Excavators are heavy construction equipment designed to dig earth. It is equipped with a bucket and a cabin on a rotating platform. The cab is located on top of the machine, can be rotated in all directions, providing full visibility and high mobility of the excavator. This is very important for a unit of similar action.
Rope drive mechanisms
The cable drive of the excavator uses very strong and reliable steel ropes, which help the machine to perform all kinds of maneuvers and movements. All functions of a hydraulic excavator are carried out using a special fluid, with hydraulic cylinders and motors. Due to the linear operation of the cylinders, their operating mode is fundamentally different from that of a cable driven excavator.
Excavator: what is it? Who invented it?
An excavator is the most successful mechanism for working with soil, as well as coal and other minerals. The first mention of such a digging giant was found in the diaries of Leonardo da Vinci, who designed such a machine and even tested it.
However, it is believed that the creator of this mechanism was still not him. Similar structures, reminiscent of current excavators, were used in Ancient Egypt when building various temples and huge pyramids.
Types of excavators and their purpose
Excavators - a technique that is used in many activities, such as digging trenches, erecting foundations, digging holes, all kinds of forestry, demolishing buildings or dams. They are also used for landscaping, for the extraction of a variety of minerals, deepening ponds and rivers, installation of overall piles.
Wherever a large quantity of useful rocks or ordinary land is to be extracted and transported most economically and effectively, in order to obtain the deepest layers of raw materials, the largest rotary excavators are used. Since the plans of the mines, as well as the features of the mountains can differ significantly, excavators are delivered in different configurations. Accordingly, their work and management will be slightly different, but the essence of the tasks performed usually always remains unchanged. Excavators can be connected to a special conveyor bridge, and also connected to a specific cargo block.
Excavators come in different sizes, among them there are very small and very large, but there are certain leaders whose dimensions cannot be surpassed by any other machine. It is quite difficult to move around such mechanisms, but the volume of the work they perform cannot be surpassed even by a dozen smaller machines.
Bagger-288 excavator: the story of the creation of a giant
This mechanism, created by the world-famous German company Krupp for the energy and mining company Rheinbraun, is a bucket wheel excavator, or mobile mining machine. When its construction was completed (in 1978), it was used by NASA as a tracked transporter to transport the Apollo rocket. The mechanism itself is manufactured by Marion Excavator as the largest land vehicle in the world, weighing more than thirteen tons. This makes both installation and disassembly of this machine incredibly expensive and complicated. Without seeing this huge mechanism live , it is simply impossible to understand what Bagger-288 is.
The benefits of a giant mechanism
The gigantic Bagger-288 excavator, whose technical specifications are unique, was built for remote coal mining in Germany. It can lift about 240 thousand tons of coal or 240 thousand cubic meters of rock per day, which is equivalent to a
soccer field dug 30 m (98 ft) in depth
. This is unbelievable for other excavators, which will not be able to carry out half such work in a day. The coal mined by him in one day fills 2,400 wagons transporting raw materials to the plants for its processing. Bagger requires 16.56 megawatts of external power to operate. This allows him to move at a speed of 2 to 10 meters per minute (0.1 to 0.6 km / h). The chassis of its main section is 46 meters (151 feet) wide. The large surface area of the giant tracks makes Bagger-288 ground pressure very small (17.1 N / cm
2 or 24.8 psi). This allows the excavator to move freely on gravel, earth and even grass, without leaving significant traces, which is very important when working with rocks. Initially, this excavator had planned wheels for greater mobility of its movement, but during the first tests this idea suffered a catastrophic defeat, as the car immediately collapsed, unable to bear its own weight. Caterpillars became the best solution to this problem. In the future, it is planned to replace them with an
air cushion, which will further reduce the pressure on the surface under the excavator. The minimum turning radius of Bagger-288 reaches 100 meters, which is a very good indicator when working with minerals, the extraction of which is an extremely time-consuming task.
Excavator Achievements
By February 2001, Bagger-288 had completely cleaned the Tagebau coal source and was no longer needed there. It was decided to move it to another mine. Three weeks later, the excavator made a twenty-two-kilometer trip to Tagebau Garzweiler, passing along Autobahn 61, crossing a railway track and several fixed dirt roads along the way. This trip cost almost 15 million German marks and required the help of a team of seventy workers who had complete control over the movement of the excavator. To cross the river, large steel pipes for water were laid through which it could pass unhindered. From above they were covered with stones and gravel. Special grass was sown to smooth the passage of the excavator through a particularly valuable area. Despite the enormous cost of moving the Bagger-288, this method of moving it was more economical than completely dismantling and moving in parts, which would require a lot of equipment and even more time.
The advantages of a unique mechanism
Bagger-288 is part of a group of excavators of similar sizes. It consists of Bagger-281 (built in 1958), Bagger-285 (1975), Bagger-287 (1976), Bagger-293 (1995) and other units.
Bagger-288 was featured in 2012 in the movie Ghost Rider: The Spirit of Vengeance, where the Ghost Rider (the protagonist of the picture) uses it to subdue his enemies.
Being such a famous
huge machine, the excavator even sang in several songs of American groups. Many people, having seen this unit, immediately wonder: "Bagger-288 - what is it?" After all, the very sight of this incredibly large machine inspires everyone who sees it with horror and awe.
Such a huge sturdy construction requires special care. More than twenty workers are engaged only in the maintenance of the excavator. Every two months, the entire mechanism is lubricated, because the cost of repair in the event of a breakdown will be enormous. Each movement must be timed and planned, especially when it occurs in hazardous unstable mines, so that something is not hurt or demolished. After all, this can harm both the work and the machine itself.
Instead of a conclusion
This unique mechanism is not just an excavator, for some people it is a lifetime. Today, many are interested in the Bagger-288 excavator. Where this giant is currently located, unfortunately, is not known.