All language subtitles for Modern.Marvels.S21E10.Heavy.Machinery.1080p.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H264-BTN_track3_[eng]

- [Adam] 400 foot tall cranes,

massive bulldozers,
cement trucks,

trenchers that look like
something out of "Star Wars,"

and excavators that weigh
upwards of 45,000 tons!

That's the same
weight as the Titanic.

These are the instruments
that build, sculpt,

connect, and create things
once thought impossible.

I'm talking about
heavy machinery.

Today, I'm at John
Deere's Davenport Works

where they make some of the most

incredible pieces
of heavy machinery

for construction and forestry
anywhere in the world.

Now, John Deere is
a legendary brand,

and you've probably
heard of them,

but they are not the only ones

making heavy machinery
here in the US.

We will see some of
the inner workings

of some of America's
biggest manufacturers

to answer questions like,
how does Sany America

make some of the world's
best selling excavators

all by hand with
zero automation?

[dramatic music]

How can the Swiss army
knife of heavy machinery

travel through water and
protect our armed forces?

And how powerful are the
biggest machines on Earth?

And at sea.

These things are high tech,

with carefully calibrated
steering, satellite connections,

as deft as an embroidery needle

and as quick as a calculator.

These giant juggernauts
of heavy machinery

have mastered the
tasks that human beings

simply can't do on their own.

This year, some are
expecting industry sales

to reach a whopping
$180 billion.

This is big business and it
is the business of going big.

Today we're gonna find
out how it's done.

Hold on to your hard hat

'cause this is "Modern
Marvels: Heavy Machinery."

[upbeat music]

[moves into soft country music]

- [Adam] Today I'm at John
Deere's Davenport Works

where they make some of
the most incredible pieces

of heavy machinery for
construction and forestry

that you're likely to find
anywhere in the world.

And inside there's
over 500 cranes,

50 robots, 1,200 workers,

and Davenport Works churns out
huge construction machinery.

Like dump trucks
and motor graders.

John Deere began in 1837

when Illinois blacksmith
named John Deere

used an old saw blade

to create an ingenious
system for plowing farms.

1837, that's when
Victoria became queen.

That was when Martin van Buren

was president of
the United States.

And speaking of
the United States,

there were only 26 back then.

But in the over 180 years since
John Deere has diversified

and continues to build
bigger and bigger machines

for bigger and bigger jobs.

[tools whirring]
[upbeat music]

Hey, Pat.
- Hey, Adam!

- [Adam] This facility
is just cavernous.

- [Mary Pat] We have 2.2
million square feet under roof.

- [Adam] Yowza, I wasn't
expecting a million.

2.2 million under one roof.

To give you an idea of
just how big that is,

that's more square footage
than all of the 77 floors

of the Chrysler
Building put together.

And they need every inch.

The biggest and most bad-ass
of John Deere's equipment

is made here.

- [Mary Pat] Today at this plant

we manufacture
products that are used

in things like road
building, earth moving,

and also forestry.

That's the big deal, right?

We know that the world needs

more roads and
bridges and schools.

Our equipment gets
to be a part of that.

- [Adam] This is so cool,

we're actually gonna
get a chance to see

the road grader from
start to finish, right?

- [Mary] Yeah, let's do it.

- Let's do it!
- [Mary] It's gonna be fun.

A road grader, sometimes
called a motor grader,

is a multipurpose machine

that can weight up
to 400,000 pounds.

- The motor grader is a
piece of heavy equipment

that is used for
shaping the earth

for the purpose of building
roads and highways.

Without motor graders our
roads would be very bumpy

or unsmooth.

We wouldn't have as many roads

because we would not
have the productivity

that motor graders
provide to allow us

to make those roads cost
effectively and quickly.

- Early versions
of the motor grader

would have been essentially
a blade or a shovel

mounted onto a wheeled cart
and pulled by horses or oxen.

[soft rock music]

- So it was very slow
and not very productive.

- Engines were introduced
to motor graders

in the 1920s and 1930s.

The consolidation of,
picture a farm tractor maybe,

and a motor grader,
you put those together

and now you have a
self-propelled motor grader,

or what we just simply
call a motor grader.

Post-World War II
cities are growing,

people are migrating to
different parts of the country,

and none of that's
possible without this

large vast network of highways.

