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Digger Man

Digger Man Blog

by Nick Drew  |  Sun 31 Mar 2013

Diggers Easter egg-stravaganza

Well I would like to wish all my readers old and new a very happy Easter, and as I tucked into my confectionary delight this morning, it made me think about a couple of egg related topics I have covered in the past on the blog.

Diggers Easter egg-stravaganza
When I was learning my trade as a youngster with my father, we sometimes used to practice by placing eggs on the ground and then attempting to pick them up, using the backhoe bucket on his JCB 3CII. We used to have 3 each, I used to watch dad skilfully rest his bucket behind the aforementioned egg, gently applying pressure to the ground behind it so that the egg simply rolled back into the bucket, an operation he completed every time. Then it was my turn, and sadly in those early days, I just ended up with scrambled eggs! Flash forward to October 2011 and during my trip to Caterpillars Malaga demonstration ground, and I witnessed another display of egg breaking skill. However on this occasion, it was all part of a demonstration of the power of GPS systems when fitted to a Cat 345DL 45 ton excavator. The machine was tracked into place and behind a screen, out of view of the operator, an egg had been placed. In an amazing display of pin point accuracy, the operator skilfully located the egg using his in cab GPS screen and cracked it with the tooth of his bucket! Another post I wrote with an egg theme, was an attempt by two Caterpillar demonstrators to break 5 eggs in 3 minutes, using a 20 ton Cat 320L hydraulic excavator on the popular television show You Bet, which was essential Saturday night viewing from 1988 until the series was withdrawn from the schedule in 1997.  This challenge took place on the show in September 1992 and featured our friend and regular Blog reader Tom Aspin and his colleague Alan Dennis, both of whom were experienced Caterpillar demonstrators for H. Leverton Ltd, who were the main dealers for Caterpillar products in those days. The Challenge see’s Alan at the controls of a 20 ton Cat attempting to break the eggs with the tooth of the bucket but without breaking the glasses holding the eggs. Oh and I forgot to mention Alan is blindfolded and being guided by Tom on the ground!
Have an Eggs-xtraordinary Easter holiday everyone.        

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