A backhoe — also called rear actor or back actor — is a type of excavating equipment, or digger,

consisting of a digging bucket on the end of a two-part articulated arm. It is typically mounted on the
back of a tractor or front loader, the latter forming a "backhoe loader" (colloquially known as a "JCB"
in Ireland and the UK).[1] The section of the arm closest to the vehicle is known as the boom, while
the section that carries the bucket is known as the dipper (or dipper-stick), both terms derived
from steam shovels. The boom is generally attached to the vehicle through a pivot known as the
king-post, which allows the arm to pivot left and right, usually through a total of 180 to 200 degrees.

Contents

 1Description
 2Thumb
 3Origins
 4Backhoe fade
 5Notable manufacturers
 6See also
 7References
 8External links

Description[edit]

Kobelco Excavator in shovel configuration

The term "backhoe" refers to the action of the shovel, not its location on the vehicle.[2] That is, a
backhoe digs by drawing earth backwards, rather than lifting it with a forward motion like a person
shovelling, a steam shovel, or a bulldozer. The buckets on some backhoes may be reconfigured
facing forward, making them "hoes".
A backhoe loader is a tractor-like vehicle with a backhoe at one end, a front loader on the other and
a swivelling seat to position the operator facing whichever direction is needed at the time. In North
America, this arrangement is often referred to as simply a backhoe, or when on a chassis originally
derived from farm tractors, a tractor loader backhoe (TLB). To differentiate, a backhoe on its own
dedicated chassis may then be referred to as an excavator.
Backhoe loaders can be designed and manufactured from the start as such, or can be the result of a
farm tractor equipped with a front end loader (FEL) and rear backhoe. Though similar looking, the
purpose-designed backhoe loaders are much stronger, with the farm variation unsuitable for heavy
work.
With the advent of hydraulic powered attachments such as a tiltrotator, breaker, a grapple or
an auger, the backhoe is frequently used in many applications other than excavation and with
the tiltrotator attachment, serves as an effective tool carrier. Many backhoes feature quick
coupler (quick-attach) mounting systems for simplified attachment mounting, dramatically increasing
the machine's utilization on the job site. Backhoes are usually employed together
with loaders and bulldozers. Excavators that use a backhoe are sometimes called "trackhoes" by
people who do not realize the name is due to the action of the bucket, not its location on a backhoe
loader.
Backhoe loaders are general-purpose tools, and are being displaced to some extent by multiple
specialist tools like the excavator and the speciality front end loader, especially with the rise of the
mini-excavator. On many job sites which would have previously seen a backhoe used,
a skidsteer and a mini excavator will be used in conjunction to fill the backhoe's role. However,
backhoes still are in general use.
Sometimes a backhoe bucket is reversed to work in a power shovel configuration.[3] This is generally
when loading from a large stockpile, for picking up or filling material next to walls, to increase the
reach of the machine, or working around obstacles such as pipes.[4]
Sometimes a backhoe arm is used as a crane, by slinging the lifted object from the support linkages
behind the scoop (advisably not from the teeth).[5]

Thumb[edit]
The backhoe's scoop may have a metal bar called a "thumb" hinged to the scoop. It grips against the
scoop like a human thumb to pick up objects. Some types can lie back against the backhoe arm
when not needed.

 Youtube video showing use of a backhoe scoop's thumb

Origins[edit]
The backhoe swing frame was invented in 1947 by Vaino (pronounced Waino) J. Holopainen and
Roy E. Handy Jr. The swing frame "allowed the hydraulic digging arm to swing to the side to dump
the bucket."[6] In April 1948 Wain-Roy Corporation sold the very first hydraulic backhoe, mounted to a
Ford Model 8N tractor, to the Connecticut Light and Power Company for $705.[6]
In the same year, JCB launched the first European hydraulic loader, followed by a backhoe with a
180° slew, fitted to a tractor, in 1953. In 1957, CASE developed the first integrated tractor backhoe
loader at the Case New Holland plant in Burlington, Vermont, helping contractors complete their
work more efficiently.[7] JCB introduced the first dedicated backhoe loader, incorporating the
excavator and the major loader in a single, all-purpose tool.[8]
The first Tractor Loader Backhoe was a Wain-Roy backhoe mounted to a Frank G. Hough model
"HE" in 1952 in Holden, Massachusetts, US, for the Holden Water Department. The F.G. Hough
Company was a subsidiary of the International Harvester Company. By early 1954, two Hough
"Payloader" model wheel loaders, the HE and the HF, were available with Wain-Roy backhoes. In
1954 Wain-Roy Corporation got a deal with IH for the Hough TLB full-scale production on several
other models of Hough loaders.[citation needed]
In 1960 Vaino Holopainen was introduced as "Mr. Backhoe" to Henry Ford II.[citation needed] Wain-Roy
continued to produce them for Ford until 1963 when Ford made their own. Wain-Roy Corporation
later bought the AC Anderson Company.[citation needed] Although Wain-Roy Corporation no longer exists,
the Wain Roy product line of backhoe attachments and couplers is still available through the Woods
Equipment Company of Rockford, Illinois, US.[9]
Because of the long-time predominance of the JCB marque in the United Kingdom and Ireland, it
has become a genericized trademark there, and backhoe-equipped diggers are commonly
called JCBs, while the term "backhoe" as an excavator component is almost unknown to the general
public in this context. The founder of the JCB company, Joseph Cyril Bamford, is the only Briton to
be honored in the Association of Equipment Manufacturers Hall of Fame.[8]
The American company Hy-Dynamic, a division of Bucyrus-Erie, introduced the second purpose-
built American-made backhoe loader in 1959, the Dynahoe Model A. It offered a 14,000 lb. operating
weight, 14-foot dig depth, and was powered by either a 65 hp Continental flat-head "Red Seal" 6-
cylinder gasoline engine, or starting in 1961, a Detroit Diesel 353 diesel engine. The gasoline engine
was phased out in 1964, with only diesel-powered units produced from that point on. The company
marketed the Dynahoe as the only purpose-built backhoe-loader; previously all American backhoes
were merely farm tractors fitted with front loader and rear backhoe attachments. The Dynahoe was
built very robustly from the ground up with heavy excavation in mind. Production of the Dynahoe
continued into the early 1990s culminating in the model Dynahoe 200-4, with a 36,000 lb. operating
weight, 4-wheel drive, and a 20-foot dig depth. Production ceased with demand wavering in favor of
more modern and versatile excavator type machines becoming more cost effective and productive.
Many of the original Dynahoe Model As are still in use to this day.
The first and popular Case Corporation introduced their backhoes in 1957. The design of the Case
backhoes, from the straight arm boom assembly, to the "Extendahoe" design, which can extend the
dipper from four to eight feet longer, are all registered with the U.S. Patent Office, along with the
chassis design. JCB also brought their range of backhoe loaders, tractors and other products, to the
North American market in 1960.

Backhoe fade[edit]
"Backhoe fade" or "JCB fade" is a term coined by the telecommunications industry to refer to
accidental damage or complete severing of a communications cable by a backhoe or similar
construction activity.[10][11]
The term is a play on other types of signal loss, especially on wireless networks. Most of these
cause a reduction in the signal, such as rain fade. A cable subjected to "JCB fade" is instead a
sudden and initially inexplicable loss of signal experienced when a cable is accidentally dug up and
damaged or cut