Excavators are earthmoving machines that have different purposes. They can be used for digging quarries, holes for building houses, and also for mining. All mechanisms differ not only technical specifications, appearance but also in size.
The top 10 included largest excavators in the world throughout history earthmoving.
Hitachi EX8000-6 - modern hydraulic excavator from Hitachi opens the rating large excavators. The machine was built in 2012 for coal mining. Compared to other representatives of the rating, it cannot boast of very impressive dimensions, but despite this it has good performance. At a time, the mechanism is able to lift up to 75 tons, and its power is 3880 horsepower. Hitachi EX8000-6 is about 10 meters high and over 30 meters long. The bucket volume of this model is 40 cubic meters.
Included in the top ten largest excavators in the world. Its creator is the American company Marion Power Shovel, which was built in 1965. Merion's weight was about 13 thousand tons, and the length of his arrow exceeded 67 meters. Eskasaur was in operation for more than three decades. It fell into disrepair after a malfunction occurred in the mechanism in 1991, which led to spontaneous combustion of the machine. The restoration of the structure was considered impractical, therefore, after this incident, the legendary Marion 6360 was disposed of.
Demag H740 OS- one of the largest mining excavators in the world, developed in 1999 to work in the sandy areas of Canada. The weight of the mechanism exceeds 700 tons, and the bucket is capable of lifting up to 40 cubic meters of sand at a time.
The largest Soviet walking excavator, created by Uralmash in 1976. The volume of the giant's bucket was about 100 cubic meters, and the length of the boom was 100 meters. ESH 100\100 was in operation for 15 years, after which it was disposed of for scrap.
The world's largest walking excavator, created in the second half of the last century by the American company Bucyrus-Erie. total weight colossus is about 13 thousand tons. The Big Muskie is almost 68 meters high, over 46 meters wide and about 150 meters long. The dragline has a bucket capacity of 168 cubic meters - enough space to fit two buses. It took the company two whole years to build it, and its final cost was 25 million US dollars. Big Muskie needed to consume enough electricity to power about 30,000 apartments. The machine was in operation for 30 years. During this period of time, 20 million tons of coal were mined by dragline.
The largest hydraulic excavator in the world, built German company O&K. The weight of the mechanism is about 100 tons, and its power is 3.3 megawatts. The bucket of this model is able to accommodate about 50 cubic meters. RH 400 is ready to work even in very harsh weather conditions, thanks to the developed oil heating system. Its engine power is 4500 horsepower, and fuel tank The unit is designed for 15 thousand liters of fuel. The cost of one such copy will cost the buyer in the amount of 14 million US dollars.
One of the largest mining excavators in the world, listed in the Guinness Book of Records. The weight of the mechanism is 14 tons, the height is equal to a thirty-story building, and its length is more than two hundred meters. Bagger 293 was built specifically for digging quarries. A team of five people works to control the machine. The unit moves at a speed of just over 6 km per hour. Every day this machine is capable of shoveling about 3 million cubic meters. In a day's work, the Bagger 293 can dig a hole the size of a football field. On board the special vehicle are lifting mechanisms and workshops for its repair.
The largest Russian mining excavator. Weight giant machine exceeds 1.5 tons, and the volume of the bucket is 57 cubic meters. The R&H4100XRS can process 200 million tons of rock per year, for the export of which six huge BelAZ trucks weighing 320 tons are used. The unit is owned by Kuzbassrazrezugol. With the help of an excavator, the company manages to extract up to 15 million tons of coal per year. Р&Н4100ХРС fully justifies the money that had to be paid for it - its purchase cost the company 575 million rubles. This design is capable of replacing four conventional excavators. The machine is controlled by two excavators, for whom there is also a place to rest and a toilet in the cab.
Also known as Big Brutus, it is one of the most gigantic excavators in the world, created by Bucyrus-Erie. The machine was used for coal mining open way. Big Brutus was able to mine rocks from a depth of more than 20 meters. Bucyrus RH400 annual maximum production (when operating on full power) could cover an area of 260 hectares. During this cycle, the colossus was able to immediately fill 3 huge wagons. The weight of the car is about 900 tons, and the power of its engine is 4400 horsepower. The length of the Big Brutus caterpillars exceeds ten meters. Currently, this one-of-a-kind copy is kept in the American Museum of the City of West Mineral.
