Thomas Berry

Thomas Berry is an archivist with the Historical Construction Equipment Association (HCEA). HCEA is a 501(c )3 nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the history of the construction, dredging and surface mining equipment industries. With over 3,500 members in a dozen countries, its activities include operation of the National Construction Equipment Museum and archives in Bowling Green, Ohio; publication of a quarterly magazine, Equipment Echoes, from which this text is adapted, and hosting an annual working exhibition of restored construction equipment. Individual memberships are $35 within the USA and Canada, and $55 elsewhere. HCEA’s next International Convention and Old Equipment Exposition will be held Sept. 22-24, 2023, in Bowling Green, Ohio. HCEA seeks to develop relationships in the equipment manufacturing industry, and offers a college scholarship for engineering students. Information is available at hcea.net, or by calling 419-352-5616 or emailing [email protected].

Hello, OSHA? Stroud demonstrated the superior balance of its graders by gathering 1,600 pounds worth of employees on the carrier. In operation, it would never have to bear that much weight. The grader also shows Stroud’s placement of the engine, opposite the carrier. (Stroud Road Machinery Company Bulletin 338, HCEA Archives)

Balance & Draft for Elevating Graders

Studying the factors affecting Stroud's design, including weight capacity, frame flexibility and conveyor efficiency.

Stroud called its traction drive system for elevating graders Ground Drive. Cleats on the left rear wheel keep turning to power the conveyor. (Stroud Road Machinery Company Bulletin 319, HCEA Archives)

Powering an Elevating Grader

Explore the power prospects, sales strategies and expenses surrounding Stroud Road Machinery Company's 1930s grader offerings.

121 1 1 Bulletin 319 Traction Edited

An Elevating Grader’s Conveyor

Take a look inside Stroud Road Machinery Company's 1931 conveyor design components and complications.

106 1 2

Get to Know the Industry's First Elevating Grader

The Historical Construction Equipment Association's Thomas Berry uncovers the 1854 origins of the machine that revolutionized excavation efficiency.

A John Deere 840 tractor and Hancock elevating scraper on parade at an equipment “rally” in Jondaryan, Queensland, Australia, in 2008.

Birth of the Modern Elevating Scraper

Exploring the history, power and patents behind the first models on the market.

The Improved Slusser Excavator, patented in 1866. Note the slat conveyor for loading.

The First Self-Loading Haulers

The earliest known self-loading hauler was patented in 1866. Fifty-four years later, the more direct ancestor of today’s elevating scraper came to market — learn more about the benefits that helped it stand out from conventional competition in the 1920s.

Get a machine with so much play in it too close to the edge of a berm, and this is bound to happen. The bowls have found a stable position, with only the lead TS-14 fully on level ground. The gentlemen at the No. 4 bowl are Euclid engineers: Left to right, Ray Trumphour, Terry Cunningham and Bill Walker. They’re working on the hydraulic lines in the gooseneck – something not normally done from ground level!

Multiple Scrapers, One Operator

During excavation of the San Luis Canal in California’s San Joaquin Valley in the mid-1960s, a combination of factors gave way to multiple motor scrapers, tractors and all, controlled from one machine.

Quite possibly the homeliest motor scraper ever built, this is the first tandem-bowl motor scraper. Built in 1938, it consisted of the original prototype Model A Tournapull prime mover, the only 25-yard Z25 Carryall built, and a 24-yard heaped U-20 telescopic-bowl scraper.

Multiple-Bowl Scrapers

When practical, multiple scrapers were used behind single tractors as far back as the mid-1920s.

A Brief History of CONEXPO-CON/AGG

Expansion beyond road construction inspired a name change to the Construction Equipment Exposition in 1960, finally ConExpo in 1975, the last to be held in Chicago.

Not all of LeTourneau’s telescopic scrapers were unusually large. This Model LU Carryall has only an 11-yard heaped capacity, but this image shows the significant effect of the loading of the first of two buckets. It will soon be moved back, and the second bucket will load in its place.

Telescoping Bowl Scrapers

This technology was developed to eliminate needing the high power required to force the load down the entire length of the frame.

Who needs diesel engines and hydraulics, anyway? A 1918 Russell & Company 30/90 traction engine owned by Jim Lashaway of Bowling Green, Ohio, pulls two 1920 Baker Maney D wheeled scrapers and a 1929 Galion Leaning Wheel E-Z Lift No. 10 pull grader from the museum’s collection.

HCEA Convention Illustrates Equipment Evolution

The HCEA Museum will host the show again next year, September 22 to September 24.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A conventional Fresno scraper. The earliest version had small wheels on the leading edge in place of the side runners.

The Fresno Scraper

The Fresno-type scraper offered a combination of width and shallow depth front to back to easily load and move large capacities of material.

Operator aerobics! A Smith & Sons Royal riding wheeled scraper gave a man a workout, leaning forward and back on the platform to operate the scraper while keeping the team under control. This is his position during dumping.

The First Wheeled Scrapers

The wheeled scraper became a matter of necessity for the construction industry due to the need for improved earthmoving capabilities.