Challenge The customer needed an industrial steel work platform (mezzanine) to create additional work / storage space and vital access to hard-to-reach areas of equipment for maintenance. This customer needed an irregularly shaped mezzanine because there were doorways and hallways that could not be blocked with columns. Solution As a Thomas Conveyor project engineer, Owen visited with the customer and took laser measurements of the space and prepared an AutoCAD.DWG to replicate the field drawing. Owen presented the customer with a quote and concept drawing. Once the project was sold, we prov ..read more

Challenge A solution for transporting and transferring heavy fixtures in a molding process. Solution Our 2-Strand Chain Drag Conveyor with Servomotor Driven Pusher. Each conveyor line is 100 feet long with 2-strand #2080 roller chain with 5” chain strand centers, and roller chain attachments 12” on center. The chain is driven by a sprocket end drive with flange mounted bearings. The chain rides in Tivar chain guides on a formed channel frame. Fixed angle with UHMW contact the sides of the fixture to keep product square. The roller chain attachments provide a pocket for the fixture to be conve ..read more

Challenge Drying pellets of food while also cooling the product prior to the accumulation of said product. Also required an extended product travel without taking up a large horizontal profile. The unit must be fully wash-down and food grade. Solution A Stainless-Steel Wire Mesh Belt Conveyor. This conveyor is fully wash-down and food grade, so it provided a perfect solution for direct food contact while also being very easy to clean. The steel belt will allow high temperature products to be conveyed for a long duration without causing damage to the belt, sprockets, or belt returns. This could ..read more

Challenge Remove excess air from sacks so they lay flat and not cause uneven loads. To also maximize the number of sacks that can be stacked on to the pallet per shipment. Solution A two belt conveyor inverted to each other and used to compress product. The two conveyors are attached with two linkage arms and air bags. The upper conveyor weight is used in the flattening process. Trackmate belts are typically used, however, other belts are available based on application needs. The bottom conveyor, which is longer than the upper conveyor, typically is mounted on legs mating up to an in-feed and ..read more

Need This conveyor is used to automate the process of transporting raw poultry, pork, and beef to and from an impingement oven. Components The construction is of heat resistant 300 Series stainless steel. A fully wash-down, corrosion resistant, stainless-steel IP69K motor with NEMA 4 VFD. Fully hygienic, electro-polished welds and hygienic connections on standoff mounting for cleaning clearance. They all have a washable design to promote free drainage and reduce harborage. A rigid structural cantilever design with easy belt removal. A quick belt de-tensioner to slack belt and belt lifters fo ..read more

By Tim Knerr Project Engineer Thomas Conveyor & Equipment Co Thomas Conveyor completed a project for one of our Food Processing Partners which involved a packing line where a Hygienic/Wash-down Conveyor was needed to build a custom Pack Station Line. The goal of this line was to allow workers to pack individually bagged product into different sized cases to be sent down to a taper. The boxes would then be coded, labeled, and conveyed to a palletizing line to be prepared for shipment. Designing the Pack Station Conveyor involved having a two-level tiered conveyor which would convey the indi ..read more

By Clint Yonkers Project Engineer Thomas Conveyor & Equipment Co Recently, Thomas Conveyor & Equipment Company was approached by a senior project engineer/manager working for a nationwide hazardous medical waste disposer.  This particular application takes place in a facility located in Northwest Indiana.  They needed assistance with an ergonomic handling problem.  Typically, hazardous medical waste is deposited in supplied containers located in hospitals, outpatient clinics, doctors’ offices and so on.  These are then picked up, collected, and transported to the co ..read more

By Owen Toomey Project Engineer Thomas Conveyor & Equipment Co This “Z” style incline FDA washdown modular belt conveyor is being installed inside of an FDA food grade washdown environment room. The conveyor will receive boxes with taped bottoms, and open tops with a bag of liquid food product inside the box at 30” infeed top of belt elevation at a rate of four boxes per minute. The product is conveyed up the incline to nose over at 46” top of belt elevation at the discharge end. The supports are hygienic, adjustable swivel locking casters, with +/-1.5” height adjustment. This particu ..read more

By Jeff Bollman Project Engineer Thomas Conveyor & Equipment Co A major Biopharmaceutical Company approached Thomas Conveyor & Equipment Company to provide a storage solution in one of their laboratory equipment facilities. They were looking for a cost effective, safe and easy way to move and store mobile lab equipment. The solution was a combination of a Wildeck mezzanine and vertical reciprocating conveyor (VRC) which is designed for the transfer of material only from one level to another. The mezzanine was designed with a capacity of 250 lbs. PSF as some of the equipm ..read more

By Tim Knerr Project Engineer Thomas Conveyor & Equipment Co A project was brought to Thomas Conveyor requiring a security enclosure around precious material that the customer required be locked at all times unless accessed by internal personnel. The design would include ceiling high panel walls and a door on either side of the enclosure. Both doors would need to be able to lock/unlock with a standard cylinder lock which would give only authorized personnel access to this area. Our design for the ceiling high fence panels allowed us to tie into the building’s ceiling joists as a top a ..read more