I see hydraulic excavators still in service from the 60's and early 70's that are designed with the boom on the left side of the operator, rather than on the right. It appears that at some point in time, excavator manufacturers changed the boom location, and I do not see any recently manufactured machines with the boom located on the left. Websites that offer snapshots of excavator history (that I have found) do not provide any insights into why (or when) the change occurred. I am curious to know why - are there any individuals on this forum that can help me with this question?
Here is an old forum thread on the subject. HeavyEquipmentForums Check here too (about 7 posts into it). https://talk.newagtalk.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=599471&DisplayType=flat&setCookie=1
Because rail road engineers ran the trains from the right side of the engine. A lot of cable shovels were built by railroad engine manufacturers.
P&H had the cabs on the right into the late 70's yet Massey Ferguson excavators designed in the US had the cab on the left from the get go in about 1967. I don't think it matters too much but maybe because most countries the drivers seat in a car is on the left side so they made excavators similar.
Massey Ferguson never made railroad engines.
I think a right side cab would be strange. As an operator, I like to see the drivers side of the truck, and as a truck driver, I always look at the operator when backing in. Most of the time, they never blow the horn, just nod.
Massey Ferguson were early with hydraulic excavators. Photograph - Massey Ferguson, Railway Shunting Steam Engine, Sunshine Factory, Victoria, 1960s (museumsvictoria.com.au)
P&H Mining Shovels still have a right hand house. After running one, it would be weird if it was on the other side.
Most of those were built in Britain and Australia, same guy that designed the AC Bristol.
Ever hear of the Lima Locomotive company. How about Lima shovels. Maybe Marion and Bucyrus Erie came before Massey Ferguson in making shovels?
I think it was just tradition from the old cable machines. I ran a few old machines with right side cab, I didn't have a problem with it. (I was just breaking in then, so I didn't have anything to compare it to)
Dozer pipelayers have the boom on the left. I would have thought maybe it was like draglines and stripping shovels. Looking at photo's the cab is on the left. Which might have come from initial development in the UK maybe? Driver sits on the right (the correct) side in cars. But then I found a photo of a Ruston Hornsby steam, shovel and the boom is on the right.
You're absolutely right. But around here I saw a few bigger machines moved on a lowbed with the hoe operator in the cab to swing when going around corners. I guess it was too high folded in? So if you're on the right side, the lowboy driver should be able to see your side of the cab in the mirror? I don't know. If I remember correctly Lima and Marion both had left side cabs. Bucyrus Erie was on the right.
The first excavator I ever got up close and personal with was my uncle’s big old American 35. Flat crane pads, cab on right, Detroit power.
I have seen photos of Lima shovels on the right side but most of the photos found today show them on the left side of the house.
Photos of Lima and Bucyrus.
I've see pictures of Cat excavators with the cab on the right until I looked closer and they were actually Tac machines. Bob
I ran a HyHoe on a pipeline in the late 1960's. The cab was on the right. I believe they were made by Hymac or a company similar to that name.
Lima has the cab on the left. The first 360 hyd. excavator was the Demag 504 in 1954 and had the cab on the left. Early Buycyrus shovels and some Marions also had the cab on the left so there might not be any rhyme or reason for which side the cab was on. Found a video of a very old Erie shovel with the cab on the left. Maarakennus koneita.: Demag exavator (maxim-ex.blogspot.com) 104 Year Old Steam Shovel Working - YouTube
I ran a 45 briefly on a landfill closure job for tri-state. It had a huge hoe pack on it. I remember it had some buttons on the largish control knobs/handles that did questionable functions, and you had to counterswing it pretty hard. It also had a very weak travel motor and you played hell climbing it up out of the cut.
Did you ever get to run their Koehring 1466. Twin Detroits to scream at you all day long.
This is easy to make, most likely a mirror image. The absence of any decals usually proves it.
No, that American was the only old iron I ran for them. Most of my time there was on a 988B with spade bucket. I loaded out 90,000 yards of topsoil from a nearby farm for final cover.
