Meaning of dragline excavator | Babel Free

Definitions

Any of several very large vehicles used for lifting, especially in the process of mining: basically an excavator which drags its bucket to fill it.

Equivalents

Examples

“In mining with a dragline excavator, the upper half to two-thirds of the alluvium contains too little of the previous metals to warrant washing; hence this part of the overburden is lifted by the excavator and dumped to one side of the cut⟳.”

“A dragline excavator has a large cutting bucket suspended from the end⟳ of a boom. The operator first lowers the bucket mouth down where earth is to be removed, then a second cable—the dragline—pulls the bucket across the surface. The weight of the bucket and the pull⟳ of the dragline make⟳ a blade at the mouth of the bucket dig⟳ into the topsoil, filling the bucket as it moves. When the bucket is full, its contents are tipped by lifting and inverting the bucket over a waiting dump⟳ truck. Dragline excavators are particularly useful in strip⟳ mining, where they remove⟳ the overburden or topsoil.”

“An alternative to the power shovel is the dragline excavator[…]. At the end⟳ of a long boom is a sheave over which a hoisting rope passes to a bucket, which is hauled towards the machine by a second rope, thus picking up its load⟳ like⟳ a drag⟳ scraper. As soon as the bucket is filled, it is lifted into the air; the excavator is turned until its boom is above the dump⟳, and the bucket is discharged.”

“Teams of horses and a dragline excavator, an earth mover atop skids, worked to repair⟳, strengthen, and raise⟳ older levees, create⟳ a new, two-mile long river channel, and build⟳ new levees.”

CEFR level