2007 - Volume #31, Issue #5, Page #26
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Plastic "Clutched" Auger Saves Lives
This new auger component was invented by an Australian farmer who tragically lost his son in an auger accident.
Export representative Jim Raz of Adelaide, South Australia, has been promoting the unit to grain auger manufacturers, and is hoping to find a North American company who's interested in putting it into production.
"This invention has been designed to curb a very serious problem, so adoption by both legislators and farmers is so important," Raz says. "To our knowledge, there have been no significant developments in the area of auger safety standards since guards were put into manufacturing requirements, and we all know that people take off guards. The Augersafe offers a second-tier defense mechanism to protect workers from death and serious injury."
Augersafe makes up the bottom 2 ft. of an auger, solving both safety and seed damage concerns seen with conventional steel flighting.
"The pure poly flighting has no hard steel parts, so there's no sharp edges like you have with steel flighting," Raz explains. "It can't chop off limbs, but the impact of disengagement could cause some bruising. The internal clutch (located where the poly flighting and the steel flighting join) will disengage if anything gets jammed, stopping the bottom 24 inches instantly, while the rest of the auger keeps running to clean out the grain in the tube."
Added bonuses are that the poly flighting is also proving to be more gentle on crops and it outlasts steel.
Raz is currently in negotiations with an interested North American manufacturer and hopes to work out a production agreement in the coming months.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Jim Raz, Managing Director, Export Access, 195 Pirie Street, Adelaide, South Australia 5000 (ph 011 61 8 8224 0333; enquiries@exportaccess.com; www.exportaccess.com).
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