Classic Le Tourneau footage

I recently came across this video clip thanks to the guys on the Australian website www.tradeearthmovers.com.au. It features a classic Le Tourneau scraper travelling down the streets of San Francisco.

The machine in question is a Le Tourneau model A-4 “Goliath” which featured an electric drive motor in each wheel. As with most things Le Tourneau related, this machine was way ahead of its time when it was officially launched at the American Mining Congress exhibition in 1958 and it certainly caught the imagination of the visitors back in the day. The scraper also featured Le Tourneau’s patented rack and pinion drive mechanism which was to become a standard design on all its machines well into the mid 1960’s. [youtube width="725" height="344"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKBCjYHrDVw[/youtube]   The British Pathe newsreel clip is only 38 seconds long, but its well worth a watch as R. G. Le Tourneau was really one of the pioneers of scraper design, having designed his first unit back in 1922! At the time this 50 cubic yard capacity machine was the largest self-propelled scraper in production, so it really does rank up there as a true classic.