You Think You Know Heavy Equipment – Check These Two

When we think of heavy equipment we think of bulldozers, graders, excavators and perhaps backhoes. Some individuals may heave worked in mines and seen some of the large shovels and excavators at work there. However, what you may not have seen are some of the world record holders when it comes to heavy equipment.

Back in 1969 “The Big Muskie” was considered the largest self-propelled piece of machinery in operation. It could move 39 million pounds of earth every hour; uncover coals seams up to 150 feet into the earth’s crust; and could “swing its boom” 600 feet across the landscape. It was shut down in 1991 and only its enormous metal bucket remains. It is now a roadside attraction in Reinersville, Ohio.

In Lichterfeld, Germany lived another “biggest” moving man-made machine. This machine was called the Overburden Conveyor Bridge F60 and although it weighed only 11,000 tons, its length was an untouchable 1,647 feet. It was also 663 feet wide. It was built in 1991 but only lasted 13 months in operation before being shut down for “energy-political” reasons.

The length of this machine is 100 feet longer than the height of the Sears Tower – that is measures from the base of the building to the tip of the longest lightning rod or antenna.

You may never get to operate one of these giants, but believe it or not the skills acquired in becoming a heavy equipment operator would be sufficient to get you started as an operator of one of these. ATS Heavy Equipment Training School can provide you with the skills required to operate heavy equipment in the mining industry. Can we get you into one of these giants? Probably not, but the equipment that mines do use are pretty impressive when it comes to size.