Скачать или смотреть Before Hydraulics: How Excavators Lasted 12x Longer - The Cable Era (1920-1970)

🔥 BEFORE HYDRAULICS - Episode 2: The Cable Era

You know RaWMachines' "Before Electricity" series. Construction Legends continues: what came BEFORE HYDRAULICS?

Modern excavators die at 10,000 hours. But from 1920 to 1970, cable-operated giants ran for 120,000 hours—12 times longer. No hydraulic fluid. No sealed cylinders. Just friction drums, steel cables, and operators who needed "an octopus for a co-pilot" to control six movements at once.

This is the story of machines built to outlast their operators' entire careers.

📍 CHAPTERS:
00:00 - The 12x Longer Mystery
00:35 - Origins: Wire Rope Invention (1830s)
01:58 - Electrification Changes Everything (1920s)
03:23 - Engineering Philosophy: Every Part Repairable
06:22 - The Octopus Co-Pilot: 6 Controls at Once
10:29 - Gravity Takes Over: When Letting Go Means Disaster
14:22 - The 54 Grease Fitting Ritual
19:09 - Speed Test: Cable vs Early Hydraulics
22:52 - Big Muskie: The 13,500-Ton Legend
27:00 - Restoration: 7 Years to Bring One Back
30:32 - Why We Abandoned Durability

🔧 THE DIFFERENCE:
Modern hydraulic excavator = let go of controls, everything stops safely
Cable excavator = let go of controls, gravity pulls bucket down, cables scream, disaster

Hydraulic = sealed black box, fluid leaks, 10,000-hour lifespan
Cable = open mechanics, oil baths, replace one cable, run another 20 years

That's the beauty before hydraulics: visible, repairable, built for generations.

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🎬 INSPIRED BY: @RaWMachines "Before Electricity" series
📺 CONSTRUCTION LEGENDS explores what came before fluid power changed everything.

EPISODE 1: Panama Canal Steam Shovels (1904-1914)    • Before Hydraulics: Panama Canal Steam Shov...  

COMING NEXT IN BEFORE HYDRAULICS SERIES:
Walking Draglines: The Dinosaurs of Mining
Friction Cranes That Never Leaked
The Last Cable Operators: Lost Skills

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📊 BY THE NUMBERS:
• 120,000 hours: Cable excavator lifespan (documented)
• 10,000 hours: Modern hydraulic lifespan (manufacturer spec)
• 12x longer: The durability we abandoned
• 172 tons: Typical cable excavator weight (Bucyrus 120-B)
• 13,500 tons: Big Muskie weight (largest ever built)
• 220 cubic yards: Big Muskie bucket capacity
• 483 million cubic yards: Moved by Big Muskie alone (1969-1991)
• $42/day: Cable operator wage (1950s) vs $15/day bulldozer operator
• 2-3x higher: Wage premium for cable excavator skill
• 54 grease fittings: Daily maintenance on Bucyrus 120-B
• 6 controls: Simultaneous movements required
• 28-32 seconds: Cycle time (faster than early hydraulics)

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🏗️ THE MACHINES:
• Bucyrus-Erie 120-B (1926-1951): 172 tons, the workhorse of open pit mining
• Marion Power Shovel 6360 "The Captain": 12,000 tons, moved 800 million cubic yards
• Bucyrus-Erie 4250-W "Big Muskie": 13,500 tons, now a roadside monument in Ohio
• P&H and Marion cable shovels that defined an era

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💬 THE HONEST QUESTION:
Cable excavators were faster and lasted 12x longer. We abandoned them not because hydraulics were better—but because training cable operators cost too much.

Is that progress? Or did we trade durability for disposability?

Tell us in the comments.

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🙏 SUBSCRIBE to Construction Legends for the complete Before Hydraulics documentary series.

📌 What should Episode 3 cover?
Walking draglines?
Friction cranes?
Steam graders?
Vote in the comments!

#BeforeHydraulics #CableExcavators #ConstructionHistory #BucyrusErie #MarionPowerShovel #BigMuskie #VintageHeavyEquipment #MiningHistory #BuiltToLast #PlannedObsolescence #MechanicalEngineering #IndustrialArchaeology #EquipmentRestoration #ConstructionLegends #RaWMachines