Acco Grader

[d9gdon]

I believe this is it. It's in "All in a Day's Work" by Caterpillar. I have a lot better picture of it in Eric Orleman's "Caterpillar" by Motor Books, but I guess I put it up so I wouldn't lose it.



The text reads that they were 240 ton diesel electric trucks and tested in Southern Illinois in 1965.

 

[1466IH]

That would be the one. He always says his claim to fame is welding the undercarrages and house together that moved the space shuttle. Lol After the dragline caught fire NASA bought the undercarrages. He was telling how they raised the boom on that thing with 2 6" cables tied to the back of 12 D9's. They also had to weld the deck for the house together twice because it was taking too long to stick weld so they brought in flux cored welders and then x-rayed the welds...everything had to be gouged out then re stick welded.

 

[MKTEF]

Discussed the Champion 100T with my old man yesterday.
He says the one up in Mo i Rana Norway is still in use.
There is a picture of it somewhere around here..

 

[Nige]

Don, I have the same photo from another source - filed away in a safe place for just such an occasion as this - somewhere apparently so safe that now I can't find it.......... Thanks for posting.

 

[Graderfan1981]

We had in a german forum a discussion about the grader today, we have noticed that one grader (the last picture from the site) is completly and the other grader are parts missing:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/accodozer/sets/72157630103724112/with/7176515461/
The shot datum from all the images are 2012. The grader with the dark "wheel rims" maybe still existent?

 

[Nige]

Those photos are all of the same machine AFAIK, because only 1 prototype machine was ever built. The final photo dates from 1980-something and was taken just after the machine was built. The problem with the Flickr site is that the date associated with photos is the date they were uploaded to the site, not the date the photo was actually taken. All the other photos were taken just before the machine was finally scrapped.

 

[Graderfan1981]

Those photos are all of the same machine AFAIK, because only 1 prototype machine was ever built. The final photo dates from 1980-something and was taken just after the machine was built. The problem with the Flickr site is that the date associated with photos is the date they were uploaded to the site, not the date the photo was actually taken. All the other photos were taken just before the machine was finally scrapped.

That photo looks not like a photo from the 80's, that is a digital photo! And please read the text unter the picture... i think the photograph know this better.....and look the the front machine from the grader, that looks different too!!!!

 

[lantraxco]

I was ready to agree with Nige, but found some photos of the big one when it was complete:



That last picture on Flickr shows a different cab, different exhaust and air cleaners, engine side covers... and it looks like it was meant to have single tires. The big mother in working togs had duals on all six. That's the only picture of the smaller one I have ever seen.

 

[Graderfan1981]

I have asked the photographer on flickr.com when he has taken the images from both graders, I hope he has some informations about this. I think, he knows more like speculations... I'll give you the info, when I get the answer.

 

[d4c24a]

if you go on the facebook link of the Acco dozer being saved ,there is a picture of the grader stating it has been scrapped

May 4th 2013

another giant creature born from the mind of Mr. Acco: the ACCO Grader was the biggest grader in the world, but some months ago it was demolished...

 

[alco]

Those photos are all of the same machine AFAIK, because only 1 prototype machine was ever built. The final photo dates from 1980-something and was taken just after the machine was built. The problem with the Flickr site is that the date associated with photos is the date they were uploaded to the site, not the date the photo was actually taken. All the other photos were taken just before the machine was finally scrapped.

Nige, there were actually two prototypes built. The original was the one with the dark cab and wheels, and the second unit was the one in the rest of the pictures.

 

[Graderfan1981]

if you go on the facebook link of the Acco dozer being saved ,there is a picture of the grader stating it has been scrapped

May 4th 2013

another giant creature born from the mind of Mr. Acco: the ACCO Grader was the biggest grader in the world, but some months ago it was demolished...

The question is, which one is scrapped, both or the one who are parts missing.

 

[Graderfan1981]

I have find some photos in a french forum:
http://photostp.free.fr/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=447272#p447272

This is really the second Acco Grader, it might be still existent...