So think about the
construction of Interstate 80

across the United States.

That doesn't happen
without bigger

and more powerful equipment.

- [Adam] The motorized
advancements of road graders

powered the construction of
America's more than 46,000 miles

of cross country,
super highways.

It's kind of amazing
that we are driving a car

inside this place and we
still haven't seen the wall.

This is just tremendous.

The other thing that's crazy

is this is only a one of
many kinds of vehicles

that literal are driving on
the aisles of this plant.

All these iconic
vehicles that you see

when you pass a construction
site, start here in Iowa.

And we're about to see
how that raw steel is cut,

formed, welded, painted,
and built into a piece

of John Deere heavy machinery.

- [Mary Pat] This is
where it all begins!

- [Mary] Here we take
- [Adam] Holy moly.

raw steel and turn it into
the puzzle pieces

that make our parts.

- This is the first step?
- Absolutely first step, yep.

- [Adam] This whole process

is like building
a giant 3D puzzle.

Here, they're taking
the sheets of steel

to cut up in order
to make the pieces

that will slot into each other,

forming the three-dimensional
frame of a motor grader.

- [Mary Pat] So every
day we process 250 tons

of raw plate steel
in this factory.

- [Adam] Oh my gosh.

But how do these
giant slabs of steel

become the parts
of a motor grader?

We need to go to the dog house.

It's a room where every
day tons of raw steel

goes in as massive slabs and
exits as precision cut pieces

that will be assembled to
become the body of the machine.

Rod is a trained professional
in steel cutting programming.

Once he's analyzed
the blueprints

for the part that
needs to be made

he'll program the doghouse
to create the components.

The high-tech cutting
machine operates

with the push of a button.

Using precision data,
the doghouse takes over.

These cameras are inside
the doghouse, right, Rod?

- Right.
- Oh yeah!

History is my number one
favorite channel on television,

this is my second favorite
channel on television.

- So steel can be cut
many different ways.

Laser, plasma and Oxy fuel.

The method used to cut steel

depends on the thickness
that needs to be cut.

So laser cutters are
high powered laser beams

are used to cut thinner steel.

Plasma cutting can be used
for steel up to two inches,

and it uses an electrically
conductive gas.

Oxy fuel uses a
chemical reaction

between oxygen and steel

for cutting steel that's
thicker than two inches.

- [Adam] This
high-tech machinery

allows for high
quality accurate cuts,

which are required to mmet John
Deere's exacting standards.

Rod will be cutting
tons of raw steel

into the skeletal components

of John Deere's heavy machinery.

But once he's done
cutting these pieces,

they need to be moved to the
next step on their journey.

And because of their weight, a
crane attached to the ceiling

is used to haul the
heavy materials.

What the hell?

The fundamentals behind
this crane like lift

are similar to heavy
machinery architecture

from as far back
as ancient Greece.

- The ancient Greeks
were master architects,

buildings like the Parthenon
would not have been possible

without one of the most
ancient inventions, the crane.

- The power that they used was
physically animals or people.

It was doable then but
it wasn't very efficient

because you're very
limited in what you can do

when you're using
animals and people

to push heavy machinery.

- [Adam] Today, we call
these machines cranes,

like the long Nick birds,

which is actually how
ancient Greeks named them,

using the Greek word
for crane, geranos.

But not all heavy
machines are designed

to build things
up on the ground.

Some of them aid the
extremely important process

of acquiring natural resources

just under the Earth's surface.

[machinery whirring]

Heavy machinery paves our roads,

constructs architectural
structures,

and farms the food
that feeds us.

Some of the biggest machines
do something more unexpected.

[dramatic music]

- This is by far the
biggest surface miner,

out there in the world.

- [Adam] The Wirtgen
4200 Surface Miner

weighs 456,000 pounds

and is estimated to cost
upwards of $6 million.

At 100 feet long, it's
longer than an 18-wheeler.

Despite being massive machines,

this surface miner's
six foot cutting wheels

are finally tuned
to mine lignite coal

that exists between thin
layers of the Earth's surface.

- We're at about a hundred
miles south of San Antonio.

The mine has been here
for over 30 years.

The mine itself is
really 23,000 acres.

The area that we're working
now and in this particular pit

is basically gonna
be over a mile long.

