Martin Engineering improved the urethane blade used with its QC #1 heavy-duty conveyor belt pre-cleaner by giving it a beefier profile. The new design also has a more aggressive angle against the belt to improve cleaning. According to the company, the rigid-blade design resists blade-against-belt cleaning pressures more than twice the efficiency, with more than 25% more wearable urethane to extend wear life. The blade still has Martin's CARP (Constant Angle/Constant Area Radial Pressure) blade design, which maintains cleaning performance through all stages of blade life. The new blades will fit on existing Martin QC #1 heavy-duty pre-cleaner installations without modification and use the pre-cleaner's one-pin blade maintenance concept, allowing a worn blade to be replaced by removing a single pin.

The company also has brought the specification of conveyor transfer-point components to the Internet with an on-line Transfer Point System Selector. Based on a few input parameters, the System Selector will generate a recommendation for proper components to improve a conveyor's loading zone. The System Selector then generates an itemized bill of materials, which can be used to order appropriate components. The System Selector includes a section where a user can evaluate the geometry of existing chutes to determine if replacement is necessary. The online system also includes tools to calculate the theoretical airflow, used to determine dust management requirements. It has tools to retrieve the CEMA material code, to describe material abrasiveness, density, lump size, flowability and other properties.