Concord Sand and Gravel (CSG)’s screening plant was getting tired. The screener only worked well in dry conditions; the company’s production depended on dry weather.
According to Robert Cole, president of CSG, “Last year, southern New Hampshire saw a wet spring and summer and our traditional screening plant could not screen wet material at all. Our production days were dictated entirely by the weather and our plant’s lack of ability to process really cost us.”
The company has been operated by Robert Cole for the past 20 years. Alan Carignan, CSG’s plant manager, was instrumental in the decision to purchase a new McCloskey 616 trommel screener.
CSG produces aggregate and topsoil for southern and central New Hampshire. The aggregate facility produces approximately 300 tons (270 t) a year, and the company also operates an asphalt company that produces approximately 80 tons (72 t) of hot mix a year.
Obviously, if there were a setup that could eliminate the dependence on good weather, it would greatly increase the company’s production levels and efficiency. Cole felt it was time for a change.
When CSG was in the market for a new screener, Cole Leavitt and his father, Pat, of Gorham Tractor, sent Carignan to the McCloskey manufacturing facility in Canada to research the 616 trommel screener.
Carignan thought that he had never met a more helpful and qualified staff than the people at McCloskey, which he believed understood his production needs and even worked with him on a couple of modifications to make the machine fit even better to his specific needs.
“I was very impressed with their staff and that’s where we finally made the deal,” said Carignan.
“The McCloskey solved all of those problems for us,” said Cole.
The McCloskey’s trommel design self cleans the screens so they don’t clog, and CSG is able to process very moist materials. Their production schedule has been greatly enhanced.
“Our sizing problem has been eliminated because with the McCloskey 616 there is no spillage factor, which would allow for off-sized materials to mix. When screening with a trommel screener, you have much larger square foot surface that is screening and that allows for increased production levels,” said Cole. “The McCloskey’s design has also allowed us to create a more finely screened product.”
“Last year we lost a significant number of production days due to the weather. This year, not only has rain not created a problem for the McCloskey, but we have screened in temperatures as cold as 10 degrees below zero. The difference to our productivity has been amazing. In reality our plant has gone from operating at 50- percent production capacity to 100 percent,” said Carignan.
McCloskey’s trommel screens are suited for topsoil and gravel, demolition and construction, compost and recycling industries. This portable screening plant processes large amounts of material without spillage or build-up at transfer points.
The 180-degree radial stacking conveyor can raise and lower to feed into a stacker or directly into trucks. The machine is available with and without tracks.
The 616 offers many features, including a rubber drum extension and track mobility, five lifting bars on the drum that provide aggressive screening action, a drum exchange system for versatility, remote control hydraulic tipping grizzly or vibrating grizzly and 127-hp (95 kW) Caterpillar diesel engine. All of the 616’s belts include reverse operation.
The McCloskey 616 has played a pivotal role in CSG’s production.
“At the end of April, we already had more loam stacked than we did at any time in 2004,” said Cole.
Cole has known Gorham Tractor’s sales representative, Mike McManus, for more than 20 years, working together in local associations such as New Hampshire Good Roads. McManus worked closely with Cole when organizing Carignan’s trip to Canada.
Gorham Tractor and Equipment Company, with locations in Maine and New Hampshire, is an authorized dealer for McCloskey trommels and screens, Daewoo excavators and wheel loaders, Gehl skid steers and loaders, Terex wheel loaders and tractor loader backhoes, Sakai compaction equipment and Allied hammers.
For more information, call 207/929-3333, or visit www.gorhamtractor.com. CEG
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