- [Adam] Unlike
underground mining,

surface mining machines keep
coal mining above ground,

making it safer for workers.

Surface mining has
existed since the 1900s,

but Wirtgen has been
at the forefront

of modernizing surface
miners since the 1980s.

These machines can
travel up slopes to mine

and spare the cost of
drilling underground tunnels.

Here in south Texas,

they're using some
of the most powerful

and technologically savvy
of surface mining machines.

- It has 1,600
horsepower installed,

and it is capable of
producing 3,500 tons an hour

with one operator.

- The power plant requires us
to deliver three million tons

on an annual basis.

So obviously in the summertime,
it's 110 degrees out

and the air conditioners
are blowing all over Texas.

And so on days like
that through the summer,

for as much as 90 days,

it's absolutely our
job in the mine to know

that we're gonna feed
the hungry monster.

- [Adam] It's able to
distinguish

layers of coal from soil

that exists in the top few
feet of the Earth's surface.

These coal layers
are called seams

and here in south Texas,

some of these seams
can be even thinner.

- Thin seams in the coal mine

are very difficult to keep clean

and to get the
quality that you need.

And that's the primary reason

for having this Wirtgen machine.

Because it's got an
automatic leveler on it,

and so these seams can
have a tendency to undulate

and so what the
operators up there doing

is he has to make sure that
he maintains a certain level

and the machine
helps him with that.

So on one seam you
may be cutting,

you know, within
two or three inches

to make sure that he's
only getting coal.

- [Adam] Before dedicated
surface mining machines,

bulldozers were used to rip
the coal from the ground.

- This is actually the coal
here and I'm actually touching

the exposed coal
surface right here.

If you were to just
try to come in here

and take a front end loader,

what you would be doing

is mixing all
the dirt and the coal,

and then it would deteriorate
the quality of the coal

where it would not be
usable for the power plant.

- [Adam] Previous
methods of surface mining

required bulldozers to remove
the coal from the seams,

loaders to move that
coal to large trucks,

and then a processing
plant to crush the coal.

The surface miner does
all these steps itself,

removing, crushing, and
loading the coal onto trucks.

- Without a surface miner,

I would say it'd be
virtually impossible

to send a quality product
to the power plant.

- [Adam] As Wirtgen continues
to improve on surface mining,

manufacturers of heavy
machinery, like John Deere,

are using the most cutting
edge technology to innovate

and have been for
quite some time,

including the use of robotics.

The world's first mass
produced industrial robot

was introduced by American
inventor, George Duvall,

and made its debut in 1961

at a General Motors
plant in New Jersey.

- The Unimate 1900 was
the first autonomous robot

and it was used to spot weld
car parts on an assembly line.

- [Adam] Unimate stood
for universal automation.

The robotic arm could
execute a variety of tasks,

like dye casting and welding

that would make manufacturing
safer for the human workers.

Industrial robotics

would reshape production
lines around the world,

making everything from cars

[engine revving]

to motor graders.

These robotic arms at John
Deere can take care of welding

that would be difficult
for humans to do.

They're also configured with AI

that can find
flaws and fix them,

making sure the parts are ready

for the next step of production.

But not all heavy machinery
manufacturers utilize robotics.

In a world where everything

from produce to parking
is being automated,

one of the world's top
ranking global manufacturers

produces without any automation.

Started just over 30
years ago in 1989,

as a small welding
supply company,

Sany Heavy Industries
relies on human hands

to manufacturer some of the
world's best selling excavators.

The excavator has made
itself indispensable

on construction sites.

It's a multitalented
utility machine

that cuts, digs, or scoops
heavy duty materials.

Without excavators, digging
tunnels, pools, basements,

or even pipes to run our water

would be way more time
consuming and expensive.

And Sany's excavators
have turned the company

into an $8 billion heavy
equipment manufacturer.

Today we're at Sany's
newest $60 million

272 acre US facility in
Peachtree City, Georgia

to see how human hands built
top selling excavators.

The assembly team
is currently working

on one of Sany's newest
excavator models.

- The SY 225 excavator is
a 54,000 pound excavator.

It has a 21 and a
half foot dig depth

and it can pick up
28,500 pounds of material

and be able to sling
it every which way.

- [Adam] And they're
made right here.

- Everything is set here

for each machine that
we're making on line.

