Pit & Quarry articles from March 2000

Pit & Quarry archives from March 2000

Can you put that in writing?(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... When you buy a new car, you get a written warranty. When you buy a new CD player, you get a written warranty. When you buy a new washer and dryer, you get a written warranty. What about when your customer buys a load of aggregate? Well,...

Leaving the lagoon : Ross Island Sand & Gravel abandons its island location under community pressure.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Responding to environmental pressures and public opinion, family-owned Ross Island Sand & Gravel Co. (RIS&G) has applied for its last state of Oregon mining permit. The permit, to be issued in April 2000, will mark the beginning of the...

Hydraulic crawler drill.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 1, 2000... Ingersoll-Rand Co. offers the ECM-590, a self-contained hydraulic crawler drill. The ECM-590, designed to meet the specific demands of today's drilling industry, features full engine enclosures, dust collector systems, vaposol, dual positioning...

Hydraulic hammers.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 1, 2000... Rammer's 20 Series models of hydraulic hammers feature the Uniram system that allows direct pin mounting to most loaders and backhoes. Larger models including the B Series and City models also feature sound suppression. Rammer,...

Pressurized oil drain.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 1, 2000... Graco's Oil Ace is a portable pressurized oil drain unit. The unit features a 23-diameter collection bowl that is offset. When it swivels it provides a 31-in. range of coverage. The bowl is mounted on an adjustable neck allowing working heights...

Hydraulic breaker.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 1, 2000... Tramac offers the V1600 hydraulic breaker, a heavyweight, variable impact hammer that can be mounted on excavators weighing between 22 and 45 tons. The attachment's dual-speed V-technology responds to the hardness of material and adjusts...

Metal alloy wire.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 1, 2000... W.S. Tyler offers a metal alloy that has the characteristics of an oil-tempered wire. Tyler Ty-Pro Wire was created to offer the wear life and toughness of Tyler's oil-tempered Tyloy 88 alloy but be economically priced as Tyler's high carbon...

Weighsystems controller.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 1, 2000... Schenck Weighing Systems Disocont weighsystems controller features multilingual communications protocols with plant digital control systems. The Disocont Controller is used in conjunction with Schenck's line of weighing equipment applied for...

Belt Scale.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 1, 2000... KiloWate's KiloWate 2000 belt scale measures the electrical energy used to lift material, subtracting the energy lost to friction, and translating the rest directly into tons and tons-per-hour. For this reason, it works best on conveyors with a...

Portable screener.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 1, 2000... ABCO Engineering Corp. offers the VT-707 portable all-hydraulic Vibra-Tension Screener. It is designed for high capacity screening of difficult to screen topsoil, compost and aggregate with high clay content. It features a variable speed belt...

Engine oils/hydraulic fluids.(Long-Life and Pennzbell AW products from Pennzoil-Quaker State Co)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Pennzoil-Quaker State Co.'s Long-Life and Pennzbell AW are now being formulated with PureBase. PureBase, Pennzoil's proprietary, ultra-pure base oil, is developed from a refining process that eliminates virtually all of the contaminants and...

Fuel filter/water separator.(the LFF-8000 series from Luber-Finer)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Luber-Finer's LFF-8000 series fuel filter/water separator strips both emulsified and slug water from diesel fuel and dumps it into a built-in sump for draining. It is 97 percent efficient at removing water and the LFF-8000 takes out damaging...

Square Deal : Accurate squaring of conveyor-belt ends during repair is essential to peak performance.
March 1, 2000... When splicing conveyor belts with mechanical fasteners, it is important to remember that accurate squaring of the belt ends before installing the splice is essential to better conveyor performance. A squared splice contributes to longer service...

Conveyor-belt pre-cleaner.(a product from Flexible Steel Lacing Co.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Flexible Steel Lacing Co. (Flexco) offers a conveyor-belt pre-cleaner, designated Eliminator H-Type. It strips away carryback residue at the head pulley to keep more material in the product stream and reduce cleanup elsewhere. Independent,...

