How is quarry machinery powered?

[eastworld]

Quarries, such as that at Shap, often seen to be producing quantities of smoke from some their machinery. I would have thought that these days the processing of the rock was performed by electrically powered machinery connected to the National Grid. Such smoke suggests that this is not the case. Does that mean the machinery is internal combustion powered, or do they use internal combustion to drive a generator powering the equipment?

 

Stu

[Dunsignalling]

Don't know about the Shap quarry in particular, but such businesses way out in the sticks won't necessarily have access to the quantity of mains power that they require.

 

I/c will be more flexible and avoid the cost of paying for cables to be laid from the nearest suitable substation.

 

John

[Dave John]

I think the smoke you see is from gas fired limekilns used to reduce Limestone to quicklime for industrial or construction use. 

 

The fixed site machinery will be powered from a grid connection, but I expect a sizeable site would also have some diesel generation as a backup, perhaps even mixed CHP these days. 

Edited November 30, 2017 by Dave John

[RANGERS]

Depending on the type of quarry equipment you're talking about, and the era, it can be steam, diesel or electrically powered.

 

In the ironstone fields, the excavators were largely steam powered until the 1920s/ 30s when electrical power came into play although steam didn't finally die out completely until the 60s. Smaller machines were diesel and I'd assume stone quarries followed a similar pattern.

 

The crushers were mechanically powered from static steam engines until electricity took over in the early part of the 20th century. There are various photos of these in Tonks books on the ironstone fields and suggest the system of driveshafts and belts could be quite complex.

[tamperman36]

Dependant really on the size and amount of static machinery, it would be quite possible the larger sites have a small power plant on site. As for the quarry vehicles , you can find both diesel or electric powered machines and also some diesel electric ones.

[eastglosmog]

Nearly all mobile quarry plant (excavators and dump trucks, mobile crushers and mobile screens) is diesel powered - there were some walking draglines in opencast coal and ironstone sites which were electric powered with long trailing cables.    Fixed plant in most sites (crushers, screens and workshops) will be electric powered.  Even remote places like Glensanda have electric power.  The quantities of smoke tend to come from hard worked diesel engines, just the same as on the railways.  There used to be steam powered shovels and draglines, but their day passed many years ago - the last Ruston-Bucyrus steam shovel was built for Kidlington cement works quarry in 1935.  It worked until 1966 and is now preserved at the East Midlands Museum of Technology. 

[Fat Controller]

Apart from smoke/steam emanating from lime kilns, there is also the possibility of a coating plant, where tar is heated and added to chippings for road surfacing.

[eastworld]

Thanks for all the replies. I think in Shap's case it's probably the lime kilns as it's white smoke.

 

Stu

[PatB]

Some quarries, particularly smaller operations which can't justify costly fixed plant, employ mobile crushing and screening plants, often from outside contractors. These mostly have a diesel genset powering electric motors on the individual items of equipment. I've seen hydraulic drives too, but they seem to be very rare.

[Titan]

[eastglosmog]

Or there is this mobile crusher I saw out in Ghana..........

 

Edited August 27, 2022 by eastglosmog
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