In 1930, the two brothers, Carlo and Mario Bruneri, started repairing and manufacturing tipping trucks, tractors and later building machines in the Turin suburbs, specifically wheel excavators and hydraulic crawlers.

It was in 1948, at the end of the Second World War, a period of economic and industrial recovery, that they designed and built the first prototype of an excavator with a pump and hydraulic jacks: a product for which later, in September 1951, the brothers obtained a patent for the invention of what we now know most commonly as the first hydraulic excavator in the world.

While the front-loading shovels with traditional rope movement were slow, tiring to use and "cumbersome", the new prototype of the Bruneri hydraulic excavator, deprived of clutches, brakes, winches, ropes, drums, rope reels and reversing boxes, was much lighter and slimmer, convenient in terms of production costs and undoubtedly more performing than its mechanical predecessor.

On the new construction vehicle, the management of wear and tear also improved considerably, thus adding another positive aspect to the list of advantages of the machine, which also began to interest the French on the other side of the border. It was the French company Sicam that obtained the patent of the Turin brothers in 1954, thus starting the marketing in France of the 100% hydraulic excavator Yumbo.

If the Italian market was not very inclined to innovations in the engineering-mechanical field, in the rest of the world the project was appreciated and demanded in Turin loudly: so much so that the same hydraulic excavator Bruneri was produced in several countries by different companies such as the company Drott in the U.S.A., Mitsubishi in Japan, Priestman in England and Tusa in Spain.

In 1963, the engineering brothers demolished the wall of the 1000 hydraulic excavators produced in their factories and, thanks to the experience passed on to the French manufacturer, contributed to the worldwide diffusion of the hydraulic excavator branded Yumbo.

All Bruneri excavators were equipped with tires and steel tracks, only with the years and new engineering studies the most recent manufacturers of construction equipment have offered the public the mini excavators with rubber tracks: practical to use in small construction sites and closed areas as houses, they are much smaller and more practical than the first excavators. Read our article about the European smallest mini-excavator and the new ecological technologies applied to mini excavators with rubber tracks.

The two brothers Bruneri interrupt their collaboration by closing the first and historic company, giving rise to the new company Hydromac, which is founded by Carlo Bruneri and in which his brother will not take part, as he is committed to carrying on the company Simit founded by him and later acquired by Fiat group.

Despite the interruption of collaboration between the two brothers, the Bruneri hydraulic excavator is to be considered the first 100% hydraulic excavator in the world, an all-Italian pride.

On the occasion of the world day of historic motoring, we want to offer you some photographs of Bruneri and Hydromac construction vehicles, rubberized and tracked of the time:

Sources:      https://www.hydromac.it/