Construction Machine Blog

A road roller (sometimes called a roller-compactor or just roller) is a compactor type engineering vehicle used to compact soil, gravel, concrete, or asphalt in the construction of roads and foundations.
Like any other construction tools, the road roller has witnessed many developments in its history.
The first road rollers were horse-drawn, and were probably just borrowed farm implements. At the very beginning, the roller was an agricultural tool used for flattening land or breaking up large clumps of soil, especially after ploughing. Flatter land makes ssubsequent weed control and harvesting easier and rolling can help to reduce moisture loss from cultivated soil. On grassland, rolling levels the land for mowing compacts the soil surface. At that time, without trucks and mechanization, the roller was pulled mostly by a team of animals such as horses or oxen. Then when it came to the 19th century, people began to build roads with concrete, mixing asphalt, aggregates and clay together. This kind of road was tough and soft. As a result, people used the transformed rollers to harden and flatten roads. That was how the road roller came into existence.

Since the weight that horses could bear was limited and horses were hard to control , self-powered vehicles replaced horse-drawn rollers from the mid 1800s. The first such vehicles were steam rollers. The majority of steam rollers are outwardly similar to traction engines as many traction engine manufacturers later produced rollers based on their existing designs, and the patents owned by certain roller manufacturers tended to influence the general arrangements used by others. The key difference between the two vehicles is that on a roller the main roll replaces the front wheels and axle that would be fitted to a traction engine.
The invention of the steam rollers was remarkable. Since its carrying weight became larger and its control was more simplified, steam rollers had been popular for a long time. Some road companies in the United States used steamrollers through the 1950s, and in the UK, some remained in commercial service until the early 1970s.

As internal combustion engine technology improved during the 20th century, kerosene-, gasoline- (petrol), and diesel-powered rollers gradually replaced their steam-powered counterparts. The first internal-combustion powered road rollers were very similar to the steam rollers they replaced. They used similar mechanisms to transmit power from the engine to the wheels, typically large, exposed spur gears. Some companies did not like them in their infancy, as the engines of the era were typically difficult to start, particularly the kerosene-powered ones. As a result, virtually all road rollers in commercial use now use diesel power. In recent years, the road rollers are being more and more effective and efficient. What’s more, their appearances become various.
In the current market, there are many types of rollers available. You can choose either manual walk-behind type or powered walk-behind (electric or diesel/gas powered) .what type is to buy depends on your own needs or the particular use.

Tags: history, Road Roller

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 4th, 2009 at 10:12 pm and is filed under Road Roller. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.