Here at SITECH, we sell construction management software in Colorado, and across the United States. We’ve been in the industry a long time, and know the importance of properly manufactured, and properly used construction machinery. We are here to save construction worker’s time, improve productivity and efficiency, cut costs, and generally make their lives easier by providing construction technology that helps workers utilize their construction machinery to its maximum ability. Here, we’d like to present a quick overview of a common construction machine: the road roller.
What Is It?
Also called a roller compactors and steam rollers, road rollers are large engineering vehicles used to crush together and compact gravel, concrete, soil, asphalt, etc. for the purpose of building foundations, as in roads and buildings.
History:
The first road rollers were in fact just re-purposed farm instruments drawn by horses to compact foundations. Since the effectiveness of roller compactors are largely dependent on the weight of the roller, self powered rollers quickly replaced horse drawn rollers. Steam power was used at this point, as it provided extra weight and was a cost efficient propulsion system. Steam power continued to dominate steam rollers in the United States until about the 1950s, when combustion technologies outpaced steam. At this point, kerosene, gasoline, and diesel powered road rollers had overtaken steam power, although their acceptance took time, since the technology was in its infancy, and often the engines had problems starting. Nowadays, almost all road rollers use diesel power exclusively.
Modern Uses:
Modern road rollers compact surfaces using the weight of the vehicle or mechanical advantage (vibrations). This isn’t a one and done process, but is rather rolled out in stages, often using different equipment for each stage. The size of the drum (roller) used determines its ability to compact, with wider surfaces distributing the weight, and thus compacting less, and smaller surfaces compacting more.
The size and scope of a road roller can range drastically, with smaller pedestrian operated rollers weighing as low as about 100 lbs, and large ride on rollers coming in at about 22 tons. On the extreme end, landfill units can weigh up to 59 tons. Different road roller types include pedestrian operated road rollers, ride-on smooth finish road rollers, ride on soil/landfill compactors, and more. Oftentimes, the drums in road rollers will be filled up with water to increase their weight and compaction ability. Additionally, on vibrating roller drums, there might be a swivel mechanism to adjust vibration frequency according to compaction needs on the terrain.
Construction is a hard job, and it’s a job that needs to be done right, every time, or there can be serious consequences for the community. Here at SITECH, we are committed to helping construction companies increase safety, efficiency, and overall job performance with our construction management software in Colorado and across the United States. We have management systems for every level of construction work, from each individual piece of machinery all the way to fleet and asset management. If you have any questions about our services, please don’t hesitate to give us a call today.