Page 131 - Moving the Earth_ The Workbook of Excavation

ROCK, SOIL, AND MUD

ROCK, SOIL, AND MUD 3.25

Handling. Platforms usually are trucked as near to the job as possible, then dragged or carried
by a loader or the shovel.
To walk a shovel across an open swamp on platforms, pick up two or more of them and lay
them on the mud, as shown in Fig. 3.16(A). Move the shovel to the front of these, then pick up the
remaining platforms and lay them ahead of the shovel as in (B). The minimum number to be used
is three—two to stand on and one to move. Four are safer and easier to use, and the maximum is
the number the shovel can reach when they are laid in a line behind it. Most draglines use three
or four on small jobs, and four to six on large ones.
The shovel then walks to the front of the platforms, (C), and picks up those behind it, starting
at the rearmost, and lays them in a line in front of itself. In (D), the platforms are laid in a curve
to avoid a rock. (E) to (G) shows patterns for laying them in sharp curves. These should be avoided
where possible, as the turning of the shovel has a destructive grinding action, and overlapping the
platforms causes severe strains, particularly if they are equipped with siderails.

FIGURE 3.16 Moving platforms.