Page Engineering Co.
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Page Engineering Co. produced and manufactured draglines—walking excavators used in mining applications to uncover coal and other minerals. The founder of Page, John W. Page, was instrumental in the invention of draglines and their development throughout the years.
Page set the stage for dragline equipment, being the first to manufacture them. While early models were mostly mounted, they quickly evolved as fully functional walking machines, growing bigger and more project-specific. Page also specialized in dragline buckets and invented the archless bucket design.
Many of the inventions associated with Page are still utilized today, such as the walking technology, the dragline bucket design, and the diesel engine configuration used exclusively for draglines.
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[edit] History
The dragline excavator was invented when John W. Page when his contracting firm, Page & Schnable, was employed in the Chicago Canal Drainage project in 1904. Not able to find a machine to dig deeper grades for the project, Page built the first dragline in 1909. Realizing that there was a demand for this type of equipment, Page founded Page Engineering Co. three years later in 1912. The company was based in Chicago, Illinois.
[edit] Early Draglines
The early draglines by Page were rail-mounted. Although the excavating mechanism proved efficient in mining operations, its movement was slow and clumsy. One of the first was the Model 222, which was mounted on four rail trucks and moved on a set of rail tracks. The 222 consisted of a 2.5-cubic yard (1.9-m3) bucket on a 100-foot (30.5-m) boom and had a Page 150 horsepower cylinder. The 13- by 20-inch (33- by 51-cm) bore and stroke diesel sent the engine capacity to 250 revolutions per minute. The machine was capable of a 400-degree rotation and comprised a swing system that operated via cables that were coiled into a drum. The Page 222 is still in existence and is kept in preservation by Big Brutus Inc.[1]
[edit] Taking Its First Step
Walking draglines appeared in the 1920s, and although movement was still minimal, it was a vast improvement on the rail-mounted versions. The Model 430 was one of the first to debut on the market. It consisted of an eight-cubic yard (6.1-m3) bucket on three vertical legs -- one positioned to the rear and two in the front—all of which were made functional by a rack and pinion. The legs were attached to a separate frame of rollers. To enable it to walk, the dragline’s three legs were extended in a downward direction. This hoisted the entire machine off the ground, and the machine utilized chains to pull itself along the roller frame. Thus, the walking dragline accomplished its first complete step. The process was complex, but each step was a move forward for Page and its draglines.
[edit] Bigger Steps for the Dragline
The walking mechanism was improved upon even further in the 1930s. Page implemented a walking technology that continued to dominate draglines for more than fifty years. It was even used for the company's most popular series of draglines, the 700 Series, in the 1950s.
By 1935, two new models were manufactured to represent this walking technology. The Page 615 consisted of a four-cubic yard (3.1 m3) bucket and the 620, also produced around this period, consisted of an eight-cubic yard (6.1 m3) bucket. The models utilized the new and improved walking mechanism powered by an electric drive in the machines’ shoes and attached to their legs. The legs, also known as spuds, were connected to walk shaft end of a crank by a bearing. The crank also connected to a hanger that bore the weight of the machine as it took a step. A rotating roller mounted on the machine’s frame would guide the spud down a straight path via rotation of the crank. Page used this walking technique until the company's demise in 1988.
[edit] Page’s Electric and Diesel Engines
Although it never ventured to produce machines as large as those offered by rivals Bucyrus and Marion, Page developed a reliable reputation for its small to medium-sized draglines and buckets. The company's production was steady and consistent and it advanced progressively when the market made its share of demands.
The electrically-powered Model 631 walking dragline was first built in 1946. It was used for stripping overburden in a mine in eastern Pennsylvania with its eight-cubic yard (6.1 m3) capacity bucket and 200-foot (61-m) long boom. This model was efficient in that its electrical equipment carried a DC hoist and drag motors, each of which contained 300 horsepower, as well as two DC swing motors with 90 horsepower. These draglines were made fully functional with the help of two AC motor generator sets that produced 800 horsepower and had an operating weight of 638 tons.
Most of the parts of the dragline excavator were unique to the Page brand. Page even produced diesel engines exclusively for its equipment. The first was developed in 1924 and consisted of four-cycle horizontal V-types, also known as horizontal inline types. Page built the first ones with configurations of V-6, V-8, and V-10; they housed cylinder bores of 12.5 inches (32 cm). Capable of producing horsepower as high as 1,100 and running at 450 revolutions per minute, these diesel-powered engines proved popular with customers. So much so, in fact, that they continued to be used in later Page models, namely the Page 726 which was built in 1954. It had a 600 horsepower, six-cylinder engine and a hoist-driven deck and drag drum in the clutches. The cylinder engine was deck-mounted in order to operate the electric swing motors, which were made possible by generators.
In fact, the 700 Series was one of Page’s most successful lines of machinery. The Page 723, produced in 1955 and 1956, was used for surface coal mining operations in Kentucky. Each machine consisted of a 9.5-cubic yard (7.3-m3) bucket with a 160-foot boom and carried a single Page diesel engine. The most popular of the 700 series was the Model 752, built in 1965; it featured a 42-cubic yard (32-m3) bucket on a 220-foot (67-m) boom and was one of the largest draglines ever built by Page.[2]
[edit] Archless Bucket
Page also invented and designed the archless bucket which hit the dragline scene in the 1960s. The buckets served as a signature Page invention and put the company ahead of competitors such as Marion and Bucyrus. Also crucial to its ongoing success was the affordability and reliability of Page equipment. Even though their machines may have historically been slower and smaller than those produced by Marion and Bucyrus, they were easier to operate and maintain. They categorically dug to deeper depths than most other machines in the industry.
[edit] The End of the Page
The future of Page was cut short it was met with a decline in dragline demand. Page’s draglines were most suitable for excavating coal and similar materials, so when the mining of coal slowed in the 1980s, so did dragline sales. As new mining technologies were also being developed, stripping the overburden from surface mines made stripping shovels more popular than draglines. Page, a top name in the mining industry for more than 70 years, met its demise in 1988. It was subsequently purchased by Harnischfeger Corp.[3]
[edit] The Company Today
Today the draglines produced by Page Engineering Co. have been modernized and improved and are manufactured by Joy Global Inc., formerly known as Harnischfeger Corp. Page has provided Joy Global with a wide range of draglines to complement its shovels and cranes.
[edit] Equipment List
[edit] References
- ↑ Haddock, Keith. The Earthmover Encyclopedia. Motorbooks: St.Paul, 2002.
- ↑ Haddock, Keith. The Earthmover Encyclopedia. Motorbooks: St.Paul, 2002.
- ↑ Page Walking Draglines. Personal. 2008-09-22.
