SHOVEL

USES A shovel is a tool for digging, lifting, and moving bulk materials, such

as soil, coal, gravel, snow, sand, or ore. Shovels are extremely common tools that are used extensively in agriculture, construction, and gardening. MATERIAL Most shovels are hand tools consisting of a broad blade with edges or sides that is fixed to a mediumlength handle. Shovel blades are usually made of sheet steel or hard plastics and are very strong. Shovel handles are usually made of wood (especially specific varieties such as ash or maple) or glassreinforced plastic (fibreglass). Hand shovel blades made of sheet steel usually have a folded seam or hem at the back to make a socket for the handle. This fold also commonly provides extra rigidity to the blade. The handles are usually riveted in place. A T-piece is commonly fitted to the end of the handle to aid grip and control where the shovel is designed for moving soil and heavy materials. These designs can all be easily mass-produced. TERMINOLOGY The term shovel is also applied to larger excavating machines called power shovels, which are designed for the same purpose, namely, digging, lifting, and moving material. Modern power shovels are the descendants of steam shovels. Loaders and excavators (such as backhoes) perform very similar work, etically speaking, but they are not classified as shovels emically. Hand shovels have been adapted for many different tasks and environments. They can be optimized for a single task or designed as cross-over or compromise multitaskers.

EXCAVATOR

Excavators are heavy construction equipment consisting of a boom, bucket and cab on a rotating platform (known as the "house"). The house sits atop an undercarriage with tracks or wheels. All movement and functions of the excavator are accomplished through the use of hydraulic fluid, be it with rams ormotors. Their design is a natural progression from the steam shovel. Excavators are also called diggers , a JCB (which is a proprietary name) or 360-degree excavators sometimes abbreviated simply to 360. Tracked excavators are sometimes called "trackhoes" by analogy to the backhoe. In the UK, wheeled excavators are sometimes known as "rubber ducks." USES OF EXCAVATOR Excavators are used in many ways:

Digging of trenches, holes, foundations Material handling Brush cutting with hydraulic attachments Forestry work Demolition General grading/landscaping Heavy lift, e.g. lifting and placing of pipes Mining, especially, but not only open-pit mining River dredging Driving piles, in conjunction with a Pile Driver

Excavator attachment In recent years, hydraulic excavator capabilities have expanded far beyond excavation tasks with buckets. With the advent of hydraulic powered attachments such as a breaker, a grapple or an auger, the excavator is frequently used in many applications other than excavation. Many excavators feature a quick coupler for simplified attachment mounting, increasing the machine's utilization on the jobsite. Excavators are usually employed together with loaders and bulldozers. Most wheeled, compact and some medium sized (11 to 18 tonne) excavators have a backfill (or dozer) blade. This is a horizontal bulldozer-like blade attached to the undercarriage and is used for levelling & pushing removed material back into a hole.

Pictures of excavator

An old excavator under the Northwest (now Terex) name at the Pageant of Steamgroun

Excavator demolishing a house. Note the hydraulic thumb

Link-Belt excavator trenching.

BACKACTER

USES The Backacter is the world's first dedicated marine dredging excavator. It is designed for one purpose only and that is to dredge on a dipperdredger. It has no compromises, but only advantages. A complete range was designed and build. In the past (what we now call a classic excavator) an existing excavator was put on the dredger's deck, its tracks and mining attachment were removed, a backhoe attachment was added. General Features: A top-class marine dredger with all drive unit power packs in spaces under deck. Big buckets at a deep dredging depth with high penetration forces. No fuel stops required and therefore higher production. High and extended dumping reach. One hydraulic powerpack system for the Backacter, self-manoeuvrability and for the spudsystem. Shock-absorbing elastic foundation, integrated in the dredgers deck. Water cooled diesel engines and water cooled hydraulic system. For working in ambient temperatures till -25C.