Completes the ranking of the largest excavators in the world. It was built by Krupp in 1978. The customer for the machine was the mining company Rheinbraun, which needed a machine that could work at very great depths. IN end result the cost of the car resulted in the company 100 million US dollars. An excavator extracts such a quantity of rock per day that it would take about 4 thousand KAMAZ trucks to export it. The Bagger 288 is equipped with 18 buckets, each with a volume of about 7 cubic meters and a height of about 2 meters. It can process about 10 thousand cubic meters of mined rock every hour. The height of the giant is almost equal to 100 meters, and the length exceeds 200 meters. The weight of the whole structure is more than 13 thousand tons. At the same time, a team of four people is working on the Bagger 288. The speed of movement of the colossus is only half a kilometer per hour.
1978 was one of the most iconic years in Krupp's history, as it was then that the world's largest excavator was presented to an astounded public. "Bagger 288", as the famous German company called its brainchild, seemed like a real monster compared to samples of similar equipment that existed at that time. But its creators were guided not by the desire for a sensation, but by quite practical considerations.
Sometimes the depth of mineral deposits is so deep that they are hidden under hundreds and thousands of tons of soil. Standard excavators, just to remove such an obstacle, will have to work for months, which is extremely unprofitable in financial terms. But the largest excavator in the world (rotary type, by the way) instantly proved that it is capable of similar situation complete the task in a few days.
Features of the world's largest excavator
A specific feature of rotary earthmoving equipment is the continuity of the process of choosing the soil, which is what large excavators do. But to ensure it, a special conveyor is needed, along the belt of which the rock ejected from the bucket is immediately transported to a prepared place. A similar site is located away from the development site - a few hundred meters. And in some cases, the same coal, for example, is reloaded directly from the conveyor into suitable coal along the lines laid to its end. railway tracks wagons.
The largest excavators in the world, being exactly the most popular in the coal mining industry. Now there are many modifications of them, and there is almost 100% certainty that at the site of the nearest coal mines, such equipment can be seen in all its glory. And there are plenty of such places in the expanses of the fatherland, and it is not for nothing that our country is among the leaders in terms of coal mining.
Monster with a huge bucket - the largest excavator Bagger 288
But the record holder, that is, in the literal sense, the largest excavator in the world, to this day remains the same “Bagger 288”, with which it all began. Its dimensions are truly colossal - with a length of 240 and a height of 94 meters, the mass of the monster reaches 13.5 tons. And for clarity, the dimensions of the bucket can be compared with an 8-story building, so move 240 thousand cubic meters of soil from place to place during the working day for such colossus - mere trifles.
It remains only to imagine how much energy is required to bring the colossus into action. It should be measured in tens of megawatts, which is commensurate with the energy consumption of the town. large sizes. But each of the mechanisms is driven own engine powered by industrial power grids. A special cable for such purposes of incredible thickness, reaching a kilometer in length, is mounted on a reel, which is part of the machine itself. So its creators took care of the energy saving indicators of the largest excavator in the world.
The speed of the monstrous unit, however, is ridiculous, since it does not exceed 1 km / h, but, given the specifics of the work, it is quite enough. But the pressure on the soil is minimal, due to the presence of 12 almost 4-meter tracks. So the damage to the fields and roads will be done by the Bagger 288 car, no more than by a calmly walking person. And yes, it is very easy to manage.
A team of two operators working in shifts is supplemented only by its head and a worker responsible for coordinating the movement of conveyors. The comfort of their work is provided by a modern mini-change house with everything you need. And its designers placed it closer to the operator's workplace, inside the excavator, the height of which makes reusable descents and ascents, to put it mildly, difficult.
Excavator - common name for earthmoving machines which are equipped with a bucket. There are several dozen modifications of these mechanized devices.
They differ from each other in the way they work (universal construction, mine, trench, single-bucket), in the type of undercarriage used (walking, caterpillar, wheeled, etc.), in purpose, in design and, of course, in size.
Example wheeled excavator- EO 2621.
Applied excavators in construction (including road construction), in quarries, in mine workings. A feature of earth-moving machines of this type is that the bucket (working body) moves independently of the chassis.
In addition to excavators, dump trucks also work in quarries, for example, the largest dumper- BelAZ 75710.
