The Dynapac CA is a family of compaction rollers from Dynapac, the Swedish construction-equipment maker based in Karlskrona. The Ca designation goes back at least to the CA 25, a road roller introduced in 1970 that the English Wikipedia article on the company describes as the world’s leading compaction roller. Machines of the line are still at work: a CA 270 D of 2013 appears in the video below, and the CA 250 and CA3500D are photographed on Wikimedia Commons.
Dynapac CA at a glance
| Maker | Dynapac, Karlskrona, Sweden |
|---|---|
| Family | CA compaction rollers |
| Earliest CA machine in the sources | CA 25, introduced 1970 |
| Reputation of the CA 25 | described as the world’s leading compaction roller |
| Machines in the photographs | CA 250 and CA3500D |
| Machine in the video | CA 270 D of 2013 |
| Company founded | 1934 in Stockholm, as AB Vibro-Betong |
| Karlskrona plant | opened 1960, built the heavy rollers |
| Company renamed Dynapac | 1973, as Dynapac Maskin AB |
| Owner | Atlas Copco from 2007, Fayat Group since October 2017 |
| Colours | red, white and grey since 2017 |
No Wikipedia page exists for the CA line itself; this page is based on the articles about the company. Photographs: CA3500D by Aevaii and CA 250 by SwarmCheng, both CC BY-SA 4.0.
History of the Dynapac CA
From Vibro-Betong to Dynapac
Dynapac began in 1934 as AB Vibro-Betong in Stockholm. The vibratory compactor that made the company’s name was developed in 1936 by the mechanical engineer Hilding Svenson, and in 1940 the firm was renamed AB Vibro-Verken. In 1947 it put on the market its first vibratory plate compactor, a machine weighing 1.5 tonnes that was nicknamed the frog. A research laboratory followed in 1948, and in 1953 the company manufactured its first vibratory road roller.
The CA 25 and the Karlskrona works
The plant at Karlskrona opened in 1960 and was where the heavy rollers were made; it also housed the company’s technical centre. Ten years later the CA 25 road roller was introduced and, according to English Wikipedia, became the world’s leading compaction roller. In 1973 the company took the name Dynapac Maskin AB and began to expand its product range quickly. The Swedish Wikipedia article describes the business as a maker of road rollers, asphalt machines and small hand-guided machines for compacting soil, gravel, crushed stone and asphalt.
Compaction at the centre of the range
The English article lists the compaction range as single-drum and double-drum vibratory rollers, combi rollers, steel-drum rollers, pneumatic rollers, tamping compactors, trench rollers and duplex rollers — the CA rollers belonging to the drum-roller part of it. Ownership changed twice in the 2000s: Dynapac was sold to the venture-capital firm Altor in 2004 and joined Atlas Copco in 2007, then became part of the French Fayat Group in October 2017. With the Fayat takeover the machines took on a red, white and grey colour scheme.
The CA machines that can be seen in the sources span several decades: the CA 250 and the larger CA3500D on Commons, and the CA 270 D filmed at work in 2013. Production is spread over Karlskrona in Sweden, Wardenburg in Germany, Tianjin in China, Pune in India and Sorocaba in Brazil.
Design and features
- Vibratory compaction as the company’s speciality: the firm built its reputation on vibrating machines, from the 1936 compactor to the first vibratory road roller of 1953.
- The CA 25 of 1970: the roller that English Wikipedia calls the world’s leading compaction roller and the earliest CA machine it names.
- Karlskrona heavy rollers: the Swedish works opened in 1960 specifically to build the large rollers and to house the technical centre.
- Modern livery: since the 2017 Fayat takeover the machines are painted red, white and grey.
Dynapac CA versions
- CA 25 (1970): the early roller named in the company history.
- CA 250: a CA roller photographed on Wikimedia Commons.
- CA 270 D (2013): the machine shown in the video below.
- CA3500D: a larger CA roller photographed on Wikimedia Commons.
The CA rollers share their factory and their engineering with the tandem Dynapac CC rollers, and the smaller CC900 belongs to the same Swedish range. More machines are in the Dynapac collection.
Video: Dynapac CA 270 D (2013)
Video on YouTube.
Sources
- Dynapac, English Wikipedia: company history, CA 25, product range, ownership
- Dynapac, German Wikipedia: history, sites, Fayat takeover
- Dynapac, Swedish Wikipedia: road rollers and compaction machines, owners
