A cement mixer… on wheels!
- Cement trucks are also known as concrete trucks. They have a drum on the top of the truck which holds concrete.
- Cement trucks mix concrete in the drum with sharp blades to prevent the concrete from turning hard.
- Cement trucks typically pour concrete down long chutes to the site where it is needed.
- The drum on cement trucks turn in one direction to mix the concrete, and the opposite direction to pour concrete out of the drum.
- Long pipes and concrete pumps are used if the cement truck’s chute can’t reach the area that needs to be concreted.
- The first patent application for a cement truck was filed by Stephan Stepanian in 1916.
- Cement trucks generally weigh between 9,070 – 13, 600 kg (20,000 – 30,000 pounds).
- Cement trucks carry approximately 18,100 kg (40,200 pounds) of concrete.
- Most of the time, concrete needs to be delivered from a cement truck 90 minutes after been loaded in the truck.
- Cement trucks typically have a steel barrel, but some new trucks use fibreglass.
Bibliography:
Concrete Mixer 4 January 2013, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concrete_mixer>
Graham, 2006, On the Building Site , QED Publishing, United Kingdom
