Caterpillar unveils new heavy excavators at ConExpo show.

Caterpillar has used the ConExpo show in Las Vegas to unveil a pair of uprated models in its excavator line: the Cat 374D and the 390D. The new Cat 374D hydraulic excavator, a direct replacement for the model 365C, combines added horsepower, stronger hydraulics and greater operating weight to boost overall performance, whether trenching, loading, lifting or handling attachments. Complementing these design basics are undercarriage improvements, a new range of buckets, operator-convenience features, safety enhancements and serviceability improvements. The 374D weighs 71,132 kg.

Rated at 355 kW, the Tier 3/Stage IIIA-compliant Cat C15 engine provides the 374D with 18 percent more power than its predecessor, the 365C.

The 374D implement hydraulic system features a 10-percent increase in flow and a 9-percent gain in main pressure, resulting in a significant boost in hydraulic horsepower. The added hydraulic power combines with larger digging arm and bucket cylinders to yield 17 percent higher digging arm forces and 12 percent higher bucket forces on machines with the standard (reach) boom and arm configuration. For units in the mass excavation configuration, digging arm forces also are up by 17 percent and bucket forces by 5 percent. The net result is shorter cycle times and increased bucket fill factors.

A new line of buckets for the 374D are designed for added strength and durability to accommodate the higher digging forces of the new machine. Bucket types include general duty, heavy duty, severe duty and extreme duty. All Cat buckets feature K Series™ GET (Ground Engaging Tools). Work tools for the 374D extend the machine application into such operations as demolition, scrap processing and quarry work.

The new 90 tonne Cat 390D L Hydraulic Excavator, which replaces the 385C L, incorporates a refined design that provides greater hydraulic power, stronger structural components, added safety and convenience features, plus improved serviceability.

Design enhancements in the implement hydraulic system allow the 390D L to deliver significantly greater digging and lifting forces than its 385C predecessor. Main relief pressure in the implement circuits has been increased to 35,000 kPa, up nearly 10 percent from that of the 385C.

A universal quick-coupler circuit is available for factory installation and is compatible with both dedicated and pin-grabber type couplers. The system features an offset lifting eye and easy-to-use controls.

Caterpillar has transformed a 1,858 square-meter outdoor exhibition space at the Las Vegas Convention Center into a park where CONEXPO-CON/AGG visitors can learn more about the company’s long history of innovation and sustainability leadership. Called Generations Park, the venue was built by Las Vegas-based Sun City Landscapes, Inc. using Cat equipment that was sold and supported by Cashman Equipment Co., the regional Cat Dealer.

Following CONEXPO-CON/AGG, more than 98 percent of the materials used in the construction of the park will have a second life. Paving blocks and concrete products donated by Pavestone Company of Las Vegas will be returned for reuse or recycling. Other materials will be donated to Opportunity Village, a local organization that provides vocational training, employment services and social experiences to people with intellectual disabilities, and Boys & Girls Clubs of Las Vegas, an agency devoted to helping children and youth achieve their full potential.

On display in Generations Park are both the oldest and newest products in the Cat line. The Caterpillar Expo Twenty Tractor is a pre-production example of the first tractor model wholly designed and built by what was once called Caterpillar Tractor Co. Manufactured in 1927, it shares exhibit space with the Cat CT660 Work Truck, a 21st-century vocational truck that is being introduced at CONEXPO-CON/AGG and will be commercially available later in 2011.

Case uses ConExpo as skid steer launch pad

Case Construction Equipment has launched its new Alpha Series line of skid steers, introducing nine models. The new Case machines deliver best-in-class horsepower and breakout force.

The engines in the new Alpha Series skid steers range from 34 kW to 90 67 kW, with rated operating capacities ranging from 590 kg in the new class-size SR130 to 1,360 kg in the SV300.

“Case skid steers have always been known for power and productivity,” said Curtis Goettel, Case marketing manager. “Our new Case Alpha Series skid steers deliver industry-leading bucket breakout forces. The Case SR175, for example, has more than twice the bucket breakout force of the current best-selling model in this size class.”

The Alpha Series includes both radial-lift and vertical-lift models. The radial lift machines (designated with an R in the model name), are engineered for digging, prying and pushing, while the vertical lift models (designated with a V), excel on lift-and-carry applications. The Case Alpha Series includes six radial-lift skid steers, the SR130, SR150, SR175, SR200, SR220 and SR250, and three vertical-lift models, the SV185, SV250 and SV300.

Improved visibility, operator comfort, climate management and operator controls define the new Case Alpha Series machines. To begin, the skid steer cabs are 25-percent larger—the widest in the industry. They feature a revolutionary ultra-narrow wire side-screen design that improves operator visibility. Plus, the glass surface was increased to provide 360-degree visibility.

“The spacious Alpha Series cabs are ideal for the long, hard days operators spend in equipment,” Goettel said. “An increase of 25 percent makes a world of difference.” He added that test operators really appreciated the extra room and improved visibility provided by the new design.

Construction firm fined for demolition site asbestos failings

A construction company has been fined for its role in exposing workers to asbestos in Derby.

Quarnmill Construction Ltd was preparing the former Allens Printers building in Webster Street for demolition in October 2009 and had employed a contractor to remove asbestos-containing materials.

The company provided the contractor with a survey detailing the work to be done, but did not check his suitability to carry out the work, or that he held a licence to remove asbestos, as required by law.

Once work was underway, Quarnmill informed the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) that they thought the site had become contaminated with asbestos as a result of the work the contractor had carried out.

Quarnmill Construction Ltd, of Derby Road, Aston on Trent, pleaded guilty to breaching regulation 4(1)(a) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 for allowing such failings at a site it controlled. The company was today fined £13,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,700 by Derby magistrates.

