The Backhoe Loader is a piece of equipment for nearly any construction project. It is a multi-purpose vehicle combining the abilities of an excavator with a loader. It consists of three main tools: a front shovel-bucket, backhoe, and tractor.

Also, its diesel engine makes it able to travel from site to site on its own without towing or other transport.

 

History

By 1950, the crawler tractor, had proven to be an extremely useful piece of equipment. However, this still left some companies wondering how they could increase its versatility and thus widen its marketability.

A company from Essex, England, named Whitlock Bros., {Later HY-MAC}claim to have built the world’s first loader backhoe.[1] The company built under liecense a backhoe attachment and called it “Dinkum Digger” and experimented by connecting it to a Fordson Major farm tractor in 1951. The machine was designed by  scotsman Robert Ewan from near Cupar in Fife. A year later, Whitlock Bros. attached a hydraulic loader, creating the first loader backhoe.

Despite the Whitlock Bros. contributions, the company that receives the most credit for the invention of the loader backhoe is JCB. In fact, its name is so synonymous with the vehicle in Europe that almost all loader backhoes are simply known as JCBs.[2]

Joseph Cyril Bamford, founder of the U.K.-based company JCB, had previous experience building hydraulic loaders. During a trip to Norway, Bamford saw potential in a weak Broyt trailer-type backhoe. He purchased one and sent it back home so he could test its abilities. By 1953, Bamford had improved on the design and built his first backhoe attachment. A year later JCB manufactured the JCB Mk.1 backhoe attachment, designed to connect to a Fordson Major or Nuffield tractor.

In 1958, JCB released its first fully integrated loader backhoe.

Meanwhile the construction manufacturer Case was busy developing its own version of the loader backhoe. In 1957, Case acquired American Tractor Co. (ATC), who had been busy designing its own hydraulic backhoe. Case mounted the newly developed attachment on its own heavy-duty Model 320 tractor.

 

Advancement

As the loader backhoe was put to work, its stability, power, and maneuverability were tested. Initially the vehicle lowered its entire frame to the ground to stabilize it, and then stabilizing legs were introduced. These legs were either vertically telescopic or attached with hinges. This allowed the vehicle to lift heavier loads without the risk of tipping over.

In order to increase the range of movement of the backhoe, and thus digging area, a sliding kingpost was invented. Instead of fixing the boom to one set point in the center of the rear frame, the sliding kingpost made digging in tight quarters much easier. Early versions of the sliding kingpost appeared in 1959. JCB introduced its own version, the “Hydraslide,” in 1961. The Hydraslide was fixed to the rear axle instead of the frame providing even more maneuverability of the hoe.

One of the key features of the backhoe is its ability to transport itself on its own wheels without towing. This also makes it extremely useful on the construction site as well. Four-wheel drive became popular in the 1980s, but many vehicles were still available in 2x4. In 1991 JCB even introduced 4x4x4, which allowed the wheels to turn in three different ways: regular two-wheel steering, four-wheel steering for tight corners, and crab steering, allowing the front and back wheels to turn in opposite directions.

Still, one of the most important advancements was the introduction of tool carrier loader backhoe, which is designed to use a wide variety of different attachments including power brooms, hydraulic hammers, plate compactors, palette forks, lifting hooks and dozer blades. The attachments can be interchanged in a few seconds by activating power-operated pins.

 

Features/How it Works

The loader backhoe is the joining of three essential pieces of earthmoving equipment: a tractor, a loader and a backhoe. The tractor enables the tools to move quickly and safely around the site along rough terrain. The loader is capable of carrying large amounts of material (varying with bucket size), but is not designed to dig. Instead, the bucket smoothes-out rough ground or pushes dirt like a plow. The backhoe consists of a toothed shovel designed to dig up compact earth, or lift materials. It works similarly to an excavator in that it digs back towards the vehicle, instead of away like a wheel or crawler loader. The tractor is a diesel-powered vehicle that drives on rugged large tires (often the front wheels are smaller than the rear ones). Both the backhoe and loader are hydraulically controlled. The backhoe is made of three distinct parts: the boom, the stick, and the bucket. They are connected like the three joints of a human arm: the shoulder, elbow, and wrist.

The whole machine is stabilized by stabilizer legs, which lessen strain on the machine and its tires by taking the majority of the weight. There are two different types of shoes at the bottom of the legs: the grouser shoe, which digs into dirt, and rubber-padded shoe, which is good for asphalt.

 

Common Manufacturers

Bell Equipment

Case

Caterpillar

Curukova

Dingo

FERMEC

FiatAllis

Fiat-Hitachi

Ford

Hidromek

HY-MAC

Ingersoll Rand

JCB

John Deere

Komatsu

Kubota

Manitou

Massey Ferguson

MST

New Holland

Schaeff

Tata Hitachi

Terex

Terramite

Venieri

Volvo

Volvo BM

Whitlock