Mining Equipment

[Plays In The Dirt]

Geesh, that machine is BIG. Would need my whole
Beth (Mrs. O)

Yes, and to think that it's not the biggest loader used in mining, there are bigger ones, (and much larger haul trucks too).

[oroblanco]

Geesh, that machine is BIG. Would need my whole
Beth (Mrs. O)

Yes, and to think that it's not the biggest loader used in mining, there are bigger ones, (and much larger haul trucks too).

Dang, (to use our local colloquialism, which is cleaner than the word which came to mind thinking of a haul truck BIGGER than that one) I can't imagine driving something like that. I have seen some big ones at the coal mines in Wyoming and (years ago) at the famous Homestake here in SD but not bigger than the one you drive.

I don't consider myself a coward, but there is no way I would EVER try driving a truck that size - DOWNHILL! That would scare the living daylights out of me.

That wheel posted earlier, I think Roc2rol has it right, it is an undershot water wheel. I don't see any kind of sluice to bring the water to it, but perhaps that has been hauled away or rotted away? Here is a drawing, seems to match it up pretty well


I wonder what it was hooked up to drive? Some sort of ore crusher or grinder for sure, any sign of an old stamp mill around? I don't know how old that mine is, if they would have had more modern types like jaw crushers or ball mills.
Roy ~ Oroblanco

[roc2rol]

Yo Roy
I don’t think I have any thing right
beside it looking like a big wheel !


But I did do some ridiculous google search like:
large wheel type structure built on side of mountain + used for mining + Nevada
and that link to the mining encyclopedia came up


http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics ... ater-wheel

You nailed it!

e

[Plays In The Dirt]

Ed & Roy,

I have more Photos of that wheel from different angles that I can post, the only thing is they're on another computer in northern Nevada and I won't be back there for a few weeks. When I get them I'll be happy to put them up and see if we can't identify it.

Roy - The haul truck in my Photo weighs approximately 150 tons empty and when loaded with ore can weigh well over 300 tons. It's roughly 20 feet from the ground to the cab where the driver sits. It's powered by a 1500 horsepower engine. I'm six foot and when I reach my arms as high as they'll go I can nowhere begin to touch the top of the tires. The interior is like a cadillac with heat - A/C and a satellite radio, (plus a company radio). There's all sorts of comfort positions in the seat and they are kept very clean. It's all automatic and is not very difficult to drive "UNTIL" something happens, (I've had them sliding sideways on icy or muddy haul roads on several occasions. The haul road we drive down in to the pit on is roughly 1000 feet down and loaded it takes about 15 minutes to drive back out at 7 mph top speed.

And YES, despite all of that there are much bigger "electric powered" haul trucks that you could put the one in the picture above in the bed of. Fun to drive but boring as well. I'd rather be running my dozer.

[roc2rol]

"Plays In The Dirt

Modern day equipment that we currently use at the mine. That's me standing next the loader.

[/quote]


Man Play!
Is that chains on those wheels?
Take a bulldozer to bring them in
and maybe a crane to lift them

O... whether it was water that powered the wheel
or some other force here's another possibility
of what it might have been used for


from the book: "de re Metallica"
by Agricola 1556

[oroblanco]

Hola amigos,

I am always impressed by the ingenuity of the ancient miners, that wheel powered lift you just posted for example, is actually fitted with two levers, each of which operates a water gate. When they desire to raise the elevator bucket from the mine, they open one gate, which allows the water to fall onto the wheel and turn it in the desired direction, then when they want to lower it, they simply close that lever and open the other one, which allows the water to fall on the other side of the wheel and drive it in reverse! That drawing is not pure imagination either, they built and used such complicated contraptions, without any computers to help at any step of the way unless you count the human brain as a computer.

Thanks for posting that, gives a guy new ideas!
Roy

[roc2rol]

Hey Oro! Heres another idea generator! It may well be what you were describing above. I never heard of it! But came across it on some of my slow research into Scotty's Castle. (well that another discussion huh?)

Pelton Wheel



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelton_wheel

I haven't had time to figure it out but I like wheels
especially if they have an abrasive diamond quality
E

[oroblanco]

Roc2rol wrote

I haven't had time to figure it out but I like wheels
especially if they have an abrasive diamond quality

[roc2rol]

O I love these old grinding wheels & apparatuses
and this one as a particular story
I’m pretty sure it over 100 years old from a mine in AZ
used for rough grinding and sharpening
nose to the grindstone

[timg]

Where is the location of the big water wheel? I would love to get some video of it. If anyone has information on other pieces of old mining gear I love to hear from you, just interested in shooting some video of this subject.