Common Types of Construction Heavy Equipment

by | Dec 15, 2021 | Blog | 0 comments

The word “heavy equipment” (sometimes known as “heavy machinery”) refers to heavy-duty devices used in the construction, forestry, agriculture, and mining industries. These machines are usually used to drill, lift, grade, suction, pave, and compact in addition to moving earth and other heavy materials.

Heavy Equipment’s Evolution

Construction machinery is thought to be a recent innovation because heavy machinery is typically driven by gasoline. Heavy machinery, on the other hand, has been around since the first century. According to reports, the ancient Romans used cranes and other heavy machinery. Around 1500, the first pile driver is thought to have been invented.

However, until the nineteenth century, most large types of machinery relied on human or animal power. The combine harvester and tractor were redesigned to use steam power with the invention of the portable steam-power engine. Heavy machinery later employed kerosene and ethanol engines until being supplanted by diesel or electric power.

Have you ever wondered why bulldozers frequently use tracks rather than wheels? This can be traced back to World War I, when tracked tanks were a common combat vehicle.

Heavy Equipment Types That Are Frequently Used

Every day, hundreds of pieces of equipment power the construction, mining, and agricultural industries.

They are as follows:

Excavators

Excavators have a cab, a boom, a stick, and a bucket (or other attachment). The cab is mounted on a rotating platform and has either tracks or wheels as an undercarriage. Hydraulic excavators are available in a wide range of sizes, with the smallest weighing a little over 2,000 pounds and the largest exceeding two million pounds. Buckets are common on excavators, but they can also be equipped with various hydraulic-powered attachments including breakers, grapples, and augers.

Excavators are used for a number of tasks, including the following:

Bulldozers are two of the most common types of construction equipment.

A bulldozer (also known as a crawler) is a continuously tracked tractor with a blade, which is a metal plate. Large volumes of material, such as soil, sand, boulders, garbage, or even snow, are pushed by the blade. The blades are divided into three categories: “S blade,” “U blade,” and “S-U blade.” Because it is short and lacks side wings or a lateral curvature, the S blade (straight blade) is employed for precision grading. Because it is tall, curved, and has big side wings, the U blade (universal blade) can handle more material. The S-U blade (semi-u blade) is a combined blade for pushing huge rocks. It is short, like the S blade, but it has a curve and side wings, unlike the S blade. The wings are narrower and the blade is less curved than the U blade. In quarries, S-U blades are commonly utilized.

Bulldozers are employed for a variety of tasks, including:

Construction, mining, forestry, land removal, and road construction

plus a lot more

3. Automobile Graders

The long blade of a motor grader (also known as a road grader or a grader) is used to grade (flatten and smooth) a road or surface.

The motor grader, like the bulldozer, can be equipped with a rear attachment. Rippers, compactors, blades, and scarifiers are examples of attachments.

Graders are used for a variety of purposes, including:

  • Keeping dirt roads in good repair
  • Getting roads ready to be paved
  • Grading soil or gravel surfaces in order to lay a foundation for a building

Telehandlers

A telehandler (also known as a reach forklift or boom lift) is a forklift with a boom attached (Telescopic cylinder). The boom on a telehandler may extend forward and upward, giving it more adaptability than a forklift. Telehandlers can be fitted with attachments at the end of the boom, such as a pallet fork, muck grab, bucket, or winch.

Telehandlers are employed for a variety of tasks, including:

The Material must be moved from the ground or a trailer to a point where a forklift cannot reach, such as the top of a roof.

When a crane is neither available nor suitable for a particular project, items must be moved (due to practicalities or time efficiency)

Dump Trucks

A dump truck (also known as a dumper truck, tipper truck, or rock truck) is a vehicle that transports materials from one place to another. It is distinguished by its open-box bed, which is located at the back of the truck and is fitted with hydraulic rams that raise the front of the bed to dump the material onto the ground behind the truck.

Dump trucks are used for a variety of purposes, including:

Transporting and disposing of sand, rocks, and demolition debris.

Compactors

A compactor is used to compact rocks or gravel, as the name implies. In the construction business, three types of compactors are typically used: the plate, the “jumping jack,” and the road roller. A level grade is achieved using a plate compactor (also known as a vibratory rammer) and a jumping jack. The jumping jack, on the other hand, has a smaller foot and may be utilized in tight ditches. Before stone or concrete foundation slabs are laid, road roller compactors are used to compact the ground.

One of our Facebook fans was kind enough to point out that we’d overlooked one of the most frequent pieces of equipment! The loader is what you’re looking for.

A loader is a machine that scoops up and transports things from one site to another, such as rocks, logs, snow, raw minerals, and demolition waste (or to a dump truck or conveyor belt). A loader is normally wheeled, and the front-mounted bucket connected to the ends of two booms is immediately identifiable. Loaders go by a variety of names depending on their design and popular use, such as:

Source : Blue Diamond

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