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CLARK
MASTS |
| Page 7 of 18 - Clark Masts, over 67 Years Old in 2023 - PB1 Vehicle Mounted Mast |
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In the early 1970's Clark Masts published their first catalogue in 16 years.
Alec Clark, the company's founder had been designing and building portable
air-operated telescopic masts since 1957. During this time Alec Clark's unique
lightweight portable masts had found their way into applications throughout the
world with government Departments Of Defence, Police Departments, Fire
Departments and Emergency Services. Commercial and industrial applications
included for Radio Field Strength Surveying, TV Field Strength Surveying and
portable radio communications. Alec Clark's company, Clark Masts Limited, performed practically ever manufacturing operation itself in-house. Fabrication, casting, precision machining, canvas sewing, plastic and rubber mouldings, anodising and plating, painting, printing, publishing and even the manufacture of packing cases were all in-house operations. Australian users first saw these unique portable masts in the early 1960's courtesy of a antenna manufacturing company called Belling-Lee and the foresight of a gentleman working for them at the time, Frank Welsh. Frank went on, with others, to form his own company, Scalar Industries, in the late 1960's and brought the Clark Masts agency with him. Following Frank Welsh's retirement from Scalar in the mid 1980's GFS Electronics took on the Australian distributorship and continued to market Clark Masts in the Australia Asia-Pacific region until the company was closed in 2011. In 2012 a new company, started by Greg Whiter, who was previously Managing Director of GFS Electronics took over the Australian distributorship of Clark Masts. That new company is Portable Masts Australia Pty Ltd. Illustrated in this web page, for historical purposes, is the model PB1 Vehicle mounted Mast page from Clark Masts early 1970's catalogue. |
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The Clark Masts PB1 vehicle mounted mast of the late 1960's - early 1970's was designed to take heavy duty loads, being a unique mast based on their WT mast series. The model PB1 was a low profile mast (retracted height was only 2.8 metres) with allowed it to be conveniently vertically mounted on a small van or other similar vehicle. Like all other WT Series masts the PB1's mast sections were keyed to prevent inter-section rotation, making it suitable for use with directional headloads. The PB1's extended height was 17.2 metres using 9 sections which provided a retracted height of 2.883 metres. The base tube diameter was 152.4 mm (6") and the mast had a headload capability of 15 Kg. A vehicle powered Air Source/Mast Controller was required for mast extension/retraction. |
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