Chute Blows Straw And Chaff Into Trailing Wagon

Chute Blows Straw And Chaff Into Trailing Wagon COMBINES Accessories 27-4-26 Whether he's looking for marbles and coins in old dumps or searching for gemstones on Topaz Mountain, Bill Snyder hits paydirt the easy way. He shakes it out with his motorized screening cart. "I also use it for sifting stones out of topsoil for my gardens," says Snyder of Copperton, Utah. Snyder's shaker consists of a frame built out of 2-in. steel tubing with wheels on the rear and an upside down T-bar for front support. The frame supports an industrial, Briggs and Stratton 3 hp motor and a tilt-up oak box with screens. The box is 6 in. deep, 36 in. wide and 48 in. long. Angle irons inside the box support the screens. "The motor belt-drives a shaft with an offset cam," explains Snyder. "A bar with bearings at both ends is attached to the cam and to the screen. When I fire up the motor and engage the belt tightener, the box begins to shake." The unit is small enough to fit in a pickup. The up-front T-bar doubles as a handle to pull the unit around. Ease of transport allows Snyder to take his separator on-site rather than having to bring material home to be separated. "I have used it for collecting trilobites," he explains. "There are places out here where you can get really neat specimens. Rock shops sell small ones for as much as $25. The shale they are found in is all broken up. It just falls through leaving the trilobites behind." Snyder also takes his unit to old dumpsites. He notes that old sofas would often be burned at such sites and coins or marbles lost in the seat would be left behind in the ashes. He simply shovels ash residue and dirt on his shaker screens and lets the machine do the rest. Contact, FARM SHOW Followup, Bill Snyder, Box 172, Copperton, Utah 84006 (ph 801 256-9806; email: bill-judy@prodigy.net).

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