Steam rollers are heavy construction equipment used to level and smooth surfaces. Early versions were horse-drawn or hand-pushed, but steam-powered road vehicles were developed during the Industrial Revolution. The British firm Aveling & Porter produced the first commercially successful steam rollers in the late 1860s. Modern road rollers are no longer steam-powered, but the term “steam roller” is still used loosely to refer to any road rolling device. There are many different types of modern road rollers, with various designs to suit the intended function.
The term “steam roller” (or “steam roller”) is typically used to refer to any type of road rolling device, regardless of how it is powered. Road rollers are heavy construction equipment used to level and smooth surfaces such as airstrips and roads.
Today it is very rare to see a steamroller actually powered by a steam engine. Instead, most road rollers have internal combustion engines that run on fuels such as diesel or, less commonly, gasoline or kerosene.
Some building and industry museums have examples of antique steam rollers on display. Classic steam rollers can also be seen at steam festivals and fairs, having been preserved by enthusiasts.
History of Steam Rollers
The first road rollers were either horse-drawn or hand-pushed. Just like modern road rollers, they relied on a heavy cylinder or drum that was rolled over the surface that needed to be compacted. However, the weight of the drum was limited by the force of the people or animals pushing or pulling the roller. As the steam engine was developed during the Industrial Revolution, early 19th-century inventors and engineers began creating prototype steam-powered road vehicles.
In the late 1860s, the British firm Aveling & Porter patented the steam roller and produced the first commercially successful steam rollers, exporting them around the world and quickly replacing horse-drawn rollers.
Steam rollers and traction engines
Victorian-era steam rollers were very similar in design to traction engines (steam tractors), except that steam rollers featured a heavy roller (or two adjacent rollers) in place of the front wheel and axle , while the rear driving wheels of a steam roller were smoothed over, rather than treaded on.
Some traction engines could be converted to steam rollers by replacing the treaded tires with smooth rollers, allowing them to alternate between hauling goods and smoothing road surfaces.
Use of steam rollers
By the mid-20th century, the steam roller had largely been replaced by the road roller, as internal combustion engines had become robust enough to handle heavy work. In some countries, however, steam rollers were still in use for road construction and maintenance into the 1960s and even the 1970s.
The correct term for the diesel or gas-powered vehicles used today is “steam roller” because they are no longer steam-powered. However, the steam roller is an iconic piece of equipment, and thus people often use the term loosely to refer to any road rolling device.
Modern steam rollers and variants
The modern road roller is used to prepare roads and foundations in various stages of construction as well as flat surfaces such as earth, concrete and gravel.
There are many different types of modern road rollers, with various designs to suit the intended function. Single drum, tandem drum and pneumatic rollers are the most common configurations, with the latter being used for kneading and sealing road surfaces such as asphalt.
There is a huge amount of variation in the size and weight of road rollers. Some walk-behind rollers weigh as little as 100 pounds (45 kg), while large walk-behind rollers can weigh up to 22 tons (20 tons). Road rollers are very slow vehicles, with top speeds of around 6km/h.
Some of these vehicles use water or other lubricants to keep hot asphalt and roadbed materials from sticking to the rollers. To make them even heavier, the drums of some vehicles can be filled with water, as it is the weight that makes the machines effective graders and compactors.
The heavier road rollers are used for tasks such as landfill compaction and can weigh up to 60 tonnes (54 tons). Also known as roller compactors, these vehicles vibrate while in operation to further compact the soil. Vibratory roller drums allow even smaller vehicles to do the compaction work of a heavier vehicle. Compactors are often equipped with sheepsfoot or sheepsfoot rollers, which have smaller surface areas and therefore provide additional soil compaction.
Did you know?
The neoclassical new age band Mannheim Steamroller got their name from the combination of “Mannheim roller” (a German musical technique) and “steam roller”.
The rock band Buffalo Springfield is named after a famous American steam roller manufacturer, the Buffalo-Springfield Roller Company.
The word “steam roller” has come into common use to describe a certain type of personality. People with “steamroller personalities” use aggression to get what they want and to dominate other individuals.
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