What Is A Scraper In The Field Of Heavy Equipment

Heavy equipment can be divided into two distinct fields; machinery that can multi-task and machinery that is designed to do a specific task. Bulldozers, backhoes and loaders can all multi-task. Graders fit into the role of dedicated machinery and so too does a scraper.

Scrapers are cumbersome-looking machines but their ability to their dedicated job is by no means cumbersome. They only have the one task – to scrape the surface of the earth in preparation for a building project. The majority of these projects are road work related.

The scraper slices across the top of the earth like a knife across butter. Once the scraper has completed the task of leveling out the surface, a grader is then applied to do the fine tuning of the construction bed. Without the scraper, a construction crew would need to rely on a bulldozer or similar to scrape away the surface.

Most heavy equipment machinery like bulldozers do more than just scrape the earth. They can tear big gashes in the work area, gashes that need more work to repair before the site is considered ready to work on.

As you can see from the photo, scrapers are reasonably large and certainly look cumbersome. Learning to operate a scraper is not that difficult and is often included as part of a heavy equipment training program. If you are able to undertake scraper operator training then I suggest you do. With the millions of miles of roads and highways being built as part of the economic stimulus package, gaining a qualification that includes scrapers makes a lot of sense.