The variation allows us to
build five different models

of excavators on the same line
with the same team members.

Flexibility is the
key to our success.

- [Adam] The assembly team
is attaching the tracks

to the undercarriage.

Attaching the base to
the top of the machine,

and the attachment of
additional components,

from hydraulics to
various buckets sizes

all by human hands
and no automation.

They've found that they're able
to adapt to changes quicker

with their hands on approach.

That means each of
these excavators

is a US workforce
manufactured machine.

Back at Davenport Works,

John Deere has their
own strong machine,

weighing in at a
whopping 125,000 pounds.

Holy, What is this for?

The biggest and most
powerful machines

include construction
and farming tools,

some of which have advanced
harvesting our food

from an all day affair
requiring several people

down to minutes with
only one operator

behind the wheel
of heavy machinery.

And here at John
Deere's massive facility

in Davenport, Iowa, we
have the all access pass

to see how some of these
giant machines come together,

including John Deere's
heaviest and biggest machine,

the 944K Loader.

Before road paving or any
construction can begin,

a job site needs to
be cleared of debris,

dirt, rubble, sometimes trees.

That's what loaders
like to 944K do.

The team today is
attaching the loader bucket

to the machine.

Holy!

This is like when you go to
the Natural History Museum

and you finally see just
how big a dinosaur was.

- [Mary Pat] This
is for the 944K.

It's the heaviest machine
that John Deere builds.

- This is the biggest?
- The biggest.

This is it right here.

- [Adam] Good gosh.

- [Mary Pat] The wheels
are six feet high.

- [Adam] The wheels
alone are taller than me,

I feel very inadequate.

- [Mary Pat] Adam, I wanna
introduce you to Donnie,

he's one of our assemblers here.

- [Adam] How do you do,
Donnie, nice to meet you.

- [Donnie] Good, good, good.

- [Adam] Just the sheer size

of some of these
things is intimidating.

- [Donnie] It is
absolutely intimidating.

- [Adam] The standard
bucket attachment

for this machine alone
weighs over 16,000 pounds.

It's more than 13 feet wide
and more than six feet tall.

And it can move up to 10
cubic yards of heavy material.

The bucket can basically
pick up and move

almost 1,000 bowling
balls in a single scoop.

Overall, John Deere's 944K
Loader weighs 125,000 pounds.

That's nearly as much as
the space shuttle Endeavor!

Even though this bucket
is larger than life,

attaching it requires
utmost precision.

No way!

[tense music]

There's a little paint
where the bushings meet

and the measurements
are so precise

that it will need
to be ground down.

We're dealing with
the largest piece

of heavy machinery
John Deere makes

and something as minuscule
as a layer of paint

is hindering a small part
from being attached properly.

The measurements
are precise even a-

- That precise, entire thing.
- The width of your hair.

- [Adam] Wait, it's measured
down to the width of your hair?

- Absolutely.
- That's nuts.

Now that the paint has been
removed Donnie and his team

are attaching this giant
bucket to the 944K Loader.

I just gotta ask, does no
one ever get a ride in that?

Does no one ever go
up in the bucket?

- [Mary Pat] Not
when I'm watching.

- [Donnie] But would
I like to, yes.

- [Adam] In the pre-construction
phase of projects

loader buckets like the 944K

work in tandem with
bulldozers and dump trucks.

And the dump trucks can be
just as big or even bigger.

At 67 feet long
and 26 feet tall,

the BelAZ 75710

is about twice the size
of a double decker bus

and multiple feet taller

than Washington's nose
on Mount Rushmore.

It is the largest dump
truck in the world

and it's used to mine natural
resources like iron ore,

which is the material
used in everyday things

like cars or appliances.

It also mines copper, which
makes wires for electronics

and is the most common
material in plumbing.

And to do so it needs more power

than six Formula 1 one race cars

and is capable of
carrying 450 metric tons!

That's the equivalent of hauling

16 average fire trucks at once.

This power comes with
a $6 million price tag,

so you most likely
won't be seeing it

at your local
construction project.

But not all heavy machinery
operates on earth and soil.

Some work in much
slicker conditions,

like the Zamboni ice resurfacer.

- The Zamboni ice
resurfacer, funnily enough,

actually came from Paramount,
California in 1949.

