A tracked or rubber-tired tractor that takes mix into a front hopper, carries it back on slat conveyors, spreads it sideways with augers and lays it under a towed, floating screed. The tractor supplies the push and the feed; the screed sets thickness, crown and initial density. Paving speed is set to match truck delivery, because a paver that never stops is the single biggest factor in a smooth mat.
Slow the paver to 25 feet a minute, the plant's only sending a truck every six minutes.
Also heard as
- laydown machine
- finisher
- spreader
Related terms
Screed
The heated, floating plate assembly at the back of a paver that levels and pre-compacts the mat.
Head of material
The amount of mix carried in front of the screed by the augers, which must stay level and constant.
Wings
The folding side walls of a paver hopper, and the habit of folding them to dump leftover mix onto the conveyors.
MTV
Material transfer vehicle: a machine between the trucks and the paver that remixes hot mix and feeds it nonstop.