This year JCB is celebrating 50 years in the wheel loader business. From modest
beginnings with a local acquisition in the late ’60s, the division has grown to
become an essential and award-winning part of JCB’s global business
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A LOADER HISTORY
Fifty years ago this year, JCB entered the wheel loader
market with the acquisition of the UK-based Chaseside
Engineering and its seven rigid axle machines.
Relocated from the plant in Blackburn, Lancashire, to
JCB’s global headquarters in Rocester, Staffordshire, 298
machines primarily for the domestic market were
produced by the fledgling division in the first year.
It was only 24 months later that the first JCB-designed
models arrived. Featuring a cab mounted on the front
section of the articulating chassis, the operator’s field of
vision was demonstrably improved on the new 413 and
418. The oscillating center pivot on the vehicles ensured
all four wheels remained in contact with the ground for
maximum traction control. They were joined in the same
year by the OEM’s first tracked loading shovel, the 110, an
innovative machine with a hydrostatic transmission and
twin tiller loader controls that earned JCB a Design
Council Award in 1972.
More models and an impressive second award from
the Design Council followed in 1975, for the 418. By the
early 1980s wheel loader iterations specific to different
industry sectors were introduced, including the 410 Farm
Master as well as purpose-built models for construction,
quarrying, waste handling and even the military.
In 1987, the OEM’s first compact loader appeared in the
shape of the 406 and shortly afterwards, heavier models
were redesigned; while in 1995, drawing on 22 years of
telescopic handler experience, JCB produced the 409TM
its first telescopic boom wheel loader, joined two years
later by the TM200 and TM270.
Following the move to a newly-built, multi-million
pound facility in Cheadle, Staffordshire in 1999, production
kicked on as hydrostatic versions and other loaders were
added to the lineup.
Now offering 25 different models, JCB’s footprint
has moved far wider than just the UK with wheel loader
production taking place in Brazil, India and, since 2017,
China as well.
JCB chief innovation and growth officer Tim Burnhope
said, “Over the past 50 years, JCB’s wheeled loader range
has evolved into a major part of our product portfolio. Fifty
years is a long time but our sights are firmly on the future
and we are committed to bringing new levels of innovation
to this range.” iVT
Turn to page 56 for more innovation from JCB
LOOKING BACK.
iVTInternational.com June 2019
The 410M-1B
military loader
(1984)
JCB’s first
compact loader,
the 406
(1987)
TM270
Telemaster
(1997)
The smallest JCB
loader, the 403
(2017)
The largest JCB
wheeled loader,
the 467
(2012)
The awardwining
tracked
410 loader
(1971)
A Chaseside-
designed loader
built at JCB HQ
(1969)
The 413, along with the
slightly larger 418, were
the first JCB-designed
wheeled loaders,
launched in 1971
/iVTInternational.com