MODULE 4:

HISTORY OF HEAVY EQUIPMENT

The use of heavy equipment has a long history; the ancient
Roman engineer Vitruvius (1st century BCE) gave descriptions
of heavy equipment and cranes in ancient Rome in his “Treatise
de architectura”. The pile driver was invented around 1500. The
first tunnelling shield was patented by Isambard Kingdom
Brunel in 1818.
From horses, through steam, to diesel

Until the 19th century and

into the early 20th century
heavy machines were drawn
under human or animal
power. With the advent of
portable steam-powered
engines the drawn machine
precursors were
reconfigured with the new
engines, such as the
harvester.
 The design of a core tractor evolved around the new steam
power source into a new machine core traction engine, that
can be configured as the steam tractor and the steamroller.
During the 20th century, internal-combustion engines became
the major power source of heavy equipment. Kerosene,
ethanol and engines were used, but today diesel engines are
dominant. Mechanical transmission was in many cases
replaced by hydraulic machinery. The early 20th century also
saw new electric-powered machines such as the forklift.
The first commercial
continuous track vehicle
was the Lombard Steam
Log Hauler from 1901.
Tracks became
extensively used for
tanks during World War
I, and after the war they
became commonplace
for civilian machinery
such as the bulldozer.
"Until almost the twentieth century, one simple tool constituted
the primary earthmoving machine: the hand shovel - moved
with animal and human powered, sleds, barges, and wagons.
This tool was the principal method by which material was either
sidecast or elevated to load a conveyance, usually a
wheelbarrow, or a cart or wagon drawn by a draft animal. In
antiquity, an equivalent of the hand shovel or hoe and head
basket—and masses of men—were used to move earth to build
civil works.
Builders have long used the inclined plane, levers, and pulleys to
place solid building materials, but these labor-saving devices did
not lend themselves to earthmoving, which required digging,
raising, moving, and placing
loose materials. The two
elements required for
mechanized earthmoving,
then as now, were an
independent power source
and off-road mobility, neither
of which could be provided by
the technology of that time.
Heavy Equipment During The Early 19th Century

Until the early 19th century, heavy equipment required manual

or animal labor for working. As a result, a lot of time was spent in
carrying out work with them. All this changed with the invention
of the steam-powered engine and it was used in heavy
equipment for the purpose of giving higher level of power to lift
and move heavy loads. The steam engine was the rise of steam
tractors which were used for earth moving and load carrying.
 The internal combustion engine replaced the steam-powered
engine in the 20th century, which saw a major turn of events for
the heavy equipment manufacturing industry. The power that such
equipment provided was high,
enabling construction work to be
performed much faster. At this
point, heavy equipments were
The internal combustion engine replaced the steam-powered engine in the 20th century, which saw a major
produced in turn large quantities
of events in equipment manufacturing industry.
for the heavy
factories. The first heavy
equipment to come out from
mass production was the
Fordson tractor in 1917. The
largest of mobile land machines,
the bucket wheel excavators
came out during the 1920s.
After the First World War, tanks came to be used extensively and
also gave way to the use of the bulldozers. It was after the First
World War that the Caterpillar Tractor Co. was established, which
was the world’s first manufacturer of earth moving equipment.
This period from 1900 to
1930 saw the evolution of
the bulldozer with new
features and advancements
being added to it. The
period of the Second World
War saw the release of
excavators.
These equipment were required
because of the shortage of
laborers during that time. A
noted manufacturer Gradall
initiated their production of the
excavator in the early 1940s. It
was used for load carrying and
demolition activities in
construction projects. The end of
the Second World War saw the
rise of cranes in construction
work projects.