Bulldozers Parts in Tacoma - A popular type of industrial equipment is a bulldozer. Crawler tractors run on continuous track as opposed to relying on wheels, although, wheeled versions are also on the market. The dozer blade is a large metal plate fixed to the front of the bulldozer. Alteration projects and construction sites rely on dozer blades to transport gravel, dirt and other materials. Big, metal teeth known as “the ripper” are located on the back of the bulldozer, used for breaking up tough, compressed items.
Specifics
A typical bulldozer utilizes tracks that provide excellent maneuvering options and stellar traction on unstable, uneven or rough ground with a unique transmission that enables the dozer to operate with more tractive force. On unstable ground, the width of the tracks distribute the vehicle’s weight, preventing the heavy machine from sinking. Swamp tracks refer to tracks that have increased widths, suitable for specific applications. Bulldozers are often utilized in land clearing applications, road construction, mining operations and other jobs that require stable and powerful equipment to transport large volumes of material.
Bulldozers operating on a wheeled system usually have four wheels, moved along by a 4-wheel-drive system and a hydraulic, articulated steering system. The dozer blade is mounted in front of the articulation joint and is operated on a hydraulic system, rather than mechanical.
What distinguishes the bulldozer from other large, construction equipment are its principal tools: the dozer blade and the ripper.
The Dozer Blade
The bulldozer blade consists of a sizeable metal plate that is situated at the front of the machine. The dozer blade is utilized for pushing heavy materials and items including sand, aggregate and gravel. Snow, gravel, sand, dirt and garbage are some of the most popular items that bulldozers push around. Three typical kinds of dozer blade options are available including the semi-U blade, the universal blade and the straight blade.
The universal or U blade features large wings on the sides of the tall, curved blade to transport more material. The S blade aka the straight blade features zero side wings or lateral curve and is used for fine earth grading applications. The SU or semi-U blade combines a shorter blade with slight side wings and less curve compared to the U blade. Generally, the semi-U blade is used to push large rock piles or boulders into place.
A dozer blade is fitted either horizontally to the tractor or at an angle. Dozer blade angles are capable of being adjusted via tilt cylinders. The dozer blade is sometimes sharpened to allow for cutting of objects, such as stumps or roots. Angledozer blades are pushed forward on one side (hence the name) to clear materials away from the path of the machine. It is common to see an angledozer in action on highways and roads during winter snow removal.
A variety of bulldozers are equipped with a bull blade. The reinforced centre portion of the bulldozer is called a bull blade. This allows a bulldozer to push a scraper, which is another large, heavy piece of equipment used to move earth.
Military vehicles also utilize dozer blades. Many different military vehicles including artillery tractors, combat engineering vehicles and battle tanks utilize dozer blades. Mounting a dozer blade on a battle tank enables it to push mines and obstacles out of the way or create combat positions by digging shelters. It can help establish a protective barrier against obstacles, artillery and explosive items, making it a valuable machine for military applications.
The Dozer Ripper
A dozer ripper is the long, tooth-like tool, known as the shank, on the back of a bulldozer. Dozer rippers are available in multiple or single shank options. The giant ripper is the name given to the single shank design that is often needed for dense applications. The multi-shank options are called multi-shank rippers.
The shank’s tip, called the boot, is a metal, detachable piece. This design allows the boot to be replaced instead of the entire shank whenever it becomes broken or dull.
The dozer ripper is used to break up rock, concrete, earth or other solid objects and material into smaller pieces which are then easier for the bulldozer to move using the dozer blade. This combination enables projects to be completed faster.
In agricultural applications, the dozer ripper is used to break up the ground and rocks for planting and plowing. In certain locations in New Zealand and Italy, the dozer ripper helps to access ancient lava flows that are rich in nutrients and normally would not be able to be farmed due to the density of the ground. The ripper loosens the top lava rock layer to initiate farming applications.
Bulldozer Adaptations
Adaptations to the bulldozer over the years have enabled it to become useful for numerous applications.
The first bulldozer design was too large for working in confined spaces such as mining applications. These size limitations lead to smaller unit designs to enable more maneuverability in tighter locations. Calfdozers refer to small, lighter bulldozer models.
A smaller and lighter version of the bulldozer is used in snow applications such as ski hills and prepping winter sports locations.
Another adaptation resulted in the popular loader tractor. This machine was born by changing the dozer blade with a large bucket and using hydraulic arms to raise and lower it. This adapted bulldozer model is referred to as a track loader, trackscavator or Drott to load gravel, earth and rocks into dump trucks.
A lesser-known bulldozer attachment is called the stump buster. The stump buster attachment is secured to the rear portion of the dozer. The horizontally protruding single spike is used to split up tree stumps into smaller more manageable pieces for removal. Stump busters are commonly used by bulldozers to clear land. In those instances, the bulldozer is often also equipped with a brush-rake blade.
Even with numerous bulldozer adaptations on the market, the original form of the machine is still popular in road carving, ground leveling, earthmoving and deforestation projects. Large bulldozers are mainly used to flatten terrain for construction preparation. However, the construction itself is mainly done by small bulldozers and loader tractors.
Origins
James Cummings, a farmer, teamed up with J. Earl McLeod, a draftsman, to create the first bulldozer design in 1923. The initial design created was the dozer blade made to plow fields by attaching to an existing tractor. They soon built the first bulldozer and their original prototype can be viewed in Morrowville, Kansas’ city park. Later that year, Cummings and McLeod filed for a US patent on their bulldozer attachment which was granted in January 1925. At the time, it was common for tractors to run on a track system. In fact, it was this earlier version of the tractor, with its superior maneuverability, that contributed to the creation of the armoured tank during World War I.
By 1929, home-made or custom-manufactured attachments began to appear on wheeled and tracked tractors alike. However, the popularity of the bulldozer attachment did not occur until the mid-1930s. Prior to 1940, hydraulic cylinders were added and by the ‘50s, bulldozer popularity began to grow with the term bulldozer referring to the whole machine.
With their growth in popularity for large and small construction jobs, bulldozers became larger and stronger. Eventually, many companies such as John Deere and Caterpillar began to manufactured large tracked and wheeled bulldozers. The manual transmission was replaced over time with automatic transmissions and electric motors and hydraulic cylinders eventually replaced cable winch systems. These upgrades allowed for more accurate and effective control systems. Nowadays, GPS technology has been added to improve grade control and enhance bulldozing tasks.
What started out as a tractor attachment for use in farming has not only become one of the most important machines in today’s civil engineering, it has become an important tool in military operations, mining and building and maintaining the vast infrastructures we rely on every day.
