Thomas Aveling and Richard Thomas Porter had…

Thomas Aveling and Richard Thomas Porter had entered into partnership in 1862, developing a steam engine three years later in 1865.

Testing traction engines is a public affair: one had been tested by driving it through Rochester to the station and back, another by driving it up Frindsbury hill.

The local public had turned out to see such trials and, according to the Chatham News of August 1862, they were "well pleased and altogether favourably impressed".

While the local public might have been impressed, more generally opposition to road locomotives is building.

In 1865, the Locomotive Act (the "red flag" act) is introduced, which reduces speeds from the previous limit of 10 miles per hour (16 km/h) to 2 miles per hour (3.2 km/h) in town and 4 miles per hour (6.4 km/h) outside.

To enforce the speeds a man has to walk in front carrying a red flag to warn bystanders.

Aveling pursues his interest in steamrollers, producing the first practical example in 1865.

It is tested in Military Road, Chatham, Star Hill in Rochester and in Hyde Park, London.

The machine proves a huge success.

Aveling and Porter steam rollers will be exported to Europe and as far afield as India and North America.

Their company, Aveling and Porter, will become the largest manufacturers of steam rollers in the world.