The Parts of a Bulldozer
The very first bulldozer was designed in the early 1920s from a Holt farm tractor, which operated on a caterpillar-type track, rather than rubber tires, designed to evenly distribute the weight of this heavy machine. Today most people think of the familiar brand Caterpillar (CAT) when they think of a bulldozer, an earth-moving behemoth that can be found re-forming the earth all around the globe.
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Engine / Hydraulic Pump
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The purpose of the bulldozer is to move dirt, plain and simple. Scaping the land by removing soil from where it is not wanted, and moving it to areas to be filled is the primary job of the dozer operator. The dozer could not perform these jobs without a powerful internal plant of horsepower and hydraulics.
The heart of the bulldozer is its powerful diesel engine and the D-10 Caterpillar dozer and weighs in at a massive sixty-five tons. But all of this horse power would go to waste if not for a massive hydraulic pump. The pump distributes highly pressurized fluid to the working ends of the dozer, the blade and the rippers.
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Tracks
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Bulldozers have no rubber tires, just heavy iron tracks that look like wide chains. Steering is accomplished by locking one track or the other. For example, when tracking forward in a straight line, if the operator stops the rotation of the left track, the dozer slowly turns left. If, on the other hand, the operator reverses the left track, but continues the right track forward, the dozer will spin a circle to the left, nearly on its own axis.
Front Blade
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Considering the primary purpose of the bulldozer is to move dirt, then the primary part of the dozer to accomplish that is the front blade. The blade is mounted to the frame of the dozer and is moved up and down and angled side to side by the powerful hydraulic pump. Not only can these blades move large amounts of dirt at one time, with an experienced operator, they can smoothly establish a fine finished grade.
Rippers
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Rock, boulders and caliche prevent earth movers from moving the earth. When that happens the bulldozer operator turns to the other end of the dozer, the back end where the "rippers" are fixed. Rippers are simply ductile iron sharp teeth, usually three, designed to tear at the rock while the dozer moves forward slowly. The hydraulic pump forces the teeth into the ground and they rip through the hardened soil. Several passes may be needed to achieve the desired depth.
Significance
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Without bulldozers, construction projects as we know them would not be possible. The dozer is the first in and most times has the toughest job clearing land where rubber tire machines do not dare to go. Smaller bulldozers can be rented by private individuals for home building projects, but they should never be operated by someone not familiar with the controls or without first reading all safety warnings.
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