The Largest Digging Machine In The World

[Jcrowley]

This is the largest digging machine (or trencher or rotating shovel) in the world. It was built by Krupp and is shown here crossing a road in Germany on the way to its destination, an open air coal mine. Although at the mine the treads are unnecessary, it was cheaper to make the machine self-propelled than to try and move it with conventional hauling equipment. Some factoids:

• The machine is 95 meters high and 215 meters long (almost 2.5 football fields in length)
• Weight is 45,500 tons (that's equivalent to a bumper to bumper line of jeeps 80 miles long)
• It took 5 years to design and manufacture at a cost of $100 million
• Maximum digging speed is 10 meters per minute
• Can move more than 76,000 cubic meters of coal, rock, and earth per day

http://adreampuppet.blogspot.com/2006/11/looking-ahead-to-spring-rototilling.html

[flvegan]

1. That'll give me nightmares, for sure.

It'd kick ass in a horror movie. I'm thinking of a new "Maximum Overdrive" with that bad boy.

[petronius]

2. Dayyum! Once they run out of things to dig with that thing,

they can rent it out to Hollywood for SciFi movies...

Weird, cool, and frightening, all at once.

[Jcrowley]

3. Say uh

any chance of bringin' that mother scratcher to DC?

[petronius]

4. If you're thinking about digging out Republican corruption,

you'll probably need two of them...

:)

[Vidar]

7. I like the way you think.

[Richard Steele]

6. When they finally "run out of things to dig with that thing"....

...it will be orbiting the sun in the
middle of an Earth-sized asteroid belt!

I went to see "Big Muskie" once, back in PA.
All the photos in the world cannot make you feel
the same as seeing such a thing with your own eyes.

This thing is even bigger.

[Lautremont]

5. I bet that thing leaves tracks.

MPG, anyone?

[Giant Robot]

20. No

It's gallons per mile.

[MrScorpio]

8. If Godzilla needs a hole in the ground, we know who to call n/t

[BrotherBuzz]

9. Mike Mulligan always told people that Mary Anne could dig...

as much in a day as a hundred men can dig in a week. That monster could eat Mary Anne for breakfast.

[BreweryYardRat]

10. There's a picture out there of one of these with a turned-over dozer.

Dozer's actually on the digging arm. The size difference is amazing.

Unfortunately, my file of said picture is at home (45 mins away) and thus unavailable.

[BrotherBuzz]

12. There's a bulldozer directly below the digging wheel in this photo for comparison

[qnr]

11. Well, it must be good for employment. Imagine all the utility and highway workers

making a path for and cleaning up after that thing. I wonder what they did with the high tension wires? Or did they follow a path to avoid them and only cross areas with buried cables.

[SeattleGirl]

13. Holy macaroli! That is one big machine!!!

:wow:

[rug]

14. The Republicans are rolling that out Tuesday afternoon.

[mainegreen]

15. Looks like something an evil genius my built in his secret lair!

"You must surrender, or I shall destroy your city with my machine! Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!"

[Jcrowley]

17. Maybe

We could dig out an evil genius from his secret bunker with that machine. I'd help with the shipping costs.

[hunter]

16. Coal is going to save America too, don't you know?

Coming soon to farms, small towns, and wildnerness areas near you...

[Deja Q]

22. And automobiles.

[OllieLotte]

18. War of the Worlds...part two. n/t

[slj0101]

19. Cool! That thing is monstrous!

[Deja Q]

21. And the designer's personal digging machine must be 2cm long.

:shrug:

[Flaxbee]

23. terrifying and totally cool

I hate what it's designed to do - rape the earth - but it is an astounding feat of engineering and design...