Snake Mountain Rattler, Top Soil Seperator

The Snake Mountain Rattler is made by a Vermonter who hates breakdowns, high maintenance, special parts, and plug ups. If you just want to separate lots of sellable dirt from waste materials without any trouble, day after day, month after month, year after year, and produce a nice fine workable soil, whether the material is wet or dry and you only want to spend a few pennies for fuel and have no hydraulic contamination whatsoever. It was just about impossible, until now. In the beginning me and my wife, who has supported and worked with me through it all, had lots of nice dry materials and dry weather. But then beef cows came to our location at the Dubois farm, and the dry bedding we composted came to us a little more used. There were some rainy years and at times it seemed like all we had was slop. We had to keep the site clean to deal with the mud and stones from the loading areas would eventually work their way into our product. We needed a screener. I had a grizzler, but the bars were too far apart. I wanted twice as many bars. I thought to myself, if I make a rack to go in between, maybe it could move. A rack that large would be too heavy to lift up and down, so I broke it into four sections. I made a crankshaft like a 4 cylinder motor. The pistons move the racks up and down. I realized that the racks were balanced with each other and that thousands of pounds could be turned by hand. I started using it and concluded that my innovation must be unique. It worked so well, it’d be everywhere. I said “where are they all?†We did a patent search through Littman law, in Virginia, and found out just how unique it is. In the northeast there is only a small window of opportunity to screen material while it’s dry. Most landscapers (most anyone really) have a hundred other things to do during dry weather. The problem is screening wet materials fine enough with out clogging the screener. Conventional screeners literally shake themselves apart. They only screen dry material and most start at 5/8†and up. When you try to screen dry dirt it gets in your eyes, ears, mouth, nose and lungs. I know; I’ve been in that sandstorm before. Airborne dirt clogs the air intake of your equipment and it makes everything filthy. Whether it’s in a pile or in your truck it’s all dust in the wind. Damp soil won’t blow away like dry soil does. Our bars are spaced 5/16†apart. They move at approximately 300 rpms. The parts are easily replaceable and commonly found. The one we run essentially never breaks down or shows wear. Our screener easily removes clumps of grass, branches, small stumps, rocks and lumps of clay. What is left is a fine, fluffed, workable soil. This machine can screen stuff so wet it’s not worth doing, because it will clot back together when you scoop it out, but at least its debris free. The point is you’re not forced to screen in opportune conditions. You can screen whenever you want to. How it works It’s like a bicycle, or a 4 cylinder motor. As one section of the rack is coming up, another is coming down. Weight pushing down on one section helps to raise its counterpart. The number one crank is at the high point of its cycle placing the number 1 rack above the stationary rack (top left). It is balanced with the number 4 crank which is at the low point of its cycle placing the number 4 rack below the stationary rack (top right). The weight and downward momentum of crank 4 transfers the needed energy to perpetuate number one upward. Racks 2 and 3 (bottom left and right) are perpendicular to 1 and 4; they are even with the stationary rack. The racks are paired together to distribute weight. The center 2 racks work together to deal with the main bulk. The racks are made with 1.5" flat bar and the stationary rack is made with 3" flat bar. The cranks spin at approximately 300 rpm. There is a short shaft that has been shaved flat on both ends. 4 plates with 8 bolts sandwich the crank together so bearings are replaceable. The push arm is attached to the rack by a pin slid through a thick piece of grease-able bushing stock. The end of the shaft has been shaved flat. The arms are connected to similarly shaved sections of the shaft. The double bearings at the end of the shaft keep it straight and true. Angle Iron is welded to an oversized round pipe. A hole is added to access a grease fitting. The angle makes it easier to attach the one and half inch flat bars, A smaller pipe goes through all 4 racks. It is secured on both ends by a hinge which allows the whole rack to be taken out for screening different sizes. An 8 horse power motor with a 6:1 gear ratio will generate 48 horse powers of torque. Hydraulic systems use a third more energy just to run their hydraulics. Therefore, a gas motor would have to generate 72 horse power to equal the 48 horse power that our gear reduced motor produces. This little 8 horse motor uses nine times less energy than a hydraulic system. Also you avoid having to maintain and inventory: • Oil • Gauges • Fittings • Valves • Tanks • Cooling systems • Hoses, leaks • Filters • Pump • Motor • Repairs and contaminated soil removal • Injuries from high pressure hydraulic fluid injecting under the skin at very high temperatures • Injuries from worn hoses with exposed wire mesh • H. oil is toxic to the skin as are the fumes to the lungs With the machine shut off we attached a socket to the other end of the shaft and turned it with a torque wrench. The lowest setting on this torque wrench was 10 pounds and we could not get it to click, it spun too easily. Then we loaded it with 2 yards of wet material (approximately 4000 lbs or more). The torque registered at 30 pounds. Battery operated drills can put out far more than 30 lbs of torque. If you want to take advantage of this technological breakthrough, we can custom build the Rattler to the size and shape to accommodate your equipment or you can rent or buy the model shown here. If you just want the beautiful dirt and compost it produces call me, Ray Torrey (ask for Rose for prices and scheduling). We’d love to hear from you. [email protected]