Ripping can not only loosen soil (such as podzol hardpan) in agricultural and construction applications but break shaly rock or pavement into easily handled small rubble.Ī variant of the ripper is the stumpbuster, a single spike protruding horizontally used to split a tree stump. The ripper is equipped with a replaceable tungsten steel alloy tip, known as a boot. Usually a single shank is preferred for heavy ripping. Ripper Multishank ripper A Caterpillar D10N bulldozer equipped with a single-shank ripperĪ ripper is a long, claw-like shank that may be mounted singly or in multiples on the rear of a bulldozer to loosen hard and impacted materials. Dozer blades may be mounted on main battle tanks to clear antitank obstacles or mines, and dig improvised shelters. Dozer blades with a reinforced center section for pushing are known as "bull blades".ĭozer blades are added to combat engineering vehicles and other military equipment, such as artillery tractors such as the Type 73 or M8 Tractor, to clear battlefield obstacles and prepare firing positions. The towed Fresno Scraper, invented in 1883 by James Porteous, was the first design to enable this to be done economically, removing the soil from an area being cut and depositing where needed as fill. Sometimes, a bulldozer is used to push or pull another piece of earth-moving equipment known as a " scraper" to increase productivity. All can be lifted, some, with additional hydraulic cylinders, can be tilted to vary the angle up to one side. It is typically used for pushing large rocks, as at a quarry.īlades can be fitted straight across the frame, or at an angle. combination ("S-U", or semi-U), shorter, with less curvature and smaller side wings.universal ("U blade"), tall and very curved, with large side wings to maximize load.straight ("S blade"), short with no lateral curve or side wings.The bulldozer's primary tools are the blade and the ripper:īlade Bulldozer blade Komatsu bulldozer pushing up to 7 m 3 with semi-U tilt dozer These traits allow bulldozers to excel in road building, construction, mining, forestry, land clearing, infrastructure development, and any other projects requiring highly mobile, powerful, and stable earth-moving equipment.Ī variant is the all-wheel-drive wheeled bulldozer, which generally has four large rubber-tired wheels, hydraulically operated articulated steering, and a hydraulically actuated blade mounted forward of the articulation joint. Bulldozers have transmission systems designed to take advantage of the track system and provide excellent tractive force.
Extra-wide tracks are known as swamp tracks or low ground pressure (lgp) tracks. Wide tracks also help distribute the vehicle's weight over a large area (decreasing ground pressure), thus preventing it from sinking in sandy or muddy ground. The tracks give them excellent traction and mobility through very rough terrain. Typically, bulldozers are large and powerful tracked heavy equipment. The term originally referred only to the blade attachment but is now commonly applied to any crawler tractor with a front mounted blade. The word is sometimes used inaccurately for other heavy equipment such as a front-end loader designed for carrying rather than pushing material. The word "bulldozer" refers only to a motorized unit fitted with a blade designed for pushing. Its most popular accessory is a ripper, a large hook-like device mounted singly or in multiples in the rear to loosen dense materials.īulldozers are used heavily in large and small scale construction, road building, minings and quarrying, on farms, in heavy industry factories, and in military applications in both peace and wartime.
It travels most commonly on continuous tracks, though specialized models riding on large off-road tires are also produced. A large bulldozer with multi-tine ripper, the Caterpillar D9Ī bulldozer or dozer (also called a crawler) is a large, motorized machine equipped with a metal blade to the front for pushing material: soil, sand, snow, rubble, or rock during construction work. For other uses, see Bulldozer (disambiguation).