Bucket chain excavator

Bucket chain excavators are heavy equipment used in surface mining and dredging. It uses buckets on a revolving chain to remove large quantities of material. It has similar characteristics to bucket-wheel excavators and trenchers. They remove material from below their plane of movement, which is useful if the pit floor is unstable or underwater.

The first documented use of a bucket chain excavator was in 1859. It was developed by Alphonse Couvreux, a French entrepreneur. The excavators from Couvreux were used in the construction of the Suez Canal.

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