Heavy equipment refers to heavy-duty vehicles, specially designed for

executing construction tasks, most frequently, ones involving earth moving.

They are also known as construction equipment, earth movers, engineering vehicles, or just plain equipment. They usually comprise five equipment systems: implement, traction, structure, power train, control and information. Through the mechanical advantage of this simple machine, the ratio between input force applied and force exerted is multiplied. Currently most equipment use hydraulics as a primary source of transferring power.

The use of heavy equipment has a long history. The ancient Roman engineer VITRUVIUS (1st century BCE) gave detailed descriptions of heavy equipment and cranes in ancient Rome in his treatise DE ARCHITECTURA. The first bulldozers were adapted from Holt farm tractors that were used to plough fields. Their versatility in soft ground for logging and road building led directly to their becoming the armoured tank in World War I. By the 1920s, tracked vehicles became common, To dig canals, raise earth dams, and do other earth moving jobs, these tractors were equipped with a large thick metal plate in front. The backhoe loader was invented in the UK in 1953 by Joseph Cyril Bamford , founder of J. C. Bamford (JCB), by equipping a farm tractor with both a backhoe and a front-mounted loading bucket.

 In Britain and Ireland they are commonly referred to simply as JCBs due to the the company being the inventor and major supplier. The dragline was invented in 1904 by John W. Page of Page Schnable Contracting for Contracting for use digging the Chicago Canal. The steam shovel was invented by William Otis, who received a patent for his design his design in 1839.

CONCLUSION:

Proper planning, selection, procurement, installation, operation, maintenance & equipment replacement policy plays an important role for the successful completion of the project. Plays important role in construction of roads, highways, large buildings, dams, canals, airways & power houses etc. production of coal has increased from 25 million tonnes to 125 million tonnes, of iron ore from 3 million tonnes to 45 million tonnes

PRODUCTION EQUIPMENTS

SERVICE EQUIPMENTS

BACKHOE LOADER. BULLDOZER. DRAGLINES.

GRADER. PAVER. SKID STEER LOADER. RECLAIMERS. DREDGE / DREDGER. EXCAVATOR.

SCRAPER.
CHAIN TRENCHER. WHEEL TRENCHER. CLAMSHELL. STEAM SHOVEL. POWER SHOVEL.

SUCTION EXCAVATOR.
DUMPER.

BACK HOE LOADER: Tractor-like vehicle with an arm and bucket mounted on the back and a front loader mounted on the front. The boom is attached to the vehicle through a pivot known as the kingpost, which allows the arm to slew left and right, usually through a total of around 200 degrees. Can be used with hydraulic powered attachments such as a tiltrotator, breaker, a grapple or an auger. Usually employed together with loaders and bulldozers.

BULL DOZER: A bulldozer is a crawler , equipped with a substantial metal plate ( blade) used to push large quantities of soil, sand, rubble, etc., during construction work and typically equipped at the rear with a claw-like device ( ripper) to loosen densely-compacted materials. Large and powerful tracked heavy equipment. The tracks give them excellent ground hold and mobility through very rough terrain. Used to clear areas of obstacles, shrubbery, burnt vehicles, and remains of structures.

DRAGLINES: Dragline are heavy equipment used in civil engineering and surface mining. Smaller types are used for road and port construction. The larger types are used in strip-mining operations to move overburden above coal, and for tar-sand mining. Stands among the largest mobile equipment (not water-borne), and weigh in the vicinity of 2000 metric tonnes. Bucket system consists of a large bucket which is suspended from a boom with wire ropes. The bucket is manoeuvred by means of a number of ropes and chains.

SCRAPER: It is a piece of heavy equipment used for

earthmoving. The rear part has a vertically moveable hopper with a sharp horizontal front edge. When the hopper is lowered, the front edge cuts into the soil or clay like a cheese slicer and fills the hopper.
Having two engines ('tandem powered'), one driving the front wheels, one driving the rear wheels, with engines up to 400 kW (550 HP). When the hopper is full (8 to 34 m (10 to 45 yd) heaped, depending on type) it is raised, and closed with a vertical blade (known as the apron).

CHAIN TRENCHER: Construction technology equipment used to dig trenches. Typically used for laying pipes or cable, or for drainage. Size from walk-behind models, to attachments for a skid loader or tractor, to very heavy tracked heavy equipment. A chain trencher cuts with a digging chain that is driven around a rounded metal frame, or boom. It resembles a giant chainsaw. Can cut ground that is too hard to cut with a bucket-type excavator.

ROCKWHEEL TRENCHER: A rockwheel is a toothed metal wheeleffectively a giant circular saw. Can cut harder ground than a chain trencher, including cutting through solid stone. Also used to cut pavement for road maintenance and to gain access to utilities under roads.

