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Read and translate the text about William S. Otis and his steam shovel.

William Smith Otis was born on September, 20, 1813, in Pelham, Massachusetts. Otis probably developed his interest in construction because his father had been a contractor1 for many years in Pennsylvania. At the age of 20, while living in Philadelphia, Otis joined the contracting firm2 of Carmichael and Fairbanks, in which he became a partner in 1834. That year Carmichael, Fairbanks, and Otis successfully bid on3a contract for the construction of a section of the Boston and Providence Railroad.

The Otis Shovel

While working on the Boston and Providence contract in 1835, Otis started to think about building some sort of a land-based excavating machine. Up until this time, the process of digging and moving earth for construction was based largely on man and animal power and therefore the excavation process was very time-consuming. Otis, with the assistance of his friend Charles Howe French, built the world’s first steam shovel. Its design was rather simple. It had a mast from which the main boom⁴ was suspended. A dipper handle⁵ with a bucket was attached to the boom. The dipper handle was raised and lowered by means of a steam-powered chain hoist⁶. The entire structure was supported by four wheels on steel rail lines. To rotate the boom for dumping, ropes were attached on the right and left. Two men pulled on⁷ the lines to swing the bucket into its dumping area and then back into digging position.

William Otis did not live to see his steam shovel concept reach full maturity. While working on the railroad project, Otis contracted typhus fever⁸. He died on November, 13, 1839, in Westfield, Massachusetts. Otis was only 26 years old when he died. His contribution to the technological advancement of the earthmoving industry is without question.

The text is adapted from Power Shovels: The World’s Mightiest Mining and Construction Excavators by Eric C. Orlemann

¹contractor – подрядчик

²contracting firm – фирма-подрядчик

³bid on – участвовать в тендере на

⁴boom – стрела (экскаватора)

⁵dipper handle – рукоять ковша экскаватора

⁶chain hoist – цепная лебедка

⁷pull on – тянуть на себя

⁸typhus fever – сыпной тиф