Steamroller

[1] Before about 1850, the word steamroller meant a fixed machine for rolling and curving steel plates for boilers and ships.

[5] The company Aveling and Porter was the first to successfully sell the product commercially and subsequently became the largest manufacturer in Britain.

It was tested on the Military Road in Chatham, Star Hill in Rochester and in Hyde Park, London and the machine proved a huge success.

[4] Aveling and Porter refined their product continuously over the following decades, introducing fully steerable front rollers and compound steam engines at the 1881 Royal Agricultural Show.

The move to asphalt for road construction resulted in the demand for steamrollers that could rapidly reverse so they could roll the tar while still hot.

Those made by Robey & Co used their standard steam wagon engine and pistol boiler fitted in a girder frame with rolls and a chain drive to produce a quick-reversing roller suitable for modern road surfaces such as tarmacadam and bituminous asphalt.

Traction engines were generally built with large fabricated spoked steel wheels with wide rims.

Those intended for road use would have continuous solid rubber tyres bolted around the rims, to improve traction on tarmac.

Engines intended for agricultural use would have a series of strakes bolted diagonally across the rims, like the tread on a modern pneumatic tractor tyre, and the wheels were typically wider to spread the load more evenly.

In order to allow enough clearance from the boiler (and hence a larger front roll), the smokebox is extended forward substantially at the top to incorporate a support plate on which to mount the bearing for the roller assembly.

Access to the boiler tubes for cleaning is limited and the brush usually has to be inserted through the small gap between the top of the roll and the fork.

Britain was a major exporter of steam rollers over the years, with the firm of Aveling and Porter probably being the most famous and the most prolific.

Many other traction engine manufacturers built steam rollers, but after Aveling and Porter, the most popular were Marshall, Sons & Co., John Fowler & Co., and Wallis & Steevens.

Other nations had makers including the Czechs, Swiss, Swedes, Germans (notably Kemna) and Dutch which produced steam rollers.

At some of the UK steam fairs and rallies, demonstrations of road building using the old techniques, tools and machines are re-enacted by 'Road Gangs' in authentic dress.

[14] Two different steamrollers appear as prominent characters in the Thomas & Friends television series; George and Buster, both of whom are based on the Aveling-Barford R class design.