The Other Common Heavy Equipment Machines

Today’s list of heavy equipment machines are growing as construction needs become more and more specialized. The old standbys – bulldozers, backhoes, trucks, excavators, etc. – are still in business, although there are new specialty models now based on their functions. Of course, the other heavy equipment machines are also still in business, even if new specialized models (based on them) are also coming out almost yearly.

Cranes

This lifting machine using pulleys and cables is still the dependable equipment people use in short horizontal transport-and-lift operations inside the construction area. For cranes, the most important design considerations are stability and lifting capacity.

Usually, they are temporary structures in the construction site, their functions ending when all the necessary materials have been lifted and transported to where they should be. Sometimes, though, tower cranes are fixed to the ground for use all throughout the operations.

In the past, cranes (or derricks) are manually operated by human operators inside cabs on the vehicle itself. Nowadays, they can be operated by radio or wired controls. They are mostly used in construction projects, mining, forestry, road-building, transportation and materials handling industries.

Skid loaders

This is a stiff frame machine that can be fitted with a variety of tools and becomes an altogether different tool – a backhoe, sweeper, hydraulic breaker, pallet fork, mower, snow blower, stump grinder, tree spade, wheel saw, trencher, etc.

Skid loaders come in two forms: a four-wheel system and a rubber track. Four-wheel drives are for added maneuverability. Track versions are for better grip in less ideal environments like sand and mud.

Skid steel loaders are for digging and moving landscape materials. They can do grading and load trucks. Special tools can be attached to them and they become into other machines doing their work: dirt bucket, utility fork, angle blade, auger, broom, hydraulic hammer, rake, stump grinder, trencher, etc.

They are ideal machines that can do work in tight little spaces because they are relatively small compared to the other heavy equipments. Also, they are easy to maneuver. They have wheels that can turn in their own tracks (the left-side drive wheels are independent of the right-side drive wheels.) Skid loaders are light and can be towed by a truck.

Excavators

These are very large machines used for many jobs like constructions, road-building, as well as by the mining industry. They are one of the first equipments used to level the sites by burrowing and cutting ground.

Excavators resemble most like a human arm, including the shoulder and the elbow, with the bucket resembling a cupped hand. It is made up of four basic parts: hydraulic cylinders, the arm, bucket and the boom. The boom performs like the upper arm together with the shoulder and the elbow. For mobility, the whole system is attached to a crawler (bulldozer).

Forklifts

This is another ubiquitous small machine found in construction sites. Basically, they are small customized tractors with two metal forks in front used for lifting cargoes. Today, there are so many models to choose from.

Some companies manufacture custom-designed forklifts for any specialized needs of the company who orders them. Mostly, they are used to transport cargoes and materials stored on pallets (small platforms) for easy lifting using the machine’s forks.

Others

There are other minor heavy equipments usually used and are seen in construction sites. They include concrete mixers (or processors), crawlers (tractors) and the other specialty machines whose designs are based on the more common heavy equipments such as bulldozers, backhoes, transport trucks and others.

For construction specialists, it is good to be familiar with these other heavy equipments in the business even as there are new models coming out in the market almost everyday.