Radial stacking conveyors.(from ABCO Engineering Corp.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... ABCO Engineering Corp. offers heavy-duty radial stacking conveyors. The Model PS-606 is designed to stockpile up to 2,000 tph of minus-12-in. riprap. The 48-in. belt x 100-ft. conveyor incorporates a rock shelf load hopper, an impact bed, CEMA...

Material handling products.(from Mathews Conveyor)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Mathews Conveyor offers a complete range of integrated material handling products and systems. The company's extensive product line includes up-enders, downenders, heavy-duty roller conveyors made of structural steel, and vertical and...

Stackable conveyors.(from Grasan)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Grasan's stackable, stationary transfer conveyors are designed for efficient road and pit portability in quarries and gravel pits with minimum disassembly and no breaking of belts. Up to six conveyors normally can be stacked three tiers high on...

Shaft-mount speed reducers.(products from Emerson Power Transmissions)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Emerson Power Transmissions Browning heavy-duty helical shaft mount speed reducers, equipped with the easy-on, easy-off TorqTaper bushing, can be designed quickly and easily into material handling or other machinery using EPT EDGE integrated...

Telescoping take-up frames.(from Bryant Products Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Bryant Products Inc. offers the Top-Mount Telescoper Take-Up Frames, the newest addition to Bryant's Telescoper product line. The top-mount design, with the bearing mounted over the tube, is an ideal replacement for conventional take-ups that...

Conveyor protection/safety products.(Pro-Line products from Ramsey)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Ramsey offers its line of Pro-Line conveyor protection and safety products. Ramsey's Belt Misalignment Run-Off Switch has a universal design for mounting on the top or bottom of conveyor stringers with the actuating arm adjusted approximately 1...

Belt conveyor scales.
March 1, 2000... Schenck Weighing Systems' Model BX-2 belt conveyor scale features a heavy-duty, two-idler, approach and retreat design scale suspension. Schenck's suspension is designed to match your existing stringer gauge and idler spacing. The suspension...

Belt cleaners.
March 1, 2000... Douglas Mfg. Co. Inc. offers the new Mudcutter Primary Belt Cleaner and the Earthscraper Secondary Belt Cleaner. Both feature efficient cleaning, reduction of operating expenses, easy, simple blade replacement, and a lightweight and durable...

Construction contracting holds steady.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Contracting for new construction in December was reported at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $418.4 billion, essentially the same as November, according to the F.W. Dodge Division of the McGraw-Hill Companies. A greater volume of...

Court blocks environmentalists attempt to halt road work.
March 1, 2000... The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia agreed with the four Missouri chapters of the Associated General Contractors (AGC) that the Sierra Club cannot use the Clean Air Act to cut off all federal funding for highway construction in...

Gordon receives Wendt Memorial Award.
March 1, 2000... Richard E. (Dick) Gordon, vice president for sales at Aggregate Industries' West Central Region in Denver, has been named recipient of the Barry K. Wendt Memorial Commitment Award for 2000 for his dedication to the construction aggregates...

Lafarge bids for Blue Circle.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... French building materials company Lafarge SA launched a 3.4 billion pound ($5.52 billion) bid for Britain's Blue Circle Industries PLC, whose shares jumped on hopes that a higher offer could emerge. The French building materials giant says...

Martin Marietta, announces record year.
March 1, 2000... Martin Marietta Materials Inc. reported record fourth-quarter and full-year 1999 sales and earnings. For the quarter, sales of $335.1 million increased 19 percent over the prior-year period, while net earnings of $32.6 million rose 6 percent....

Southdown goes up.
March 1, 2000... Southdown Inc. reported record earnings from continuing operations in 1999 of $213.4 million, or $5.63 per diluted share compared with 1998 earnings from continuing operations, before Medusa acquisition charges of $186.9 million, or $4.81 per...

Vulcan announces record quarter.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Vulcan Materials reported that fourth quarter sales, pretax earnings, net earnings and earnings per share were at record levels. Net earnings were $64,817,000, or $0.64 per share, as compared with the prior year record net earnings and earnings...

Madeleine Ludlow elected to Oglebay Norton board.
March 1, 2000... Oglebay Norton Co. elected Madeleine W. Ludlow to the board of directors of the company to serve the class of directors whose term expires in 2002. Her term will commence immediately. Ludlow is currently vice president and CFO of Cinergy...

