Ancillary Equipment

Tyre shortages have been a serious issue for quarry operators for some time and with no quick fix on the horizon, fitting of tyre protection chains could provide the answer. Bridgestone's fire at its Togichi tyre factory in Japan, combined with a global construction boom, has resulted in a shortage of tyres for large construction equipment. In recent years reports of expensive tyres, big machines standing idle, lost production and reduced revenues - all for want of a tyre have become common.

Electric drives still provide worthy competition to mechanical drives in the rigid truck sector. ABE takes a look at the history

In the rigid chassis truck sector, there has long been a rivalry between the mechanical and electric driveline concepts. The origins of diesel-electric trucks go back many years and these were developed as a solution to the shortcomings of early mechanical drivelines, which suffered reliability issues.

Early failures of gearboxes, differentials, driveshafts and halfshafts re

The economic crisis may have helped end the tyre shortage but what impact has the shortage had on tyre use in Europe. Claire Symes reports. "It Is Important to have the premIum new tyres back In the market as It gIve us premIum casIngs for retreadIng"

Switching the tyres on its loading and hauling fleet to Michelin's premium tyres has boosted the operation of Hills Quarry Products. No matter how much money is invested in new loading and hauling equipment in quarries, if the tyres are not up to the terrain then the full advantages will not be delivered. One UK-based quarry group that made the decision to upgrade the tyres used by its whole fleet has been reaping the benefits with fewer tyre related breakdowns.

Caterpillar has said that it will build a new US$150million [€111.25million] factory in India to produce Perkins-branded 4000 Series engines. The company is also reported as saying that it is investing an additional $62million [€46million] in its existing off-highway truck manufacturing facility in Chennai, India. The new investment to expand truck capacity in Chennai is in addition to a $108 million [€80million] investment for Chennai that Caterpillar announced in 2010. Trucks produced in India include min

Operating or walking close to moving machines presents quarry workers with a greater risk of accidents. ABE looks at technology aimed to protect the workforce. Quarrying equipment is by nature large and heavy but this presents some major risks to people working in the quarry. For machine operators, just accessing and exiting the cab can be dangerous, plus there is the risk of overturning while manoeuvring around the site. There is also the issue of visibility and ensuring the safety of quarry workers when t

Legislation may have influenced recent technological development but the diesel engine is still ubiquitous when it comes to powering construction equipment. ABE takes a look at its inventor, Rudolph Diesel. While the latest machines are using hybrid technology to improve efficiency, almost all construction equipment owes its mechanical ability to the power of the diesel engine. But until Rudolph Diesel launched his first synonymous engine, the construction equipment and aggregates processing industry relied