MUSEUM OF LUSTO IN FINLAND : FOREST MACHINERY.

At the corner of a picture gallery of forest issues, a friendly snowmobile, yet little known, appears : the Myski (photos 1-3), created by Esa Juntura, having the advantage over its competitors to ride other than on snow, especially in summer, because devoid of skis. It has three tracks two steering to the front and an articulation in yaw, pitch and perhaps in roll ? Made by Pentti Oululainen Karhi in the late 60s, a first series was produced until 1970 and an improved set of 200 copies was produced between 1970 and 1992, used mainly by government agencies. Fitted with Rotax 503 of 40 hp allowing a speed of 50 km / h and a mass of 370 kg, the engine and transmission  included a controller to the front and the drive was through the joint between the front and rear sections.

Here is a comment of the Museum of Lusto Manager, Eero Knaapi : 'Myski turns between front and rear part when driving. It has all three track (chain/wheel) drive, one in rear part and twin in front. Myski is quite heavy machine but easy to drive in deep snow, I´ve tested before we took it to our collections as a non-use object. Of course it is not a circus – snowmobile, main purpose was heavy load work. When using Finnish Forest and Park Service drove it via lakes during wintertime when occupying heavy tools and e.g. firewood to renthouses on islands far inland waters'.

Myski Lynx TPK 635 snowmobile. 10 units were made in 1973 and 16 were made at Vela in 1975. After, they took the name of Myski. From : http://www.teolehtimaki.fi/files/Lynx%201975.pdf

Myski Silver Hawk 1300 Premium snowmobile. From : http://www.nettimoto.com/muu-merkki/muu-malli/1284993

Appears then the enormous Valtaoja drawn plow (photos 6-8) in the early 1950s, weighing 5.5 t with wheels of 2.4m diameter. It allowed digging drainage ditches by 0.9 m deep. Impressive !

 Valtoaja Plow at work in 1950. Pict from Lusto Museum Collection.

But it is only once in the Iso-Samperi big hall, built in 2008, that are grouped large forestry machines dating back to the 60s and beyond.

 Wheel Hugo Richard Sandberg (photo9), director of the Kemi Corporation, and Julius Miettinen, engineer, designed a 32 hp vehicle in 1910-11, with this paddlewheel on the back intended to push the sled loaded with wood. No result : the wheel, unloaded, turned on the spot. Loaded, it would be buried. Only the wheel survived.

Cletrac Model W caterpillar tractor made by Cleveland Tractor Company, Ohio, from 1919 to 1932. In the early 1920s, many of these tractors were imported to Finland (and Europe) but their use in timber transportation was more expensive than traditional transport. The mass of the tractor, according to sources, ranging from 1990 to 2170 kg, speed 4.5 km / h, 28 hp. High tech in the 20s !

Fordson Major (photos 11 to 13), 1957 farm tractor with the TTA (Tractor Tracking Attachment), semi-crawler for agricultural tractor invented and manufactured by Bombardier Inc., Quebec, between 1949 and 1952 and whose license was sold to the world. In fact, these tracks were locally manufactured under license. This system of semi-tracked, simple, significantly increased traction in snowy terrains and was used extensively in the 50s for forestry work. Driver was protected by a cab.

The forest sled (photo 14) coupled behind the Fordson Major tractor was equipped with a suspension and had a semi-automatic loading system. Nevertheless, an assistant would help with loading and unloading. The sledge rested partially on the rear of the tractor to increase traction of the tracks.

Caterpillar BM / Ösa Bamsee of Bolinders Munktell (photos 15 to 17) of Sweden, became Volvo after 1960, of which 700 units were built between 1957 and 1962, was the first tractor of the Nordic Countries. It could be equipped with a trailer or sled : 29 hp, mass 2700 kg, equipped with Alfa-tracks. Very reliable, a more improved version was launched in the early 60s and widespread in Scandinavia : the new, heavier was 3500 kg with a 33 hp engine featured hydraulic loading means. The Caterpillar Volvo BM SM-360 (Big Bear) in 1964 and then replaced in 1966, by a smaller version of the Volvo, the SM-460 (Little Bear) was launched.

The Timberjack 205 skidder (photos 18 to 20), 70 hp with hinged front blade, rope winch on the back was made in Canada in 1963 and designed for skidding the whole tree trunks along the forest trails. They were then cut to length. There were subsequently many skidder manufacturers in Finland as Valmet or Lokomo.

The Timberjack 205 skidder : in the background, they can see the Pika50 and the Pika 75 processors.

Valmet skidder of the 60s.  Pict of a brochure of the Museum of Lusto.

Terra Valmet 865 AK forwarder (photos 21 to 26), 1966, first Finnish forwarder, offered two seats in the cabin. The following model involved only a single seat, enough. This carrier was equipped with portal axles, an articulated frame, 4-wheel drive, with a boom and a hydraulic grab. The VSA, forest tractor, designed in Sweden in 1961, was the first of its kind in Scandinavia.