That's where Frank
Zamboni and his brother

owned and operated
Iceland Skating Rinks.

It was one of the largest
skating rinks of its time

at 20,000 square feet.

- [Adam] Maintaining
a smooth ice surface

where up to 800 skaters
could gracefully glide

required a tractor
pulling a scraper

while rink employees
skated behind it

and scooped up ice shavings,
sprayed water onto the ice,

and squeegeed the surface.

It wasn't only labor intensive,
it took more than an hour.

That is what inspired
Frank Zamboni

to build the model A
Zamboni ice resurfacer.

- It would shave the
ice, remove the shavings,

wash and squeegee the ice,

and gather the
shavings into a tank

big enough to resurface
the entire rink.

It turned a job that would take
multiple people over an hour

into a job that one person
could do in 10 minutes.

- [Adam] By 1954 the Zamboni
ice resurfacing machine

saw its first use in an NHL
game by the Boston Bruins.

One of only six teams in
the league at the time.

Eventually other teams followed
suit across the league.

In recent years
it's been reported

that the company generates

roughly $6 million
or more per year.

- [Adam] John Deere has been
giving us a backstage pass

to their enormous
manufacturing facility

to see how giant machines,
like dump trucks,

motor graders, and
backhoes come together.

And a lot of it is thanks
to some robotic help.

- [Mary Pat] All right,
Adam, next we're gonna see

some robots put on some paint.

They look like they're alive.

- [Adam] Oh my gosh, this is
like Tony Stark's laboratory.

- [Mary Pat] It is.

- [Adam] After a while
of watching the grace,

fluidity, and precision
of the robotic arms

painting and priming this
piece of a motor grader,

it's actually quite a lot

like a meticulously
choreographed dance.

It's like magic, it
literally looks like magic.

It's like a very fine
tuned mechanical ballet.

[calm music]

That choreography
can only happen

once it's been programmed by
skilled talents like John.

- [John] Program it all
to run with the conveyor.

- [Adam] It is true, I
didn't even think about that.

It's not painting something
that's standing still.

This thing is in
constant motion.

So not only does it
have to paint and prime

and move around to make sure
that each part is reached,

but it's trying to
hit a moving target.

Is there like a
John Deere yellow?

- [Mary Pat] We own a
trademark for the combination

and the usage of green
and yellow together.

- [Adam] Okay, the
iconic green and yellow.

The green and yellow
combination in farming equipment

has been used by John Deere
at least as far back as 1905.

In fact, it is so distinguished
a recent court ruling

cites the combo as
a famous trademark

and no other company can use
anything that closely resembles

John Deere's iconic
green and yellow duo.

How much paint do
you go through?

- [Mary Pat] 46,000
gallons a year.

- [Adam] The
quintessential yellow

is typically used as a safety
measure in construction.

It's a standout color that
cries, caution and visibility.

Amid the brown and
gray dust or debris

that would typically
surround a construction site,

the shade of yellow
emits wavelengths

which make it a highly visible
color to the human eye.

And there's another
iconic company

producing construction
vehicles in the same color,

but meant for a different
type of customer.

I'm talking about Tonka toys.

The Tonka truck actually
dates back to 1946

with the Mound Metal Craft
company from Mound, Minnesota.

They first started making
steam shovels and cranes

and within its first year,
the company sold 37,000 units.

After their initial success,

the company changed their
name to Tonka in 1955.

- The company was renamed Tonka

after lake Minnetonka
in Minnesota.

- [Adam] These toys were smaller

than their real
life counterparts,

but they were still heavy.

The early ones were made from
auto grade 20 gauge steel.

The famous Mighty Dump
Truck didn't come around

until the mid sixties.

- When the Mighty Mighty
Dump Truck came out,

it really put Tonka on the map.

It was heavy, it was durable,

and for kids it
was indestructable.

- [Adam] It quickly became
the company's best seller.

It's estimated to have sold

upwards of 15 million dump
trucks over the years.

- As a young boy
growing up on the farm,

I had one of those
original steel Tonka trucks

that was indestructible.

In fact, I still have it,
it is my favorite toy.

- [Adam] During his
first year or so,

it came with solid rubber tires,

which were too heavy for kids.

So the company removed
some of the weight.

- The truck, even at 11 pounds,

would be a heavy load for kids,

especially if you're filling
the back of that dump truck

with gravel or rocks.

