Road Rollers

‘Oron,’ 11 Avenue Road Chelmsford, CM2 9TY England

Steam rollers first appeared in 1865 and were a familiar sight
in Britain for over 100 years. They were joined thirty or so years
later by motor rollers, and both are now the objects of affection
and nostalgia by very many collectors.

It is not often that a new book devoted solely to road rollers
be comes available, and therefore, when it happens it is eagerly
acquired by enthusiasts.

Such a book, entitled Road Rollers, has recently been published,
written by Derek Rayner, Archivist of the Road Roller Association
of Great Britain. Derek is the author of a book on the life and
work of Thomas Aveling (the father of the steam roller) and he is
an authority on rollers, propelled either by steam or the internal
combustion engine.

Although only a small book, there is a terrific amount of
information packed into Road Rollers, supplemented by over forty
photographs and illustrations. A chapter, ‘Pioneering
Developments,’ takes the reader from the first steam roller,
built in 1863, through many of the various changes evolved by
different manufacturers, on to the advent, in the late 1890s, of
the motor roller. The chapter also gives reasons why internal
combustion engines were gradually preferred to steam power.

In a separate chapter on motor rollers, mention is made of the
two distinct lines of initial thought as to what form the
development might take: whether to have the single-cylinder slow
running engine, or a multi-cylinder high speed engine.