Gypsum
A leading American gypsum company processes gypsum powder by feeding the gypsum into a calciner to drive off water. Currently, their calciner is fed by a horizontal volumetric screw feeder 6m (20 feet) above floor level and filled by gravity from an overhead hopper fed by a 12m (40-foot) tall bucket elevator. A
100mm (4 inch) diameter by 4,5m (15 foot) tall Olds
elevator was purchased for evaluation by their R & D group. Extended trials confirmed that the flow rate of the elevator was precise enough to act as a volumetric feeder, indicating that a machine scaled up to the necessary could use a single 7.6 m (25 foot) Olds Elevator in the place of a 12m (40 foot) bucket elevator, an overhead storage hopper and separate volumetric screw feeder to free up the third and fourth stories of the plant. These plants are currently operated at maximum capacity. Converting to Olds Elevators could increase production capacity within existing floor space.