Report No 53 - The Whitlock Dinkum Digger
Two files containing about 65 Head Quarters Mechanical Development Committee Reports from 1950 to 1958 were saved from destruction by Jim Christie former Forestry Commission HQ, Plant Engineer. Jim, from Crook of Devon, has kindly made the reports available for scanning and entry onto this website. Please open the PDF to see this full report.
Report No 53 describes in some detail the trial of the tractor mounted Dinkum Digger in wet clay in south England. It operated fairly successfully the only problem being the tractor on which it was loaded not being tracked and bogged a number of times. The rate of ditch cleaning was far cheaper than if the same job had been carried out by hand. The site had to be accessible by the machine of course.
There is no indication of the origin of the digger but internet search confirms that it was built by Whitlock Brothers in Essex under licence from its inventor, Robert Ewan of Fife. It was exported to Australia in 1958 and this may have some bearing on the name?
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Groups: Forestry Mechanical Engineering Reports , Other Vehicles and Machines