Farm Fans - A Tradition of Excellence (page 2)

By 1960, when Farm Fans had become a separate company, the drying of grain for storage had become the great advancement in agriculture. Grain farmers no longer had to be at the mercy of the grain elevator prices at the time of harvest.

Recognizing the need for product improvements in the bin drying market, Farm Fans introduced and enjoyed the role of exclusive manufacturer for many years, with the hallmark of drying fans, the "C" Series fans the only crop dryer with an entire fan housing, air foil guide vanes, motor mount, and full venturi all cast in one piece of rust free aluminum. This, among other advantages, provided a near perfect dimension housing allowing close propeller tip clearance, resulting in high operating air pressure and the most efficient drying fan on the market. In fact, six major bin manufacturers standardized on the "C" Series and recommended its use on their bins.

Also, the "Star-Fire" patented burner introduced at this time provided efficient uniform heating of the drying air. Originally protected by a U.S. Paten, the "Star-Fire" burner is composed of perfectly balanced steel vanes welded to a cast-iron burner which evenly spread the flames. It is interesting to note that it took until just recently (20 years later) for competition to begin copying this design.

By 1964, Farm Fans had outgrown its original quarters at 424 South Pennsylvania, Indianapolis, and moved to a much larger plant 2222 North Olney St. There it manufactured equipment for modern in-storage crop drying.

With the increasing dependence on the artificial drying of shelled corn, the race was on to increase drying capacity. At this time, Farm Fans introduced the "U" Series unitized fan and heater and added the 36" diameter 16 HP "Big Brother" Model U-1036 for high temperature batch in-bin drying. The U-1036 could batch dry 3,000 bushels in 18 hours.

In the 1960's, new doors were opened for high temperature drying with the inclusion of a vaporizer on all heaters for liquid propane. The vaporizer allowed the use of smaller LP tanks and less risk of freezing up the tanks.

Later in this period of developing methods to increase in-bin drying capacity, Farm Fans produced the first auger system to remove dry grain from the bin floor while wet grain was still being loaded on the top. The system was called Dry-O-Vator and was manufactured for (9) different diameter bins and (12) different depths (over 100 different models). The Dry-O-Vator controlled continuous flow as well as batch drying in the grain bin. This was a revolutionary device for circulating grain in the drying bin.

A grain leveling device, which eventually became the Scattergrain, was developed originally for use only with the Dry-O-Vator. The Scattergrain is another product pioneered by Farm Fans and then copied by the rest of the industry.

In 1967, Farm Fans moved into a 65,000 sq. ft. plant in the Beech Grove Industrial Park, in southeastern Indianapolis. Here, the Model U-1028 fan-heater, FFD-100 grain spreader, and GC-140 grain cleaner were also added to help round out the Farm Fans product line. The U-1028 was designed primarily for the need of a high capacity dryer for deeper grain depths. The U-1028 featured a cast aluminum air foil blade and a large diameter hub. Also developed at this time was the Sentinel, introduced to control the aeration process in bins. By sensing the outside air and relaying the information to the fan unit, the Sentinel has saved the farmer time and money.

<<<Back         Continued>>>