BW is the roller designation used by BOMAG, the German compaction specialist from Boppard on the Rhine. The line began in 1957 with the hand-guided BW 60 double vibratory roller, the first machine the company built, and now covers tandem rollers for asphalt work and single-drum rollers for earthworks.
Bomag BW at a glance
| Maker | BOMAG, Boppard, Germany |
|---|---|
| Machine class | tandem and single-drum vibratory rollers |
| First machine | BW 60 hand-guided double vibratory roller, 1957 |
| Public debut | bauma 1958, with the BW 60 |
| First 7 t twin-drum | BW 200, presented around 1960 |
| Driver stand | vibration-isolated stand on the BW 100 and BW 120 tandem rollers |
| Heavy tandem | BW 141 and BW 151 AD, new in 2004 |
| 2013 investment | new drum factory at Hellerwald, 21.5 million euros |
| Owner | Fayat Group since 2005 |
| Source | BOMAG, English, German and French Wikipedia |
There is no separate Wikipedia article on the BW range; this page uses the company articles in English, German and French. The sources disagree on the year of the BW 200 (1960 or 1962), so both are given.
History of the Bomag BW
The garage in Boppard
BOMAG was founded in 1957 by Karl Heinz Schwamborn in a double garage opposite the goods station in Boppard. In the same year he developed a new design for compaction work, the BW 60 double vibratory roller with all-drum drive, which was the first BOMAG machine of all. A year after the founding, in 1958, the young company was already at bauma in Munich with that hand-guided roller.
The first seven-tonne twin-drum roller
Within a few years the BW range grew from a hand-guided machine into a self-propelled roller. BOMAG presented the first 7-tonne double vibratory roller in the world, the BW 200; the German and French articles place it three years after the founding, the English one gives 1962. Export followed the machine: the first foreign branch opened in Austria in 1961, and branches in China, the United States, France, Italy, Britain, Canada, Japan and Hungary followed up to 2002.
From one owner to another
Schwamborn sold the company to the American Koehring group in 1970. Koehring sold its interest in 2001 to SPX Corporation, which in turn sold BOMAG to the French Fayat group in 2005. BOMAG has stayed in Boppard, moving in 1969 to the Hellerwald industrial estate, where the works were extended several times. In 2013 the company opened a new drum factory built in twelve months at a cost of 21.5 million euros, the largest single investment in its history.
Design and features
- All-drum drive: the idea behind the BW 60 of 1957, a hand-guided double vibratory roller in which both drums were driven.
- Double vibration: twin vibrating drums for asphalt, which became the basis of the tandem roller program.
- Vibration-isolated driver stand: introduced on the BW 100 and BW 120 tandem rollers and soon copied by other makers.
- Compaction control: BOMAG measured compaction during work with the Terrameter from 1982 and the BCM system shown at bauma in 1995.
- Own drum production: the Hellerwald drum factory of 2013 keeps drum manufacture inside the company.
Bomag BW versions
- BW 60 (1957): hand-guided double vibratory roller with all-drum drive, the first BOMAG machine.
- BW 200 (around 1960): the first 7-tonne double vibratory roller in the world.
- BW 80 AD (1992): light tandem roller whose operator seat moved from the front frame to the rear frame, a layout that became standard.
- BW 100 and BW 120: tandem rollers with a vibration-isolated driver stand, revised in 2004 together with the BW 100/120 AC combination rollers.
- BW 141 and BW 151 AD (2004): new heavy tandem rollers for thicker asphalt layers.
- BW 213 DH: a single-drum roller of the same BW numbering, built for earthworks rather than asphalt.
BOMAG also builds BC compactors for soil and waste and recyclers and stabilisers. More machines are in the BOMAG collection.
Video: Bomag BW 213 DH working on site
Video on YouTube.
Sources
- BOMAG, English Wikipedia: company history, products, ownership
- BOMAG, German Wikipedia: BW 60, BW 200, bauma exhibits, drum factory
- Bomag, French Wikipedia: BW 60 and BW 200 dates, Fayat group
