From the early 1920s to the 1930s, Bay City Dredge
Works offered a mast that simplified the process
of switching mounted attachments.
say which was first, it is safe to say that these two
companies were the pioneers of the concept.
Early generation hydraulic breakers were prone
to failure if the tool lost contact with material to
be broken. However, despite this, the success of
Montabert’s and Krupp’s breakers enticed other
companies to join the market, including Japan’s
NPK, which developed an 11-tonne unit in the
late 1980s. Technology has continued to improve
over the 50 years since the hydraulic breaker was
introduced, and today these attachments are among
the most widely used in the construction and
quarrying industries.
Hewden
Product focus
A vast array of attachments is available for excavators, including clamshells, log grapples,
rakes, rippers, shearers, packers, lifting hooks, and hydraulic hammers.
Among the other attachments used by excavators
today is the auger, which can be traced to primitive
forms of drilling used in China more than 3 000
years ago. The Archimedes screw, invented in
250 BCE, was the first known auger. Although
not much has changed in the design, function has
shifted towards construction and mining, although
it is still used for dewatering mines or other low-
lying areas, as well as in sewage treatment plants.
In construction, augers are used to dig holes for
deep foundation piles, or for piles forming a piling
retaining wall, among other uses. They can also be
used for postholing.
A ripper is a long, claw-like attachment usually
used on a bulldozer, wheel loader, or backhoe loader,
Other attachments
A grapple bucket.
to tear or ‘rip’ up earth. Used either singly or
in groups of two or three, rippers augment
the function of a bucket, protruding over the
edge to reach and rip the ground, dislodging
the earth which then falls into the bucket. The
bucket edge can then be used for finish work.
In June 1967, HA Mullin filed a patent for a
front-end ripper attachment for bulldozers.
Ten years later, in 1977, Nicholas Maura filed a
patent for an attachment for a backhoe bucket
or front-end loader bucket, comprising a pair
of connected rippers attached to the inside of
the bucket (backhoe) or at least three connected
rippers attached inside the bucket. n
Sources
1. Aggregates Business Europe. 2013. ‘The hydraulic breaker is now 50 years old’. http://www.aggbusiness.com/categories/breaking-drilling-blasting/
features/the-hydraulic-breaker-is-now-50-years-old.
2. Atlas Copco. 2013. ‘Krupp hydraulic hammers’. http://www.dancourt.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Krupp-Hammers.pdf.
3. breakerbreaker. 2014. ‘Looking back at the 50 year history of the hydraulic breaker’. Hydraulic Breaker Services, 15 July. http://www.
hydraulicbreakerservices.com/blog/looking-back-at-the-50-year-history-of-the-hydraulic-breaker.
4. Haddock, K. 1998. Hydraulic excavators. Giant earthmovers: An illustrated history. Osceola, WI: MBI Publishing.
5. International School of Well Drilling. 2008. ‘Drilling methods’. http://welldrillingschool.com/courses/
pdf/DrillingMethods.pdf.
6. Ritchi Wiki. 2009. ‘Auger drill’. http://ritchiewiki.com/wiki/index.php/Auger_Drill.
7. Ritchi Wiki. 2009. ‘Grapple’. http://ritchiewiki.com/wiki/index.php/Grapple.
8. Ritchi Wiki. 2009. ‘Ripper’. http://ritchiewiki.com/wiki/index.php/Ripper.
9. Vantimmeren, T. 2008. ‘The hydraulic advantage’. Greenhouse Product News. http://www.gpnmag.com/article/hydraulic-advantage-0
10. Wonkee Donkee Tools. 2017. ‘A brief history of auger bits’. https://www.wonkeedonkeetools.co.uk/
auger-bits/a-brief-history-of-auger-bits.
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