Grader
Encyclopedia
Axle
An axle is a central shaft for a rotating wheel or gear. On wheeled vehicles, the axle may be fixed to the wheels, rotating with them, or fixed to its surroundings, with the wheels rotating around the axle. In the former case, bearings or bushings are provided at the mounting points where the axle...
s, with the engine
Engine
An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert energy into useful mechanical motion. Heat engines, including internal combustion engines and external combustion engines burn a fuel to create heat which is then used to create motion...
and cab
Cabin (truck)
The cab of a truck is an enclosed space in a truck where the driver is seated. The word originated as a short form of cabriolet, not cabin. Some may refer to the tractor unit of a semi-trailer truck as a cab, but this is not the subject of this article...
situated above the rear axles at one end of the vehicle and a third axle at the front end of the vehicle, with the blade
Blade
A blade is that portion of a tool, weapon, or machine with a cutting edge and/or a pointed tip that is designed to cut and/or puncture, stab, slash, chop, slice, thrust, or scrape animate or inanimate surfaces or materials...
in between. In certain countries, for example in Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, almost every grader is equipped with a second blade that is placed in front of the front axle. Some construction personnel refer to the entire machine as "the blade."
In civil engineering
Civil engineering
Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings...
, the grader's purpose is to "finish grade" (refine, set precisely) the "rough grading" performed by heavy equipment or engineering vehicles such as scrapers
Wheel tractor-scraper
In civil engineering, a wheel tractor-scraper is a piece of heavy equipment used for earthmoving.The rear part has a vertically moveable hopper with a sharp horizontal front edge. The hopper can be hydraulically lowered and raised. When the hopper is lowered, the front edge cuts into the soil or...
and bulldozer
Bulldozer
A bulldozer is a crawler equipped with a substantial metal plate used to push large quantities of soil, sand, rubble, etc., during construction work and typically equipped at the rear with a claw-like device to loosen densely-compacted materials.Bulldozers can be found on a wide range of sites,...
s.
Graders can produce inclined surfaces, to give cant
Cant (road/rail)
The cant of a railway track or a road is the difference in elevation between the two edges...
(camber) to roads. In some countries they are used to produce drainage ditches with shallow V-shaped cross-sections on either side of highways.
Dirt road
Dirt road is a common term for an unpaved road made from the native material of the land surface through which it passes, known to highway engineers as subgrade material. Dirt roads are suitable for vehicles; a narrower path for pedestrians, animals, and possibly small vehicles would be called a...
s and gravel road
Gravel road
A gravel road is a type of unpaved road surfaced with gravel that has been brought to the site from a quarry or stream bed. They are common in less-developed nations, and also in the rural areas of developed nations such as Canada and the United States. In New Zealand, they are known as 'metal roads'...
s. In the construction of paved roads they are used to prepare the base course
Base course
Base Course in pavements refers to the sub-layer material of an asphalt roadway and is placed directly on top of the undisturbed soil so as to provide a foundation to support the top layer of the pavement...
to create a wide flat surface for the asphalt
Asphalt
Asphalt or , also known as bitumen, is a sticky, black and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid that is present in most crude petroleums and in some natural deposits, it is a substance classed as a pitch...
to be placed on. Graders are also used to set native soil
Soil
Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...
foundation
Foundation (architecture)
A foundation is the lowest and supporting layer of a structure. Foundations are generally divided into two categories: shallow foundations and deep foundations.-Shallow foundations:...
pads to finish grade prior to the construction of large buildings.
In some locales such as Northern Europe
Northern Europe
Northern Europe is the northern part or region of Europe. Northern Europe typically refers to the seven countries in the northern part of the European subcontinent which includes Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Finland and Sweden...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, and places in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, graders are often used in municipal and residential snow removal
Snow removal
Snow removal is the job of removing snow after a snowfall to make travel easier and safer. This is done by both individual households and by governments and institutions.-De-icing and anti-icing:...
. In scrubland and grassland areas of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, graders are often an essential piece of equipment on ranch
Ranch
A ranch is an area of landscape, including various structures, given primarily to the practice of ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle or sheep for meat or wool. The word most often applies to livestock-raising operations in the western United States and Canada, though...
es, large farm
Farm
A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...
s, and plantation
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
s to make dirt tracks where the absence of rocks and trees means bulldozers are not required. A more recent innovation is the outfitting of graders with GPS technology, such as manufactured by Topcon Positioning Systems, Inc.