Tommy still driving the train there? Or has he retired?
I believe he was saying Massey excavator. An excavator is not a shovel. Stop trying to pick a fight! Not sure what your problem with Welder Dave is, but I am tired of it. You're treading dangerously close to becoming an online troll, and if it keeps up, I'm going to request the big bull with the ring in his nose do something!
Yeah your right about that, but something about the shape of the main body doesn't look right or the boom. Don't know.
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Actually a hydraulic excavator can be a shovel .just depends on what front is on it . The trouble with people on here is a lot of them are not familiar with what they are talking about . Bob
When I worked for them if you mean Tri state from Seattle they had 2 1266 machines ,one DD one Cummins . The last one they had sold for 7500 USD at their clean up sale a few years back. Bob
Old Northwest Shovels had Cab to Right Side, Detroit engine in them could be built to rotate Either direction accorded to manufacturer specs, frictions were on Right side where linkages were shorter(less Slop) with cab on right.
yes that was the outfit. It was the Chehalis landfill closure job. The exact year evades me Mid-late 90's?
Both men have a lot to contribute to this forum, and I read and respect comments from both, but whatever the dirt is between them can be aired through private messaging, hense the post about this being a great place to hang out and get info. time to move on, and not keep the issue going. I get upset with people on here as well, weather through a direct comment, or something that I might have misread, but I am 48 years old, and I get over it and move on.
Mother Deuce-using a excavator with bucket turned as a shovel.
Tri-State closed up some years ago now. The liquidated all the assets as I recall in a Ritchie auction. My memory keeps getting darker all the time. It was a 1266 and I had to appraise it twice. There was a 1466 on that Queen City Farms job that was brought in from out of state. This is the first time I've heard a price on that machine. They were upset when only $10K was offered on a trade. The shovel on the machine in my avatar was removed and a sixty foot crane boom was installed. Does that mean it is no longer a shovel? At that time it used a clamshell bucket. Years later when I came across it again, it had a dragline bucket installed. Is it still no longer a shovel? All the "excavators" made in Japan have an extra hydraulic circuit installed so that a shovel front can be installed and a clam style shovel bucket used. It seems the job that they accomplish is how something is named. So why is a backhoe that digs the same way as an excavator not called an excavator? By the inverse reasoning why isn't an excavator just called a backhoe?
Really handy sometimes!
Thanks John... had no idea they packed it in. Really liked Tommy.
I think you're being a little overly dramatic, I didn't really see a fight being picked until your comment. Simply two guys with a minor disagreement. If you see something you don't like, shrug your shoulders, be an adult and move on. We have an awesome site here and we don't need it to become FaceBook.
I was taught that the cable machines were a basic shovel until you added a front, then they became what the front was. A crane ,a clamshell, a dragline, a backhoe, a shovel or a log shovel. I guess the hydraulic machines are excavators if they have a backhoe front on them, and a shovel when they have a shovel front or a log shovel front on them. Tri state was an interesting outfit to be nice . That 1266 may have sold for 6500 but7500 sticks in my mind and it still ran. if I go out to the shop in the morning and get distracted I have to feel the truck motor to see if its warm. if it is I just got home ,if it's cold I haven't left yet. Bob
Really? If you were paying attention, for some reason the afore mentioned member seems to have something to say about every comment Dave makes. Now maybe he is trying to poke the bear, or he just likes being a prick. If you don't like my comment on the matter, bring it up with the moderators. I don't have 5 cents invested in the place. If you can't see him tying to get someones ire up, then I would suggest you are dangerously under qualified to tell anyone they are being overly dramatic. If your education allows you the ability to type, then you must be able to read. If you could read, you can see I was asking him to get over it. As I see from farther comments, he is also trying to get me to bite on the shovel, excavator thing. I have no doubt that he has lots of experience, it evident in his posts, and I will never question that. I would suggest that you take your own advice and move along
Ya know you should fill out one of those "hurt feelings " forms and submit it to the management on here maybe they could offer you some help. Bob
It's been so long but I think that's the name I remember too, not a very big guy.
