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The Epic Interactive Encyclopedia 1997
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The_Epic_Interactive_Encyclopedia_97.iso
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excavator
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1992-09-02
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16 lines
Machine designed for digging in the ground,
or for earth-moving in general. Diggers using
hydraulically powered digging arms are widely
used on building sites. They may run on
wheels or on caterpillar tracks. The largest
excavators are the draglines used in mining
to strip away earth covering the coal or
mineral deposit. They are called draglines
because they cast their digging bucket away
like a fishing line being cast, and then drag
the bucket back along the ground, so filling
it with earth. Britain's `Big Geordie'
walking dragline, which operates in the
Northumberland coalfields, has a digging
bucket with a capacity of 50 cu m/65 cu yd.