THE DRAGLINE DREDGE.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4611, 8 October 1923, Page 2

THE DRAGLINE DREDGE.

A WONDERFUL MACHINE-. Doubtlessly many people will be interested in the drag-line dredge as ft passes along the left bank of the Ohinemuri River, right in the heart of Paeroa. Although it is quite an easy matter to .see this machine in operation, the following particular's have been obtained, which will give readers a very fair idea pf whalt the machine really is, and what it can do. The machine is known as a Reston Dragline Excavator, and, with one other, is the largest of its kind in New Zealand, if not Australasia. The main feature is the boom, which is fifty feet in length, and has a radius of seventy feet. .To the end of the boom is attached the huge bucket or excavator, which is capable of lifting one and a half yards of soil at a dip, at the rate of two dips per minute, and depositing the spoil on the bank. The bucket is worked by means of steel wire ropes fitted on pulleys at the boom. The drag-line itself is a 3% in. steel wine rope, and the overhead hoist rope is of l%in. in diameter. The ropes are controlled on a series of drums, which are operated by means of two steam clutches. The boom can be raised or lowered to any height! required. There are two complete engines—one - doing the hoisting and the other one is the slewing and turning engine. The boiler pressure obtainable is 125 lbs. About 25 to 30 cwt. of coal is consumed in eight hours’ steady working. The whole machine, weighing approximately 90 tons, is mounted on four caterpillar treads, which are driven off the main engine. These caterpillar treads cover an area of 108 .square feet/ which is equal to about 131bs. to the square inch. From a drag-line dredge, the machine can •very simply be converted into a steam shovel, in which capacity it would be capable of moving about three square yards of spoil at a time. 'Again, with a little alteration, it may be used as a crane for hoisting purposes. The dredge is capable of building on an average .1% chains of stopbank in a day of eight hpurs. A big feature is the ease with which the whole machine can be moved and handled despite the great! weight. Tn addition to the tremendous saving of time by utilising such a machine, it is a great labour saver, as only two men are actually employed on the dredge. Mr D. Shankland is the engineer in charge, and associated with him is a fireman. On the stopbank itself two labourers are engaged in levelling the spoil as it is deposited from the bucket and keeping the building of the bank within the specified pegs. A man is also engaged in carting coal and attending to the supply of water for the boiler. The stopbank on which .this dredge is engaged at present was commenced at the Maori meeting house near the Te Aroha Road, and is forming a flood protection bank along the left side of the Ohinemuri River. This bank will be continued through from the present location of the machine in Mr M. Goonan’s property up* to Moananui’s Flat, where it will link up with the relief work that is being carried out there. The stopbank is being constructed eight feet high, with a 20ft, top, and a slope of 1 in 2 on the river side and 1 in 3 on the lar d side of the stopbank. The bottom measures about 50ft, which will consolidate until the. bank is 6ft. in height, It is expected that the dragline will reach the railway bridge in aobut a fortnight’s time. Obviously the object of this big undertaking is to act in conjunction with the newly-erected floodgates on the Kouiti Creek and prevent the Ohinemuri River flooding the land on the south-western ’side of the river. It is considered that the adtuai amount of land that must r ecessarily be taken on which to build the stopbank is more than compensated for by the flood protection the settlers will receive on their low-dying properties. ~