Simesa Milan Italy
This was the first important direct customer of Niarb and after a few years of successful cooperation all the machines and plants manufactured by this company were of Niarb design.
The SIMESA logo became a very frequent sight in the construction job sites all over the world.
SIMESA was probably the first manufacture to successfully introduce vibrating rollers into the construction market.
A few other manufacturers tried in those time to do the same, but SIMESA could beat them all, thanks to its famous "Pneumatic Suspensions" (by Niarb).
Patented Pneumatic Suspensions use AIR as the elastic means for insulating the body of the machine from the vibrating drum. At these frequencies AIR behaves like an ideal gas, so even at very high amplitude (mandatory for good compaction) vibration produces NO internal friction, NO heat, NO energy waste. Niarb patented Pneumatic "rings" look from the outside like car tires, in order to keep manufacturing costs down by using the same molds used for automotive tires, but are fully different inside, following a life long development process painstakingly undergone in the Niarb workshops. Here on the right a schematic cross section of a typical vibrating metallic "drum" of a Road Roller manufactured following Niarb's patents.
The combined action of a vibrating metallic drum and a series of high-pressure rubber tires were introduced first in a Niarb patent issued in the "fifties". After the successful introduction into the market, many other manufacturers asked Niarb for licensing. To day there is no Compacting Roller manufacturer without a Combination Roller Line in its Price List.
Another Niarb's "first" that became a SIMESA's "first" and a world-wide success was the Combination Roller.
With the introduction of vibration, the compacting roller sector got a very strong push, but Niarb and Simesa also developed a series of very interesting machines that became trend-setting in other sectors.
Concrete Plants, Lean-Mix Concrete Plants and Asphalt Plants ("Hot-Mix" Plants) manufactured by Simesa became rapidly a very common presence in all important job sites of the world.
Air pollution from Hot-Mix Plants always was a problem and became a very big problem in the "seventies", particularly in the highly developed countries.
Niarb solved this problem with innovative devices controlling the operation of traditional "bag" filters.
This is a classic stationary Hot-Mix Plant sold by Simesa in the "sixties". To day "bag houses" improve air pollution, but many advanced devices included in this Asphalt Plant by Niarb are still considered "optional ext ras" by some Manufacturers.
A rubber tired SIMESA Asphalt Paver and a double vibration double traction SIMESA Tandem Roller paving and "finishing" an international road at the Swiss-Italian border. (Early "eighties")
Asphalt Pavers form a very important line of machines for distributing, levelling and compacting the Hot-Mix on the road.
Niarb has developed for Simesa a full line of advanced self propelled machines including many patented devices that will be shown later on in the chapter describing some of the more interesting Niarb Patents. Asphalt Pavers can be subdivided into two main groups: the Rubber Tire Mounted and the Crawler Mounted Pavers.
In both these fields Niarb has delivered to Simesa a large amount of new ideas, presented in the form of drawings, knowhow and detailed instructions for manufacturing advanced Asphalt Pavers.
During the early "eighties" Niarb studied a rather innovative self-propelled Soil Stabiliser.
A 400 HP self-propelled Soil Stabilizer and Recycler working on a highway job.
Its main advantages were the auto-levelling system of the mixing rotor, all wheel drive, and variable wheelbase for the rear axle in order to avoid disturbance of the stabilised strip.
Simesa (Milan, Italy) manufactured it under licence, without asking for world-wide exclusive protection. (World-wide exclusive license is much more expensive!).
In the "nineties" Niarb developed more advanced self-propelled Soil Stabiliser and Recycling machines.
Un doppio impianto di betonaggio con grande betoniera bivalva per calcestruzzi e alimentazione truck mixers.
Niarb also designed for Simesa Milan "Lean Mix" Concrete Plants, "Truck Mixers" Feeding Plants and other specialised Plants for producing metered materials for the ever changing requirements of modern construction.
In the following pages, some related Niarb patents are shown.