Introduction to Excavators

Excavators are extremely versatile pieces of heavy machinery built for lifting and moving heavy materials such as rock and soil. Their design evolved from that of the steam shovel which originally ran on temporary rail tracks which had to be repositioned as required. Diesel power came in the 1930s and, in the 1940s, when robust high pressure hoses were introduced, hydraulics took over from cable hoisting winch shovels and the way was paved for the construction excavator that is used today.

Hydraulic excavators are very adaptable having buckets that can be replaced with, for example, augers, an excavator rake or breakers. This makes excavators extremely useful in a large range of jobs. The lower part of a digger consists of the mechanisms that allow it to move across the construction site, up a hill, or along a road and this can be tracks or wheels.

Wheeled excavators have solid or air filled tires and are suited to jobs where surfaces might be easily damaged such as road works. A crawler excavator is not practical in such situations as they can damage softer surfaces such as pavement because their teeth or "grousers" bite into it when they "sprag" or turn. They are better used where good traction is needed such as where there is a lot of mud or loose dirt.

The role of excavator equipment is primarily to dig ditches, trenches and holes and thus move large amounts of earth and soil in a much faster time than could be achieved by manual labor. They are also used in demolition, mining, landscaping and heavy lifting. There are many different types of excavator such as the dragline, long reach and vacuum excavator and depending upon which job you are planning to tackle one or more will be more suitable. And within those categories there are a number of models and different sizes to choose from.

When considering excavators for your construction job you must make the decision as to whether you want to search for new excavators for sale or maybe for a used excavator. If you're looking for used then a good place to start is an excavator auction or maybe an equipment auction that focuses on construction equipment sales in general. This is a good place to look for excavator parts as well. Machinerytrader is well worth a visit as is Ebay which has a section construction section with heavy equipment and trailers within it. If you're not ready to outlay the considerable amount of cash required for buying excavators you might want to consider excavator rentals.
 

The biggest manufacturers of excavators work in a global market. Here are a couple of examples:

The Bobcat Company
The Bobcat Company is a US based manufacturer of construction and farm equipment. It is a subsidiary of the Ingersoll-Rand Company and sells excavators, loaders, attachments, utility products and other machines.

The word "bobcat" is sometimes used to describe any kind of skid loader but "Bobcat" is a globally registered trademark and, accordingly, it its only accurate use is to describe Bobcat equipment and vehicles manufactured by The Bobcat Company.

Bobcat excavators are graded according to size and cover 5 different ranges the smallest weighing between 1 and 2 tonnes and the largest excavator weighing up to 12.5 tonnes.

And from Europe:

JCB
JCB – "J.C.Bamford (Excavators) Ltd." - was founded by Joseph Cyril Bamford in 1945. The Head Office is in England although, nowadays, JCB has operations in 150 countries employing 6,300 people with a range of more than 160 products. JCB is now one of the top four construction equipment manufacturers in the world.

The yellow-and-black engineering vehicles produced by JCB are very distinctive and, in the UK, any similar equipment is often referred to as a JCB, irrespective of whether or not the equipment was made by JCB or a different manufacturer. Most commonly the item being referred to will be a tractor with a backhoe on the back and a loading bucket on the front or a ride on excavator. Although, JCB make many types of heavy equipment used in construction and demolition as well as in farming. JCB Excavators range from the JS 130 with a weight of 31,400 lbs to the 330XD models weighing up to 74,300 lbs.
 

For more detailed information about these and other excavator manufacturers visit the construction equipment makers section of this website by clicking on the link. There you will find details of types and models available for each manufacturer as well as links to their websites where you can research in depth excavator specifications.

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