Two inventions that some believe will be the most significant innovations for the asphalt screed in almost a century will be available through Caterpillar, thanks to two brothers who run a family-owned paving business in Wyoming.
Stuart and Michael Frost have been on asphalt paving crews since they were kids and have owned highway paving company Mountain Construction in Powell for more than 20 years. They had always dreamed of a better screed – one that would achieve higher mat density and enable easier and faster plate changes.
After much trial and error and tinkering in an old airplane hangar, they reached a breakthrough in December 2018 that led to inventing two products that achieved both goals. They began to produce and test the inventions through their new company Axenox.
They gained a large following on social media that was astonished by the results. No footprint indentions appeared while walking on the mat behind the screed, and their screed plates could be changed in just hours instead of a day or more. (To see the inventions in action, check out the video at the end of this story.)
Almost four years later and a million tons of asphalt paved, they scored a deal with Caterpillar.
Cat announced in November that it would purchase the intellectual property rights to Axenox’s Oxclaw textured screed plates and Bullox modular screed plate attachment system. The products will be offered exclusively through its dealer network at a date to be announced later.
Nate Just, Cat’s global marketing manager of paving products, calls the inventions the solution to problems that have beset the asphalt paving industry throughout its history.
