Editing Dragline excavator (section)

==History==
The dragline was invented in 1904 by [[John W. Page]] (as a partner of the firm Page & Schnable Contracting) for use in digging the [[Chicago Canal]]. By 1912, Page realized that building draglines was more lucrative than contracting, so he created the [[Page Engineering Company]] to build draglines. Page built its first crude walking dragline in 1923. These used legs operated by rack and pinion on a separate frame that lifted the crane. The body was then pulled forward by chain on a roller track and then lowered again.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=A walking excavator|date=29 July 1916|website=The Literary Digest|page=249|url=https://archive.org/details/literarydigest53newy/page/249/mode/1up?view=theater}}</ref> Page developed the first diesel engines exclusively for dragline application in 1924. Page also invented the arched dragline bucket, a design still commonly used today by draglines from many other manufacturers, and in the 1960s pioneered an archless bucket design. With its walking mechanism badly behind that of competitor Monighan (see below), Page updated their mechanism to an eccentric drive in 1935. This much improved mechanism gave a proper elliptical motion and was used until 1988. Page modernized its draglines further with the 700 series in 1954. Page's largest dragline was the Model 757 delivered to the Obed Mine near Hinton, Alberta in 1983. It featured a 75-yard bucket on a 298-foot boom and an operating weight of 4,500 tons. In 1988, Harnischfeger Corporation ([[P&H Mining Equipment]]) purchased Page Engineering Company.

[[Harnischfeger Corporation]] was established as [[P&H Mining]] in 1884 by [[Alonzo Pawling]] and [[Henry Harnischfeger]]. In 1914, P&H introduced the world's first gasoline engine powered dragline. In 1988, Page was acquired by Harnischfeger which makes the P&H line of [[power shovel|shovels]], draglines, and [[crane (machine)|cranes]]. P&H's largest dragline is the 9030C with a 160-yard bucket and up to a 425-foot boom.

[[File:Marion 111-M Dragline at New Athens, Ohio.ogv|thumb|275px|thumbtime=0:30|Marion 111-M Dragline in action. (30 seconds)]]

In 1907, Monighan's Machine Works of Chicago became interested in manufacturing draglines when local contractor John W. Page placed an order for hoisting machinery to install one. In 1908, Monighan changed its name to the Monighan Machine Company. In 1913, a Monighan engineer named Oscar Martinson invented the first walking mechanism for a dragline.<ref>{{cite patent |country=US |number=1095464 |title=Excavator-Tractor. |gdate=5 May 1914 |fdate=1 April 1913 |inventor=Martinson, Oscar J. |assign1=Monighan Machine Co.}}</ref><ref>{{cite patent |country=US |number=1101459 |title=Tractor. |gdate=23 June 1914 |fdate=24 March 1913 |inventor=Martinson, Oscar J. |assign1=Monighan Machine Co.}}</ref><ref>{{cite patent |country=US |number=1101460 |title=Excavator-Tractor. |gdate=23 June 1914 |fdate=5 April 1913 |inventor=Martinson, Oscar J. |assign1=Monighan Machine Co.}}</ref> The device, known as the Martinson Tractor, was installed on a Monighan dragline, creating the first walking dragline. This gave Monighan a significant advantage over other draglines and the company prospered. The cam mechanism was further improved in 1925 by eliminating the drag chains for the shoes and changing to a cam wheel running in an oval track. This gave the shoe a proper elliptical motion.<ref>{{cite patent |country=US |number=1591764 |title=Traction Mechanism. |gdate=6 July 1926 |fdate=23 March 1926 |inventor=Martinson, Oscar J. |assign1=Monighan Machine Co.}}</ref><ref>{{cite patent |country=US |number=1627984 |title=Traction Machine. |gdate=10 May 1927 |fdate=24 April 1925 |inventor=Martinson, Oscar J. |assign1=Monighan Machine Co.}}</ref> The first dragline using the new mechanism was the 3-W available in 1926. So popular were these machines that the name Monighan became a generic term for dragline. In the early 1930s, [[Bucyrus-Erie]] began purchasing shares of Monighan stock with Monighan's approval. Bucyrus purchased a controlling interest and the joint company became known as Bucyrus-Monighan until the formal merger in 1946. The first walking dragline excavator in the [[United Kingdom]] was used at the [[Wellingborough Tramway|Wellingborough iron quarry]] in 1940.<ref name=Quine>{{Quine ironstone |part=3}}</ref>

