Columbia Steel field testing new cone mantle design

Columbia Steel showcased a model of the cone mantle design at ConExpo-Con/Agg 2017.

A new cone mantle design offers improved crusher output based on initial field trials, reports Columbia Steel Casting Co. Inc.

Columbia Steel, which discussed the cone mantle design at ConExpo-Con/Agg 2017 and displayed a one-third scale model of the design at the show, modified the cone mantle to direct feed more efficiently into a crushing chamber.

“We’ve found that filling a crushing chamber via typical gravity feed may not provide optimum, or maximum, material flow,” says Steve Dolezal, Columbia Steel’s product engineering manager. “Our high-output mantle design works by consistently drawing material into the chamber, producing a higher volume of crushed product.”

Early trials with customers in the Southwest and in Canada are promising, the company adds.

“Basically what we’re trying to do is use the action of the machine to draw material into the crusher at a quicker rate,” Dolezal says. “These three helical feed arms at the top are oriented in the direction of the rotation as the mantle is spinning on the head. The thought is when the cone is choke fed that this will help direct material down into the lower two-thirds of the crushing chamber and draw material through the machine.”

Ultimately, Columbia anticipates the new design will offer greater throughput and possibly better gradation out of the machine.