What is a bulldozer?
A bulldozer is a heavy piece of earthmoving equipment which uses a front-mounted ‘dozer’ blade to push soil forward and create a level surface for construction sites. A modern bulldozer consists of a tracked chassis, protective driver cage, rear-mounted ripper claw and a variety of front-mounted blades. Some militaries add armor plating to a standard bulldozer for even more protection and deconstruction power. The earliest bulldozer models were little more than farming tractors equipped with straight front-mounted plates for rough landscaping and plowing. Earthmoving equipment manufacturers such as Case, Terex and International Harvester refined the basic design, curving the front blade for improved cutting power through hardened topsoil. Another modification was the addition of a rear-mounted ‘ripper claw’ for breaking up boulders and sections of roadway materials. Some bulldozer blades can also slice through trees or double as front-end loader buckets. There are several theories conc
A bulldozer is a large and powerful crawler tractor that is usually equipped with a front blade that is used to move large amounts of soil, rubble and rock. A bulldozer can even be used to push equipment such as tractor scrapers. The term bulldozer is typically used to describe the crawler tractor variety of equipment and not the rubber tired variety. Crawler dozer blades can be found in a variety of styles including: • Straight Blade or S-Blade – Shorter blade with no curve or side wings that can be used in fine grading applications • Universal Blade or U-Blade – A tall and very curved blade with large side wings that allow it to push more material • S-U Blade – A combination blade that is typically shorter with less curvature and will have smaller side wings. Can be found in a quarry setting. • Angle Blade or A-Blade – This type of blade pivots left or right to allow material to roll off to either side and is used in general applications. • Powered Angle Tilt Blade or PAT Blade – Has
Essentially, a bulldozer may be defined as “a crawler” (or as a caterpillar-tracked tractor) that is equipped with a large amount of metal plating (known as a blade), that is used to push and force forward extensive amounts of soil, sand, rubble, and other items that may be encountered during heavy construction work on construction-sites. The actual term “bulldozer” is regularly utilized to mean any heavy engineering vehicle (such as loaders and track-loaders); but in actuality, the term is only meant to refer to a tractor (and one that is usually tracked) which is specifically fitted with a dozer-blade. ARE THERE ANY MAJOR RISKS POSED BY BULLDOZERS? Yes. Construction sites are distinctly hazardous locations – even at the very best of times. The most common risks posed by bulldozers – and that can lead to serious injury and death – are rollovers on uneven or angled surfaces, such as slopes, gradients and/or hills. Rollovers may result in catastrophic injuries, including severe head-tra