[[Ransomes & Rapier]] was founded in 1869 by four engineers to build railway equipment and other heavy works. In 1914 they started building two small steam shovels as a result of a customer request. The rope-operated crowd system they built for this was patented<ref>{{cite patent |country=GB |number=110458 |title=Improvements in or relating to Luffing Cranes. |gdate=25 October 1917 |fdate=22 January 1917 |inventor=Bowtell, William John |assign1=Ransomes & Rapier Ltd.}}</ref> and later sold to Bucyrus. After WWI, demand for excavators increased and in 1924 they reached an agreement to build Marion draglines from 1 to 8 cubic yards capacity. In 1927, they built Type-7 1-yard and Type-460 1.5-yard models. The deal to build Marion machines ended in 1936. R&R began building their own designs with the Type-4120 followed by the 4140 of 3.5 cubic yards. In 1958 the Ramsomes & Rapier division was sold to [[Newton, Chambers & Co.]] of Sheffield, which was combined with their [[NCK]] Crane & Excavator division. This became NCK-Rapier. The walking dragline division of NCK-Rapier was acquired by Bucyrus in 1988.

The [[Marion Power Shovel Company]] (established in 1880) built its first walking dragline with a simple single-crank mechanism in 1939. Its largest dragline was the 8950 sold to Amax Coal Company in 1973. It featured a 150-cubic yard bucket on a 310-foot boom and weighed 7,300 tons. Marion was acquired by Bucyrus in 1997.

[[Bucyrus-Erie|Bucyrus Foundry and Manufacturing Company]] entered the dragline market in 1910 with the purchase of manufacturing rights for the Heyworth-Newman dragline excavator.  Their "Class 14" dragline was introduced in 1911 as the first crawler mounted dragline. In 1912 Bucyrus helped pioneer the use of electricity as a power source for large stripping shovels and draglines used in mining. An Italian company, [[Fiorentini]], produced dragline excavators from 1919 licensed by Bucyrus. After the merger with Monighan in 1946, Bucyrus began producing much larger machines using the Monighan walking mechanism such as the 800 ton 650-B which used a 15-yard bucket. Bucyrus' largest dragline was [[Big Muskie]] built for the Ohio Coal Company in 1969. This machine featured a 220-yard bucket on a 450-foot boom and weighed 14,500 tons. Bucyrus was itself acquired by heavy equipment and diesel engine maker, Caterpillar, in 2011. Caterpillar's largest dragline is the 8750 with a 169-yard bucket, 435-foot boom, and 8,350 ton weight.

The market for draglines began shrinking rapidly after the boom of the 1960s and 1970s which led to more mergers. P&H's acquisition of Page in 1988 along with Bucyrus' acquisition of Ransomes & Rapier in 1988 and Marion in 1997 cut the number of worldwide suppliers of heavy draglines by more than half. Today, P&H and Caterpillar are the only remaining manufacturers of large draglines.

===Other manufacturers===

Heavy Engineering Corporation Limited was the first Indian company to manufacture a walking dragline of 31-yard bucket capacity. HEC makes up to a 44-yard bucket. For comparison, this would be comparable to Caterpillar's Small Draglines 8000 series with a 42-yard bucket. HEC has supplied fifteen draglines to the Indian mining industry.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Heavy Engineering Corporation Limited, Ranchi, India |url=https://hecltd.com/draglines.php |access-date=2023-10-19 |website=hecltd.com}}</ref>