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Now, machine that rolls out a carpet of bricks

Last Updated 11 February 2013, 18:37 IST

The arduous and back breaking task of paving a road may now be as simple as rolling out a carpet, thanks to a new Dutch invention.

The incredible machine, named Tiger-Stone, can create an instant road wherever it travels, laying out 400 square metres of new road every day.

The secret behind the invention lies in a smartly-designed gravity-based system, the Daily Mail reported.

All a worker has to do is load the bricks by hand from a hopper into the Tiger-Stone in the desired patten.

From there, gravity causes the bricks to slide together, in a sheet of paving, onto the ground.

Brick roads have long been sought-after due to their attractiveness and durability but have become less common because of the labour-intensive work that goes into laying them, compared to other road surfaces such as concrete or asphalt.

However, with a Tiger-Stone, workers are able to lay out 400 square metres of new road every day, using paving stones or bricks, compared to a single conventional paver on their hands and knees who would only be able to manage between 75 and 100 square metres.

The machine is the brainchild of Henk van Kuijk, director of Dutch industrial company Vanku, who came up with his ground-breaking invention after deciding that squatting or kneeling down to place the bricks into the ground by hand was too much like hard work.

The device, which is as wide as a road and comes in four, five and six-metre widths, is fed loose bricks and lays them out onto the road as it slowly moves along. The tread-tracked machine is electrically-powered, and has few moving parts, so noise and maintenance are kept to a minimum.

Once the bricks are in place, all a contractor has to do is go over the new road surface with a tamper, and the new road is complete.

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(Published 11 February 2013, 18:35 IST)

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