News

Bridgestone has increased the available sizes for some of its popular off-road tyres. The VLTS tyre for articulated dump trucks now comes as an 875/65 R29 to suit top weight machines and additional sizes are also now available for the VSW and the VJT L3 pattern tyre, which are usually used on wheel loaders.

Komatsu used INTERMAT to take the wraps off two new Dash 7 wheeled loaders, badged WA380-7 and WA500-7. With engine emissions being the main driver, the smaller 18-tonne WA380-7 packs 142kW from its EU Stage IIIb engine to deliver improved efficiency and lower fuel consumption. The machine also gets torque converter lock-up with the function operating in 2nd, 3rd and 4th gears, and gives the loader a 40 km/h forward speed.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has announced a US$1 million grant award to help develop electric vehicle infrastructure on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The grant recipient, Car Charging Group, will install charging stations at 17 Turnpike service plazas. Level II charging stations, which can charge a car in roughly four hours, and Level III charging stations, which can charge a car in about 20 minutes, will be installed at the service plazas in three phases. The first phase of the

Rubble Master is highlighting the latest compact recycling machine to be equipped with its GO! technology. The RM100GO has been optimised for simple operation to enable even inexperienced operators to run it safely and efficiently

Scanlaser is striving for ‘iconic’ status at INTERMAT. The Hexagon Group dealership for Leica Geosystems (LG) products in Europe is at the show promoting LG’s new icon construction project system. “It’s in four elements,” explained Scanlaser director general Pierre Dubreuil. “There’s iconstruct positioning tools, GPS, and robotic total stations for foremen and surveyors; icontrol, a machine control system for excavators, graders and dozers; iconnect telematics to transfer construction site machine informati

Palfinger Platforms has replaced its TKA series access platform with the P300KS. Mounted on a 7.5 tonne truck chassis, the P300KS has a working height of 30m with a maximum outreach to the side or the back of 20.5m. The cage, which offers 540 degrees of rotation, has a maximum load of 350kg.

A worrying trend has been identified in Italy with regard to road accidents. Data from Osservatorio Asaps-Il Centauro reveals that serious road accidents involving children up to the age of 13 increased by 10% to 541 in 2011, causing 65 fatalities and 625 injuries. Some 69% of the victims were on board the vehicles involved. While 14 of the victims were pedestrian, five were hit while on their bike and one died in a motorbike accident. The highest number of accidents was among children up to the age of five

Breaker specialist Montabert has increased its budget offering with a new two-speed unit and additions to its Blue Line. By restricting the speed choice to two, the new V3500 breaker (suitable for carriers from 35 to 60tonnes) is around 20% cheaper than its full-spec multi-speed counterpart while still allowing the machine operator the choice between maximum speed and maximum impact power. The company’s Blue Line, described as a simple breaker design, has been extended at the light end of the range by the a

Terex boss Ron DeFoe has spoken about the company’s expanded global strategy and confirmed his thoughts about the threat represented by Chinese manufacturers. “This year has started well for the Terex organisation and we are confident that our markets are moving into an extended cycle of economic growth right around the globe. As a result we are forecasting a significant growth in sales from US$6.5 billion (2011) to US$8.5 billion,” he said.

Caterpillar announced its EU Stage IV emissions solution at INTERMAT for C7.1 and C13 industrial engines. With power ratings from 116kW to 225kW, the 7.1litre six-cylinder C7.1 gets an SCR catalyst and diesel exhaust fluid dosing system as part of the exhaust after-treatment process. The larger C13 – 13litre, 287-387kW power sector – also gets an SCR and diesel exhaust fluid after-treatment system, but retains its active regeneration process. Both engines have been proven to have a total fluid consumption

Two extended reach telehandlers have been added to Genie’s range with the introduction of the 14metre reach GTH4014 and the GTH4018, which can lift loads to 18metres. The 4tonne capacity Stage IIIB-compliant machines have streamlined chassis to improve the operator’s view of the load and are said to offer best-in-class performance from a smaller footprint. In addition to the small footprint, the machines have tight turning circles (3.8m outside turning radius on the GTH-4018) a narrow overall width, and a