Plant Equipment and Hire November 2019 | Page 28

INDUSTRY EQUIPMENT: CONSTRUCTION performance that will be hard to beat using traditional road maintenance methods. “This just proves once again that Jetpatcher provides cost effective, time saving and long-lasting solutions for government and private business in terms of road repairs and general road rehabilitation,” says Bothma. In addition to fixing potholes, Jetpatcher can also be used to solve other road failures like edge breaks, rutting and depressions. Four steps to a smooth surface The concept is a simple one, and it has been extremely successful around the world since its inception in New Zealand in 1987. The truck basically carries the plant, which consists of an aggregate hopper, a bitumen emulsion tank and delivery hoses. The mixture is blasted into a road failure such as a pothole at over 100km per hour as it exits the nozzle. Bothma explains that there are four steps involved in the process. The first step, once a hole has been identified, is to clean it properly with air, after which it is coated with emulsion primer which seals the pothole and prevents further damage from occurring. The next step entails activating a jet air stream of aggregate that is blown into the hole. As the aggregate passes through the nozzle it is coated with The bitumen and aggregate is blown into the pothole through the nozzle on the delivery hoses, mounted at the back of the truck. Jetpatcher has more than 40 machines operating in South Africa. 26 26 NOVEMBER 2019 www.equipmentandhire.co.za