The paper discusses development of the mobile equipment industry in Europe since 1946, and the resulting development of hydraulic equipment required for the actuation of larger, faster, and more efficient and reliable machines, and traces the emergence of manufacturers specializing in hydraulics for these applications.
Pumps, valves, and associated equipment in common use are illustrated and described briefly with notes on their development.
Machines of various types are illustrated and described with circuit diagrams and analyses of the hydraulic systems of each, including crawler excavators, a backhoe, side-loader, truckmixer, concrete layer, and mobile crane.
The paper concludes with a summary of probable future developments in hydraulics for mobile equipment applications.