Big Brutus is the nickname of the Bucyrus-Erie model 1850B electric shovel, which was the second largest of its type in operation in the 1960s and 1970s. It is currently the centerpiece of a mining museum in West Mineral, Kansas

West Mineral, Kansas

West Mineral is a city in Cherokee County, Kansas, United States. The population was 243 at the 2000 census. It is the home of Big Brutus, the second largest electric shovel in the world.-Geography:West Mineral is located at...

.

Description

It is 160 feet (48.8 m) high and weighs 11 million pounds. The bucket holds 90 cubic yards (68.8 m³) or 150 tons. Maximum speed is 0.22 MPH. It cost $6.5 million in 1962.

Big Brutus, while not the largest electric shovel ever built, is the largest electric shovel still in existence. The Captain

Marion 6360

Marion 6360, also known as The Captain, was a giant power shovel built by the Marion Power Shovel company. Completed in 1965, it was the heaviest land vehicle ever built. The shovel originally started work with Southwestern Illinois Coal Corporation, but the owners were soon bought out by Arch Coal...

, at 28 million pounds, was the largest shovel and one of the two largest land-based mobile machines ever built. It was scrapped in 1992.

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

American Society of Mechanical Engineers

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers is a professional body, specifically an engineering society, focused on mechanical engineering....

 designated Big Brutus a Regional Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark.

The museum offers tours as well as camping.

See also

• The Silver Spade
  The Silver Spade
  350px|thumb|Bucket and cab of The Silver Spade at Harrison Coal and Reclamation Park on [[Ohio State Route 519|Stumptown Road]]The Silver Spade was a giant excavator used for strip mining in southeastern Ohio. Manufactured by Bucyrus-Erie, South Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the model 1950-B was one of two...
  
  
• Bucket wheel excavator
• Dragline
• Dumper truck
• Excavator
  Excavator
  Excavators are heavy construction equipment consisting of a boom, stick, bucket and cab on a rotating platform . The house sits atop an undercarriage with tracks or wheels. A cable-operated excavator uses winches and steel ropes to accomplish the movements. They are a natural progression from the...
  
  
• Marion Power Shovel
  Marion Power Shovel
  Marion Power Shovel Company designed, manufactured and sold steam shovels, excavators and dragline excavators for use in the construction and mining industries....
  
  
• Power shovel

External links

• www.bigbrutus.org
• BIG BRUTUS, Sept. 1987, The American Society of Mechanical Engineers