No... average height Wore glasses salt and pepper hair... in the early to mid 90’s he was wheeling a gray Chevy trailblazer. Really knew what he was doing.
I worked at an iron mine in NE Minnesota in the 70's. They had Marion 191M and BE 280B electric shovels with 2 cabs. They had some kind of a switch in the house for changing cabs. I had a C-451 Bantam Excavator which was all hydraulic vs a C-450 which was a combo. It had a cab on the right also. FWD
he was in the company truck for this job, I think. He has to be long retired now.
LOL! Yeah you're probably right. I don't have much of a concept of people aging after I don't see them for a long time. I somehow view them as being the same as the day I last saw them!
I think your MAGA hat is too tight. Your comebacks are terrible.
Are we getting politically offensive. We American deplorable, rednecks clinging to our guns and religion sometimes don't like 'foreigners' commenting on our hats or hat sizes. I usually keep my hat on pretty tight to keep the hot North winds from blowing it off.
This Warner-Swazey is on FB mktplace for sale in Mass. description says it leaks a bit...
I think that I will speak for more than a few on here, and have started a thread or two on these type of matters, so here goes. I don't make it a point to chime in on every single thing that I have knowledge on, nor do I try and play moderator. That being said, after I spent about 20 minutes looking through your posts, I see you have a penchant for flaunting rules and throwing gas. Just an FYI, that type doesn't last long around here. Most of us (including you, by your own admission) are old enough to understand that nobody can see eye to eye perfectly with everybody all the time. If a couple members want to **** in each other's coffee from time to time, so be it. It truly saddens me when guys like RZucker and TC choose to leave, I guess it is what it is, but calling these guys out publically is not going to help the situation at all. Sidenote: I am fully aware that I am, in essence, "calling you out", but hopefully you'll understand what I'm saying. Merry Christmas
Machines, Arguing, Guns, Ammo? How is that politically offensive? My 4 favorite topics. I don't think red neck has anything to do with it. Anyway I am fully aware what you are saying. arguing is one thing, but nit picking at everything someone says because of an underlying issue is another, but I'll take the hint.
The Hopto was one of the busiest machines I ever sat in. 4 pedals on the one to swing right and one for left, a pedal to open the bucket and one to close. By the time you loaded a few trucks you may as well been running a Northwest.
At that vintage, if it didn't leak a bit you'd best put some in the tank
Ran these RH cab Insley's back in the day. This one would be early 70's vintage likely. And as the above post mentioned, seems they all leaked somewhere!!
Is that a 710 in the background?
I don't know.....we were on vacation in rural New Hampshire when I spotted the Insley H875 alongside the road & had to stop! It had been 40+ years since I sat in the seat of one of these!!
I had forgotten, the 1500 was the first excavator I ran and it was right side drive.
Speaking of Insley, I just resurrected an 875 from a local guy getting too old to work on them. Engine (Detroit 471) was seized, had to repack a cylinder, change a hose or two, scrape/wash 30 years of dirt and grease off, weld up the cracks I found and repin the tracks. Enlarged one of our ponds with it, so it's time for a hydraulic fluid change (never seen it look like milk). The plan was to use it a bit to see if it still has life before doing the fluid change. Works for what we do!
A couple more pics.
sweet rig!
Early on excavators had mechanical controls to the hydraulic banks and the front of the engines on the right-hand side. My guess is that keeping all the hydraulics on the left made it easier to manufacture. The early Hitachis also had rods going from the control banks to the pumps to control the swash plates ,again another reason for left mounted cabs.
True, I've seen a Hein/Werner H12D with push rods to the valve banks, and push/pull cables on Insley's. The cables would have to be even longer if it were on the other side. I changed an Insley 560B to push rods because the cables were very hard to move. It was easier and much cheaper than replacing 7 large push/pull cables ($$$). Who knows, maybe there wasn't any particular reason at all, just the easy or logical way to design it!