That is what ingenuity and Gizmag is all about. Seems like it wouldn\'t go over well in Europe.

This is genius! Concrete is much better than asphalt, but hard to lay and a nightmare to repair. Asphalt can be scrapped up and relayed quickly, that is why we in the US use it for almost all our roads. But this could change that. With this machine laying a concrete paver road could be easier than laying an asphalt road. Repair would no longer be an issue since small crews could replace sections of paver as needed. These machines could also be a first step. They could automate the process so bricks of differing colors could be loaded into bins and the machine itself could sort them. Very quickly...... I hope this is seen for what it is, a potential revolution in road making. -Dennis

A good idea, but perhaps not good enough. The issue as I see it is the manual feeding of the bricks. A magazine type continuous feed needs to be developed for this machine. This may require working with a brick supplier to come up with a workable magazine type stack. A continious feed could see a 10x or better increase in speed with far less breakage of bricks that would occur using this \"dump in the hopper\" approach. Good Inception though.

To Andrew: You see roads like this everywhere in The Netherlands. The inventor is obviously Dutch (as am I) and it is a brilliant idea to spare the backs of the workers, so why would it not go over well? These kinds of roads are easy to maintain. You do not get the usual pot holes and broken bricks are simply replaced. They are also good for the dispersal of rain which both runs off and is absorbed through the sand beneath. The textured surface is good for traction. Do not under-estimate the practical Dutch.

will it lay Yellow Bricks?

This machine is screaming out for someone to invent fan-fold micro-perf bricks, ready to feed out of the box and lay on the road.

Seems brilliant..but;
A single conventional paver can do at least half this work as compared in the article to two operators - so if i am hiring two workers why would I also invest in the capital equipment? I also notice that the edge bricks still need to be pre-cut. Is there a third worker not pictured?
I wonder if this is the first step toward the holy grail of brick-laying; a mobile brick sheet fabricator and laying machine that cuts the sheets into bricks as they exit the machine or in situ on the road.
I give this an A for idea but a D for value.

I think it is a bit mean to poo-poo an idea of such simplicity and ascetic value - it has great potential and I love it!

\"\"To Andrew: You see roads like this everywhere in The Netherlands. The inventor is obviously Dutch (as am I) and it is a brilliant idea to spare the backs of the workers, so why would it not go over well? These kinds of roads are easy to maintain. You do not get the usual pot holes and broken bricks are simply replaced. They are also good for the dispersal of rain which both runs off and is absorbed through the sand beneath. The textured surface is good for traction. Do not under-estimate the practical Dutch. comment Pieter - November 15, 2010 @ 10:11 pm PST
Beste Pieter, Having lived in The Netherlands for 10 years and still spending about 10 days per month there for my employer for the last 5 and 1/2. I am going to have to agree with you about the maintenance issues, relaying of cables, servicing sewer lines etc. These pavers make it very easy. However, I can not agree with you about traction. I\'ve been on icy conditions on the pavers and on icy conditions on asphalt. Give me rough surface asphalt over the pavers in cold weather and I\'m a happy man. I\'ve slid around on those pavers and with the smallest amount of frost they become slippery.
I heb er meer dan 10 jaar in Nederland gewoond. En voor het laatste vijf en een half jaar ga ik heen en weer slingeren voor ongeveer 10 dagen per maand in Nederland. Ik ben er niet met je eens over die \"Klinkers\" die zijn lang niet zo goed in het sneeuw en ice. Verder zijn ze well heel goed. Excuses voor mijn Neder-Engels.
Nufsed

I wonder why there isn\'t a hopper to feed sand into a screed as a first step before the chute. Maybe it needs to be compacted first. I would load the bricks as palletized loads rather than knocking them over, then scooping, then dumping. BUT, very cool, very simple, I like it!