Topcon
Topcon is a Japanese manufacturer of optical equipment for ophthalmology and surveying. Their headquarters are in Itabashi, Tokyo. They are affiliated with Toshiba, which holds 40% of Topcon's stock.-History of Topcon:...
, Trimble Navigation, Leica Geosystems
Leica Geosystems
Leica Geosystems based in eastern Switzerland produces products and systems for surveying and geographical measurement...
or Mikrofyn for precise grade control and (potentially) "stakeless" construction.
Capacities range from a blade width of 2.50 to 7.30 m and engines from 93–373 kW
Kw
kw or KW may refer to:* Kuwait, ISO 3166-1 country code** .kw, the country code top level domain for Kuwait* Kilowatt* Self-ionization of water Kw* Cornish language's ISO 639 code* Kitchener–Waterloo, Ontario, Canada...
(125–500 hp
Horsepower
Horsepower is the name of several units of measurement of power. The most common definitions equal between 735.5 and 750 watts.Horsepower was originally defined to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses in continuous operation. The unit was widely adopted to measure the...
). Certain graders can operate multiple attachments, or be used for separate tasks like underground mining.
Manufacturers
- Case CorporationCase CorporationCase Corporation was a manufacturer of construction and agricultural equipment. In 1999 it merged with New Holland to form CNH Global, a Fiat Group division...
- Caterpillar Inc.Caterpillar Inc.Caterpillar Inc. , also known as "CAT", designs, manufactures, markets and sells machinery and engines and sells financial products and insurance to customers via a worldwide dealer network. Caterpillar is the world's largest manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas...
- Deere & CompanyDeere & CompanyDeere & Company, usually known by its brand name John Deere , is an American corporation based in Moline, Illinois, and the leading manufacturer of agricultural machinery in the world. In 2010, it was listed as 107th in the Fortune 500 ranking...
- Galion Iron WorksGalion Iron WorksGalion Iron Works is the name of the company that build Galion brand construction equipment. World famous for their graders that shaped the roads of the world, a saying emerged that "All roads lead to Galion." They also manufactured rollers, cranes, asphalt millers and even riding sqeegees among...
- Komatsu Limited
- LiuGong Construction Machinery, LLC.LiuGong Construction Machinery, LLC.LiuGong Construction Machinery Also known as, Guangxi LiuGong Machinery Co., Ltd. is China's largest construction equipment manufacturer and ranks 21st largest in the world. LiuGong both manufacturers and sells its construction equipment around the world...
- Mitsubishi Heavy IndustriesMitsubishi Heavy Industries, or MHI, is a Japanese company. It is one of the core companies of Mitsubishi Group.-History:In 1870 Yataro Iwasaki, the founder of Mitsubishi took a lease of Government-owned Nagasaki Shipyard. He named it Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works, and started the shipbuilding business on a full scale...
- New Holland Machine CompanyNew Holland Machine CompanyThe New Holland Machine Company was founded in 1895, when a young man by the name of Abram Zimmerman purchased a horse barn in New Holland, Pennsylvania and established a blacksmith shop....
- TerexTerexTerex Corporation is an American-based diversified global manufacturer of a broad range of heavy equipment for a variety of industries, including construction, infrastructure, quarrying, recycling, surface mining, shipping, transportation, refining, utility and maintenance...
- Volvo Construction EquipmentVolvo Construction EquipmentVolvo Construction Equipment is a subsidiary and business area of AB Volvo. Volvo Construction Equipment develops, manufactures and markets equipment for the construction and related industries.- Overview :...
- SINOMACH Heavy Industry Corporation
External links
- A Road-Scraper That Cuts Through Snow, Popular SciencePopular SciencePopular Science is an American monthly magazine founded in 1872 carrying articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. Popular Science has won over 58 awards, including the ASME awards for its journalistic excellence in both 2003 and 2004...
monthly, February 1919, page 26, Scanned by Google Books: http://books.google.com/books?id=7igDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA26