"Our new AirJet(tm) Chaffer eliminates the hassle of setting your combine. You just leave the lower sieve wide open, set the fan on high, and go," says Marvin Gorden, inventor and manufacturer of the revolutionary new AirJet Chaffer which directs the flow of air in an entirely new way.

The patent-pending chaffer sends a thin layer of high velocity air out across the chaffer, moving chaff rearward. Grain falls through the streaming air. The screens face toward oncoming grain for faster separation.

"Setting a combine to produce a clean sample is a constant challenge and frustration. You're always walking a thin line between getting all the chaff out but blowing too much grain out the back, or not blowing grain out the back but getting too much grain in the sample," says Gorden, who is also inventor of the popular Gorden Rotor Bars for Axial Flow combine specialty rotors. "We decided to find a way to eliminate the hassle so the combine operator can concentrate on running the combine."

Gorden states that the "air foil" chaffers which many farmers have used to update their combines in the past are an improvement over factory chaffers but don't go far enough. "They're good in corn but they still don't solve the problem in wheat and other small grains because the air flow is still wrong."

The AirJet simply bolts in place of existing factory chaffers. But that's where the similarity ends. To change between crops, you simply loosen wing nuts and slip in new inserts designed for specific crops. You don't have to change the entire chaffer.

"This system is very crop specific but it's quick and easy to switch between crops, with three types of inserts for different crops. Once you have the correct inserts installed, you spend almost no time adjusting the machine. You just open the lower sieve wide open and go. There's no combine on the market that will let you do that," says Gorden.

In tests on a pair of Axial Flow combines last summer, one machine was fitted with an AirJet while a conventionally-equipped combine was set at an optimum setting. Gorden says the AirJet-equipped machine was able to travel 30 percent faster while producing a much cleaner grain sample. "There's much less stress on the operator because you no longer have to worry about how much grain you're blowing out the back," he says.

The AirJet currently fits models 1440 to 2388 Axial-Flow combines but Gorden plans to fit all other machines once field tests are completed this year. He hopes to get about 100 units out for the 2002 harvest and then go into full production in 2003.

Gorden says the AirJet will sell for less than the cost of two factory chaffers because you just buy the one main unit and then the inserts to go into it for different crops.