BRAVO! A RESURRECTION!
On October 17, 2012
- TV History
BRAVO! A RESURRECTION!
Congratulations to the CBC! A vintage, Vinten Heron Crane, which was introduced in 1955 is alive and well Montreal. This picture was taken last Sunday, October 16 on the set of a new variety show call “Un Air De Famille” in CBC studio 42. I am sure the gang at Vinten will be proud to see their old crane will still at work in 2012 with a Sony HD 1000 camera on it ! Many Thanks to Sylvain Pichette for the photo and update. I’m sending this to Vinten now.
This has had the ‘mk III’ mod. i.e. it is driven from that foot pedal. The original models were driven from the hand levers to either side and below the steering wheel. However the platform which the ‘tracker’ or ‘dolly op’ stood on was also a ‘dead man’s handle’ i.e. the whole thing stopped if the tracker fell off. A lot of people found this device easier to use to get a smooth start than from the levers so it was incorporated in in the form of that foot pedal.
The upper foot pedal is the brake.
At the BBC in the UK it was discovered that there was a weakness in the casting of the platform the camera and cameraman were mounted on. A cameraman accidentally craned down onto the edge of the rostrum and the whole front broke off. To prevent this happening again the front platform was mounted so that it could move up a few inches if it was accidentally craned down on something. A microswitch was added so that if the platform started to lift it would cut out (I think that this has been added to the model shown, you can just see the slot at the front of the upper strut of the jib which allows the front platform a couple of inches leeway). Also an extra plate was fitted to the casting to strengthen it.
Amazing!!!
According to the CBC website, Studio 42 is the second largest TV studio in Canada (123 X 90 feet).
Speaking of cranes: Bobby, Saturday Night Live is using a new Electra in Studio 8H. Previously (and for MANY years), the crane in 8H was designated #308. Since the beginning of this current season of SNL, the crane that’s in the studio now is #380 and it’s painted very differently from the old one. I don’t know the reason for the change. Photos to come . . . .
OMG…that’s just a beautiful piece of functioning artwork.
Small camera meets big crane.
By the way, these cranes will crab as well as dolly.
The CBC deserves a lot of kudos for getting this thing back in service!!! I’ve never seen one, let alone sat on one, but I can just guess that there’s a lot that can go wrong with them [hydraulics/pneumatics in particular], especially at the age they’re at now! That, and they’re not the sleekest cranes to ever roll into a TV studio—the Chapmans look graceful by comparison!