BM Volvo 600 ready to pour concrete. VCE ARCHIVE
A
few interesting models were developed before Volvo’s crane manufacturing was phased out at the end of the 1980s. The first of the cranes which entered production was the BM Volvo 600 Mobilkran which was powered by the 3-cylinder BM 1113A diesel engine used in the BM Volvo tractors. This was paired with a manual gearbox providing 10 forward and two reverse speeds. Essentially the machine could be described as an industrial tractor fitted with
an extending hydraulically operated boom which was mounted behind the cab. The crane on the standard model was a Moelven Series 200 which featured a boom which could be extended to a maximum of 14 metres, although machines fitted with the larger Series 230 and 250 cranes were also available. The Norwegian company, Moelven, had been founded in July 1899 and was initially involved in the production of wooden barrels and wagon wheels. By the 1960s it was specialising in the fabrication of sectionalised
BM Volvo MK 691 mobile crane fitted with log grab. VCE ARCHIVE
houses and industrial buildings along with site construction work. The company developed its own shovel loaders and dumper trucks and by 1965 had added the first of its mobile cranes to its small range of construction machinery. One of its early mobile cranes was based around the BM Volvo Boxer 350 tractor which was adapted to take a boom and jib. Following the initial development work later models were introduced, again based on Volvo tractor chassis. The crane range was later developed to include deck cranes and rescue cranes with production continuing into the 1980s. Despite the commercial success of several of the Moelven products the increasing costs of development work led the company to take the decision to discontinue the industrial section of the business at the end of the 1980s. In 1989 the mobile crane side of the business was sold to a Dutch company and the company continued with its core business. Today it remains one of the leading Scandinavian companies in the production of building materials and systems for the construction industry. The association between Moelven and BM Volvo continued but it would seem that only the first model, the BM Volvo 600, introduced in 1968, carried both the company names. It appears that the model was restricted to the Scandinavian market and only remained in production for a short time before the next model was introduced. â?ą OLD GLORY MARCH 2017 | 49