Big Brutus
{{Short description|Power shovel used in southeastern Kansas strip mining}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}
| {{Infobox ship begin
|infobox caption =yes}} {{Infobox ship image | Ship image = 300px | Ship caption = Big Brutus in 2014 }} {{Infobox ship class overview | Name = Big Brutus (1963-Present) | Builders = Bucyrus-Erie | Operators = {{USA}} | Class before = | Class after = 1950-B series: {{hlist|GEM of Egypt|The Silver Spade}} | Subclasses = | Cost = {{ShipCost|USA|6.5|m|year=1987}} | Built range = | In service range = 1963-1974 | In commission range = | Total ships building = | Total ships planned = 1 | Total ships completed = 1 | Total ships cancelled = | Total ships active = | Total ships laid up = | Total ships lost = | Total ships retired = | Total ships preserved = 1 }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header = |Ship country =United States |Ship flag = |Ship name = Big Brutus |Ship namesake = |Ship ordered = |Ship builder =Bucyrus-Erie |Ship laid down = |Ship commissioned =May 1963 |Ship christened =May 1963 |Ship maiden voyage = |Ship struck = |Ship honors = |Ship fate =*Retired in 1974
|Ship notes =*Largest power shovel preserved }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header = |Header caption = |Ship class = Model 1850-B electric power shovel |Ship tonnage ={{convert|4,200|tonne|lb|abbr=on|sigfig=3}} + {{convert|770|tonne|lb|abbr=on|sigfig=3}} ballast when operational |Ship length =*{{convert|24.2|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} (house) + {{convert|45.72|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} (max boom length){{Cite web |url=https://goodfoodandfarawayplaces.com/2022/10/04/big-brutus/|title=Big Brutus|date=October 4, 2022}}
|Ship beam ={{convert|18|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} |Ship height ={{convert|48.8|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} (to tip of boom) |Ship power =*2 x 2.57 MW (3,500 hp) electric motors + external power substation
|Ship propulsion =8 x caterpillar tracks |Ship speed =0.22 mph (19 ft/min) (5.8m/min) max |Ship range = |Ship capacity =Blade capacity: {{convert|90|cuyd|m3|1}} or {{convert|150|ST|t}} |Ship armament = }} |
{{Infobox NRHP
| name = Big Brutus
| built = 1963
| added = January 5, 2018
| refnum = 100001945
}}
Big Brutus is the nickname of the Bucyrus-Erie model 1850-B electric power shovel, which was the second largest of its type in operation in the 1960s and 1970s. Big Brutus is the centerpiece of a mining museum in West Mineral, Kansas, United States, where it was used in coal strip mining operations. The shovel was designed to dig from {{convert|20|to|69|ft|m}}{{Cite web |url=http://files.asme.org/ASMEORG/Communities/History/Landmarks/5504.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2010-03-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100703023704/http://files.asme.org/ASMEORG/Communities/History/Landmarks/5504.pdf |archive-date=2010-07-03 |url-status=dead }} down to unearth relatively shallow coal seams, which would then be mined with smaller equipment.
Description
The fabrication of Big Brutus was completed in May 1963, after which it was shipped on 150 railroad cars to be assembled in Kansas. It operated until 1974, when coal was uneconomic to mine at the site. At that time, it was considered too big to move and was left in place.
Big Brutus, while not the largest electric shovel ever built, is the largest electric shovel still in existence. The Captain, at {{convert|28|e6lb||}} – triple that of Big Brutus – was the largest shovel and one of the largest land-based mobile machines ever built, only exceeded by some dragline and bucket-wheel excavators. It was scrapped in 1992, after receiving extreme damage from an hours-long internal fire.{{cite book|last=Haddock|first=Keith|title=Colossal Earthmovers|publisher=MBI|date=September 18, 2000|pages=[https://archive.org/details/colossalearthmov00keit/page/67 67]|isbn=978-0-7603-0771-7|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/colossalearthmov00keit/page/67}}
Museum
The Pittsburg & Midway Coal Mining Company donated Big Brutus in 1984 as the core of a mining museum which opened in 1985. In 1987, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers designated Big Brutus a Regional Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark.{{cite web|url=https://www.bigbrutus.org/about.html|title=About Big Brutus|publisher=Big Brutus, Inc.|accessdate=2009-07-19}} It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2018.
The museum offers tours and camping.
Fatal accident
On January 16, 2010, Mark Mosley, a 49-year-old dentist from Lowell, Arkansas, died attempting to base-jump from the top of the boom. Climbing the boom had been prohibited years earlier; after the accident, the attraction's board of directors considered additional restrictions on climbing.{{cite news|last1=Younker|first1=Emily|date=18 January 2010|title=Co-worker: Base jumper no novice|work=Joplin Globe|url=http://www.joplinglobe.com/news/local_news/co-worker-base-jumper-no-novice/article_a9e33c32-2ac8-5587-baa2-03bff07b9cc9.html|access-date=22 November 2020}} During the accident's investigation, examiner Tom Dolphin determined that Mosley had accidentally fallen off the boom while preparing to jump.{{Cite news|date=February 11, 2010|title=Report: Parachute worked|work=Arkansas Democrat-Gazette|url=https://www.pressreader.com/usa/arkansas-democrat-gazette/20100211/284004713332290|access-date=September 3, 2021}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category|Big Brutus}}
- {{Official website|https://www.bigbrutus.org/}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20100703023704/http://files.asme.org/ASMEORG/Communities/History/Landmarks/5504.pdf Big Brutus, Sept. 1987, The American Society of Mechanical Engineers]
{{Bucyrus-Erie}}
{{coord|37.273882|-94.938827|region:US_type:landmark|display=title}}
Category:Museums in Cherokee County, Kansas
Category:Mining museums in Kansas
Category:National Register of Historic Places in Cherokee County, Kansas