Excerpt from Steam Shovel Mining: Including a Consideration of Electric Shovels and Other Power Excavators in Open-Pit Mining The purpose of this volume is to present in a collected and condensed form the general information covering the development and study of such mining problems as may best be solved by the application of open-pit methods involving the use of modern power-excavators. It is assumed that the reader has a general idea of mining practice. Compared with the broad old science of mining, the application of the power-shovel is relatively new, and perhaps for that reason, information concerning its use is not so widely known. The majority of those in charge of such operations are practical men little given to writing. Many have been drawn from industrial and constructive engineering fields rather than from mining, and some are at times inclined to guard the details of successful methods which have been gained only after long experience. It is therefore the purpose here to analyze, compare and criticise such information on the subject as the writer has accumulated through reading, travel and operation of open-pit work, with the aim of making this information as helpful as possible to the profession of which the writer is happy to belong. It will be noted that emphasis is laid only on such power-shovel work as pertains to mining, rather than to include the broad field of general excavation work, though in many cases the operations are conducted in much the same way. Mining operations are however of a destructive character and much less attention need usually be paid to the aftermath of the excavations or to the final disposal of the debris.

The direct object is the winning of the ore, efficiently and cheaply, not the construction of an engineering monument of utility. The prices of steam-shovels and other machinery and supplies, given in this book, are based on 1915-1917 quotations and are believed to be more useful than present day prices, which are regarded as unstable. Firms contemplating purchases should solicit from manufacturers their latest quotations, but for comparative purposes the prices given in the text are believed to be safest. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy.

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