Read more here

Lofty German restaurant provides test for Atlas Copco attachment

The panoramic restaurant on the Drachenfels, or Dragon’s Rock, above Königswinter in the Siebengebirge Natural Park on the River Rhine is being replaced by a modern glass cube. The whole plateau at the summit is being conditioned to accommodate growth in tourism. An Atlas Copco CombiCutter CC 2500 U has managed to demolish the old restaurant under difficult conditions.

To begin with, the access road to the restaurant was iced over for weeks, making it impossible to drive along. Once the road was clear again, the retaining wall along the road needed to be reinforced in parts to take the weight of the 25-ton CAT 323 D excavator and the CombiCutter. No rubble was permitted to fall down the hillside under any circumstances. As a result, the outside walls needed to be torn down inwards towards the excavator.

As if that wasn’t enough, time was also pressure on foreman Olaf Goldschmidt and his team from Dortmund-based Stricker GmbH & Co. KG. Demolition work had to be completed by the end of February due to strict requirements regarding the protection of nature and species.

Residents, visitors and the media also showed great interest in the progress of demolition work. “I have never had so many curious onlookers and representatives of the press on a building site,” exclaims Goldschmidt. “The work attracted enormous interest.”

ConExpo throws spotlight on campaign to rebuild America.

Demolition and construction professionals have traveled from far and wide to attend the ConExpo show and to see first-hand the equipment that will be shaping their businesses in the months and years to come. And there is certainly plenty to see.

But aside from impressive equipment displays by usual suspects Caterpillar, Volvo, JCB and Komatsu, together with some equally impressive harnessing of communications technology from, among others, Verizon, the overwhelming theme on the opening day of the Las Vegas extravaganza is of an industry uniting behind a single cause.

The I Make America campaign may have seen very little exposure across the Atlantic, but here in the spiritual home of the US equipment manufacturing sector, it’s presence is permeating every aspect of the show and the displays it comprises. Even in a country as famously patriotic as the US, the Stars and Stripes is, perhaps, more evident than ever before.

Unlike the well-intentioned but ultimately flawed Buy British campaign of yesteryear, I Make America is putting the manufacture of demolition and construction equipment at the very heart of the country’s post-recession recovery.

It would, of course, be easy to dismiss this campaign as an example of American protectionism; a knee-jerk if belated reaction to the erosion of it’s market share in the face of competition from – primarily – the Far East.

But while Europe’s economy languishes in the doldrums, appointing blame – the banks, governments, economists – the Americans have rallied. Through a mix of stimulus funding and now this latest campaign, the US is striving to lead the construction industry out of recession with a united front.

It is a shame that a supposedly unified Europe cannot claim likewise.

The sun shines on opening day of the ConExpo extravaganza

It is often said that construction equipment exhibitions are the barometer of the industry. If that’s the case, the ailing co struction equipment industry is clearly on the mend. And while it may not have returned to the rude health it enjoyed just a few short years ago, early indications are that things a looking up.

Certainly, first day exhibitor numbers must have taken the organizers by surprise as the registration process – the stumbling block for all conventions of this kind – was clearly creaking under the strain early on.

But the show ground and inside halls are busy, and while we have yet to see a cheque book being waved in anger, there certainly is activity taking place.

We will be reporting back more fully on individual machines, companies and launches. But if you are coming to Vegas, you’re in for a treat.

It was our intention to use the power of the Apple iPad to broadcast live (well, almost) from the ConExpo show in Las Vegas.

Sadly, the iPad is missing, presumed stolen so we’re currently making do with an iphone.

This will, of course, greatly limit our ability to report live, but bear with us. We’re hoping that normal service will be restored shortly.

Demolition crews frustrated by pizza-eating attorney.

Demolition work on the Kalet’s building in downtown Auburn was put on hold Friday while an attorney representing Joseph Camardo Jr. sat directly next to the work site.

And an attorney with the city of Auburn said that — for safety’s sake — it’s unlikely that demolition work can continue if the same thing continues to happen.

Carl DePalma sat in a chair eating pizza early Friday afternoon facing an area where a crew with contractor American DND was planning to take down a brick chimney at the back end of the Kalet’s building. A lift was parked next to the chimney, and workers had placed caution tape around the site to keep people from entering.

DePalma is representing Camardo, who is also an attorney, in a lawsuit against the city over the Kalet’s building demolition project. Camardo’s law firm is one of multiple properties next to the vacant Kalet’s building, which is owned by the city.

DePalma said he wanted to watch the contractor work, claiming the city has not been forthcoming or honest with him or Camardo about demolition plans.

“We just don’t feel they’re complying with anything they’ve told us they’re going to do,” DePalma said.
The city plans to tear down the building and then transfer the property to Cayuga County for use by Cayuga Community College. The college would then build a performing arts venue with a mix of state and private funds.

Read more here.

The latest edition of our regular online radio show about and for the demolition business.

As the DemolitionNews team is currently packing its toothbrush and desperately raiding closets to locate its passport before heading for Las Vegas and the ConExpo exhibition, we thought we’d leave you with our latest edition of Demo Talk Radio, our regular online radio show about and for the global demolition industry.

It’s another varied show with contributions from as far afield as the UK, Canada and Bolivia, so please hit the play button below and give it a listen.

In addition, we are planning to record a huge amount of audio and video content from our trip to the US and while our ability to upload it while we’re in the US will rest upon our ability to overcome bandwidth issues at the Luxor, watch this space.

Oh, and if you want to follow what we’re up to in Vegas, please follow us on Twitter either by clicking here and hitting the follow button, or by watching the Twitter feed just to the left of this post.