The inventor of the excavator is considered to be Leonardo da Vinci, who created general drawing And circuit diagram machine similar to a modern dragline excavator. The first working excavator was developed by Smith Otis, an American mechanic, in the mid-1930s.
An example of a modern backhoe loader is JBC 3CX.
The largest excavators
Rotary
Biggest bucket wheel excavator in the world(until 1995), used in the coal industry - Bagger 288 (Germany). Its length is 240 m, width - 46, and the height of this giant - 96 meters. Weight - 13,500,000 kg. The excavator rotor has a diameter of 22 meters and makes 48 revolutions per minute. you can see it in the photo above.
The number of buckets is 18, the volume of each of them is 6.6 cubic meters. meters. This unit is equipped with 16 electric motors total power 560 kW. For work, he needs as much energy as would be enough for the needs of a medium-sized village - 16.5 megawatts. In 24 hours, he extracts about 240,000 cubic meters of coal.
Bagger is served by 4 people. There is a kitchen and bathroom on board. Bagger 288- crawler excavator, its speed is not more than 600 m/h. The caterpillars have twelve supports, which allows you not to push the ground too much when moving. The famous company Krupp created this colossus.
More detailed information shown in the video:
The car costs about one hundred million dollars.
But in 1995, another one was built by the German company TAKRAF Bagger, already at number 293. It weighs over 14,000,000 kg. Although its dimensions are slightly smaller (length is 227 meters, and the height of the machine is 94 meters), according to the Guinness Book, it is the largest mining excavator in the world.
Productivity - 10,000 cubic meters per hour. The car is operated by a team of five people. The diameter of the Bagger 293 rotor is 21 meters. They built this excavator for five whole years. The cost is over one hundred million dollars.
Walkers
Biggest the walking excavator in the world is the American Big Muskie 4250W. It was assembled right in a coal pit by order of Central Ohio Coal's. Its dimensions (length-width-height) are 148.6x46.2x67.8 m. It weighed 13,000,000 kg. The Big Muskie is a single bucket unit with a bucket capacity of 168 cu. meters.
It was built for two years (from 1967 to 1969), and it worked for 30 years, after which it was dismantled. During its working life, this machine produced 460,000,000 cubic meters of coal. Its production cost $25 million.
hydraulic
German Terex Models RH 400 also collected directly on the spot upcoming work. Assembly was completed in two weeks. It was used to build a dam in Africa. Weight - 980,000 kg, bucket volume - 50 cubic meters. meters. The fuel tank of this giant holds 15,000 liters. The Terex RH 400 is capable of lifting 100,000 kg.
Equipped with two Cummins engines, with a capacity of 2300 liters. With. every. The world's largest hydraulic excavator costs $14 million.
The largest Russian mining excavator
EKG-32R was released in 2009. It was built by the Kuzbassrazrezugol company. It is considered the largest unit equipped with a mechanical straight shovel. The weight of the excavator is 1,000,000 kg. Bucket volume - 32 cubic meters, EKG-32R can ship up to 30,000 cubic meters. meters of rock per day. Equipped with a modernized electric drive.
Rating of crawler excavators
Large wheel mining excavators usually created in single copy and work in the same place. Among crawler excavators produced in small batches, too there are giants:
- Bucyrus RH400. Year of manufacture of the first model - 1997. Manufacturer - Caterpillar (see). Equipped with an engine (16 cylinders) with a capacity of 4400 liters. With. Weight - 889,000 kg. Bucket volume - 45 cubic meters. Very large crawler excavator, tracks 11 meters long.
2.Hitachi EX8000-6. Released in 2012. The height of the car is 10 meters. Weight - 811,000 kg. The width of the bucket is 8.65 meters, the volume is 45 cubic meters. The excavator is equipped with two diesel engines(16 cylinders), the combined power of which is 3880 liters. With. The first unit of this modification was used for coal mining in Australia.
3.Liebherr R9800. Year of manufacture - 2008. The bucket has a volume of 45 cubic meters. Excavator weight - 800,000 kg, power - 3280 liters. With.
4.Demag H740 OS. It was created in 1999 to work in Canada, on sandy soils. Bucket volume - 40 cubic meters, power - 4000 liters. With.
5. Komatsu PC8000-6. Japanese car weighing 710,000 kg and 8 meters high. The Komatsu bucket holds 38 cubic meters of rock. Power reaches 4000 liters. With.
