Power Machines in Construction

When in come to construction sites, a vast variety of tools and equipment are used. From the simple nail and hammer to the gigantic tunneling machines that look like the "WORM" from the Dune story. Anyway one machine that will and often seen in construction sites is the excavator.

Now back in the old days excavators are huge machine and steam powered. However now they are diesel powered and runs by powered hydraulics system. And they can be big or tiny. Excavator in fact is one of the most versatile construction machine out there. It can be adapted to perform a large variety of task.

Off course the basic task of an excavator and as the name suggest is to excavate. Even thought this basic function it can be used to clear a site from vegetation, excavate trenches, move earth and digging as in mining process.

All digging is done with the help of an excavating bucket install at the tip of the arm boom. The bucket is powered by hydraulics thus enabling it to excavate into different types of soil materials.

And talking about size, it can be made into a small excavator or also known as mini-excavator. This can squeeze thought tight places or with limited head room. Some are specially design to work in tunnels or for underground multilevel basement construction.

Thus far we have talked about using excavators for excavation jobs in this article but as mentioned earlier this is not the only thing it can do. By just swapping the bucket with other tools, the excavator is "transformed" into a machine that can do other tasks.

There are many manufacturers of the modern excavators. Companies like Caterpillar, JGB, Hyundai and Kobelco are some of the well known ones.

In term of shape an excavator has the same make-up even if it is from different manufacturers. For example, it will have an undergarriage which can be tracks or wheels. Then on the top will be the operator cabin and beside or behine the cabin will be the power unit. Then there will be an hydraulic powered arms known as boom. This is how an excavator looks like as shown in the picture below.

Above a picture of a modern day hydraulic powered excavator.