A crawler excavator, also known as a track-type excavator or tracked excavator, is a type of heavy construction equipment primarily used for excavation and earthmoving tasks. It is characterized by its tracked undercarriage, which provides superior mobility and traction compared to wheeled excavators, especially in soft, uneven, or unstable terrain.. [1]
The history of crawler excavators can be traced back to the late 19th century, with the invention of the steam shovel in 1796. However, it wasn't until the 1830s that the first patented excavator with a mechanical boom, the Otis steam excavator, was developed. These early excavators were operated using chains or cables and were primarily used in mining and construction projects, such as of the Panama Canal in the early 20th century.
In the late 19th century, the Kilgore Machine Co. in Minneapolis patented an excavator that used a hydraulic system instead of steam power. This marked a significant step in the evolution of excavators, as hydraulic systems provided greater control and efficiency compared to the previous cable-operated designs. [2] Throughout the 20th century, manufacturers continued to refine and improve the hydraulic systems, leading to the development of the first 360-degree rotating excavator, the Bucyrus 120-B, in 1925. [3]
The 1920s saw the emergence of modern crawler excavators, which were mounted on tracks or wheels rather than rails, increasing their mobility and versatility. These excavators were powered by gasoline or diesel engines, further improving their performance and capabilities. The demand for construction equipment, including excavators, increased significantly during World War II, as they were used for tasks such as digging trenches and rebuilding infrastructure. [4]
In the decades following World War II, crawler excavators continued to evolve, with manufacturers introducing a wide range of models and sizes to meet the diverse needs of the construction and mining industries. [5] Technological advancements, such as improved hydraulic systems, more efficient engines, and the addition of various attachments, have further expanded the capabilities of crawler excavators. Today, these machines are widely used in a variety of applications, including digging, material handling, demolition, and forestry work. [6]
The 1960s saw the development of mini excavators, which were designed to fit into tight construction sites and urban environments. The YNB 300, developed by Yanmar Construction Company, was the world's first mini excavator. This compact machine was self-propelled and wheeled, making it highly maneuverable and suitable for urban construction projects. [7]
The main components of a crawler excavator include:
Crawler excavators are versatile machines used in a wide range of construction, mining, and infrastructure projects, including:
The tracked undercarriage allows crawler excavators to operate effectively in soft, muddy, or uneven terrain where wheeled excavators would struggle. This makes them well-suited for applications in remote or difficult-to-access areas, as well as in sensitive environments where ground disturbance needs to be minimized. [8]
Crawler excavators come in a wide range of sizes, from compact excavators weighing just a few tons up to massive mining-class machines weighing hundreds of tons. The size and power of the excavator is typically selected based on the specific application and job requirements.
Some key size and configuration options for crawler excavators include: [9]
Crawler excavators are manufactured by a variety of heavy equipment companies, including Caterpillar, Komatsu, Hitachi, Volvo, Liebherr, and many others. The choice of brand and model is often based on factors such as performance, reliability, operating costs, and dealer/service support in the local market. [10]
Excavators are heavy construction equipment primarily consisting of a boom, dipper, bucket, and cab on a rotating platform known as the "house" - although the largest form ever, the dragline excavator, eliminated the dipper in favor of a line and winch.
A loader is a heavy equipment machine used in construction to move or load materials such as soil, rock, sand, demolition debris, etc. into or onto another type of machinery.
A backhoe is a type of excavating equipment, or excavator, consisting of a digging bucket on the end of a two-part articulated arm. It is typically mounted on the back of a tractor or front loader, the latter forming a "backhoe loader". The section of the arm closest to the vehicle is known as the boom, while the section that carries the bucket is known as the dipper, both terms derived from steam shovels. The boom, which is the long piece of the backhoe arm attached to the tractor through a pivot called the king-post, is located closest to the cab. It allows the arm to pivot left and right, typically through a range of 180 to 200 degrees, and also enables lifting and lowering movements.
A backhoe loader, also called a loader backhoe, loader excavator, tractor excavator, digger or colloquially shortened to backhoe within the industry, is a heavy equipment vehicle that consists of a tractor-like unit fitted with a loader-style shovel/bucket on the front and a backhoe on the back. Due to its (relatively) small size and versatility, backhoe loaders are very common in urban engineering and small construction projects as well as developing countries. This type of machine is similar to and derived from what is now known as a TLB (Tractor-Loader-Backhoe), which is to say, an agricultural tractor fitted with a front loader and rear backhoe attachment.
Heavy equipment, heavy machinery, earthmovers, construction vehicles, or construction equipment, refers to heavy-duty vehicles specially designed to execute construction tasks, most frequently involving earthwork operations or other large construction tasks. Heavy equipment usually comprises five equipment systems: the implement, traction, structure, power train, and control/information.
A dragline excavator is a heavy-duty excavator used in civil engineering and surface mining. It was invented in 1904, and presented an immediate challenge to the steam shovel and its diesel and electric powered descendant, the power shovel. Much more efficient than even the largest of the latter, it enjoyed a heyday in extreme size for most of the 20th century, first becoming challenged by more efficient rotary excavators in the 1950s, then superseded by them on the upper end from the 1970s on.
