equipment

DarinRay · May 9, 2002

Now that's some power. I am considering buying one of those pieces. Of course it was the D20P or D21PG and not that big one. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif/w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif

Darin

rdln · May 9, 2002

Yeah Paul, I guess the diesel powers the generator which charges the batteries which turn the electric motored wheels?

looch · May 9, 2002

Looks like it, Steve. I just visited their website and got the facts.

I saw a show on TLC (Monster Machines?) that made it sound like this thing ran on batteries - which is different than just the propulsion system being battery driven.

hazmat · May 9, 2002

They use the diesel/electric powerplant in trains too. The reason is it is easier to "throttle" the electric motor than to make a clutch big enough to start the thing. Also, an electric motor has 100% torque at 0 rpm, just what the doctor ordered to get the dozer moving.

Anonymous Poster · May 9, 2002

And Bob LeTurno came up with that idea back in the 1940s, never went to college, and never drew blueprints for any machine he built. He believed blueprints were needed to make copys of machines, not the first one.
Drive gears on the early machines were cut with a pantographic torch system, and then run in a sandbox (large) to mesh the gears.
The original company was called LeTurno-Westinghouse because Westinghouse provided the generators and motors.

DVerbarg · May 10, 2002

<font color=blue>And Bob LeTurno came up with that idea back in the 1940s, never went to college, and never drew blueprints for any machine he built. He believed blueprints were needed to make copys of machines, not the first one.</font color=blue>

Years ago read a book about him and his company. Amazing story and amazing man. Went from rags to riches to rags to riches to ... well his business was either feast or famine for many years. The most memorable item I recall from the book was his philanthropy. During the later "good times" he and his wife lived on 10% of their personal income, lived simply and invested/gave the rest away. (But he still had his tractor toys /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif)