Who invented the first roller compactor?

A road roller is an item of construction equipment used to compact surfaces such as concrete, soil, gravel, or macadam during foundation and road construction. They are also used for landfill compaction, typically with a sheepsfoot roller pattern with the aim of achieving a compacted surface over a smooth one.

Compaction rollers work by using the weight of the vehicle to compress the surface they are driven over. Initial compaction is usually done by a roller with air-filled tires, which is best suited to the slightly uneven terrain of a newly built road. The compaction roller with its smooth metal drum provides the final smooth finish.

The earliest road rollers were probably horse-drawn and it is possible that the Romans, who were prolific road builders in the 2nd century B.C. C., they will use them.

In more modern history, mechanized rollers were in use from the time of the invention of the steam roller in about 1859 and continued to be used in the UK for nearly a century later when, in the 1960s, they were superseded by internal combustion rollers. . Some sections of the current M1 motorway were built with the help of steamrollers.

The first motorized rollers were designed at the beginning of the 20th century. Hamm AG, now part of the Wirtgen Group GmbH, manufactured the first diesel-powered rollers in 1911. Hamm AG was founded in 1878 by brothers Anton and Franz Hamm, both gunsmiths, to build agricultural equipment. In 1928 they took the bold step of abandoning all other product lines to focus solely on rollers.

The gamble paid off and Hamm AG went from strength to strength, consistently offering innovative products to meet global demand, such as the development of an all-wheel drive tandem roller in 1951.

As motorized rollers became more widely used, the challenge was how to improve them. On November 5, 1948, inventor WW Wood filed US Patent 2,677,995. The patent described the use of vibration to increase the mass output per meter of the current generation of compacting rollers.

But it was a newly formed Swedish company, AB Vibro-Betong, that took the lead in 1953 with the launch of the first vibratory roller. The new road roller was quickly joined by similar offerings from competitors, including Bomag, which launched its BW60 vibratory roller in 1957. AB Vibro-Betong still exists to this day, but is now known as Dynapac and is part of parent company Atlas. Copco since 2007. .

The road roller continues to improve and a wide range of products are now available, from small plate compactors and remote controlled trench road rollers to massive ride-on road rollers weighing 20 tons and costing over $150,000. Landfill units can be even larger, weighing up to 54 tons.