John Talbot has created a new way to spread cement when laying blocks.
When John Talbot sets off for work every morning in Tralee, his car does not move. The vehicle is raised up on bricks and when the ignition is started the back wheels spin around and drive a concrete mixer. This provides the raw material for his latest invention.
A new style mortar spreader which he claims does to the trowel what the lightbulb did to the candle.
John Talbot believes that his new way of laying cement makes block laying at least twice as fast.
It's a hopper that straddles the wall and you fill it with mortar and just draw it along the top of the wall.
The invention has received a lot of interest from the construction industry. John Talbot plans to patent the new tool in Ireland and Britain. He hopes the mortar spreader will be the start of a whole new industry in Kerry.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 17 April 1979.
