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Image 3. The modular batteries’ compact, energy-dense format makes the battery packs easy for engineers to configure for use on virtually any vehicle platform.

Moving Mobile Equipment to Zero-Emissions

A modular battery system with eBTM technology maximizes battery lifespan by enabling each battery to function at its optimum operating temperature.

Image 1. A Euclid TDT series twin-power scraper’s extra power helped it take a healthy load of clay on the Massachusetts Turnpike in 1956.

Euclid’s Twin-Power Concept

The basis of this concept was powering each drive axle of a truck or scraper with its own diesel engine and powertrain.

With the new controls, only two hoses and a wire harness must be run and connected.

New Electronic Controls Reduce Install Time, Streamline Integration of Hydrostatic Tail Winch

A new install package with electronic controls for a hydrostatic tail winch significantly reduced its installation time. It paved the way for near-seamless integration of the controls in the cabs of host machines.

Given its many benefits, hydrogen is gaining traction as a viable fuel solution within the transportation industry.

Designing a Leak-Free System with Hydrogen

Hydrogen is gaining traction as a viable fuel solution within the transportation industry given its many benefits.

In general, electric outdoor power equipment vibrates at a decreased level when compared to gas-powered counterparts. This enables the user to work more comfortably for longer periods of time without sacrificing safety, thus improving productivity.

Is Battery-Powered Equipment the Future of the Construction Industry?

A battery management system plays a huge role in safe equipment operation.

Customized truck bodies designed for the mine’s specifications increase loading safety and reduce the potential for loading damage by ensuring that the width is correctly paired with the loading tool.

Rear Eject Bodies and Other Features Decrease Mining Costs

Considerations for selecting a truck body must include the equipment’s total cost of ownership.

Software can connect GPS, electronic logging devices and predictive maintenance technology with transportation management systems to provide insights for drivers and dispatchers.

Overcoming Electric Vehicle Adoption Barriers

How OEMs can help fleets be safer, cleaner and more efficient by encouraging the move to EVs

Software and hardware can extend equipment life and improve jobsite safety.

Employing Vehicles with Aftermarket Automation Keeps Existing Fleets on the Road

How COM Express software for small footprints fuels the extended deployment, long life cycle, and value of today’s heavy mobile equipment

Clear Flame Truck 0722

The Fastest Path to Emissions Reduction for Heavy-Duty Diesel Engines

Make the most of current technology and alternative fuels.

This Austin-Western 12-Yard Hydraulic Scraper is being tested at Moffat Coal Company near Sparta, Illinois, on June 25, 1936. Austin-Western also offered three smaller scrapers operated by cable. (R. G. LeTourneau, Inc. photograph, Maier-Daily Papers)

Hydraulic Graders and Scrapers

The earliest graders and scrapers relied on manual or mechanical control to operate the blade or bowl, not hydraulics.

An ergonomic, fully adjustable steering column with electric memory

Why OEMs Should Steer Toward Ergonomic Designs

When designing for operator comfort and to reduce back pain, don’t forget the steering column.

The immense Series LT-360 (Model A-8) electric-digger. Imagine the fuel bill at more than $5.00 per gallon for eight 16-cylinder diesel engines on one machine. Rising fuel costs contributed to the demise of many of Mr. LeTourneau’s multi-engine ideas.

The Electric Wheel

In 1950 when LeTourneau unveiled the technology, it was a breakthrough.

An advanced telematics system provides several benefits, including the exact reason for the issue.

Advanced Telematics Decrease Costs, Increase Uptime and Identify Critical Fault Notifications

With a strong OEM-managed offering, the proof is in the profits.

1. One of Mr. R. G.’s numerous outside-the-box, as it were, ideas was a Tournapull-powered means of pouring concrete buildings in place as a quick remedy to housing shortages. His system to achieve this revolved around the Tournalayer, a wildly overwidth trailer for A and B Tournapulls. The Tournalayer carried the complete outside forms for the structure to be poured, and after the inner forms for the outer walls had been erected the Tournalayer would be backed so as to position the outer forms above them, and then the outer forms would be lowered over the inner.

Tournapull Attachments

Robert G. LeTourneau made several advancements in attachment designs for construction equipment.

forklift lithium battery

How Lithium Batteries Can Help with Forklift Lead Times

The long life cycle of lithium batteries increases equipment utilization to extend the use of lift trucks until the new equipment finally arrives.

The first scraper to be equipped with pneumatic tires is pulled by an Allis-Chalmers crawler tractor in California’s Imperial Valley in August 1932.

The First True Motor Scraper

The Model A Tournapull could be yoked to a single-axle scraper in such a way as to allow for extreme maneuverability, offering greater speed and productivity for earthmoving projects.

The first scraper to be equipped with pneumatic tires is pulled by an Allis-Chalmers crawler tractor in California’s Imperial Valley in August 1932.

Pneumatic Tires for Scrapers

The invention of pneumatic tires improved maneuverability of scrapers and other construction equipment, particularly in soft ground conditions.

A LeTourneau Double-Drum Power Control Unit enables this Cat D7 to operate both a dozer and a pull ripper. The scene is a placer gold mine operated by Parker Brothers Corporation and Last Chance Gulch, near Helena, MT.

Cable Control for Tractor-Drawn Equipment

LeTourneau's Power Control Unit utilized wire rope and enabled control of two devices as a means of improving performance of dozers and other heavy machinery.

LeTourneau’s Self-Propelled Scraper was many years ahead of its time in both its concept and powertrain. It’s doing work a tractor-drawn scraper could not, discharging fill to the end of a levee with its front axle chocked.

The First Self-Propelled Scraper

Although not as successful as other LeTourneau designs, the first self-propelled scraper featured technologies that would years later become industry standards.

LeTourneau sold the Mountain Mover to an Eph Hahn in 1926. Here it is, sporting modifications made by the Hahns, including solid steel front wheels in place of the original spoked wheels and lowering the framework above the scoop to make it easier to transport.

The Mountain Mover

R. G. LeTourneau's development of a scraper with two bowls, one moving back and forth within the other in a telescoping motion, increased earthmoving capacity.

R. G. LeTourneau operates his Holt 75 crawler tractor and his Full-Drag scraper, the first scraper designed to be operated from a tractor.

The First Tractor-Controlled Scraper

R. G. LeTourneau's remote-control system enabled a scraper to be controlled from a tractor, reducing labor costs.

The Pre-Compensated Valve Platform from Bosch Rexroth is a complete, compact mobile machine control solution that leverages the efficiency and versatility of proven Rexroth mobile control valves.

Pre-Compensated Valve Platforms Offer New Benefits in Mobile Machine Development

Complete, compact pre-compensated valve platforms provide plug and play solutions for OEMs, enabling them to select the right hydraulic control valves for a specific machine application.

R. G. LeTourneau

The Great Innovator R. G. LeTourneau

Robert Gilmore LeTourneau had an unequalled impact on the earthmoving equipment industry, holding nearly 300 patents in equipment design and manufacturing processes.