The history of J.Barnsley Cranes LTD can be traced back to 1809 when it was established as a traditional Black Country engineering company. During these early years its foundry, listed variously as being based in Cradley Heath and Netherton produced a wide range of products including the Jaws Harp.
The Jaws Harp was a little metal instrument that's placed in the mouth and gives out a curious boinging sound when plucked. Production of Jaws Harps was something of a local speciality at the time, being produced by dozens of similar companies based in and around the Dudley area. These remained popular for many years before the market gave way to the new harmonicas being imported from Germany.
As was typical for this period, John Barnsley Cranes would continue to introduce a variety of products made from cast but by the 1880s had gradually changed to the production of lifting equipment that was to become their speciality in future years. Popular at the time were patent improved Weston differential pulley blocks, a simple lifting device invented in America sometime before 1875.
By the early 1950s, J Barnsley had diversified further and were now producing overhead travelling cranes. These early cranes were initially constructed using traditional hot riveted lattice beams. This process later evolved into the welded box beam cranes that are used nowadays.
In the 1970s J Barnsley Cranes began to supply explosion proof equipment offshore to North Sea oil rigs and so began the continual technological development of specialist equipment for the oil and gas industries.
In the 1980s J Barnsley Cranes become major player in the onshore and offshore oil and gas industry
By the early 2000s J Barnsley Cranes was expanding into the web with the establishment of www.jbarnsleycranes.co.uk. Information including technical data, technical drawings, specifications and safety features were now easily accessible to all existing and potential JBC customers through the internet. The resulting pages offered an efficient way for project managers to access JBC crane and hoist resources directly.
In more recent times this has expanded to a global market and now the company is recognised as one of the UKs leading manufacturers of explosion proof cranes & hoists. JBC products can be found in many markets including petrochemical, water, aero, nuclear, underwater and heavy industry worldwide. J.Barnsley Cranes also continue to expanded the reach of website activities with additional useful resources such as video presentations, downloadable brochures and enhanced interactive and 3d presentations.