6. Liebherr R 996. Height - 8 meters, weight - 676,000 kg. Bucket length - 10 meters, volume - 36 cubic meters. Engine power - 3000 l. With.
7. Hitachi EX5600-6. The production of these excavators began in 2012. Equipped with an EX5600-6 engine, power - 3000 hp. With. It weighs 573,000 kg, the bucket volume is 29 cubic meters.
8.Komatsu PC5500-6. Earthmoving machine with two engines, weighing 500,000 kg. Total power - 2520 liters. With. Bucket capacity - 29 cubic meters.
All excavators that compete in our ranking for the title of the largest in the world can be divided into two groups. In fact, these are two different weight categories, each of which has its own champion. Like in boxing.
So, the first group is hydraulic excavators (or excavators with hydraulic drive). By analogy with boxing, this is a small or medium weight. Are applied to loading of the blown-up rock.
Fourth place - the German giant Demag H740 OS: 
It already weighs 744 tons, but the bucket volume and power are almost the same as those of the Japanese counterpart.
Third place - Liebherr R9800 (Switzerland):
The mass of the machine is 800 tons, the volume of the bucket is 42 cubic meters. meters, but the power is less than 3900 "horses". This is understandable, the more modern the excavator, the easier it is to cope with its own weight due to technology.
Second place - Hitachi EX8000-6 (Japan):
Weight - 811 tons! Meanwhile, the score between Asia and Europe is still 2:2. There are already two Japanese excavators in the top five, one German and one Swiss. Who will get the first place?
Meet our winner - RH400 from American Terex:
It would seem that the dispute between Europe and Asia remained open due to the intervention of the American? However, it is not. Despite the fact that Terex is an American company, the Germans from O&K assembled the excavator. So victory for Europe! By the way, under this brand are produced.
With a weight of more than 1000 tons ( absolute record), the excavator has a bucket of 45 cubic meters. meters and a load capacity of 95 tons. For an hour of work, this giant is able to dig and load about 10 thousand tons of rock!
Video about Terex RH400:
Well, now let's turn our eyes to heavy weight - mining excavators. A quarry excavator, unlike a hydraulic one, which, by the way, also works in a quarry, extracts the rock itself. Third place is the Big Muskie mining excavator, designed in 1969 by the American company Bucyrus Erie to work in a coal mine in Ohio:
This excavator is walking. Unlike, its principle of movement is different. The excavator "sits" on the base plate, then rises on special hydraulic supports, and the base plate moves forward. Further, the plate is lowered and the supports are already moving forward. The step process is then repeated. The length of the excavator is almost 150 meters (one and a half football fields), and the volume of the bucket is 168 cubic meters. meters:
In 1999 after 30 years continuous work excavator resource has been exhausted. It was dismantled, and its famous ladle was placed in a museum in Ohio. Second place - Bagger 288 from the largest German industrial concern Krupp:
Excavators are earthmoving machines that have different purposes. They can be used for digging quarries, holes for building houses, and also for mining. All mechanisms differ not only in technical characteristics, appearance, but also in size. The top 10 includes the largest excavators in the world in the history of earthmoving.
Rating of the largest excavators:
Excavator #10: Hitachi EX8000-6
Hitachi EX8000-6 - a modern hydraulic excavator from Hitachi company opens the rating of large excavators. The machine was built in 2012 for coal mining. Compared to other representatives of the rating, it cannot boast of very impressive dimensions, but despite this it has good performance. At a time, the mechanism is able to lift up to 75 tons, and its power is 3880 horsepower. Hitachi EX8000-6 is about 10 meters high and over 30 meters long. The bucket volume of this model is 40 cubic meters.
No. 9: Marion 6360
Marion 6360 is one of the ten largest excavators in the world. Its creator is the American company Marion Power Shovel, which was built in 1965. Merion's weight was about 13 thousand tons, and the length of his arrow exceeded 67 meters. Eskasaur was in operation for more than three decades. It fell into disrepair after a malfunction occurred in the mechanism in 1991, which led to spontaneous combustion of the machine. The restoration of the structure was considered impractical, therefore, after this incident, the legendary Marion 6360 was disposed of.
