Almost every person saw an excavator in his life. Wheel and caterpillar digging pits, clearing building sites, perform other work.
Despite their impressive size, they are only midgets compared to one giant, which this article will talk about.
The world's largest excavator was built in Germany in 1978. Its size is simply amazing, it’s enough to say that its mass is 13,500 tons. For comparison: one average passenger car weighs about 1 ton.
The largest excavator is called Bagger 288. With all its power, it really works and brings profit to its owners from year to year. But many need such a monster.
Its main activity is the development of deposits of coal, sand, clay. In addition, he can dig out special trenches and ditches for laying pipes, communication cables, create various bulk structures (dumps, embankments, dams).
A significant advantage of this excavator in the scope of work. In 1 day it is able to raise 240 thousand cubic meters of soil. In order to shovel such a volume of rock to ordinary excavators, it takes months.
The main mechanism by which the largest excavator in the world works,
this is a rotor, that is, a huge shaft on which more than a dozen buckets are fixed. The capacity of one bucket is about 7 meters cubic. When the rotor rotates, the buckets, rotating on it, raises the soil on a special
conveyor belt, which moves the mined rock to the place of loading.
The design of the excavator is thought out in such a way that it is able to unload the extracted raw materials directly into the cars, unless, of course, there is a railway nearby.
Among other advantages, the largest excavator is able to move at an average speed of about 1 km per hour. However, due to the width and a large number of tracks, the pressure of this engine on the ground does not exceed the pressure exerted by a conventional machine. Therefore, the monster moves easily, but in order to reach another career, it takes considerable time.
The most interesting thing is that for its service the largest excavator requires only 4 people. This is the operator who, while in the cab, controls the device, his changer, the operator managing the loading of the soil, and the team leader responsible for the operation of the machine as a whole.
The largest excavator is powered by electricity. To supply electricity, a special coil has been developed, which, as the monster moves, pits the electric cable.
A lot of trouble arises when moving an excavator from one place to another. This is a very spectacular event, which hundreds of curious citizens are going to take a look at. And there really is something to see, since its movement is a whole special operation. Power lines are dismantled along the route of travel , special pillows-embankments are made over the railways and highways, in some places the soil is strengthened, small rivers are filled up.