Steam shovel

“ Their attention was specially attracted by one giant steam shovel that rattled and puffed like some untiring monster. The engineer guiding it directed its every motion with a touch of one of the levers close to his hand, and it seemed as though the machine were a living creature and he its brain. The great scoop would drop with a roar of chains passing through pulleys, and then, as the main engine began to puff, would rise slowly but with irresistible force.. ”

“ The regular employees for operating a steam shovel are the engineman, cranesman, fireman and four laborers. The latter are under the supervision of the cranesman, and their duties are to shovel forward any lumps or loose material which may roll down and lodge too close to the front of the steam shovel to be reached by the dipper, to level the surface of the ground in front of the machine, preparing it for the next section of track, to lay these sections of track, to attend to the jack screws and blocking and to act as general utility men. ”

“ In cases of this kind it is often necessary to run the steam shovel up a very steep grade to reach the point where it is to begin work. This can readily be done by attaching one end of a one and a half inch rope to a strong tree and winding the other end around the driving axle. Then starting the running gear the machine can be drawn up grades where it could not otherwise propel itself. ”

“ Fifty laborers—directed by a mammoth personage in dirty blue overalls, boots, woolen shirt, and a wide-brimmed felt hat, and with a face undeniably Irish—were working frenziedly to keep pace with the huge steam shovel, whose iron jaws were biting into the earth with a regularity that must have been discouraging to its human rivals. A train of flat-cars, almost loaded, was on the track of the cut, and a dinky engine attached to them wheezed steam from a safety valve, the engineer and fireman lounging out of the cab window, lazily watching. ”

“ The number of men required to manipulate one of these steam shovels is from ten to twelve. The ore itself is frequently so hard that the scoop of the shovel could not penetrate it until loosened and broken up, and it is the business of the gang of workmen to do this and slide the ore down within easy working distance of the shovel. ”

“ Assuming good management and a competent crew, the daily output of a steam shovel depends mostly upon the nature of the material excavated; it is also somewhat dependent upon the height and width of the face of the cutting, and largely upon the facilities for disposing of the loaded material, and keeping the machine almost constantly at work by an ample supply of empty cars and wagons. ”

“ Steam Shovels.—The use of steam shovels for the excavation of sewer trenches is becoming more prevalent because of their growing dependability and durability as compared with other machines, their adaptability for small trenches, and the relatively large number of widely different uses to which they can be put. In excavating a trench the shovel straddles the trench and runs on tractors, wheels, or rollers on either side of it. The shovel cuts the trench ahead of it. As a result it is difficult to set sheeting and bracing close to the end of the trench while the shovel is operating. ”

“ People often call the shovel a “steam shovel,” but that’s not its right name. You hardly ever see a real steam shovel any more. Years ago the big digging machines were driven by regular steam engines. Before they could start to work on a job, the men had to build a fire in the boiler and wait until they had enough steam pressure to make the shovel go. Of course, this wasted a lot of time. So, when very strong gasoline and Diesel engines came along, builders began using them for their shovels instead of steam engines. ”

“ After a side track has been laid in the first cut made by one of the methods described above, the steam shovel begins work at A, Fig. 26, loading cars standing on the side track, and some of them extending out on the main track. At first not more than ten cars should be coupled to the engine, so that the train can quickly run into the side track on the approach of a main line train, and not delay its passage. After the steam shovel has advanced a train-length, the full number of empty cars can be coupled to the engine, as they will all be on the side track while being loaded. ”

“ Fig. 93.—Steam Shovel at Work on Sewer Trench for North Shore Intercepting Sewer, Evanston, Illinois.
Steam shovels are rated according to their tonnage and the capacity of the dipper in cubic yards. Both are necessary as the size of the dipper is varied for the same weight of machine, dependent on the character of the material being excavated. For rock the dipper is made smaller than for sand. Gillette in his Hand Book of Cost Data gives the coal and water consumption of steam shovels as shown in Table 52. The performance of steam shovels is recorded in Table 53. ”

“ The efficiency of a steam shovel is not necessarily proportional to its capacity, but to the amount of work done compared to its cost; and while the amount of work done is generally larger in the machines of larger capacities, this advantage may be more than balanced by the greater cost of operation, including the cost of labor, fuel, supplies and repairs, etc. Machines of the largest capacity, with dipper of 21⁄2 cu. yds. capacity, are employed mostly in excavating soft materials, especially in loading gravel for ballasting. ”

“ Removing it is not a question of blasting with dynamite; it is merely a matter of lifting it from the surface of the earth with a huge steam shovel. "Miners" in Minnesota have none of the conventional aspects of their trade. They operate precisely as did those who dug the Panama Canal. The railroad cars run closely to the gigantic red pit. A huge steam shovel opens its jaws, descends into an open amphitheater, licks up five tons at each mouthful, and, swinging sideways over the open cars, neatly deposits its booty. ”

“ Walter decided that he wanted to be a steam-shovel man. Naughton had to speak twice before the interested lad heard him say:
"I shall be busy for some time, and may have to jump on a work-train as far as Pedro Miguel station. Go down into the Cut, if you like, and look around."
"Thanks. Say, Mr. Naughton, how old must a man be to run a steam-shovel?"
"They break them in as firemen. Are you tough enough to shovel coal all day? ”

“ However, when we contemplate that this mammoth machine is a human creation and an absolute slave to human command, we are rather inclined to be puffed up with the greatness of man.
Steam shovels are ideal machines for excavating railroad cuts and were primarily developed for just such work. The general operation of the machine is very similar to that of hand shoveling. The shovel proper consists of a big scoop or dipper and a dipper handle which correspond respectively to the blade and handle of a hand shovel. ”

