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Sell Your MachinesMon February 10, 2020
Aggregate Equipment Guide
Take a look back at some of the original hydraulic excavators, which began as a variation on the steam shovel and progressed into the the excavators we know today.
This story also appears on Construction Equipment Guide.
The originl Kilgore Direct acting shovel was a 2.5-yd. capacity model on railroad wheels, introduced in 1897.
(Kilgore Manufacturing Company brochure, Donald W. Frantz Collection, HCEA Archives) -
The Kilgore Direct acting shovel is on cleated traction wheels for use off the rails.
(Kilgore Manufacturing Company brochure, Donald W. Frantz Collection, HCEA Archives) -
One of the first Gradalls built dates from the early 1940s. Hydraulics for construction machinery were in their infancy, and were rather bulky and inefficient. The carrier is a Linn half-track.
(Keith Haddock, HCEA Archives photo) -
The tractor-operated backhoe is a 1951 Hopto (Hydraulically Operated Power Take Off), built by Badger Machine Company and is being run from a John Deere B tractor. These were the first known American true hydraulic excavators.
(Keith Haddock, HCEA Archives photo) -
The 1951 Poclain TU, while tractor-powered like the early Hopto, has an on-board operator’s station that controls only the backhoe; he has to go to the tractor to operate it.
(Keith Haddock, HCEA Archives photo) -
The Poclain TL, introduced in 1957, is set up as a primitive hydraulic shovel with a latch-operated, gravity-dump bucket and a pantograph-operated bucket leveling system.
(Keith Haddock, HCEA Archives photo) -
This Cat 225 is one of the first built, in 1972.
(Keith Haddock, HCEA Archives photo) -