An Excavator Which Walks 



A BIG excavating machine which 

 literally walks to its job is being 

 used by the United States Govern- 

 ment on one of the great irrigation proj- 

 ects of the Southwest, and the advantages 

 (if this pedestrian accomplishment are 

 ni.iny. Most of the machines of this 

 character arc built to roll over the ground 

 on wheels, but its movements are neces- 

 sarily limited, for it dare go only where 

 the ground has been carefully prepared 

 for it. l^nless the ixith is most favorable, 

 planks must be carried ahead and laid for 

 it to move over. Otherwise the wheels 

 would tear up the road and such a thing 

 as making a short cut across the country 

 would be out of the question, for it would 

 soon be hopelessly stalled and its 

 . extrication only made possible by remov- 

 ing it piecemeal. In fact, this is the way 

 in which these machines are generally 

 transported from one job to another. 

 They are taken apart and transported in 

 convenient parts and reassembled at the 



new point in the field of operations. 



This perambulating excavator will 

 "walk" al(jng the road without any re- 

 gard to the character of its structure and 

 not leave a footprint behind; and further- 

 more, if the road does not happen to be 

 the shortest route, the machine will walk 

 across country over soft ground which 

 will barch- hold a man. If a house, tree, 

 or hill hajjpens to be in the way this 

 machine will walk around it, covering the 

 ground at the rate of twenty-five or 

 thirty feet a minute, a very respectable 

 speed for such a lumbering sprinter. 



When the digger is at its regular 

 work of excavating, it rests on a heavy 

 central platform on which it is revolved 

 so that activities of the bucket may be 

 accurately controlled. When it is de- 

 sired to have the machine move, the 

 engine is connected with a dri\ing-shaft 

 extending across the width of the 

 excavator. On each end of this, outside 

 of the house of the operator, are 



Two footlike pieces are suspended beneath the cams on either side of the driving-shaft. In 

 moving, the feet arc Ufted and lowered alternately, producing a steady, deliberate walk. To 

 change the course of the machine, it is turned when resting on the central revolving platform 



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