The JCB

The reason for Brits calling these machines ‘JCB’ is simple enough. It was a British invention, and JCB was the name on the side..

All it is is a tractor fitted with a front loader and an hydraulic backhoe, but what a difference it made. I defy anybody to find a construction site where one of these machines hasn’t got a job. These days, the concept is produced by other manufacturers, but it all started during 1953 in Britain.

The above photo shows an early model lacking four wheel drive. Most now are 4 wheel drive and the ‘mega’ models can dig a 7 metre hole in the ground pretty much anywhere. To operate the backhoe, the seat swivels 180° to face its own controls.

The front arm can accommodate a shovel or a pallet loader, and the rear arm can be mounted on a pivot or side-shift, and be fitted with different width buckets, hydraulic jack hammers and other stuff too.

You can see them on construction sites, road works, cemeteries, waste management depots, farms, snow clearance, all over the place, but the one place you don’t want to see them is on the road in front of you. They are slow, they pitch back and forth something wicked, and are invariably driven by operators who just like to chill.

JCBs can have fun too.. see here..

Stretching exercises JCB style..