick one up, but I suspect it would be somewhat pricey.

Maybe and maybe not.  A like new version would definitely be pricey but one in need of some TLC might not.  

  One thing to keep in mind with cranes like the hammer head is that it is soldered together so if the various girder parts are not broken it is possible to strip the paint, melt the solder, straighten the various girder components and reassemble.  For the straightening bit I use a long piece of channel aluminum trim.  The perfectly square configuration of the channel along with the open side allow you to carefully clamp the aluminum to the girder and straighten everything.  If the girder is a square like those used for semaphore support the size of the channel allows it to be placed inside the girder.  Once in place you can take advantage of the open side and use a small screwdriver to apply pressure to the bent areas (screwdriver is inside the channel) and straighten them.

  The crane in the photograph is one in original condition but I've used the method described above to return similar pieces of old open girder toys to like new.

This is the one I'd like to dig up somewhere. These pictures were posted by Jim Kelly Evans from this forum a while back.  Its a mid 1930's Marklin 2591 Harbour crane.

Dennis,

the Marklin crane is nice, but pretty scarce. the Bing comes in several sizes, the one Robert has is one of the larger ones (it was also made with a motor attached to the gearbox). Carette also made some in several sizes.

Roland

Great find and a great project! Just in case you fellas needed a prototype....  

Roland, I like those Bing cranes as well, They are all great!   Does anyone have this one?  I think it is  pretty neat as well.  I have found one (it's the last photo of the silver one), but am not sure if I should get it or not. I think it's a later version probably post war well after George Levy left Germany for England and the Nuremberg tin toy company took ownership of his company.

Not sure????!!!!!   Gasp!!!! In that condition - get it!