What is a Drag Line Excavator?

Picture above is a drag line excavator commonly used in strip mining and large excavation projects. Drag line excavator systems are heavy machinery that is used in civil engineering, surface mining, and excavation. With civil engineering, the smaller types are used for road and port construction. The larger types of drag line excavators are used in strip mining operations to extract coal. These are among the largest types of mobile equipment and weigh upwards of 10,000 tons! The drag line excavator bucket system consists of a large bucket that is suspended from a boom. The bucket is moved by a number of chains and ropes. The hoisting rope, which is powered by either a large diesel or electric motor, will support the bucket and hoist coupler assembly from the boom. The drag rope on the assembly is used to draw the bucket assembly horizontally. Through skillful maneuvering of the hoist and drag rope, the bucket can be controlled for many different types of operations. Operating A ...  more