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A typical roadheader


The cutting head can be a general purpose rotating drum mounted in line or perpendicular to the boom, or can be special function heads such as jack-hammer like spikes, compression fracture micro-wheel heads like those on larger tunnel boring machines, a slicer head like a gigantic chain saw for dicing up rock, or simple jaw-like buckets of traditional excavators.[2]


The first roadheader patent was applied for by Dr. Z. Ajtay in Hungary, in 1949.[1] It was invented as a remote operated priapic miner for exploitation of small seam, close walled deposits, typically in wet conditions.


Cutting Heads:

  • Longitudinal - rotates parallel to the cutter boom axis
  • Transverse - rotates perpendicular to boom axis


Roadheaders were initially utilized in coal mining applications, however they are now used in a broad range of applications including but not limited to tunneling both for mining and municipal government projects, building wine caves, and building cave homes such as those found in the Coober Pedy area of Australia.

Projects utilizing roadheaders[edit]


  1. ^ a b Dr. Helmut Schneider (September 1988). "Criteria for Selecting a Boom-Type Roadheader". Mining Magazine (The Mining Journal, Ltd). p. 183. 
  2. ^ "Tunnel Virtual Team - Questions and Answers from Ask the Expert". US Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration. 2006-08-01. Retrieved 2006-09-15. 
  3. ^ "MTA - Tunnel Jacking". Massachusetts Turnpike Authority. Archived from the original on 2006-09-02. Retrieved 2006-09-15. 
  4. ^ "Reconstruction : Port Authority on Schedule with Restoration of PATH Service". New York Construction (McGraw_Hill CONSTRUCTION). July 2003. Retrieved 2006-09-15. 
  5. ^ "American Underground-Construction Association's Featured Project". American Underground Construction Association. September 1998. Retrieved 2006-09-15. 
  6. ^ "Caldecott fourth bore big dig starts today in Orinda". Contra Costa Times. 2010-08-09. Retrieved 2010-08-09. 

External links[edit]