A couple years ago, Cashman Dredging and Marine Contracting Co., LLC developed entirely in-house an innovative piece of equipment for capital improvements dredging projects that agitate and loosen glacial till, desiccated clay, weathered rock, and other stiff material for later removal by a clamshell dredge.
The innovation reduces the need for an excavator, cuts down on equipment wear and tear, and saves time and money.
It essentially takes a standard drag beam and marries it with a ripper shank from a bulldozer. It is then hung from a deck barge and advanced through the target material on the seafloor.
The ripper shank sticks below the ripper carriage in a similar fashion to how the ripper shank sits below the bottom track elevation of a bulldozer.
The drag ripper’s debut was on Cashman’s Boston Harbor Phase II Deepening Project for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the Spring of 2019, and it proved successful in preparing the project’s hard material for quicker, more cost-effective removal by clamshell dredge and led to the project being completed nearly a year ahead of schedule.
Cashman patented the drag ripper in February of this year but has made it available for all U.S. dredging contractors to adopt.
For more information please check out the Cashman Innovation Village .