A Rocker Shovel Loader, sometimes simply referred to as a Rocker Shovel or Mucker is a type of mechanical loader used in
underground mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...
.
A Rocker Shovel is usually powered by compressed air, or in some cases electricity. It is commonly mounted on steel wheels designed to run on narrow gauge rails, with some later models using metal or rubber-tyred road wheels. The operator, standing on a raised platform to one side of the machine, operates the controls, one lever to drive the machine along the tracks, and another to raise and lower the bucket. Once the bucket has been filled by driving the loader forwards into the pile of material, the rocker mechanism throws the contents over the top of the machine and into a wagon behind. Once full, the loaded wagon can be taken away and replaced with an empty one to allow loading to continue.
On 28 May 1937,
Edwin Burton Royle applied for a patent as inventor of the "loading machine" and US Patent No. 2,134,582 was issued on October 25, 1938 and assigned to the
Eastern Iron Metals Company (later to be known as
EIMCO).
In 2000, the
American Society of Mechanical Engineers
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is an American professional association that, in its own words, "promotes the art, science, and practice of multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences around the globe" via "continuing ...
added the EIMCO 12B Rocker Shovel Loader of 1938 to its
List of Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmarks as reference number 212 out of a total number of 259 objects (as of 2015).
In June 2012, an EIMCO 12B Rocker Shovel was featured in an episode of the American
reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...
series ''
Auction Hunters
''Auction Hunters'' is an American reality television series that premiered on November 9, 2010, on Spike.
In June 2011, Spike announced that it had ordered a third season of ''Auction Hunters'' with 26 episodes. In August 2012, Spike announced ...
'', filmed in
Littleton, Colorado
Littleton is a home rule municipality city located in Arapahoe, Douglas, and Jefferson counties, Colorado, United States. Littleton is the county seat of Arapahoe County and is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistica ...
. It was sold to a gold miner for
$3,600.
References
External links
Video of EIMCO 12B being demonstratedat
Lea Bailey Light Railway
The Lea Bailey Light Railway is a narrow-gauge heritage railway in the United Kingdom. It is built on the site of the Bailey Level Gold Mine
An attempt was made in 2003 by the owners of Clearwell Caves to open the mine as a tourist attraction ...
Mining equipment
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