One of the most commonly used pieces of machinery; the backhoe finds favor with most construction companies as a heavy duty tractor which can withstand daily rugged construction work. Not only is this machine commonly used, but it is also one of the highest selling construction equipment in the world because of the sheer diversity of tasks that can be handled by it. Besides being used on constructions sites, backhoes are also used on other projects including water/sewer work, plumbing, utility construction and excavation. A backhoe (also referred to as a back/rear actor in the UK) is an excavating machine, which has a digging bucket, which is attached to a mechanical arm. The section closest to the vehicle is called the boom and the extension onto which the bucket is attached is referred to as the dipper or dipper stick. The pivot which attaches the boom to the vehicle is called the kingpost. Most of the modern backhoes are powered by hydraulics and this extension is typically mounted on the back of a tractor or even a front loader. While earlier the backhoe was only referred to as the digging arm but in today’s construction jargon, the entire machine is now called the backhoe.
The British company JCB is generally credited with inventing the earliest version of the modern backhoe. However the head of the company Joe Cyril Bamford denies that his company was the first. According to him, he got the idea when he saw hydraulic excavator in Norway which he then shipped back to the UK and then built his own design using the Norwegian machine as his inspiration. JCB’s first tractor design had a front mounted loading buck and a backhoe on the back. This basic design which dates back to the early 1950s pretty much set the standard pattern for how future versions of this machine would be designed and built. In fact these types of machines are colloquially referred to as ‘JCBs’ because of their popularity in Europe. The long-standing predominance in the manufacturing of this machine has led to Joe Bamford being the only non-American to be honored with a place in the Hall of Fame of the U.S construction industry.
The backhoe has come a long way in recent years. With improvements in technology the backhoe has also expanded on the list of functions it was previously capable of. Now besides its primary function of excavation, the backhoe is used for many other applications like carrying tools. This is largely due to the integration of hydraulic powered attachments like tiltrotators, breakers, grapples and augers onto this machine. The newer variants of the backhoe actually have quick-attach mounting systems so these hydraulic attachments can be mounted easily and quickly.
Some interesting trivia about used backhoe. A ‘backhoe fade’ is a term popularly used in the telecommunications industry which refers to an accidental severing of a cable by a backhoe or construction work. It is a darkly humorous take on the situation by where a sudden and initially inexplicable loss of signal affects a few or even millions of people.