Clinton News-Record, 1977-03-03, Page 18PAGE 18-4-CLINTON NEWS -RECORD, THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 1977
Developnewpump
Epps help farmers battle bacteria
expectancy of five years.
BY CHRIS ZDEB Since last summer, C. H.
When Bill Hearn and Don Epps of Clinton the pump
Stewart joined the fight on manufacturer, had had 10 of
bacteria, two years ago, they the devices performing under
found themselves on the field service conditions, and
losing side. It was bacteria 1 - all have thus far withstood
Hearn -Stewart 0, with the corrosive action of the
bacteria slowly pulling .preservative chemical.
ahead. ,"The pump is made .of
Last year, the underdogs stainless steel, teflon, High
managed to tie the war with Molecular Weight (HMW)
the introduction of .a secret poi yethelene, and
'weapon and bacteria sud- polypropylene," Don said,
denly found itself losing "all very resistant materials
strength. It was bacteria 1 - that stand up to acids."
Hearn -Stewart 1, and It took the combined efforts
gaining. of five men, 119,000 in
For as long as farmers government funds and about
have stored forages, corn $30,000 put up by C. H. Epps to
silage and high -moisture come up with the new device.
cereals, they have been While the company will
plagued with the problem of again restrict its sales to
maintaining the nutrients Ontario this year to monitor
present at harvest time. its operation, there are plans
Drying and chemical to expand the market in 1978
treatment have long been both at home and abroad,
employed to discourage mold especially Quebec and the
from setting in, with the use northern United States where
of organic acids gaining in forages grow well.
popularity to the more ex- When the government
pensive drying method. agency DREAM,
But while farmers had the (Development Research and
ways of combatting the Evaluation of Agricultural
bacteria, they found they Mechanization) came to C. H.
lacked the means to apply the Epps and its vice-president
acid. Don Stewart to design a pump
Bill Hearn and Don Stewart capable of withstanding the
of Clinton entered the picture acids it would have to pump,
and suddenly there was a its design fell to the com-
means, in the design of a new pany's president, Bill Hearn..,
chemical applicator. A mechanical engineering
A device consisting of a graduate of the University of
pump and meter, the Chem Toronto, Bill found the pump
Applicator, is the first pump itself to be the hardest part of
constructed of materials the device to design.
capable of withstanding the "The problem was to come
highly corrosive formic acid up with a pump with enough
in Chemsil, the chemical used power, yet keep it compact,"
to preserved forages from the Bill said.
ravages of mold. Designing the fluid meter
"While there has always however, also posed its share
been a chemical available to of problems.
meteringwas difficult
preserve forages, there was
no pump that could withstand because it works on the
the corrosive action of the principal of gravity, (what
chemical," 'Don Stewart goes up must come down),"
explained. Bill said.
Pumps preceeding the He eventually designed a
Chem Applicator tended to pump complete with a double
breakdown as their parts scale meter, allowing for
were eaten away by the acid. smaller amounts of chemical
Ranging from $700 to "$1,500 to be handled, but the first
these early pumps would complete design of 1975 had to
generally last no longer than be scrapped, Bill said.
one season. Once designed, the finer
"Most of those pumps are details of the device carne
dead and gone now," Don under the direction of "Sam"
said. Vara, an engineer from
The $500 Chem Applicator Toronto.
is expected to have a life
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Don "Oz" Andrews and
Charlie Putman, C. H. Epps
employees, completed - the
team of five men who helped
to design the Chem
Applicator.
The pump may not be a
product of . K -Tel Manufac-
turing, the company that
brings you just about every
handy -dandy little item you
can think of, but with its
impressive list of special
features, the device could
very.. well qualify for the K -
Tel Hall of Fame.
Besides being constructed
of corrosive resistant
materials, the pump is very
easy to install, requiring no
wrenches, with its single
action barrel pump.
It can be converted to a
transfer pump for saddle or
nurse tanks mounted on a
tractor- and operates from a
12 -volt tractor battery or a 10
amp battery charger.
"In other words, the power
source is already there, the
farmer doesn't need to find a
special way of powering the
pump," Don said.
A self -priming device in-
stantly pushes the acid
through the distributing
nozzle with a flick of the
power switch, and when shut
off, the sump self,.d`rains of all
acid as a safety precaution.
The double scale meter is
the only one of its kind.
Capable of reading a flow
rate of 1 pound per minute to
six gallons per minute, a ratio
of 1 - 60, the meter is accurate
at even low levels. •
"The standard meters had
a ratio of 1-10, Don ex-
plained. "The double scale
meter allows for a high flow
and a low flow."
Last summer, the United
Co-operatives of Ontario,
(UCO) whose chemical,
Chemsil is used to preserve
stored forages, bought 10 of
the pumps and"put them into
use. C. H. Epps is presently
completing the UCO's order
for 35 pumps which will be
monitored again_ before - any
move is made to expand its
markets.
The pump has been used to
treat high moisture corn
being stored in the silo, and
has proven equally as ef-
fective out on the field at-
tached to a harvester.
For city folk unfamiliar
with the workings of a farm,
the process of spraying
preservative chemicals on
forages and 'corn silage is
something similar to
pickling. While not hurting
the animals eating the silage,
the chemical makes the
neighbourhood very unap-
pealing for mold and bac-
teria.
"The acid lowers the PH of
the 'forages from 7 to 4,.
making growth conditions for
oxygen living bacteria less
than perfect," Don explained.
When growth conditions for
bacteria are near ideal the
energy made by the bacteria
heats up the forages, burning
off the protein that- should be
consumed by feeding
livestock.
A cow eating silage that is
low in protein compares to a
person eating junk food
lacking nutrients.
"The goal is to have feed in
December that will have your
cows give as much milk as in
June when they are grazing,"
Don explained.
Soy bean meal has been
used to supplement livestock
with the protein that heated
forages have been unable to
provide, but the con-
centration on devising a way
and means of retaining the
nutrients of the forages in
storage is a sign of the times,
according to Don's predic-
tion.
"We have to realize that
we're not going to have all
that protein from soybeans to
feed to the animals because
with a looming food shortage,
it will be needed for people. It
can't continue to be used for
animals."
And so at half time, the
score rests at 2-1 with Hearn -
Stewart in the lead.
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It's all in the flick of wrist. Renowned Clinton bacteria fighters, Don Stewart, left, and Bill
Hearn look over the Chem Applicator that has made it tougher for bacteria to live in
stored forages, corn silage and high -moisture cereals. (News -Record photo)
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Oz Andrews, left, and Charlie Putman of C.H. Epps assemble the double scale meters that
make up half of the company's new Chem Applicator. The pumps are assembled in orders
of 10 with production expected to increase in 1978. (News -Record photo)
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