Retired Vulcan geologist awarded.
March 1, 2000... Joe Gutierrez, retired Division Geologist for Vulcan Materials Co., Mideast Division, was recently awarded the 1999 Distinguished Service in Science Education in North Carolina Award from the North Carolina Science Teachers Association (NCSTA)...

Rogers Group forms Reostone LLC.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Rogers Group Inc. and Eller & Olsen Stone Co. Inc. have formed a joint venture with annual sales of more than $20 million, to provide crushed stone to the road building and construction industries in Middle Tennessee. The joint venture...

Florida Rock releases quarterly results.(Florida Rock Industries Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Florida Rock Industries Inc. announced first quarter results and declared its regular quarterly dividend of $.10 per share. For the first quarter ending December 31, 1999, consolidated net sales increased 8.4 percent to $155,110,000 from...

Centex reports 43 percent increase in third quarter results.
March 1, 2000... Centex Construction Products Inc. reported the highest earnings and revenues in its history both for the quarter ended December 31, 1999, the third quarter of fiscal 2000, and for the first nine months of fiscal 2000. Increased gypsum...

Kiewit Materials acquires Solano.
March 1, 2000... Kiewit Materials Co. says its United Metro Materials Inc. subsidiary has acquired Solano Concrete Company Inc. and related assets from the Yarbrough Family Trust of Fairfield, Calif. Solano Concrete Co. operates a quarry site and aggregate...

MAA to award scholarship.(Michigan Aggregates Association)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... The Michigan Aggregates Association (MAA) Board of Directors has established an educational grant program for the purpose of encouraging and promoting academic excellence in the field of non-mineral extraction. The MAA intends to award the...

Excellence in mining.
March 1, 2000... The Indiana Mineral Aggregates Association announced the winners of its 1999 Excellence in Mining Awards. The program, sponsored by the IMAA Public Information and Education Committee, is designed to recognize member aggregate plants that...

Safety responsibilities of contractors.
March 1, 2000... In mining, as well as in other industries, there is a marked trend to make independent contractors responsible for safety violations that occur in the course of their work for someone else. However, an even stronger trend, under OSHA as well as...

National report.(floodplains management)
March 1, 2000... Stone producers are battling a regulatory initiative that is nearly incomprehensible in scope because of its potentially damaging effect on the aggregates industry. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Natural Resources Defense...

Keeping Trucks on Track : Proper vehicle-fleet maintenance saves money in the long run.
March 1, 2000... You've probably read a lot about "best maintenance practices" for trucks. And there is no doubt that preventive maintenance is the key to keeping your trucks productive, reducing your vehicle operating, maintenance and replacement costs, and...

Caterpillar celebrates 75 years in business.
March 1, 2000... Caterpillar Inc. turns 75 this year, celebrating three quarters of a century of shaping the world as people know it today. "The foundation blocks for this company's success have been in place for decades, put there by many people,'' says...

Distribution facility presented with award.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... The Rockwell Automation distribution facility in Crossville, Tenn., was presented with a Motion Supplier Quality Award from Motion Industries. The award was presented on the basis of material quality, delivery performance, paperwork,...

Three distributors will carry Nordberg products.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Nordberg added three distributors, including Whitney & Son Inc., Roland Machinery Co. and L.B. Smith Inc. Whitney & Son Inc. will distribute Nordberg's Con-Agg Crushing and Recycling line for the New England Region. Roland Machinery Co. will...

New plant will power Cat engine facility.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Cilco, an AES company, and Caterpillar Inc. have reached a service agreement for multiple energy products that will result in construction of a 45-megawatt cogeneration plant in Mossville, Ill. The new plant, to be called AES Medina Valley,...

Equipment Modifications and Tire Life : It may not be the tire's fault if you're experiencing higher tire costs per hour.
March 1, 2000... Are you only getting 3,500 hours of service out of the same tire that once delivered 5,000 hours? Operators who have seen a sharp increase in their per-hour tire costs for a particular piece of equipment must ask themselves a few questions...