“ Mainwaring told the boys that there is keen rivalry among the steam-shovel men. Prizes are given every month for the record amount of dirt that flies. Each shovel is pushed to the limit of its capacity. ”

“ Well, one steam shovel looks about the same to me as another with those caterpillar feet and the operator's house and then the scoop that comes out so, you know. A woman never sees the same in them as a man does. Ed was just bubbling over.
"Isn't he a beaut!"
I read the letters that ran across the coping near the roof. Greene Construction Company, I made out.
"We call him Big Mike."
"That's a name for a derrick," I sniffed. "Howdya get that?"
"Oh, I dunno," replied Ed. "But isn't that a beaut!" he sighed.
That there steam shovel's built to dig. Brother—dig graves! ”

“ By means of several sections of steep wooden stairs Walter clambered to the bottom of the cut, and dodged across the muddy area of trackage to gain the nearest bank upon which the steam-shovels were at work. Fascinated, he halted to watch one of them at closer range.
A noise of shouting came from several laborers who were running along a track further up the steep slope. The nearest steam-shovels blew their whistles furiously. The shrill blasts were sounding some kind of warning and Walter said to himself:
"Naughton's men must be ready to set oft a blast. I guess I had better move on." ”

“ They are even used for excavating the cellars of large city buildings. The machine must be supported on road wheels or on skids. When used for excavating sewer trenches, it is sometimes mounted on a platform spanning the trench. However, the steam shovel is rather limited in its reach. The largest ordinary steam shovels have a clear lift of but sixteen feet and can make a cut only sixty feet wide at the top.
For more extensive excavating as well as for digging ditches and trenches the drag-line excavator has recently come in to use. In these machines a scraper takes the place of the dipper. ”

“ Each forward move of the machine requires from three to ten minutes, depending upon the height of blocking, if any, it is working on; this is a dead loss, as no cars or wagons can be loaded during that interval.
Powder and dynamite are frequently used to good advantage to shatter the harder materials before excavating. When thus broken up about twice the amount of these materials can be loaded in a day. Great care must be exercised in the quantity of the explosive used, and in the location of the drill holes to prevent injury to the steam shovel. ”

“ I am catcher of the Culebra nine, do you see?"
"I'd rather be fireman of a steam-shovel than anything else in the world," Walter eagerly exclaimed.
"You will not be fit to handle a shovel or a base-ball for some time, my boy. We will not let it come between us, but I'm sorry you tied up with those low-browed pirates at Cristobal. Need any money? Want to write a letter home?" ”

“ There was nothing else up there, tractors or trucks, that had the heavy, deep-throated rumbling and vibrating of the huge steam shovel. On Sundays we often drove past the excavations.
"He keeps Big Mike all polished up," Ed growled, and even I could notice how shiny the steamshovel was, its cab where the operator sat on the left side resplendent under a new coat of red paint
Ed Mumbled a lot under his breath those days and what I could mainly make out was the word "Ronsford." He hated the shovel's operator, swore there was an unholy allegiance between the man and machine. ”

“ Unloading the Material.—On railways the unloading is seldom done by slow and expensive hand labor with the shovel; sometimes dump cars are employed, but in most cases flat cars and the plow are used. The trains consist of 10 to 30 cars. The car carrying the plow is attached to the rear of the train at the nearest side track to the unloading place, if it is not over 10 miles from the steam shovel pit this car is generally carried back and forth to avoid an extra stop to couple it on the train at the side track. ”

“ The total cost per cu. yd. of excavating and loading, hauling and dumping different kinds of materials with the most usual length of haul averages about as follows:
[57]
The steam shovel will do the work of 60 to 120 men, saving from 5 to 25 cts. per cu. yd. of material excavated and loaded. The gain is proportionally much greater in the harder, and particularly in the more tenacious materials. The machine is not adapted to small jobs, and is seldom worked in cuts of less than 8 ft. ”

“ On all but very small pieces of railway work there are also employed a blacksmith and helper, and two to five car repairers. The blacksmith's work consists mostly of repairs about the cars, mainly bent or broken aprons, sideboards, chains, etc. The steam shovel occupies much the smaller part of his time. His accommodation requires a small rough frame shop about 10 by 16 ft. ”

“ There are one hundred of these steam-shovels on the Isthmus, and more than fifty of them in the Gaillard Cut, and to see them all purring and rooting together, more like a herd of living monsters than a collection of machinery, is one of the most wonderful spectacles in the world.
Sometimes steam-shovels will be caught and buried by a "slide," an avalanche of rock or a river of mud brought down by some weakness in the banks. Wrecking trains and powerful railroad-cranes are always kept ready to go to their rescue. ”

“ The iron tools blister their hands, the roaring furnaces sear their bodies; their chests heave like those of spent swimmers, their eyes tingle in parched sockets—but work they must, there is no escape, no holiday in this maddening limbo. Steam must be kept up, or perhaps a173 cruel record must be lowered. Facing the furnaces, the hollow up-scooping of the stoker’s shovel echoes stridently on the iron floor, and these speed-makers pile coal on coal until the fire fairly riots, and, half blinded, they stagger backward for a cooling respite. ”

“ It occupies a comparatively small space and may easily work when the timbering is used to support the roof of the tunnel. Steam shovel instead may give efficient result only in the case that the whole section of the tunnel is open at once and there are no timbers to prevent the free swinging of the dipper handle and boom. But in tunnels through loose soils it is almost impossible to open the whole section at once without the necessity of supporting the roof. Consequently the use of steam shovel in loose tunnels is very limited. ”