The Classic Machinery Network

Hi,
I have just read the post showing the rubber tyred roller attatchment on a grader.
Rubber tyred rollers are certainly not a new concept. In 1990 I worked for Eddison plant who ran a fleet of the things, there were were two or three running out of the Cardiff Depot.
They were used for formation / sub-base compaction, but mostly for top dressing, (tar & feather), as we called it. There were Aveling Barford and Road Marshalls in the fleet.
I found these pics of similla rollers from that era.
Todays manufacturers, Hamm, Bomag, Amman etc. still turn these out.

I unloaded one of these at Exeter market in 1982,the lowloader driver normally drove tankers and did not have a clue on who to start it along wih a JCB 3C2. after I unloaded it he treated me to a big fryup as I saved him time.
Martyn

Last time I saw these was on tarmacs thin surfacing works in Greenwich late 90's

were these called orthopactors ,bloke i used to drive a gritter for ,did tar and chip in the summer and had one ,quite old and in need of work , but made good money to a dealer to refurb

Orthopactors were a type of rubber tyred roller made by a French company called Alberet who were taken over by Caterpillar,Alberet were a company who did not follow the ways of other roller manufacturers and produced some weird looking rollers like the isopactor which had a single drum with the cab mounted on top and a single pnuematic tyre behind for steering.The orthopactor was regarded in its time as one of the best rollers of its type and had one driving position inside a cab mounted to the right and a steering wheel outside the cab on the left with no seat. After the Caterpillar take over the Orthopactor became the PS 500.The German diecast model company Conrad made three models of this roller, one in Alberet colours and two in Cat colours with slightly different handrails.