TOP news.
March 1, 2000... * Vulcan Materials reported that fourth quarter sales, pretax earnings, net earnings and earnings per share were at record levels. Net earnings were $64,817,000, or $0.64 per share, as compared with the prior year record net earnings and...

wire.
March 1, 2000... * President Clinton's FY2001 budget proposal includes $31 billion for the Federal-Aid Highway Program, an increase of $3 billion. The Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund was allotted $211 million, an increase of $15 million. Federal prison...

RED FLAGS.
March 1, 2000... * With Congress back in session, efforts will continue to increase funding for airports. The House wants to increase the airport-construction budget, while the Senate opposes such funding. * A current proposal for the Nationwide Permit...

ESSENTIAL economics.
March 1, 2000... MONTHLY CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT VALUE SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ANNUAL RATES, IN MILLIONS Dec. 1999 Nov. 1999 % Change Nonresidential Building $154,580 $141,354 +9 Residential Building ...

STOCK watch.
March 1, 2000... (at press time) This Month Last Month Centex Construction Prod. 29 71/416 35 11/48 Florida Rock Industries 34 131/416 36 31/48 Hanson Plc 30 71/48 ...

American Vulkan Corp.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... With a variety of designs and materials, American VULKAN can supply a coupling for new or existing applications. Flexomax Jaw Couplings feature rubber or urethane elements and handle up to 428,000 lb.-ft. torque. Shaft-to-shaft and...

Simplicity Engineering.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Simplicity Engineering's grizzly feeder is typically used in the feeding and scalping of run-of-quarry and run-of-mine material prior to crushing and conveying. The heavy-duty grizzly feeder is particularly strong in applications involving...

Air Blast Inc.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Air Blast Inc.'s Belt Wiper is designed to blow off granular material from an endless belt. The product features increased belt life. No adjustments are required and it contains no wearing parts. Mechanical splices and pleats don't hit. The...

WEG.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... WEG announces its new Crusher Duty Soft Starter. Rated at 500 percent for 30 seconds, 6 times per hour, the unit is housed in a dust-tight enclosure, with Circuit Breaker, full-size pushbuttons and door-mounted keypad with either current,...

W.S. Tyler.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Ty-Max is a newly designed tensionable polyurethane screen section that has increased open areas. Wear life is not sacrificed -- it has 10 to 30 times the wear life of wire mesh. Ty-Max screen sections allow quick changeover and no...

McKay Welding Products.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... McKay offers a new catalog featuring its entire filler metal line of hard surfacing products, stainless steel products, low alloy electrodes, and mild steel electrodes and wires. The 72-page directory is organized into the six separate product...

Another small particular.(Editorial)
March 1, 2000... An old adage says, "There are two sides to every story." Not a bad idea, but not nearly as insightful as it ought to be. It is better said as, "There are at least two sides to every story." Not much in this life can be reduced to an indivisible...

Takin' Care of eBusiness.
March 1, 2000... Aggregate-industry companies are finding that e-commerce is a competitive tool for meeting customer needs. E-commerce is coming to the aggregates and construction equipment industry faster than anyone realizes, and some of the biggest...

Software products give companies power to create their own sites.
March 1, 2000... Using the right tools, companies can create basic database Web applications, with a minimum of expertise, according to Chuck Frey of the Construction Industry Manufacturers Association. "Even if you hire an outside programmer to create some...

Web marketing book brings hope for Web sites needing traffic.(Review)
March 1, 2000... With more than 13 million domain names registered throughout the world, many Web sites are struggling to survive on the World Wide Web. A new book called "Web Marketing Applied," by Internet marketing guru Joe Tracy, is teaching webmasters and...

www.pitandquarry.com.
March 1, 2000... First launched in 1996, Pit & Quarry's Web site has become the leading online information source for aggregates producers. The number of visitors to our site has increased by more than 10 times since just last summer. On the site, you will...

Inventory management software.
March 1, 2000... Inventory management software BinMaster Level Controls' Inventory Management Software is designed to interface with SmartBob remote sensors to monitor material level in up to 90 vessels. The system can be remotely accessed through a modem...

Transmission/distribution software.
March 1, 2000... Laser Technology Inc's transmission and distribution software package, T&D Pro, was created to collect and process critical measurements and calculations in the field for transmission and distribution workers. Designed to work seamlessly with...

