JCB, the creator of the backhoe loader, has marked the production of the one millionth machine.
Designed initially for post-war reconstruction, the concept started as an agricultural tractor with a major loader fitted to the front and an excavator arm to the rear.
By 1953, Joseph Cyril Bamford had designed and launched the Mk 1. This early model was strengthened and performance improved, with the launch of the Hydra-Digga in 1956 and the more powerful JCB 4 in 1960. Demand for a smaller, more manoeuvrable model led to the JCB 3.
In the seven decades since, JCB has continued to develop and evolve the concept, adding longer loader arms, a horizontal ‘side shift’ for the backhoe mounting, the six-in-one front shovel, and even a kettle for the operator. JCB revealed that turbocharged engines, powershift transmissions, all-wheel drive, the extending dipper arm and auxiliary hydraulics, have turned the backhoe loader into ‘one of the most versatile, productive and reliable master-of-all-trades machines’.
The backhoe loader concept continues to expand, from the skid steer loader-based 1CX, through the 3CX Compact and the various 3CX models, to the all-wheel steer 4CX and powerful 5CX. There are Highways Master and Wastemaster trims, and a Polemaster Plus for specialist utility work.
The one millionth JCB backhoe to be produced was a 4CX model, which has been decorated in graffiti art by London-based artist and illustrator Dave Smith, and was presented to Lord Bamford.
100-year-old Ken Harrison – the last known survivor of the original production team that built the first machines – was a guest of honour at celebrations to mark the milestone loader. Ken joined JCB as a welder in 1952 when only 29 people worked on the shop floor, earning four shillings and sixpence an hour, the equivalent of 22½ pence in today’s money. He stayed for 36 years before retiring in 1988.
He returned to the place where the first JCB backhoes rolled off the production line 72 years ago – JCB’s HQ in Rocester. This time, instead of clocking on, he arrived in style in the company’s chauffeur-driven Jaguar.
When Ken joined JCB, it was to be the start of a family tradition. 13 other relatives followed in his footsteps and to date Ken’s family has amassed more than 350 years’ service to the firm. He had been brought up as the eldest of eight children at Barrow Hill overlooking what would become the JCB factory half a mile away. Ken was also involved in JCB’s European sales drive in the 1950s and 1960s having spent six years in the demonstration team.
He said, “We put long hours in at the factory in those days, in fact we almost lived there. I can remember being at work at 5pm one Sunday and I was the only one there when Joe Bamford came in and shouted across to me ‘I’m relying on you Harrison’. In those days, everyone was addressed by their surname. Joe was all right; I really liked him. Everyone was happy and friendly and everyone mucked in in those days. One day you would be welding and the next you would be operating a concrete mixer. You’d be doing all sorts of jobs in those early days, nothing like it is today.
“I remember the time they were extending the factory; it was so draughty you literally couldn’t weld as the weld was just blown away because all we had around us was a giant tarpaulin. We turned our hand to anything and when I was out driving a truck, Anthony Bamford used to come with me when I was out on local deliveries. He would only have been about 11 and it was a real novelty for him.”
