Howlet Topsoil

Howlet Topsoil from Naperville, IL came to Samscreen facing many challenges. They were attempting to process recently stripped topsoil from a housing development using a 4X8 conveyor fed power screen. They were unable to get any production due to grass and root build up on their 2″ woven wire top deck. The ½” long slotted panel on the bottom was also in constant need of cleaning.

Samscreen’s sales engineer went onsite to observe firsthand the challenges they were facing. The engineer made a recommendation of replacing the top deck with a ¾” Samscreen Finger Deck system and utilizing a 12mm (1/2″) Samscreen Piano Wire on the bottom deck.

The modular system allowed for different openings by simply changing a “comb”, and the individual combs could be angled to speed up or retard the flow of material on the deck. The real beauty of the system, though, was the step deck configuration that caused the material to cascade down the deck. Since there were no cross wires on the ends of each comb, there was nowhere where the roots and grass to hang up and blind the deck over.

In addition to the stay-clean action of the deck, the action of spring steel rods tended to break up clumps of material and clean the soil from the stone passing over. With Piano Wire on the bottom deck at 3/8 (10mm) or ½ (12mm) the product passing was beautiful soil ready to be sold as is, or mixed with manure or mushroom soil for added fertilizer. The Piano Wire stayed clean as most of the roots and grasses were removed by the Finger Deck above it, so there was no need to remove cross members or even use stainless steel wires to prevent blinding.

As a result, Howlet Topsoil was able to increase their production and eliminate the downtime they had been experiencing due to the constant need for cleaning.