Poclain TY45: the tricycle excavator that sold 30,000

The Poclain TY45 was the machine that made the French firm’s name around the world. Introduced in 1961, it carried a fully rotating excavator on a three-wheeled tricycle undercarriage, used Poclain’s own hydraulic system and remained in production for 21 years, during which 30,000 were built.

Poclain TY45 at a glance

The TY45 has no Wikipedia article of its own; this page uses the sections on the TY and TY45 in the English and French articles on Poclain.

History of the Poclain TY45

From a farm workshop to excavators

Poclain began in 1927, when Georges Bataille, an agricultural engineer from Le Plessis-Belleville, went into partnership with the mechanic Antoine Léger. The workshop at Lagny-le-Sec repaired cars and tractors and sold fuel; after Léger’s death in 1929 Bataille continued alone and in 1930 registered the business as the Ateliers de Poclain, back at Le Plessis-Belleville. The name comes from the pond opposite the farm — the “poque à lin”, a flax-retting pond, which became “Poclin” and then “Poclain”. By 1948 the firm employed more than 120 people.

The first machines: TU and TO

The move into earthmoving came in 1948 with a loader unit built on a Dodge 4×4 chassis, followed in 1951 by a hydraulic excavator, the TU. The TU was mounted on a two-wheeled trailer and took its power from the tractor that towed it; more than 1,000 were sold before the redesigned TO arrived in 1956. By 1961 over 400 TO machines had been sold, and Poclain entered the German market with the TY and TYA that year — the same year in which the German firm O&K presented its first hydraulic machine, the RH5.

The TY45 and full swing on three wheels

The TY45, also introduced in 1961, was the radical one. Its upper structure rotated through a full 360 degrees on a three-wheeled tricycle undercarriage, a layout that gave a compact, highly manoeuvrable machine for road work and small sites. The hydraulic system was unique at the time, and the company’s catalogues stressed the versatility and the technical choices behind it as much as the fact that the machines were built industrially in large series. In France the TY45 became a commercial success and stayed a reference for decades. Over 21 years of production 30,000 were built.

Licensed production and the end of the marque

Poclain machines were manufactured under licence in Argentina, Czechoslovakia, India, Japan and Korea, and subsidiaries were set up in Brazil and Mexico. In Argentina the licensee SEFAG, at Quilmes near Buenos Aires, built the TY 45 among other models from 1968. In 1965 the company created PPM to make mobile cranes, and in 1975 an agreement with Volvo started production in France and Germany while Volvo distributed Poclain products in Scandinavia and Austria. A recession in the 1970s forced the family to sell 40 per cent to Case in 1977; Case took over distribution in the United States and Canada, production began in America in 1980, and by 1987 it held 98.7 per cent. What remained with the Bataille family was the hydraulics business, Poclain Hydraulics, independent from 1985 and still trading.

Design and features

• Full 360° swing: the whole excavator rotated on its undercarriage, unusual for a compact machine of 1961.
• Tricycle chassis: three wheels instead of tracks or four, which kept the machine light and easy to move between sites.
• Own hydraulics: Poclain built its reputation on hydraulic motors and used its own system in the TY45.
• Built in series: 30,000 machines over 21 years made it one of the most numerous excavators of its era.
• Export and licences: the same basic machine was built in Argentina and elsewhere under licence.

Poclain TY45 versions

• TU (1951): trailer-mounted first hydraulic excavator, powered by the towing tractor.
• TO (1956): the redesigned model that replaced the TU; over 400 sold by 1961.
• TY and TYA (1961): the versions introduced for the German market.
• TY45 (1961): full-swing machine on the three-wheeled tricycle undercarriage.
• Argentine TY 45: built by SEFAG at Quilmes from 1968 alongside the LC 80, TC 45 and LY 2P.

The loaders of the same period are described in the article on the Poclain LY. More French earthmoving machines are in the Poclain collection.

Sources

• Poclain, English Wikipedia: TY, TYA and TY45 dates, tricycle layout, production total, Case history
• Poclain, French Wikipedia: founding, name, TU and TO, catalogues, licensed production