JCB VIbromax, formerly known as Vibromax was a manufacturer of

road roller A road roller (sometimes called a roller-compactor, or just roller) is a compactor-type engineering vehicle used to compact soil, gravel, concrete, or asphalt in the construction of roads and foundations. Similar rollers are used also at land ...

s in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. The former Vibromax was acquired by JCB in 2005 and rebranded as JCB Vibromax. In 2012, the Vibromax part of the brand was dropped, and in 2014 the

Gatersleben Gatersleben () is a village and a former municipality in the district Salzlandkreis, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 September 2010, it is part of the town Seeland, Germany, Seeland. It is situated southwest of Magdeburg and northwest of Halle, ...

factory was closed with production dispersed to other JCB facilities, marking the end of Vibromax as a distinct business unit.

History

The company originated around mid-1930 in the Losenhausen works, founded by Franz Josef Losenhausen in 1880 and located in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

in Germany. The rollers were branded

Vibromax JCB VIbromax, formerly known as Vibromax was a manufacturer of road rollers in West Germany. The former Vibromax was acquired by JCB in 2005 and rebranded as JCB Vibromax. In 2012, the Vibromax part of the brand was dropped, and in 2014 the Gate ...

for many years until

Case Corporation The Case Corporation was a manufacturer of agricultural machinery and construction equipment. Founded, in 1842, by Jerome Increase Case as the J. I. Case Threshing Machine Company, it operated under that name for most of a century. For ano ...

took over Losenhausen in 1972. Case subsequently rebranded the products as CASE Vibromax for the home market and the world market. In 1992 Case sold the product range to Hermann Franz /

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

, the range was again renamed in Vibromax 2000. In 1995 Klaus Antony, Hermann auf der Springe, and Koos Krijger purchased Vibromax 2000, at that time production was moved to the city of

, Sachsen Anhalt. Vibromax GmbH, now with the factory in Sachsen Anhalt renamed the compaction range again with the original and historical brand name VIBROMAX. The Vibromax name was then expanded to include a subsidiary Vibromax America Inc. targeting the North America market headquartered in

Racine, Wisconsin Racine ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Racine County, Wisconsin, United States. It is located on the shore of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Root River. Racine is situated 22 miles (35 km) south of Milwaukee and approximately 60 ...

The single-drum compactors 602, 1102, 1402 and 1802 were unique in that they had a full width cab where the operator could sit on either side of the machine to get a good view when working close to obstacles. Most other brands only had a single seat mounted in the centre of the vehicle which limited vision. In 2005 the Vibromax GmbH Management decided to sell the Vibromax range to JCB. After the completion of sale and merger of all locations and subsidiaries (early 2007). The name of the product range now was changed to JCB Vibromax. With the introduction of JCB's new logo in 2012, the JCB Vibromax brand was phased out in favour of the sole JCB brand. In March 2014 JCB announced that the Gaterslaben factory would be closed, with production of pedestrian compaction products moving to JCB Attachments in Uttoxeter, England by June 2014. Production of larger compaction equipment moved to JCB's Pune factories in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The old Vibromax machines were painted a burnt orange and brown colour while the machines of Vibromax GmbH Gatersleben were painted yellow and later the JCB models yellow and black.

List of models

;Single Drum Compactors Smooth/Padfoot Old product range, production in Düsselorf * 1101, 1601, 1801 * 602, 1102, 1402, 1802 New Product range, developed by Vibromax GmbH Gatersleben * VM46, VM66, VM106, VM116, VM146, VM166, VM186 - These machines were the last Vibromax models and were branded JCB Vibromax after the takeover ;Tandem Drum Compactors * W102, W152, W554, W752, W854 * W255, W265, W355, W365, W455, W465, W862, W864 ;Pedestrian operated Vibrating Plates ATS 6002, AT15, AT25, AT35, AT45 ;Pedestrian operated roller W62, W70, W100 ;Towed Vibrating Compactors * W501, W651

Gallery

File:VIB.1801?.1-2156B.jpg, A series 1 Vibromax 1801 Single Drum Vibrating roller File:VIBROMAX 602.jpg, A series 2 Vibromax 602 Single drum Vibrating roller with two person cab File:VIBROMAX.1103.jpg, A series 3 Vibromax 1103 Single drum Vibrating roller File:VIB.1405.jpg, A series 5 Vibromax 1405 Single drum vibrating roller File:VIB.1806.jpg, A series 6 Vibromax 1806 Single drum vibrating roller File:VIB.VM66D.jpg, The new generation model VM66 Roller-the last before JCB took control. File:VIB.864.jpg, A Vibromax 864 Tandem vibrating roller

References

*Model numbers from original company promotional sales brochures and specification sheets

External links

JCB website
* http://www.vibromax.info {{JCB JCB (company) Construction equipment manufacturers of Germany