Tornado Grain Mill Turns Rocks Into Powder

Tornado Grain Mill Turns Rocks Into Powder LIVESTOCK Feeding Equipment 19-5-28 "We're just beginning to scratch the surface of possibilities for this revolutionary new machine," say researchers working on a new "tornado" grain mill that uses powerful tornado-like forces to grind up every-thing from rocks to sugar. Invented by Valley Center, Kansas farmer Frank Rowley, there's only one moving part in the machine - a fan - and a couple of funnel-shaped chambers. When Rowley first went public with the machine a couple years ago, he demonstrated its amazing capabilities by dropping a handful of rocks into the top and then catching the powder that came out the bottom in a plastic bucket. The machine has no hammers or flails or any other kind of mechanical grinding equipment. It just uses the same kind of "positive and negative pressure zones and resonant frequencies" found in the eye of a tornado. What's truly amazing about the machine, according to those who've worked with it, is that in addition to rocks, metal and other hard materials, it'll also turn small granular materials - such as sugar - into a fine powder. No other machine has ever been able to work with such a diverse range of materials. What's more, unlike a conventional hammermill grinder which uses mechanical impact to break up each kernel and its component parts, the "tornado" machine can be set to retain the integrity of one or more component parts. For example, it can supply ethanol plants with the intact germ portion of individual corn kernels and pulverize the rest. "Grain and other feedstuffs have a resonance at which they will fractionate or pulverize - like a high soprano singer shattering wine glasses by voice resonation. Using this same principle, we can use resonance to break up grain along its natural fracture lines, maintaining the integrity of its component parts," says Rowley. "If you're shopping for chicken, you can buy it whole or in packages of legs only, breasts only, or wings only. Our new ma-chine gives you the ability to do the same kind of selective processing of grain and other feedstuffs." Rowley's prototype machine, which was recently put on display at Farmfest near Redwood Falls, Minn., is powered by a 100 hp electric motor. An air lock meters grain from a 2-bu. hopper on top into a funnel-shaped cyclonic chamber where opposing air pressures and resonant frequencies pulverize grain. Grain is "exploded" into its basic components and then falls into a pressurized cannister at the bottom. Rowley admits that the concept of the machine is difficult to understand, but he says you really only have to concern your-self with the results. "You don't have to understand electricity to turn on a light. All you have to know is that the light works when you turn on the switch. Same with my machine," says Rowley, who began experimenting with the concept 17 or 18 years ago. That was after he theorized that the energy in tornadoes comes from opposing air pressures. Much of his practical experience with the idea came from tuning exhaust systems for hot rods. "I learned a lot about air flows, frequency cancellation and harmonic resonance building those exhaust systems," he says. "This is a controlled `tornado in a can' that explodes kernels of grain into basic components." That's why researchers are so excited about Rowley's machine. "We've successfully broken down corn, wheat, barley, and buckwheat into their respective components. It really works, " says Gordon Sonstelie. He's experimenting with the machine for Minnesota's Agricultural Utilization Research Institute (AURI), a Crookston, Minn., group that studies new technologies that add value to ag products (ph 800 279-5010 or 218 281-7600). Meantime, there are a lot of other crop-processing possibilities for the machine, Rowley notes. For example, it can be used to dehydrate alfalfa rather than using high temperature drying to preserve more natural nutrients, he says. Production of stationary and portable units is just getting underway. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Frank Rowley, Gradient Force, Inc.,

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