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These little-known machines have to rank as some of the greatest sandpit toys in history. Walking spider excavators offer an extraordinary range of capabilities through their articulating, extending legs, stabilizers, tilting wheels, and buckets.
To be clear, walking excavators are not new. Not by a long way. But we hadn't run across them before, so we thought you might not have either, and they're a wonderful celebration of hydraulic machinery that's mesmerizing to watch in action.
Indeed, these things have been around in some form or another since 1966, when Josef Kaiser built his first walking excavator at his friend Ernst Menzi's factory. The two didn't stay friends for long; according to Kaiser's official history, Menzi quietly pinched the idea soon after the first prototype was demonstrated, and started selling it as the Menzi Muck, while Kaiser started manufacturing them with his own company. More than 50 years later, the Kaiser and Menzi companies both continue to develop these remarkable machines.
Sources: Kaiser, Menzi