Construction equipment
Construction equipment are medium to extremely large machines that perform, using engine power, a wide range of functions associated with civil engineering or building construction (or demolition). The power source is in a prime mover; the prime mover may have a single construction function (e.g., bulldozer), can have multiple related functions on the same prime mover (e.g., bulldozer and backhoe), or may have the capability to have different functional tools interchanged (e.g., backhoe and crane (mechanical). In military use, a tank or armored personnel carrier chassis may be adapted for construction use as a combat engineering vehicle.
Mobile construction equipment needs extremely good traction, so it either has full continuous tracks, or large wheels with a very large tread. Neither is appropriate to road transit, so the equipment is usually taken to the jobsite on a "lowboy" trailer or truck with a ramp over which the equipment can drive. Some construction equipment is permanent (e.g., a large overhead crane for lifting containers or material at a port), and some, such as a tower crane, is assembled on the job site]]. Some equipment, such as dredges, may operate from a barge or ship on water.
Some broad categories of construction equipment include:
- Hoisting: mobile cranes and tow trucks, overhead conveyors, gantry cranes and elevators
- Earthmoving: bulldozers, backhoes, graders, front end loaders
- Drilling: pile drivers, mining and oil drills, post diggers, tunnel boring machines, pneumatic hammer
- Concrete and paving: spreaders, compactors