Trencher

It was in 1893 that the first trencher (mechanical machine), named Buckey No. 88 was developed at the Bowling Green Foundry and Machine Co. by Mr. James Hill. Soon after this invention, James Hill founded his new company and named it as ‘Van Buren Heck & Marvin Co.’ in 1902 for the production of equipment, invented by him. In 1906, the company name was changed to Buckeye Traction Ditcher Co., the company gained a lot of popularity and started to get known for its contribution towards the development of trenching related equipment. Various, other investors and business leaders could see the growing demand for trenching equipment during that period. Companies like The Parsons Co., Barber-Greene Co., Cleaveland Trencher Co. got active in this industry and slung the trenching equipment into what we see today.

The Cleveland Trencher Co was established in 1923 when the demand for trenchers among other companies was steadily rising. The first ever trencher-the Baby Digger, was made available by The Cleveland Trencher Co. in 1924. During that period, The Parsons Co. came up with a ladder ditcher with a digging capacity of 12 X 12 feet (3.7 by 0.6 m), which proved to be a very successful model as it could serve various purposes.

The Barber Greene Co., launched by Harry Barber and William B Greene in 1916, manufactured paving machines and trenching machines. Barber-Greene was one of the most popular companies for manufacturing trenchers at this time, selling the most trenchers of any company by 1926. They were also responsible for producing a hydrostatic trencher mounted on crawlers that could move just as fast as they could dig.

 

Initially, the trenchers used to be mechanical with numerous parts like drive shafts and gearboxes. Soon after World War II, hydraulic trenchers came into the picture followed by various advancements in the technology making the trenchers much faster than earlier. With the growing pace and size of the projects, the demands for bigger trenchers increased. To account for the demand, the trencher manufacturers began producing equipment as per the requirements of their suppliers. The Ditch Witch built the very first trenching machine in 1949, which completely outdated the hand-excavated trenching. The trencher named as RT 15 used rubber tires to increase its mobility; a John Deere diesel engine with 115 H.P. and a hydrostatic propel which made the trencher very efficient. The RTI 15 was built with rubber tires to increase mobility and it featured a diesel engine with 115 H.P.

 

Later, the demand was not just about the trenchers being large but the companies also wanted smaller trenchers but with greater power. To account for this demand, in the late 1950s, the trenchers available were not just larger in size, but their digging capacities increased greatly. Trenchers were developed that could dig through frozen ground and others were produced to dig at rapid speeds. Tesmec TRS 100, produced in 1951 was the first trencher which was capable of trenching through very hard surfaces, such as rocks. Between 1964  and 1974, Parson’s 355 model was at its peak as was the largest capacity ladder trencher available. In 1982, The Polar Bear, a hensuet trencher was built. It had a diesel engine of 2000 H.P. and was the largest trencher to be built till that date.

Trenchers have made some amazing progress subsequent to their appearance in the late nineteenth century and it is improbable that their advancement will stop in the future.