A steam shovel is a large steam-powered excavating machine designed for lifting and moving material such as rock and soil. It is the earliest type of power shovel or excavator. Steam shovels played a major role in public works in the 19th and early 20th century, being key to the construction of railroads and the Panama Canal. The development of simpler, cheaper diesel, gasoline and electric shovels caused steam shovels to fall out of favor in the 1930s.
The Silver Spade was a giant power shovel used for strip mining in southeastern Ohio. Manufactured by Bucyrus-Erie, South Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the model 1950-B was one of two of this model built, the other being its sister ship, the GEM of Egypt. Its sole function was to remove the earth and rock overburden from the coal seam. Attempts to purchase and preserve the shovel from Consol to make it the centerpiece of a mining museum exhibit for $2.6 million fell short. A salvage company began scrapping the machine in January 2009. The boom was dropped using explosives on February 9th, ending any rescue attempts. By March 1st, much of the machine had been cut away.
A bucket-wheel excavator (BWE) is a large heavy equipment machine used in surface mining.
Marion Power Shovel Company was an American firm that designed, manufactured and sold steam shovels, power shovels, blast hole drills, excavators, and dragline excavators for use in the construction and mining industries. The company was a major supplier of steam shovels for the construction of the Panama Canal. The company also built the two crawler-transporters used by NASA for transporting the Saturn V rocket and later the Space Shuttle to their launch pads. The company's shovels played a major role in excavation for Hoover Dam, the Holland Tunnel and the extension of the Number 7 subway line to Main Street in Flushing, Queens.
A compact or mini excavator is a tracked or wheeled vehicle with an approximate operating weight from 0.7 to 8.5 tonnes. It generally includes a standard backfill blade and features independent boom swing.
A trencher is a piece of construction equipment used to dig trenches, especially for laying pipes or electrical cables, for installing drainage, or in preparation for trench warfare. Trenchers may range in size from walk-behind models, to attachments for a skid loader or tractor, to very heavy tracked heavy equipment.
A power shovel, also known as a motor shovel, stripping shovel, front shovel, mining shovel or rope shovel, is a bucket-equipped machine usually powered by steam, diesel fuel, gasoline or electricity and used for digging and loading earth or fragmented rock and for mineral extraction. Power shovels are a type of rope/cable excavator, where the digging arm is controlled and powered by winches and steel ropes, rather than hydraulics like in the modern hydraulic excavators. Basic parts of a power shovel include the track system, cabin, cables, rack, stick, boom foot-pin, saddle block, boom, boom point sheaves and bucket. The size of bucket varies from 0.73 to 53 cubic meters.
A tracked loader or crawler loader is an engineering vehicle consisting of a tracked chassis with a front bucket for digging and loading material. The history of tracked loaders can be defined by three evolutions of their design. Each of these evolutions made the tracked loader a more viable and versatile tool in the excavation industry. These machines are capable in nearly every task, but master of none. A bulldozer, excavator, or wheeled loader will outperform a tracked loader under specific conditions, but the ability of a tracked loader to perform almost every task on a job site is why it remains a part of many companies' fleets.
Ruston-Bucyrus Ltd was an engineering company established in 1930 and jointly owned by Ruston & Hornsby based in Lincoln, England, and Bucyrus-Erie based in South Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the latter of which had operational control and into which the excavator manufacturing operation of Ruston & Hornsby was transferred. The Bucyrus company proper, from which the Bucyrus component of the Ruston-Bucyrus name was created, was an American company founded in 1880, in Bucyrus, Ohio.
Marion 6360, also known as The Captain, was a giant power shovel built by the Marion Power Shovel company. Completed and commissioned on October 15 1965, it was one of the largest land vehicles ever built, exceeded only by some dragline and bucket-wheel excavators. The shovel originally started work with Southwestern Illinois Coal Corporation, but the owners were soon bought out by Arch Coal. Everything remained the same at the mine except for the colors which were changed to red, white, and blue. Like most mining vehicles of extreme size, Marion 6360 only required a surprisingly small amount of men to operate, a total of four consisting of a operator, oiler, welder, and a ground man who looked after the trailing cable.
P&H Mining Equipment sells drilling and material handling machinery under the "P&H" trademark. The firm is an operating subsidiary of Joy Global Inc. In 2017 Joy Global Inc. was acquired by Komatsu Limited of Tokyo, Japan, and is now known as Komatsu Mining Corporation and operates as a subsidiary of Komatsu.
Spreaders in mining are heavy equipment used in surface mining and mechanical engineering/civil engineering. The primary function of a spreader is to act as a continuous spreading machine in large-scale open pit mining operations.
The term walking excavator may apply to two different forms of heavy equipment, the historic walking power shovel or dragline excavator that began to appear already early in the 20th century, or the contemporary version of all-terrain excavator popularly known as a spider excavator.
A bucket chain excavator (BCE) is a piece of heavy equipment used in surface mining and dredging. BCEs use buckets on a revolving chain to remove large quantities of material. They are similar to bucket-wheel excavators and trenchers. Bucket chain excavators remove material from below their plane of movement, which is useful if the pit floor is unstable or underwater.
{{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)