Auto statusing.
March 1, 2000... Command Data offers the Auto Statusing capability for Commandsignal. Commandsignal provides advanced communications and status reporting for ready mix, aggregate, asphalt, and block truck fleet operations. Commandsignal's Auto Statusing...

Geotechnical database.
March 1, 2000... ESG Canada offers a computer program that provides one-stop shopping for geotechnical engineers who need their underground observations recorded and stored in one convenient spot. The standard Rockpro computer database records and stores and...

X-Ray fluorescence spectrometer.
March 1, 2000... Oxford Instruments America Inc. offers the second generation MDX1080+. This spectrometer uses a new technique in multi-element analysis by X-Ray fluorescence (XRF) -- Multi-Dispersive XRF that combines the benefits of classical techniques to...

Flat-panel display.
March 1, 2000... Rockwell Automation adds a 12.1-in. display to its line of Allen-Bradley RAC6181 industrial computers. The thin film transistor (TFT) active matrix flat-panel display is designed for situations where panel depth, size and weight can limit...

Accounting link.
March 1, 2000... User Solutions Inc. offers the Peachtree Accounting Link (PAL) that runs with Resource Manager for Excel. For the first time, small- and medium-sized manufacturers can use familiar desktop applications to manage operations. A simple combination...

Tracking software.
March 1, 2000... Software Integration Services offers its Hound series tracking software for PCs. The company's Tool Hound series uses bar codes and handheld scanner technology for full tool crib management. According to the company, this tool tracking system...

Zero language controller.
March 1, 2000... Rice Lake Weighing Systems' ZLC-421 Zero Language Controller provides the flexibility of a programmable indicator/controller without requiring the operator to know any programming languages. It is designed for applications such as batching,...

Komatsu wheels out new mobile crusher.
March 1, 2000... Komatsu America International Co. introduced the new, 66,140-lb. BR350JG mobile crusher to North America. Designed for highway construction, excavation and demolition applications, the BR350JG is the newest member of the company's mobile...

New impactor design uses less energy.
March 1, 2000... Svedala Industries' P-Series and S-Series Impactor crushers are designed to be a highly productive, improved Andreas-type units for low-cost primary or secondary reduction. They feature a unique, heavy, large-diameter rotor that operates at a...

Software simplifies pump selection.
March 1, 2000... Pumpexplorer, a pump-selection software program developed by Pumpex Inc. and offered free, is designed to streamline the pump-specification process by enabling pump specifiers and users to automatically calculate friction loss in a system. By...

Mobil reformulates off-highway greases.
March 1, 2000... Mobil has reformulated many of its greases used in off-highway applications. Field tested for more than a year, the reformulated greases provide customers with superior results in high-temperature applications, better mechanical stability,...

Silent Wear Resistance.
March 1, 2000... It's a frequently reoccurring theme in this column, because it's a reoccurring problem: machine wear. And it's not a news flash that machinery costs a bundle, so reducing downtime is a company's lifeblood. However, the majority of...

Greenfield on the Red River : TXI's new Wade Sand & Gravel plant operates in two states on both sides of a river.
March 1, 2000... It flows unvexed to the Gulf of Mexico as it has for thousands of years. The Choctaw Indians call it Ohammabok, meaning Red River. As the boundary between Texas and Oklahoma, the Red River has flooded and meandered across countless acres of...

Choosing & Using Log Washers and Sand Screws : Getting optimum production out of your washing and classifying equipment sometimes means taking a closer look at the process.
March 1, 2000... The washing, classifying and dewatering part of a quarry operation is a critical one. Ever-increasing aggregate quality specifications have forced producers to make a finished product that meets very precise standards. When choosing...

Eagle's hot iron.
March 1, 2000... Dredging material in Oklahoma and sending it under the Red River to be processed in Texas requires a lot of engineering and the right equipment to get things done. At Wade Sand & Gravel, Savoy, Texas, the process begins on a lake at the river's...

Using computers for prime-time production.
March 1, 2000... With today's ever-tightening specification requirements, such as materials destined for Superpave projects, and with the scarcity of good deposits in some areas, producers must take full advantage of every technological edge available....