CLAMSHELL:

Machine which comprises of both dragline & crane.

Digging is done like a dragline ; when bucket is filled works like a crane. Very useful for accurate spot dumping in a confirmed place. Can be used for handling of loose & medium hard materials only. Since the shape of the bucket is like a clam fish & has hinged double shell , it is named as CLAMSHELL.

STEAM SHOVEL: Steam-powered large excavating machine for lifting and moving such as rock and soil. Earliest type of power shovel.
Perhaps the most famous application of steam shovels the digging of the Panama Canal across the Isthmus of Panama. One hundred and shovels worked in that long dig.

POWER SHOVELS: Its is a bucket equipped machine, usually electrically powered, used for digging and loading earth or fragmented rock, and mineral extraction.
Used principally for excavation and removal of overburden in open-cut mining operations, though it may include loading of minerals, such as coal. The shovel operates using several main motions: Hoist - pulling the bucket up through the bank . Crowd - moving the dipper handle out the depth of cut and when positioning to dump Swing - rotating the shovel between digging and dumping Propel - moving the shovel unit to different locations or dig positions.

GRADER: Commonly referred to as a road grader, a blade, a maintainer, is a construction machine with a long blade used to create a flat surface.

Can produce inclined surfaces and surfaces with cambered crosssections for roads.
Commonly used in the construction and maintenance of dirt roads and gravel roads , in the construction of paved roads , to create a wide flat surface for the asphalt to be placed. Also used to set native soil foundation pads to finish grade prior to the construction of large buildings & sometimes for snow removal.

PAVERS: A paver (paver finisher, asphalt finisher) is an engineering vehicle used to lay asphalt on roadways. It is normally fed by a dump truck. A separate machine, a roller, is then used to press the hot asphalt mix, resulting a smooth, even surface. The sub-base being prepared by use of a grader to trim crushed stone to profile after rolling.

SKID STERR LOADERS: Small rigid frame, engine-powered machine with lift arms used to attach a wide variety of labor-saving tools or attachments. Capable of zero-radius, "pirouette" turning, which makes them extremely maneuverable and valuable for applications that require a compact, agile loader.
The conventional bucket can be replaced with a variety of specialized attachments, powered by the loader's hydraulic system. These include backhoe, hydraulic breaker, pallet forks, angle broom, sweeper, auger, snow blower, trencher, dumping hopper, ripper, tillers, grapple, tilt, roller, snow blade, wheel saw, cement mixer, and wood chipper machine.

RECLAIMERS: A reclaimer is a large machine used in bulk material handling applications. A reclaimer's function is to recover bulk material such as ores and cereals from a stockpile. Rated in m3/h for capacity, based on the average bulk density of the material being reclaimed. Normally travel on a rail between stockpiles in the stockyard. Can typically move in three directions: horizontally along the rail; vertically by "luffing" its boom and rotationally by slewing its boom.

Generally electrically powered by means of a trailing cable.

DREDGERS / DREDGE: Dredging is an excavation activity or operation usually carried out at least partly underwater, in shallow seas or fresh water areas with the purpose of gathering up bottom sediments and disposing of them at a different location. Often used to keep waterways navigable, also used as a way to replenish sand on some public beaches, where too much sand has been lost because of coastal erosion.

A dredge is a device for scraping or sucking the seabed, used for dredging.
A dredger is a ship or boat equipped with a dredge.

EXCAVATORS: Heavy equipment consisting of a boom (backhoe), bucket and cab on a rotating platform (known as a "house"). Excavators are used in many ways:
1. Digging of trenches, holes, foundations 2. Brush cutting with hydraulic attachments 3. Forestry work 4. Demolition 5. General grading/landscaping 6. Heavy lift, e.g. lifting and placing of pipes 7. Mining, especially, but not only open-pit mining 8. Driving piles, in conjunction with a Pile Driver

SUCTION EXCAVATOR: A suction or vacuum excavator is a construction vehicle that removes earth from a hole on land, or removes heavy debris on land, from various places, by powerful suction through a wide suction pipe which is up to a foot or so diameter.

The suction inlet air speed may be up to 100 meters/second = over 200 mph.
The end of the tube may be toothed. This helps to cut earth when use for excavating. The earth to be sucked out may be loosened first with a compressed-air lance, or a powerful water jet.

DUMPER: Designed for carrying bulk material, often on building sites. Usually an open 4wheeled vehicle with the load skip in front of the driver. The skip can tip to dump the load; this is where the name "dumper" comes from. Normally diesel powered. A towing eye is fitted for secondary use as a site tractor.