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Big Brutus

Coordinates: 37°16′26″N 94°56′20″W / 37.273882°N 94.938827°W / 37.273882; -94.938827
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Big Brutus
Big Brutus in 2014
Class overview
NameBig Brutus (1963-Present)
BuildersBucyrus-Erie
Operators United States
Succeeded byModel 1950-B-series Electric power shovel
CostUS$6.5 million (1987) [1]
In service1963-1974
Planned1
Completed1
Preserved1
History
United States
NameBig Brutus
BuilderBucyrus-Erie
Launched1962[1]
ChristenedMay 1963
CommissionedMay 1963
Fate
  • Retired in 1974
  • Preserved in 1987
NotesLargest power shovel preserved
General characteristics
Class and typeModel 1850-B-series Electric power shovel
Tonnage4,200 t (9,260,000 lb) + 770 t (1,700,000 lb) ballast when operational
Length
  • 24.2 m (79 ft) (house) + 45.72 m (150 ft) (max boom length)[2]
  • Total: 69.92 m (229 ft)
Beam18 m (59 ft)
Height48.8 m (160 ft) (to tip of boom)
Installed power
  • 2 x 2.57 MW (3,500 hp) electric motors + external power substation[1]
  • Total: ≥5.5 MW (7,500 hp) standard or ≥11 MW (15,000 hp) peak
Propulsion8 x caterpillar tracks
Speed0.22 mph (19 ft/min) (5.8m/min) max
CapacityBlade capacity: 90 cubic yards (68.8 m3) or 150 short tons (140 t)
Complement3[1]
Big Brutus
Built1963
NRHP reference No.100001945
Added to NRHPJanuary 5, 2018
Note cars by track for scale

Big Brutus is the nickname of the Bucyrus-Erie model 1850-B electric shovel, which was the second largest of its type in operation in the 1960s and 1970s. Big Brutus is the centerpiece of a mining museum in West Mineral, Kansas, United States, where it was used in coal strip mining operations. The shovel was designed to dig from 20 to 69 feet (6.1 to 21.0 m)[1] down to unearth relatively shallow coal seams, which would then be mined with smaller equipment.

Description

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The fabrication of Big Brutus was completed in May 1963, after which it was shipped on 150 railroad cars to be assembled in Kansas. It operated until 1974, when coal was uneconomic to mine at the site. At that time, it was considered too big to move and was left in place.

Big Brutus, while not the largest electric shovel ever built, is the largest electric shovel still in existence. The Captain, at 28 million pounds (13 kt) – triple that of Big Brutus – was the largest shovel and one of the largest land-based mobile machines ever built, only exceeded by some dragline and bucket-wheel excavators. It was scrapped in 1992, after receiving extreme damage from an hours-long internal fire.[3]

Museum

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The Pittsburg & Midway Coal Mining Company donated Big Brutus in 1984 as the core of a mining museum which opened in 1985. In 1987, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers designated Big Brutus a Regional Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark.[4] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2018.

The museum offers tours and camping.

Fatal accident

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On January 16, 2010, Mark Mosley, a 49-year-old dentist from Lowell, Arkansas, died attempting to base-jump from the top of the boom. Climbing the boom had been prohibited years earlier; after the accident, the attraction's board of directors considered additional restrictions on climbing.[5] During the accident's investigation, examiner Tom Dolphin determined that Mosley had accidentally fallen off the boom while preparing to jump.[6]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-07-03. Retrieved 2010-03-26.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ^ "Big Brutus". October 4, 2022.
  3. ^ Haddock, Keith (September 18, 2000). Colossal Earthmovers. MBI. pp. 67. ISBN 978-0-7603-0771-7.
  4. ^ "About Big Brutus". Big Brutus, Inc. Retrieved 2009-07-19.
  5. ^ Younker, Emily (18 January 2010). "Co-worker: Base jumper no novice". Joplin Globe. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  6. ^ "Report: Parachute worked". Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. February 11, 2010. Retrieved September 3, 2021.
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37°16′26″N 94°56′20″W / 37.273882°N 94.938827°W / 37.273882; -94.938827