- [Adam] These days, the
trucks are a lot lighter,

but they're an
impressive replica

looking just like
the bigger versions.

At John Deere, our full scale
piece of heavy machinery

is now coming together.

The motor graders engine and
transmission are being joined,

where it will be put in the
back half of the machine.

Snow tires, weighing 800 pounds,

will then be attached
to this specific grader,

finishing the rear setup.

- [Assembler] Yeah, about
10 sets, you'd be a pro.

[Adam laughs]

- [Adam] Once the grader
frames are attached

they lower the cab
down from overhead.

Once completed, we have a
John Deere motor grader.

So what is the next step?

- [Mary Pat] We take
it out and test it.

- [Adam] Who gets to test it?

- [Mary Pat] Today it's
gonna be you, Adam.

- [Adam] Yes, I was
hoping she would say that!

I have the coolest
job ever, I love it!

Lead on, Mary Pat.

I'm testing machines, baby!

These machines help shape
the world around us.

But while a lot of
heavy machinery is made

for building and construction,

some are made for destruction!

[engine revving]

It's a heavy duty machine

famous for sport
and entertainment.

Monster trucks were born
out of a 1970s trend,

that took pick up
trucks and SUVs

and modified them with
massive axles and tires,

mashing up trucks
with heavy machinery.

There was one truck bigger
than the rest of them.

Bigfoot.

Owned and souped
up by Bob Chandler.

- Bigfoot was the largest
monster truck of its era.

Bob Chandler was the first
guy to design a monster truck

and it was a 1974 Ford F250.

Everything that he put on it
was larger than it should be

and he would take
the truck itself

and run it over other cars
and every time the truck broke

he would rebuild it only
with bigger and larger parts

every single time.

- [Adam] Event promoters
eventually caught wind,

inviting Chandler
to put on an event

to showcase what
Bigfoot could do.

[engine revving]

- The first monster truck
rally was in Pontiac, Michigan

at the Silver Dome in 1982.

Bigfoot was equipped
with 66 inch tires

and crushed two vehicles
in front of 70,000 people.

And where the series
got its actual name,

the monster truck shows.

- By the mid eighties,
the US Hot Rod Association

created official head
to head competitions.

And to this day, it
hosts monster truck shows

at venues and sold out
arenas around the world

in what is now a new
billion dollar industry.

Monster trucks are
destroying things for show,

but other heavy machines
are building and rebuilding.

One of the most versatile
heavy machines is the backhoe.

It's backhoe arm is like
that of an excavator

while the front plow is
like that of a loader.

And either appendage can be
swapped out for other tools,

like jackhammers
or forklift forks

specific to the job at hand.

And it's for this reason,

it's often called
the Swiss army knife

of construction machinery.

And its roots start with
the legendary brand

JCB.

- JCB is the third largest

construction equipment
manufacturer in the world.

Named after its founder,
Mr. Joseph Cyril Bamford.

- JCB was founded back in 1945.

Our first product being a
tipping trailer for war scrap

from World War II.

- The tipping trailer was a
predecessor to today's backhoe.

- We invented the backhoe
loader back in 1953 and today

one out of every two backhoes
sold globally is a JCB.

That's over 40,000
machines a year.

- [Adam] Today we're
getting an insider look

at how this historically
iconic brand

is continuing to make history.

- The factory's about
500,000 square feet

and sits on about 1100 acres.

- [Adam] In this
sprawling compound,

JCB manufacturers one of
their most amazing machines,

the High Mobility
Engineer Excavator.

It's a self deployable
heavy machine,

which means it doesn't
have to be dropped off

by another truck.

This thing could be driven
from point A to point B,

even through water.

The HMEE can forge through
waters as deep as 40 inches.

This is achieved by placing
the engine, exhaust, axle,

and transmission breathers
higher up on the machine

to make sure that no
water can be drawn in.

- The HMEE is a high
performance machine.

It operates from rugged
terrain and the battlefields

to tight residential areas

with very little
space to maneuver.

- [Adam] It can do everything
a standard backhoe can do

with the added attraction
of traveling at high speeds

and the ability to
withstand rough terrain.

- The machine also
has a capabilities

for a remote control

to extract IEDs without a
driver being behind the wheel.

