Date: 1955

 

Description: This paver, made by the Koehring Company in Milwaukee, was used by the Irving F. Jensen Company here in Sioux City to pave the Sioux Gateway Airport as well as many city streets, highways, and the Interstate. Prior to 1910 Sioux City had cedar paved streets, which often floated away in heavy floods and storms. But in that year Telemachs Johnson developed a way to pave the streets in concrete, which allowed Sioux City to have some of the first paved streets in the country. In the 1950s, this type of paver was the largest variety available at the time. A dump truck would dump dry concrete aggregate into the large, shovel-shaped hopper (right side in this picture). The hopper deposits the aggregate into the cylindrical mixer at the center of the machine, which mixes the aggregate into concrete. The skip or bucket is attached to a long pole called a boom. The skip collects the concrete from the back if the tank and then moves along the boom to deposit the concrete onto the road. Because this boom is so wide, this paver could pour concrete over wide roads like Interstates and highways. The concrete is then leveled by hand or a separate machine.

 

Irving F. Jensen Co. was one of many contracting companies that operated in the Midwest. It was started in 1898 by Irving Jensen’s grandfather, Creston. Then it was known as Jensen and Krage, but the name changed several times over the years. The Jensen family moved around frequently, relocating to where their services were needed. Today the company is part of the Knife River Corporation and owns a subsidiary company in Colorado.

 

On permanent loan from Irving F. Jensen

 

On display