Asphalt laying machine

An asphalt laying machine with a rear body preferably divided into screed sections, each section comprising at least one smoothing and compacting unit comprising a bracket fixedly connected to a carrier frame, an intermediate part connected to said bracket by means of vibration dampers, and a smoothing part having a lower rear edge and a lower front edge located under said intermediate part, said smoothing part at its lower rear edge being hinged to said intermediate part by means of at least one axle journal and a journal bearing for limited rotational reciprocal movement, said bearing being located about 1/4 to about 1/6 of the width of said smoothing part from said lower rear edge of said said smoothing part, and said smoothing part at its front edge being hinged to said intermediate part by means of a moving mechanism, which includes an eccentric drive having a driving shaft which is located between about 1/8 and about 1/5 from said lower front edge of said smoothing part, in such a manner that essentially all individual points of the smoothing part relative to an upper carrier frame are reliably moved and guided along elliptical paths having short elliptical axes, whereby these axes are preferably shorter at the rear edge of the smoothing part than at its lower front edge, whereas essentially all individual points of the intermediate part in response to the movement of the smoothing part may be moved either synchronously in phase opposition along corresponding elliptical paths or only forward and backward along a substantially horizontal displacement path.