- [Adam] It was first
engineered by JCB in the 2000s

for the US Army and
NATO allied forces.

It's an ultra durable
backhoe loader

that can be equipped with
armored plates and glass

to protect military personnel
in battlefield environments.

It can also be
used without armor

on civilian jobs
around the world.

- We are incredibly proud of
what we do here every day,

because we do know that we have
a direct impact on America.

- [Adam] Heavy machines are
supersized monsters.

Many of the heaviest
construction machines

can weigh around the same as
five average school buses.

But, there's one modern marvel
that is unlike any other.

It's sheer size that categorizes

[dramatic music]

the world's largest
land vehicle.

- They call it a Bagger 293.

It is huge.

31 million pounds of steel.

It works at a coal mine
where it scoops up the coal.

- [Adam] The Bagger 293
bucket wheel excavator

has 18 enormous buckets,

each of which can hold almost
4,000 gallons of material.

They're wrapped around
a 70 foot rotating wheel

to dig and move over 8.5 million

cubic feet of earth per day.

It's basically churning
out the equivalent

of nearly 75,000
mid-sized cars daily.

This behemoth is longer than
a typical Chicago city block

and taller than the
statue of Liberty.

It's bigger than NASA's
crawler transporter,

which moved the Apollo
and Saturn 5 space crafts.

- And it can be
remote controlled.

- [Adam] This mammoth
machine is estimated

to do the same work
as 40,000 coal miners.

While the Bagger
can move itself,

some heavy machines
need to travel by way

of an even larger machine,
the heavy lift vessel.

When it comes to
carrying massive cargo

on the world's waters,

heavy lift ships are
their own wonders.

The largest one in the world
is the BOKA Dockside Vanguard.

It carries things like
semi-submersible oil rigs,

floating factories, or
even other massive ships.

The BOKA is over 900 feet long.

It's over 220 feet wide,

and it can lift
some 128,000 tons.

To transport considerably
hefty cargo around the globe

the ship is
semi-submersible itself.

It fills itself up with water
to lower itself into the water

so that the cargo can be
floated onto the vessel.

Then it releases the water
to float back up again,

raising the cargo into
it and to set sail.

[upbeat music]

And now I'm getting the
John Deere VIP treatment

to test drive one of
their main from scratch

pieces of heavy
machinery, a motor grader.

Okay, okay, be my friend.

- [Mery] All right,
Adam, so on your right

you have your seatbelt

so I'm gonna have you
put that on first.

- [Adam] Okay.

You know, this is the
Millennium Falcon thing in me,

it's like, punch it, Chewy!

[Adam imitates Chewbacca] Okay.

[engine revving]

- [Mery] You did it!

- [Adam] The world is
constantly modernizing.

Building new structures,
rebuilding older ones,

and creating new neighborhoods

and repairing existing cities.

And this is one of
the heavy machines

that makes those
advances possible.

- [Mery] You have fun, Adam.

- [Adam] I have the
opportunity to feel that power

and witness firsthand what
a machine like this can do.

Let's take a lap.
- [Mery] Yep, take a lap!

[lively music]

- [Adam] We're moving.

It's insane how delicate,

like the slightest
adjustment with my hand

has a massive,
massive repercussion

'cause these tires are so big.

And yet at the corner in
this thing, I can turn.

Like the idea of moving
earth, breaking ground,

making roads in something
like this is just remarkable.

Pretty awesome.

What feels like a negligible
maneuver I understand now

is how these massive machines

can create the small
angles needed on roads

for proper drainage or for
safe turning and driving.

[engine revving]

The size of this
machine doesn't dictate

the level of precision
it can handle.

Diggin' hard into the
gravel here. [laughs]

It's just amazing.

Really, I can't actually
believe that I'm doing this.

It's pretty awesome.

Heavy machines help construct
our homes and schools,

buildings and skyscrapers.

They protect our armed
forces who protect us,

or dive into the earth
to mine natural resources

and mold it like clay
to pave our roads.

Heavy machines are made
with the utmost precision

by technologically
advanced robots

and by skillful human hands.

Heavy machines are
power, valuable,

they are so necessary in
our ever modernizing world.

And my god is it fun to drive!

I'm not even gonna stop, I think
I'm gonna drive it all day.

This is "Modern Marvels!"

I'll see you next time.