Types of Loaders

Dr. B. C. Paul 2000

Modified 2009
Note These slides contain drawings copied from the book
Surface Mining Equipment

Loading Equipment

Four Basic Types of Loaders

Cable Shovel
Hydraulic Front Shovel (also called
hydraulic excavator)
Backhoe
Front End Loader

Front End Loader

F is the Bucket - note
that it is a solid unit.
Dumping is achieved by
rotation. Can be critical
consideration in loading
height
G is Teeth - FELs known
as whimpy diggers
- load is spread over a
bucket as wide as a
machine
- May have penetrating V

Digging Motion of FEL

I, J, H, and E are the
hinges
and hydraulics used for
rotating the bucket
- They provide limited
andpiece
dig motion
C ispry
a one
arm moved
by hydraulic cylinder D
- Wide bucket
- Rigid Arm
- Limited Pry Pivot on
bucket
Limited Digger

Crowd Motion on an FEL

Oh Cool
It has a
CounterWeight to
help with
Digging
Force

Crowd Motion is the Tires.

The machine drives
forward
- Powered by Diesel
Engine A
Problem of Tearing up
Underfoot under wet
conditions
Hydraulics on arm
competes with propel
motion for power

The Articulated Machine

Front End Loaders are
articulated which gives
them their Y shape loading
pattern

Mobility of FEL makes

great for cleaning up
spills

The Dilemma of Cab

Position
Which side of the articulation
point does the cab go on?
Put it in Front

Driver has better view of digging

He is in a better position to get
squished if the pile collapses
Very bad backing view - this
machine moves fast

The Other Choice

Put the Cab on the Back

Still a reasonable Dig view with less
opportunity to get squished
Still rather marginal on backing view
- some things are just dangerous
Vibration from motor causes
operator fatigue
Now putting cabs on flotation
suspensions

Hydraulic Front Shovel

Has a two piece bottom dump
bucket
- Higher wear from two
pieces
- Bottom open eliminates
need to pivot to dump helps loading height
- Can get a rock stuck too

Hydraulic bucket opening

for
gentle loading
- can position low over
truck and open bucket at

The Machine That Digs

It
Machine has two piece are
and a pivoting bucket
- Allows range of motion
like human arm - lots of
dig and pry for hard rock
Can Selectively Pick Out
Rock Layers
- Can be valuable for acid
or toxic layers or prep.
of synthetic topsoil
Hydraulics can develop
100,000 psi at the teeth

The Machine That

Swings
This is a track mounted machine
lacks mobility of FEL
- Picks up load and pivots to
dump into truck
Tracks provide for low bearing
pressure. Coupled with minimal
movement is much easier on
ground - especially when wet

View Arrangements
Cab Location Provides Good
View of Digging Operation
Cab Location to one side
can be a view problem for
loading a truck on the wrong
side
Has a Low Built Upper
Structure to allow open top
access to components - with
5000 psi on hoses you need it

Other Machine
Properties
Power Supply Can be Diesel or
Electric (often Diesel)
Power is converted to hydraulic
for most motions including propel

Hydraulics allow trade off between power

and speed at steady engine speed

Very Gradable - Can Pull itself up

with boom

The Backhoe

The Cable Shovel

Basic Design has changed
litte
from
the version
turn of the
1900s
Spindly
shown
here is
stripping shovel. Was never
popular outside Midwest and
none built since 1969
- had more limited
overburden
range than dragline
- operates on pit bottom so
more vulnerable to water
- had lower profit margin than
draglines.

The Mining and Quarry

Version
Tall Massive Machine So Can Load Almost
anything with no loading height problem
Has Cables rather than hydraulics to drive
motions
- Can move in tension but gravity needed
for other motions - dipper door is tripped
and swings open under gravity
Is a track and pivot machine like hydraulic
excavator - big inertia and slower moving
Has same operator cab view problem as HE
Has a full field shop on back

Cable Digging Technique

Has the limited swing up digging
problem of the FEL
Dipper (not called a bucket on this
machine) does not pivot
Cable connections avoid major shock
transfers to boom - lets outlive the HE
Crowd produced by either rack and
pinion on boom or cable wheels
- wheels preserve insulating boom
from shock

Powering Cable Shovels

Except for Mike Muligans Steam

Shovel all the big ones are electric
Extension Cord Does Limit Mobility
(one reasons for machine shop on
back)
New SCR and Frequency Control
Systems offer good power control even giant circuit boards
Simplicity makes high reliability

Comparative
Advantages of Each

Loaders We Are Offered to

Consider

The following loaders are also to be

considered
Cat 994F with a 24.5 yard bucket
Cat 988BLog with a 38.66 yard bucket
Cat 5230B with a 22.5 yard bucket
Cat 5230ME with a 21 yard rock bucket
Cat 345B L series 2 with a 3.3 yard bucket
P+H 2300XPA with a 27 yard dipper
P+H 4100 with a 56 yard dipper

What Must a Good Loader

Do?

It has to be able to handle the

material without tipping over
It has to be able to get the load over
the edge of the truck and preferably
center and heap the truck
It has to be able to fill the truck in a
reasonable integer number of passes
It has to be able to maneuver on the
ground conditions and space
available in the loading configuration

My Decisions

I propose to disqualify all front end

loaders
Trucks at the bottom of the 3rd bench
will get stuck so the FELs will almost
surely get stuck also

FEL also has no chance of lifting high enough

to load a truck on the top of a 30 foot bench.

Actually anything that loads from the

bottom of the bench will be down in
the mud
Im going to suggest a Back Hoe