New feeders boost capacity at Arcow Quarry

SKAKO Comessa have helped to eliminate capacity problems Arcow Quarry by replacing four aged existing vibratory feeders with four new, similar-sized, custom-designed units capable of achieving increased material throughput.

Owned and operated by Tarmac Ltd, the gritstone quarry near Horton in Ribblesdale, North Yorkshire, had been experiencing acute capacity problems that were resulting in trucks queuing up to be loaded.

Positioned within a very restricted space, the original vibratory feeders were designed to deliver four screened gritstone sizes to a lorry loading point via a series of belt conveyors, however a bottleneck was being created because of a limitation on the maximum discharge rate of each individual feeder.

Skako Comessa were tasked with designing and supplying four replacement feeders to fit within the same restricted space, and which would be capable of delivering a minimum of 200 tonnes/h, thereby providing the increase in throughput the site desired.

Each new feeder has tray dimensions of 600mm x 1,100mm (identical to the old units), with drive supplied by twin 0.7kW unbalanced vibrator motors mounted over the tray. This provides sufficient clearance between the feeder and the conveyor located below, as well as allowing easy access to the drive motors and tray for routine maintenance, including replacement of the wear-resistant Hardox 400 liner plates.

In addition, Skako designed a special integral inlet hopper assembly with manual bed-depth regulation gate, spring suspension arrangements, and drilled flanges to mate with the existing plant steelwork.

With the new feeders now achieving capacities well in excess of 200 tonnes/h, Arcow quarry manager Michael Jones confirmed that the custom-designed Skako feeders had helped the site to fully realize the required plant throughput.