New Volvo L45G for HG Matthews
Volvo wheel loader helps provide greater capacity for Buckinghamshire’s last hand-made brick producer
TRADITIONAL brick makers HG Matthews have taken delivery of new Volvo L45G wheel loader to feed the primary hopper at the company’s Bellingdon works, close to Chesham in Buckinghamshire.
Established in 1923, the family-run business is the last remaining brickyard in the county to provides bespoke produce hand-made bricks with locally sourced clay. The company is the only brick producer in the UK using a biomass heating process for drying clay prior to firing and is also pioneering the use of raw timber as the fuel source for firing its bricks.
The new Volvo L45G has been supplied with three identical 1.2 cubic metre rehandling buckets which are dedicated to the three main types of clay arriving at the stock yard. By utilizing the Volvo hydraulic attachment bracket, swapping buckets is very simple and saves time ‘de-contaminating’ from one material to another.
The machine benefits from excellent all-round visibility thanks to the design of the rear chassis with its sloping engine hood, facilitated by the transverse-mounted Stage IIIB-compliant engine and hydrostatic motor, while the Volvo Care Cab delivers a high level of operator comfort.
The engine’s 100hp output matched to the hydrostatic transmission allows full power shift under load when changing direction and between speed ranges. And as with the bigger machines in the range, the L45G features a Torque Parallel (TP) loader linkage for smooth, parallel lift, high roll back torque and good lifting power throughout the lift cycle.
The Volvo L45G wheel loader features separate power steering and load-sensing hydraulic pumps, ensuring that full steering power is achieved, regardless of the load on the main hydraulic pumps. Oil flow on the load-sensing pump automatically adjusts to match work demand, resulting in lower fuel consumption during lighter work but without compromising performance when operating in more demanding applications.
