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The Fresno Scraper was invented in 1883 by the Scottish
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
 immigrant and entrepreneur James Porteous
James Porteous

James Porteous was the Scottish-American inventor of the Fresno Scraper.James Porteous was born in Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland. His father, William Porteous, had been a wheelwright and blacksmith who built and repaired carriages, wagons and farm equipment....
 who, having worked with farmers in Fresno, California
Fresno, California

Fresno is a city in California, USA, the county seat of Fresno County, California, and the second largest inland city in the state, after San Jose, California....
, had recognised the dependence of the Fresno Valley on irrigation
Irrigation

Irrigation is an artificial application of water to the soil usually for assisting in growing crops. In crop production it is mainly used in dry areas and in periods of rainfall shortfalls, but also to protect plants against frost....
 and the requirement for a more efficient means of constructing canals and ditches in the sand
Sand

Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.As the term is used by geologists, sand particles range in diameter from 0.0625 to 2 millimeters....
y soil
Soil

Soil is the naturally occurring, unconsolidated or loose covering on the Earth's surface. Soil is composed of particles of broken rock that have been altered by chemical and environmental processes including weathering and erosion....
. In perfecting the design of his machine, Porteous made several revisions on his own and also traded ideas with William Deidrick
William Deidrick

William Deidrick, of Selma, California was a co-inventor of the Fresno Scraper, the machine that became the basis of most modern Engineering vehicle....
, Frank Dusy
Frank Dusy

Frank Dusy was an early business leader of Selma, California and a co-inventor of the Fresno Scraper, the basis of most modern earth-moving machinery....
, and Abijah McCall
Abijah McCall

Abijah McCall was a co-inventor of the Fresno Scraper, a horse-drawn earth-moving machine upon which modern road- and canal-building equipment is based....
, who invented and held patents on similar scrapers.






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The Fresno Scraper was invented in 1883 by the Scottish
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
 immigrant and entrepreneur James Porteous
James Porteous

James Porteous was the Scottish-American inventor of the Fresno Scraper.James Porteous was born in Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland. His father, William Porteous, had been a wheelwright and blacksmith who built and repaired carriages, wagons and farm equipment....
 who, having worked with farmers in Fresno, California
Fresno, California

Fresno is a city in California, USA, the county seat of Fresno County, California, and the second largest inland city in the state, after San Jose, California....
, had recognised the dependence of the Fresno Valley on irrigation
Irrigation

Irrigation is an artificial application of water to the soil usually for assisting in growing crops. In crop production it is mainly used in dry areas and in periods of rainfall shortfalls, but also to protect plants against frost....
 and the requirement for a more efficient means of constructing canals and ditches in the sand
Sand

Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.As the term is used by geologists, sand particles range in diameter from 0.0625 to 2 millimeters....
y soil
Soil

Soil is the naturally occurring, unconsolidated or loose covering on the Earth's surface. Soil is composed of particles of broken rock that have been altered by chemical and environmental processes including weathering and erosion....
. In perfecting the design of his machine, Porteous made several revisions on his own and also traded ideas with William Deidrick
William Deidrick

William Deidrick, of Selma, California was a co-inventor of the Fresno Scraper, the machine that became the basis of most modern Engineering vehicle....
, Frank Dusy
Frank Dusy

Frank Dusy was an early business leader of Selma, California and a co-inventor of the Fresno Scraper, the basis of most modern earth-moving machinery....
, and Abijah McCall
Abijah McCall

Abijah McCall was a co-inventor of the Fresno Scraper, a horse-drawn earth-moving machine upon which modern road- and canal-building equipment is based....
, who invented and held patents on similar scrapers. Porteous bought the patents held by Deidrick, Dusy, and McCall, gaining sole rights to the Fresno Scraper.

The design of the Fresno Scraper forms the basis of most modern earthmoving
Earthworks (engineering)

Earthworks are engineering works created through the moving of massive quantities of soil or unformed rock . Engineers need to concern themselves with issues of geotechnical engineering and with quantity estimation to ensure that soil volumes in the Cut match those of the Fill dirt, while minimizing the distance of movement....
 scrapers
Wheel tractor-scraper

In civil engineering, a wheel tractor-scraper is a piece of heavy equipment used for Earthworks . The rear part has a vertically moveable hopper with a sharp horizontal front edge....
, having the ability to not only scrape and move a quantity of soil, but also to discharge it at a controlled depth, thus quadrupling the volume which could be handled manually.

The blade scooped up the soil, instead of merely pushing it along, and ran along a C-shaped bowl which could be adjusted in order to alter the angle of the bucket to the ground, so that the dirt could be deposited in low spots.

This design was so revolutionary and economical that it has influenced the design of modern bulldozer
Bulldozer

----A bulldozer is a Tractor crawler , equipped with a substantial metal plate , used to push large quantities of soil, sand, rubble, etc, during construction work....
 blades and earth-movers to this day.

Between 1884 and 1910 thousands of Fresno scrapers were produced at the Fresno Agricultural Works which had been formed by Porteous, and used in agriculture and land levelling, as well as road and railroad grading and the general construction
Construction

In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of multitasking....
 industry. They played a vital role in the construction of the Panama Canal
Panama Canal

The Panama Canal is a man-made canal which joins the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean oceans. One of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken, it had an enormous impact on shipping between the two oceans, replacing the long and treacherous route via the Drake Passage and Cape Horn at the southernmost tip of South Am...
 and later served the US Army
United States Army

The United States Army is the branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for Army operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S....
 in World War I
World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
.

It was one of the most important agricultural and civil engineering machines ever made. In 1991 the Fresno Scraper was designated as an International Historic Engineering Landmark by 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.The ASME was founded in 1880 by Alexander Lyman Holley, Henry Rossiter Worthington, John Edison Sweet and Matthias N....
. It is featured prominently in the Fresno Metropolitan Museum.

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