 

[Graderfan1981]

I have now informations about this second grader. He is smaller like the biggest, but it is a big grader too.
Weight: 60 tons
moldboard length: 7,75 m
eninge 2 Cummins: 628 PS

This smaller Acco grader was built 1991.

It is at the moment for sell on http://www.omeco.it/

 

[Welder Dave]

That would be the one. He always says his claim to fame is welding the undercarrages and house together that moved the space shuttle. Lol After the dragline caught fire NASA bought the undercarrages. He was telling how they raised the boom on that thing with 2 6" cables tied to the back of 12 D9's. They also had to weld the deck for the house together twice because it was taking too long to stick weld so they brought in flux cored welders and then x-rayed the welds...everything had to be gouged out then re stick welded.

I know this is an old post but most of this info is suspect. There was no 6" cable for one thing. 5" cable was the biggest cable made and was developed specifically for the Big Muskie dragline that came a few years later than the Captain shovel. I guess I'm one of those people that likes to have pictures or another credible source to back up some of these stories. An interesting note about the crawler transporters is that Marion didn't design them. Marion likely adopted some of their own design features but the transporters were originally designed by Bucyrus Erie. Marion complained that the contract never went to tender and then underbid BE and got the contract to build them. I think Marion hired some of the BE design team as well. I saw that mentioned on a Discovery channel show and after doing a little research found it to be true.

 

[Nige]

I know this is an old post but most of this info is suspect. There was no 6" cable for one thing. 5" cable was the biggest cable made and was developed specifically for the Big Muskie dragline that came a few years later than the Captain shovel. I guess I'm one of those people that likes to have pictures or another credible source to back up some of these stories.

Strange that. IIRC our 1570W dragline ran 5" drag ropes and that was more than a tad smaller than Big Muskie. A quick look at Bridon's catalogue shows standard dragline ropes up to 5-5/8" diameter and anything larger by special order. TBH I would have thought the offshore oil industry would have used wire ropes bigger than 6".

 

[Welder Dave]

I purchased a book called 100 Booming Years from BE. It is the history of BE's first 100 years. There is a whole section on Big Muskie. The drag ropes were powered by 8 2000 HP motors and the hoist ropes were powered by 10 2000HP motors that developed peak HP of 27,500 during hoisting. The power cables were the largest ever made as well at 4 3/4".

"The wire ropes for the hoist and drag service posed a real problem, which was solved by use of the first five-inch diameter wire rope, the world's largest, produced by C F & I Steel Corporation."
"The ropes used on Big Muskie had a rated breaking strength of 1080 tons and weighed 46.2 pounds per foot."

"The drag machinery developed a stall drag pull exceeding 1000 tons on each of the bucket's 20-foot lips. It took two five-inch drag ropes on each side of the bucket to develop these pulls with an ample safety factor."

 

[Nige]

4 drag ropes, that explains it. The smaller machines only used 2 drag ropes so logically they would be larger diameter in proportion.

 

[Welder Dave]

I imagine it would be fun trying to put new ropes on that big and heavy but from what I understand drag ropes are changed every 6-8 weeks. The 1570W may have been made after Big Muskie. It's a shame they scrapped Big Muskie.

 

[JDOFMEMI]

I have now informations about this second grader. He is smaller like the biggest, but it is a big grader too.
Weight: 60 tons
moldboard length: 7,75 m
eninge 2 Cummins: 628 PS

This smaller Acco grader was built 1991.

It is at the moment for sell on http://www.omeco.it/

Looking at the ACCO graders, the larger one with 12 tires is based on Cat scraper front end and hitch. It is apparently the one shown stripped down to 6 tires in some of the later pictures with no blade.

The other one, with fresh paint, is based on Terex scraper front end. Look at the hich and steering for the dead giveaway. The planetaries are another clue.

Too bad it seems neither one worked much, if any.