Making Industrial Vacuum Cleaners Safer and Vacuum Conveying Technology Safer and More Productive for 50 Years

VAC-U-MAX (www.vac-u-max.com), the world leader of industrial vacuum and vacuum conveying technology is celebrating its 50th anniversary. The Belleville New Jersey-based company continues its tradition of innovation to solve vacuum-related challenges in a wide range of manufacturing and industrial settings from powder coating and metalworking to chemical and pharmaceutical.

Frank Pendleton knew the dust and lint surrounding oiled textile machinery was a time bomb ready to go off. First hand experience taught him the fire hazard had to be safely and efficiently removed. Existing electrical vacuums, however, were not only underpowered but also posed a real ignition risk due to sparking on start up. And traditional compressed air hoses simply blew unwanted debris around. So Pendleton teamed up with an inventor, and in 1954 introduced the first air-operated vacuum cleaner, or air vac, which was three times as strong as its electrical counterpart and posed no sparking hazard.

From his dedication to meeting industrys needs, Pendleton founded VAC-U-MAX, the world leader of industrial vacuum and vacuum conveying technology. Now, celebrating its 50th anniversary, the Belleville New Jersey-based company continues its tradition of innovation to solve vacuum-related challenges in a wide range of manufacturing and industrial settings from powder coating and metalworking to chemical and pharmaceutical.

Like a free safety on the football field defending against disaster, the venerable air vac remains one of US industrys most mobile and versatile pieces of equipment. Sam Miller, for example, faced a labor-intensive, potentially dangerous problem in need of a solution, as many in the powder coating industry do.

Static electric shock to our workers while vacuuming excess powder coating was a concern, says Miller, Vice President of Miller Welding and Iron Works, a custom job shop fabricator based in Washington, Illinois. We couldnt adequately sweep the fine powder residue from the floor, lights, booth walls, and components, and there were potential flammability issues with the powder and the electric shop vacuums we were using. With the shop vacuums, our productivity suffered too since we not only had to vacuum but also clean by hand using wet rags to prepare booths for the next powder coating job.

Miller sought out www.VAC-U-MAX.com, which offers the industrys only written static control guarantee. To eliminate any shock, fire, or explosion hazard associated with electric or engine driven units, a Venturi compressed air-powered vacuum was installed with anti-sparking vacuum inlets and grounding lugs, static conductivity from end to end, including a static conductive hose with internal ground wire and grounded end cuffs that prevent static build up.

The air operated vacuums were designed for powder applications like ours, says Miller. They eliminated both our static electricity problem and the spark concern we had with our previous electric shop vacuums. Not only that, but theyre also 30 percent faster than the old shop vac equipment, cover more area, and pick up finer material. Smaller particles are trapped in the filter, which is safer for our staff.

Clean filters thus translate into higher productivity, less operator exposure to contaminants, and higher accountability for controlled substances. This can be vitally important for industries like pharmaceutical, which not only tracks every ounce of product for the FDA, but also needs to recover ingredients that may be worth hundreds of dollars per ounce, and safeguard operators from ingredients blowing around in the air that may affect them. For applications like this, the company offers automatic off-line filter cleaning capability on its continuous vacuum systems as well.

For safety, productivity, ergonomics, and other goals, www.VAC-U-MAX.com offers pre-engineered solutions and can manufacture industrial vacuum equipment to customers specific applications.