The ROCSAW was designed and developed to trench the 148 miles of 8” and 10” gas pipelines on the Trans Alaska Pipeline (TAPS). It successfully completed 115 miles of the gas pipeline and 75 miles of the 48” oil pipeline, including trenching for pump stations, utility lines in camps and slots along the 48” oil pipeline for the weld repair program. Following the Alyeska Project, ROCKSAW began trenching permafrost in Point Barrow, Alaska on a yearly basis to install utility and gas pipelines. The native corporations in the area now have four ROCKSAW trenchers working every winter for the installation of the pipelines. ROCKSAW, drawing on its ditching experience on the TAPS, continued to implement and improve its technology on projects worldwide. ROCKSAW was assisted in the development of this technology by the following:

COLORADA SCHOOL OF MINES, Earth Mechanics Institute.
Exhaustive tests were performed to determine the energy forces and dynamic requirements for cutter bits to penetrate hard rock, limestone, sandstone and granite, and for an application in underwater trenching across the strait of Belle Island, Canada.

JOHN RYMES ENGINEERING. Consulting Mechanical Engineers.
A ditchability evaluation and testing program on ROCKSAW trenchers for the Norman Wells Permafrost Pipeline project the Northwest Territories (June, 1983)m set the methodology for ditchability estimates used by ROCKSAW today.

GENERAL ELECTRIC Carballoy Division
Using the knowledge gained in the Colorado School of mines, we began a comprehensive chemical analysis on grades of tungsten carbide and the use of high alloy steel shanks for cutting various types of rock materials. As a result of this development program, we have increased the tooth life nearly one third in the last five years. We have also added a test program using a newly designed disc cutter interspersed with our conical bits which substantially reduced the problems incurred in trenching abrasive permafrost materials.

JOY MANUFACTURING
In conjunction with the General Electric tests on the teeth, Joy Manufacturing engineers worked with ROCKSAW to improve chain life by improving metallurgy and heat treat applications. As a result, ROCKSAW cutter chains are larger, stronger, and more durable with an average life of more than double the original Alaska cutter chains. In the last three years, we have changed the manufacturing process from the use of forged chain links to castings which increased the tensile strength and abrasive resistance of the cutter chain. Because of the extreme abrasiveness of permafrost, the development of this patented technology is a key factor in the successful trenching of permafrost, rock, and other hard materials.

CATERPILLAR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT AND CATERPILLAR INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS ENGINEERING DIVISIONS
Both assisted in the development of a full line of trenchers based on Caterpillar tractors sizes D-9 through D11 with Caterpillar engines which are available on a worldwide basis with caterpillar warranty, parts, and backup service.

The Mass Miner is an exciting new design developed as an off-shoot of the ROCKSAW Trencher. The Mass Miner unit was developed to convert a Caterpillar D-9 through D-11 power module for the continuous excavation of rock and specific ore bodies in open pit operations. The standard machines are capable of cutting trenches 42” deep and anywhere from ten feet to thirteen feet wide. The spacing of the cutter teeth can be adapted to produce the size of aggregate required. This could be beneficial in mining gravel that is in the permafrost state eliminating blasting. This machine along with a portable, gas-fired processing drum would produce dry gravel backfill from the trenched materials at a lower cost.

FROM THE PRESIDENT… The development of the

ROCKSAW trenching technology did not come easy. The challenge was not only to develop a new technology but to prove it by trenching more than 200 miles of the Trans Alaska Pipeline ahead of pipe-laying operations. Since that first trencher that challenged the permafrost on the North Slope of Alaska, ROCKSAW’s continued program of research and development has provided the most environmentally responsible and economically sound machine n the business. It is the World’s Leader because it is The Best!