Construction / Garden Equipment

Construction equipment - compactor plates, wacker plates,
Garden equipment - wood chipper, shredder, rotavator


"Jumping Jack" compactor
In construction, there are three main types of compactor; the plate compactor, the "Jumping Jack" and the road roller. The roller type compactors are used for compacting crushed rock as the base layer underneath concrete or stone foundations or slabs. The plate compactor has a large vibrating baseplate and is suited for creating a level grade, while the jumping jack compactor has a smaller foot. The jumping jack type is mainly used to compact the backfill in narrow trenches for water or gas supply pipes etc. Road rollers may also have vibrating rollers.
In England the name "wacker plate" or just "wacker" is commonly used to refer to plate compactors, derived from the name of Wacker Construction Equipment AG, a well-known manufacturer of such devices. The name is pronounced in the English style as whacker as opposed to the correct German vacker. A "Jumping Jack" compactor is colloquially referred to as "Paddy's Motorbike", due to the traditional resource of Irish construction labourers, and the way that the operator appears to "ride" the hammer holding the handles like a motorcycle