Excavator #8: Demag H740 OS
The Demag H740 OS is one of the largest mining shovels in the world, designed in 1999 to work in the sandy areas of Canada. The weight of the mechanism exceeds 700 tons, and the bucket is capable of lifting up to 40 cubic meters of sand at a time.
No. 7: ESH 100\100
ESh 100 \ 100 is the largest Soviet walking excavator, the creator of which was Uralmash in 1976. The volume of the giant's bucket was about 100 cubic meters, and the length of the boom was 100 meters. ESH 100\100 was in operation for 15 years, after which it was disposed of for scrap.
#6: Big Muskie
Big Muskie is the world's largest walking excavator, created in the second half of the last century by the American company Bucyrus-Erie. The total mass of the colossus is about 13 thousand tons. The Big Muskie is almost 68 meters high, over 46 meters wide and about 150 meters long. The dragline has a bucket capacity of 168 cubic meters - enough space to fit two buses. It took the company two whole years to build it, and its final cost was 25 million US dollars. Big Muskie needed to consume enough electricity to power about 30,000 apartments. The machine was in operation for 30 years. During this period of time, 20 million tons of coal were mined by dragline.
Large Excavator #5: RH 400
The RH 400 is the largest hydraulic excavator in the world built by the German company O&K. The weight of the mechanism is about 100 tons, and its power is 3.3 megawatts. The bucket of this model is able to accommodate about 50 cubic meters. RH 400 is ready to work even in very harsh weather conditions, thanks to the developed oil heating system. The power of its engine is 4500 horsepower, and the fuel tank of the unit is designed for 15 thousand liters of fuel. The cost of one such copy will cost the buyer in the amount of 14 million US dollars.
#4: Bagger 293
Bagger 293 is one of the largest mining excavators in the world, listed in the Guinness Book of Records. The weight of the mechanism is 14 tons, the height is equal to a thirty-story building, and its length is more than two hundred meters. Bagger 293 was built specifically for digging quarries. A team of five people works to control the machine. The unit moves at a speed of just over 6 km per hour. Every day this machine is capable of shoveling about 3 million cubic meters. In a day's work, the Bagger 293 can dig a hole the size of a football field. On board the special vehicle there are lifting mechanisms and workshops for its repair.
Excavator #3: P&H4100XPC
Р&Н4100ХРС is the largest Russian mining excavator. The mass of the giant machine exceeds 1.5 tons, and the volume of the bucket is 57 cubic meters. The R&H4100XRS can process 200 million tons of rock per year, for the export of which six huge BelAZ trucks weighing 320 tons are used. The unit is owned by Kuzbassrazrezugol. With the help of an excavator, the company manages to extract up to 15 million tons of coal per year. Р&Н4100ХРС fully justifies the money that had to be paid for it - its purchase cost the company 575 million rubles. This design is capable of replacing four conventional excavators. The machine is controlled by two excavators, for whom there is also a place to rest and a toilet in the cab.
#2: Bucyrus RH400
Bucyrus RH400, also known as Big Brutus, is one of the most gigantic excavators in the world, created by Bucyrus-Erie. The machine was used for opencast coal mining. Big Brutus was able to mine rocks from a depth of more than 20 meters. The annual maximum productivity of the Bucyrus RH400 (when running at full capacity) could be an area of 260 hectares. During this cycle, the colossus was able to immediately fill 3 huge wagons. The weight of the car is about 900 tons, and the power of its engine is 4400 horsepower. The length of the Big Brutus caterpillars exceeds ten meters. Currently, this one-of-a-kind copy is kept in the American Museum of the City of West Mineral.
Biggest Excavator #1: Bagger 288
Bagger 288 completes the ranking of the largest excavators in the world. It was built by Krupp in 1978. The customer for the machine was the mining company Rheinbraun, which needed a machine that could work at very great depths. As a result, the cost of the car resulted in the company 100 million US dollars. An excavator extracts such a quantity of rock per day that it would take about 4 thousand KAMAZ trucks to export it.
The Bagger 288 is equipped with 18 buckets, each with a volume of about 7 cubic meters and a height of about 2 meters. It can process about 10 thousand cubic meters of mined rock every hour. The height of the giant is almost equal to 100 meters, and the length exceeds 200 meters. The weight of the whole structure is more than 13 thousand tons. At the same time, a team of four people is working on the Bagger 288. The speed of movement of the colossus is only half a kilometer per hour.
