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In pictures | 70 years of the JCB backhoe loader

Black and white picture of a man in an excavator. — In 1957, the JCB Hydra-Digga was advertised as being able to dig through rock (Image: JCB)

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the creation of the backhoe loader by UK excavator maker JCB.

Drawing of a red excavator. — Joseph Cyril Bamford's design of the first backhoe loader (Image: JCB)

Company founder Joseph Cyril Bamford CBE invented the backhoe concept. The first JCB model was manufactured in 1953 after he combined a lightweight backhoe with a Major Loadall tractor loader. This was the first time a single machine combined a front shovel and a rear excavator arm.

JCB backhoe loader - A black and white picture of an excavator in a field. — In 1963, the 3C backhoe loader became acknowledged as a design class (Image: JCB)

It took JCB 20 years to build its first 50,000 backhoes. To date, more than 900,000 have been made.

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