Valmet Terra 865 AK Forwarder, 1966. They can see the portal axle.

Valmet Terra 865 AK Forwarder, 1966

Valmet Terra 865 AK in action, 1966. Pict from a brochure of Lusto Museum.

Volvo BM 350 farm tractor, also called Boxer, early 60s, with Cambio-debarking machine (Photo 27). Its caterpillars are removed.

Volvo, created in 1927, manufactured cars and was part of group AB Volvo. Cars Division now belongs to the Chinese Geely since 2010. AB Volvo manufactures trucks, buses, cars, earth moving equipment. Volvo, 2nd manufacturer of trucks in the world has 3 companies :  Renault Trucks, Mack Trucks and Volvo Trucks. They also produce naval engines : Volvo Penta and construction equipment : Volvo Construction Equipment whose articulated dumpers are famous.  In 2007, they finalized a deal with Lingong of China. Forest equipment didn't survived. http://www.volvoce.com/CONSTRUCTIONEQUIPMENT/CORPORATE/EN-GB/ABOUTUS/HISTORY/Pages/introduction.aspx

Valmet 901 Harvester (picture 28-29) single grip from 1987. This type of simple grip machine has been widely used in the 80s and soon replaced all other types of feller machines. They were equipped with a telescopic boom and a chain saw used to cut the tree and cut it to length. Operations of adjustments were carried out by a set of blades fixed and removable. Harvesters the most common in Finland during the 1980s were the Lako 3T, Lokomo 750 H, 990 FMG Lokomo, Pika 4500, Ketto 150, HS 15 Ponsee, Posee 600 and Valmet 901/948 (Information Museum of Lusto).

 Valmet 901 Harvester, 1987. Pict from a brochure of Lusto Museum.

Pika 50 Harvester (photos 30 to 33), Valmet, multi-purpose machine processor type, 1971.

Multi-purposes feller machines of various kinds have been developed worldwide since the late 50s. North America developed many models in the 60s. Sweden also designed harvester machines of processor type but conventional harvester was still the most widely used in the 70s. About 200 processors were used in Finland during the period 1973-1981, which represents only 1/5 of feller in the early 80s.

Pika 50, behind, Pika 75, in Iso-Samperi hall.

Pika 50 Harvester of Valmet, Tammerfors, Finland, 1971. With enhanced version Pika 52, 36 units were sold in Finland between 1969 and 1976. Machines became then bigger and bigger.

 Pika 50, behind, Pika 75, in Iso-Samperi Hall

 Pika 50 from Valmet (or later Valmet 880 S) in action. Pict from a brochure of Museum of Lusto.

The 6x6 Pika 75 Harvester 6x6 (photos 31 to 36) of S. KY Pinomaki, Julkujärvi, 1982, Finland, had a boom of 5.7 m and a chain saw cut and limbing the tree down. The supply system was realized by cycles. This machine was a pioneer in the forest-related field work related to the technology that enabled microprocessors to automate the determination of the volume of the tree to derive specifications for logs and measure accurately.

Pika 75 Harvester Prototyp was built in 1971 and it was sold 25 units in Finland from 1975 to 1982. The machine represented here is the last manufactured.

 Pika 75 in action. Pict from a brochure in the Museum of Lusto

 The boom of 5,7 m of Pika 75.

A ‘Forest Walking Machine’ of the company Plustech Oy, Tampere, Finland, subsidiary of Timberjack, called Lokkeri, was unveiled in 1995 and the following prototype, called Plusjack (photos 37 to 39) was unveiled in 1999. Deere & Company purchased the company Timberjack in 2000 then in 2005, Timberjack Oy became John Deere Forestry Oy.
This Walking Machine is very famous on the Internet for those interested about, witness his very watched videos on Youtube. It must be said that this unique and unusual machine is very impressive by its size, ability and technology. Pleasantly surprised to see this vehicle preserved and protected in the museum ! Unfortunately, series production has not kept pace due to high price. One leg of Plustech, even series-produced, must be worth its weight in gold compared to that of a wheel.

Plustech of Timberjack, 1999. Different views from rear. Its videos on Youtube are well known.

 Assembly of a leg of Plustech. They can see the large number of bolts.

Axle of a leg of Plustech. The 'little' axel behind the leg is used for steering the machine right or left.

Foot of the Plustech, articulated on ball.

Lokomo 928 Carrier, Finland, without its tracks, standing outside the buildings of the museum, marketed since 1967.

General view of Iso-Samperi Hall, Lusto Museum. From left to right : Pika 50, Pika 75, Valmet 910, Plustech of Timberjack.

General view of Iso-Samperi Hall, Lusto Museum

General view of Iso-Samperi Hall, built in wood, Lusto Museum