Tong Engineering Ltd
Ashby Road, Spilsby,
Lincolnshire PE23 5DW
Tel: 0044(0) 1790 752771
Fax: 0044(0) 1790 753611
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KEEPING AHEAD OF TREND TO BIG-BAGS
New machinery for filling and tipping big-bags has been developed by Tong Engineering
to cater for growing demand, particularly for export customers.
Big-bags holding one tonne or more of potatoes and other vegetable crops are increasingly
being adopted in mainland Europe in contrast to the UK where pallet boxes are more the norm.
Three years after the introduction of their Hydrafill big-bag filler Tong Engineering have
launched a new model which sees a new belt lowering system for the bag platforms
rather than the previous hydraulic system.
The bags are suspended from automatically opening and closing hooks and supported on
platforms which lower as the bag is filled by a reversible conveyor.
"The new design results in a more compact machine, easier and safer to operate with
no risk of hydraulic fluid seepage on to the crop and it is significantly cheaper to buy,"
says Barry Ledger, export sales manager of Tong Engineering, one of the European
leaders in manufacturing vegetable handling machinery.
Two machines manufactured in stainless steel are currently in operation in a vegetable
processing plant near Bordeaux, France.
The Big-Bag Tipper is based on the design of the popular Tong box tipper, but modified to
handle bags and their pallet supports. The pallet is held in position by swivel fingers while
grippers secure the bag as it is tipped, preventing the fabric from falling on to the produce.
The system is fully automatic with manual over-ride. Already the first machine has been
delivered and is in operation in Portugal with interest being shown from several other
countries.
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