Tuesday, October 11, 2005

PSA: Germans Make the Earth Move

Please feel free to click on the pictures to get the full effect.

Working at the US department of Energy means from time-to-time, I come across some really interesting emails from co-workers involved in certain projects or that have friends in the industry working on equally interesting stuff. I was contemplating how upset I get when I lose my car keys on a weekly basis as I read through an email with 5 or 6 FWD: in the subject line. Sometimes when things get lost, they turn up in the most unexpected of places. But before we get into the lost bulldozer, I need to tell you about the world’s largest earth mover. Krupp, a German company, apparently saw a market for an “Ultimate Earth Mover”.


Yes, you are looking at an actual, un-doctored photograph of a machine that really does exist. The Ultimate Earth Mover stands at 311 ft. tall and 705 ft. long.


The UEM weighs in at a stunning 45,500 tons and costs over $100,000,000 to construct. It took 5 years to design and manufacture and another 5 years to assemble. It requires a minimum of 5 people to operate it.



The “bucket wheel” is over 70 feet in diameter with 20 buckets, each of which can hold over 530 cubic feet of stuff. A 6ft. man can stand up inside of one of the buckets.



It moves on 12 crawlers (8 in the front, 4 in the back). Each crawler is 12 feet wide, 8 feet tall, and 46 feet long. It has a maximum speed of 1 mile in 3 hours and it can remove 76,455 cubic meters of dirt a day. That’s the equivalent of 100,000 large dump trucks at 40 yards each.



Hah! So where did this “missing dozer” go? Well, you’ve probably guessed by now the Ultimate Earth Mover picked it up like it was clump of dirt.



And that concludes this public service announcement about the dangers of leaving bulldozers unattended around German Ultimate Earth Movers. Can’t you just see the goofy smile on the foreman’s face as he holds up the package of Mentos.

Bazooka-Joe made it so at 4:18 PM

14 Comments:

• At October 11, 2005 8:23 PM,  Michael added:

  That thing rocks! It looks a bit like a mad scientist built it. You would see something that looks like that driven by a villian in Darkwing Duck or a comic book (no doubt with intentions of taking over the world with it). But Germany? Cool! |  

• At October 11, 2005 8:24 PM,  Dan added:

  Dang that's cool! If it digs up dirt so quick, where does it put it?! Does it just move it from point a to b, and then vice versa?
  
  If I were a billionare, rather than messing with a yacht, I'd get one of those things and then make a road trip cross country for a Guiness Book record of some sort! At the speed it travels, it would take 424 days (24 hour days) to travel from Seattle to Miami. That's 1 year and 2 months or so. I'll bet I'd get some interesting questions from people when I pull that thing into a gas station for a refill. |  

• At October 11, 2005 8:53 PM,  Daniel added:

  I totally love that machine.
  
  It looks like an oversized circular saw, or perhaps a ride at an amusement part - I love it to death.
  
  Sort of a dead end job to be the operator though - if you get fired it isn't like you can use that skill anywhere else in the world.
  
  Interviewer: Why do you think I should hire you?
  
  Ex-monster operator: I don't have what you would call "regular marketable skills" - but check out the pictures of this crazy-big rig I used to drive. If I messed up even a little I could take out a city block - that's gotta be worth something?? |  

• At October 11, 2005 10:35 PM,  Dan added:

  Daniel: LOL, that's a good point. But hiring an operator would be just as tough. (Commercial Drivers Licence and good driving record required, experience with 30,000+ ton vehicles a plus)
  
  I'll bet somewhere, someone is already designing a bigger monster machine. I wonder what they use to power it. At the rate it digs, I'd think it would move half of Germany by this time next year. Then what do they do with it? |  

• At October 11, 2005 10:42 PM,  Dan added:

  Oh I forgot...
  
  Considering:
  a) German Vehicle Engineering
  b) $100,000,000 cost
  
  It isn't very sporty looking! I wonder if they equipped it with a nice interior. ;-D |  

• At October 11, 2005 11:17 PM,  Daniel added:

  I expect it has more than one bathroom. |  

• At October 11, 2005 11:19 PM,  Daniel added:

  I should have mentioned that my v-word was oyoty. It wasn't until after I hid 'login and publish' that I realized it was toyota mispelled with a couple of letters missing.
  
  My new v-word is "ohflu" - which is just to easy to pass up. The short hand way of saying the "ostrich flu" (a rare and devestating avian flu) |  

• At October 12, 2005 12:24 PM,  Bazooka-Joe added:

  Well, I just thought while other bloggers were blogging about purses and nancy-boys, our little community blog circle could use a little masculinity injection. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this thing. But I did a little research and sure enough, it's real. |  

• At October 12, 2005 3:20 PM,  Daniel added:

  That is one cool machine - I wonder what kind of gas mileage it gets? |  

• At October 12, 2005 3:59 PM,  Bazooka-Joe added:

  On a scale of Poor to Excellent (Ford Excursion rating as "poor")I'm going to take a guess that its gas mileages rates "Awe-Inspiringly Contemptable". But that's a good question and I should look it up. |  

• At October 13, 2005 12:05 AM,  Michael added:

  If I ever become a mad scientist trying to take over the world, you can bet that using this machine will definetly be in my world domination plan |  

• At October 13, 2005 8:23 AM,  Dan added:

  This thing is BIG ENOUGH to have a decent surface area for Solar panels. While those Solar panels could probably power my house for a year, they probably wouldn't produce enough juice to even keep that wheel spinning. Plus, they are in Germany, not known for their sunshine.
  
  It it were coal powered, I wonder if it could mine enough coal to keep itself running. You'll probably be able to pick this thing up at one of those equipment auctions in about 15 years. ;-)
  
  V-Word: cyvdxtr - Ongoing proof that the v-word machine recognizes me. |  

• At October 13, 2005 12:16 PM,  Bazooka-Joe added:

  V-Word: JIAMHPBY
  The act or process of pressing the "refresh" button until one receives a cool word with an easy fake definition for secure verification. |  

• At October 14, 2005 12:17 PM,  Frank Martens added:

  v-word: fwlayzj
  
  Chips anyone? |  

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