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Superior Engineered Elastomers Offers Sweeper Transition Sleeve

March 7, 2006

At the National Pavement Exposition 2006 tradeshow, held in Charlotte, NC, in February, one new sweeper-related product distanced itself from the rest. This innovative item is a sleeve that is designed to fit inside the transition tube area on air sweepers. The idea is to sleeve the steel transition areas of the sweepers where they wear, rather than continually replacing or re-welding/patching the transition tube itself.

This interview is with Gregg Blair, shown in the photo. Gregg is product manager for Superior Engineered Elastomers, the company behind this new item.

WorldSweeper: What's the reason those in your company saw a need for this product?

Gregg Blair: The sweeper industry is constantly battling abrasion and wear to a variety of components, even within normal applications. We identified the airflow transition tubes on air sweepers as one of the parts that have significant wear, simply because they are in constant contact with blowing abrasive materials such as sand, gravel, and asphalt. Although some amount of wear is prevalent throughout the sweeper, it is very fast occurring in the transition tubes, since they are constantly blasted by debris as it goes into the hopper.

WorldSweeper: How did those at Superior Engineered Elastomers become aware of this problem?

Gregg Blair: We became familiar with the problem through working with both contractors and OEM's in the industry. We were aware of some of the many unsuccessful attempts to address the issue. Our elastomer-based solution not only does the job, but it's inexpensive and simple to install.

In a nutshell, our new product is a removable, replaceable urethane sleeve designed to slide right into the existing transition tube areas on a variety of name brand air sweeper makes and models. We call it the 'Transition Sleeve.'

WorldSweeper: You say it works well; what kind of testing has the item seen to date?

Gregg Blair: We've tested our Transition Sleeve in sweepers on some very abrasive construction sites in Florida this past fall and winter. The contractor we worked with had been actually inserting steel sleeves to lengthen the life of his transition tubes. What we found was that our urethane Transition Sleeve out lasted the steel by at least 10 times.

In some cases the urethane product is still running so we really can't identify the additional life added by our product. That shows you how significant of a difference there is, though.

In the case of this contractor who was using steel sleeves, our product also reduced the labor he needed to address the wear. For the steel sleeves he was making before, he had to bend and cut steel plate and then bond the steel to the inside of the transition tube with gum rubber. Our Transition Sleeve product is clearly better than what he'd been using, in terms of his initial cost as well as considering the labor costs to install, re-install, etc.

In the case of a sweeping contractor who currently isn't running any sort of a wear sleeve, which is most of them, we are able to provide an inexpensive solution for a constant, expensive wear problem. Our Transition Sleeve eliminates the labor needed to patch and/or weld the transition area on a sweeper, as well as the labor and cost faced when the transition is worn beyond repair and replacement is required.

WorldSweeper: What's it take to add one of your Transition Sleeves to a street or parking lot sweeper?

Gregg Blair: It's simple. Just slide our Transition Sleeve product into the sweeper's transition tube such that the flange on our product sits on top of the tube. Then, just all that's needed to keep it in place is a bead of silicone around the base of the sleeve on the inside of the tube. More than anything, the silicone is needed to keep any water or debris from getting behind the sleeve. After that's done, no other maintenance is needed other than to just visually inspect this bead and reapply some silicone every once in awhile.

To make things even more simple, we've created a locking mechanism that provides the ability to add length to the tubes by adding extensions. Each sleeve and extension is 12 inches long, so for a 36 inch hopper tube you would need a 12 inch sleeve and two 12 inch extensions.

As a note, we'd also recommend that the user track the wear of the sleeves they use in both the hopper tube and transition. To maximize the lifespan of the Sleeve,we recommend turning it as wear occurs on it over time. That way, the spots in the tubes that face the most aggressive abrasion continue to have the most protection.

WorldSweeper: Does Superior Engineered Elastomers have any other products on the horizon we should be watching for?

Gregg Blair: We are focusing a significant amount of R & D on trying to address some of the different abrasion issues in the sweeper industry. We're aware of blower and blower housing issues, for example, and this is a priority for us in the near future. I would say to readers to please feel free to contact me about your abrasion-related issues on your sweepers. We have collected a lot of experience in this field now, so I would say to those in the industry "please allow us the opportunity to be your problem solver."

As an Editor's Note for this product review, keep in mind that this sleeve will reduce the diameter of your sweeper's transition tube by about 10%. For example, if the tube has a 10 inch outside diameter and is made from .25 inch steel, the current inside diameter is 9.75 inches. Adding the sleeve reduces the diameter by .5 inch, or 9.25%. At the same time, however, the airflow speed may actually be increased, since the same amount of air is going through a somewhat smaller opening. In any event, this appears to be unlikely to create any significant differences for most applications.

Superior's Transition Sleeve product is so newly released that, as of the time of this article, it wasn't even on the company's website yet. We do have the flyer on the product linked here as a pdf file.

You may reach Gregg via email sent to: gblair@superiortire.com. You may also reach him via phone at (800) 289-1456, ext. 129. Although you can't yet see the Transition Sleeve at the Superior website, there are drag shoes and other items of interest to the sweeping community.

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