June 2020 / 21
vibratory screener. The screener
discharges the size-reduced mate-
rial onto a belt conveyor for man-
ual inspection and metal detection
before being weighed and pack-
aged for shipping.
"The screen classifying cutter
hasn't required parts or mainte-
nance in its first 4 years of opera-
tion, and it has fewer moving parts
than our hammermill," says Ortiz.
"The stainless construction with a
food-grade finish allows us to clean
it quickly." PBE
For further reading
Find more information on this topic
in articles listed under "Screen-
ing and classifying" and "Size
reduction" in Powder and Bulk
Engineering's comprehensive article
index in the December 2019 issue or
the article archive on PBE's website,
www.powderbulk.com.
Munson Machinery Company
Utica, NY
800-944-6644
www.munsonmachinery.com
plier recommended switching to
a screen classifying cutter to solve
Jewel's production problems.
Unlike a hammermill in which a
series of hammers strike and break
the material until it passes through
a bed screen, the screen classifying
cutter employs solid stainless steel
cutter blocks that are welded without
seams in a staggered array and have
machine-sharpened cutting edges
that can be resharpened as needed.
Material is manually fed into
the chute, which is equipped with
baffles to help prevent dusting. The
cutter imparts little to no heat to the
material, which is critical because
frictional heat or heated equipment
surfaces causes date powders and
granules to melt and clump.
The cutter uses a variable-speed
motor that the plant runs at either
1,500 rpm to reduce particles to ¹⁄
16
in. or 1,200 rpm for particles to 3⁄
16
in.
"We can adjust the speed to output
powders or granules according to
customer requirements," says Ortiz.
Once the material is reduced to
the desired size, it exits the cutter
via a flexible screw conveyor to a
Dates can be used in a wide range of food products, and Jewel needed the
flexibility to process dates differently depending on each client's particle
size requirements.
The screen classifying cutter uses
stainless steel cutter blocks in
a staggered array to reduce the
material's size.
