Excavation Equipment

Category Archives: Excavation Equipment

Bulldozer

The bulldozer is a very powerful crawler that is equipped with a blade. The term bulldozer is often used to mean any type of heavy machinery, although the term actually refers to a tractor that is fitted with a dozer blade.

Often times, bulldozers are large and extremely powerful tracked vehicles. The tracks give them amazing ground mobility and hold through very rough terrain. Wide tracks on the other hand, help to distribute the weight of the dozer over large areas, therefore preventing it from sinking into sandy or muddy ground.

Bulldozers have great ground hold and a torque divider that’s designed to convert the power of the engine into dragging ability, which allows it to use its own weight to push heavy objects and even remove things from the ground. Take the Caterpillar D9 for example, it can easily tow tanks that weight more than 70 tons. Due to these attributes, bulldozers are used to clear obstacles, shrubbery, and remains of structures and buildings.

Caterpillar Equipment

Caterpillar Incorporated, also known as CAT is a

United States based corporation that is based in Peoria, Illinois. The company commonly known as CAT is known around the world as the largest manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, and industrial gas turbines.

Well known and famous for their products that feature the Caterpillar track and distinctive yellow paint, CAT produces a wide range of heavy equipment for all types of jobs, including the very popular Caterpillar D9 bulldozer.

History

The story of CAT dates back to the late 19th century, when Daniel Best and Benjamin Holt were experimenting with different ways to fulfill the promise that steam tractors held for farm work. Prior to 1925, the Holt family had pioneered track tractors and gasoline powered engines. After the companies of Best and Holt were merged, the company went through several changes then at the end of World War 2, they began to grow at a very fast pace, launching the first venture outside of the country in 1950, which marked the beginning of CAT development into a big corporation.

Compact Excavator

The compact hydraulic excavator can be a tracked or wheeled vehicle with an approximate operating weight of 13,300 pounds. Normally, it includes a standard backfill blade and features an independent boom swing. The compact hydraulic excavator is also known as a mini excavator.

A compact hydraulic excavator is different from other types of heavy machinery in the sense that all movement and functions of the machine are accomplished through the transfer of hydraulic fluid. The work group and blade are activated by hydraulic fluid acting upon hydraulic cylinders. The rotation and travel functions are also activated by hydraulic fluid powering hydraulic motors.

Cranes

A crane is a tower or derrick that is equipped with cables and pulleys that are used to lift and lower material. They are commonly used in the construction industry and in the manufacturing of heavy equipment. Cranes for construction are normally temporary structures, either fixed to the ground or mounted on a purpose built vehicle.

They can either be controlled from an operator in a cab that travels along with the crane, by a push button pendant control station, or by radio type controls. The crane operator is ultimately responsible for the safety of the crews and the crane.

Different Types Of Backhoe Loaders

Caterpillar

Caterpillar hit a dial of power and performance with its top of the line 446 backhoe loader when it first introduced the D series version of the machine. The 102 HP machine also features a new operator station and offers optional joystick controls. The dig forces on the bucket have increased 10% on the backhoe.

Bobcat

Bobcat gave its compact backhoe loaders a power boost when the company introduced the second generation B series to the lineup. The 31.5 HP B100 received a 45% increase in backhoe bucket breakout force and a 27% jump in the breakout force of the dipper.

The 46 HP B300 received a 44% increase in dipper breakout force and a 21% boost in the breakout force of the bucket. The three model line also includes the B250, which is a 31.5 HP sideshift unit. Similar to the larger B300, the B250 also features all wheel steering and four wheel drive.

Drag Line Excavator

Drag line excavator systems are heavy machinery that is used in civil engineering, surface mining, and excavation. With civil engineering, the smaller types are used for road and port construction. The larger types of drag line excavators are used in strip mining operations to extract coal. These are among the largest types of mobile equipment and weigh upwards of 10,000 tons!

The drag line excavator bucket system consists of a large bucket that is suspended from a boom. The bucket is moved by a number of chains and ropes. The hoisting rope, which is powered by either a large diesel or electric motor, will support the bucket and hoist coupler assembly from the boom. The drag rope on the assembly is used to draw the bucket assembly horizontally. Through skillful maneuvering of the hoist and drag rope, the bucket can be controlled for many different types of operations.

Easy Site Prep

Site prep is the best term that is used to describe the operations necessary to make raw land ready to accept improvements such as buildings, parking lots, roads, and other amenities. Once the project has been completed, the site prep is invisible.

The term site prep is a broad term that can include several different tasks, such as clearing and grubbing, soil erosion, sediment control, storm drains, water and sewer pipes, topsoil stripping, rock removal, underground utility, and several other tasks.

Soil erosion and management

To protect the quality of the water, soil erosion and sediment control measures are vital. With most locations, storm water permitting is required. All erosion and sediment control measures and devices must be in place and inspected before the first tree drops or first shovel full of dirt is removed.

Front Loader

Also known as a front end loader, bucket loader, scoop loader, or shovel, the front loader is a type of tractor that is normally wheeled and uses a wide square tilting bucket on the end of movable arms to lift and move material around.

The loader assembly may be a removable attachment or permanently mounted on the vehicle. Often times, the bucket can be replaced with other devices or tools, such as forks or a hydraulically operated bucket.

Larger style front loaders, such as the Caterpillar

950G or the Volvo L120E, normally have only a front bucket and are known as front loaders, where the small front loaders are often times equipped with a small backhoe as well and called backhoe loaders or loader backhoes.

Harvester

The harvester is a type of heavy machinery that is employed in cut to length logging operations for felling, buckling, and cutting up trees. Normally, a harvester is employed alongside a forward that will haul the logs and trees to a roadside landing.

Harvesters were developed in Sweden and Finland, and today they do nearly all of the commercial felling in these countries. They work best for less difficult terrain for the clear cutting area of forest. For steep hills or removing individual trees, chain saws are normally preferred. In the nordic countries, small and agile harvesters are used for thinning operations and manual cutting is only used during extreme conditions or by self employed owners of the forest or wooded area.

How The Equipment Has Changed

There are many different opinions as to what machines should actually be classified as earth moving equipment. There are many different types of equipment that fall in this category, such as excavators, backhoe loaders, dump trucks, and even loaders.

Other machinery that falls in between are articulated trucks, wheel and track tractors, and even scrapers. The thin line is normally drawn at motor grades, which are more than capable or light duty excavation, although they are mainly used to level lots and grade roads.

If you take a glance at any equipment literature from leading companies such as CAT, Komatsu, or Case, you’ll see right away that they believe the biggest and most important change over the last several years is increased productivity. This is normally followed by greater comfort and safety.