Swinging drive-over conveyor belt takes off at Manitoba Ag Days
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/01/2018 (3070 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Tim Penner anticipates he’ll hire more employees after his innovative swinging drive-over conveyor belt won Manitoba Ag Days’ Inventor’s Showcase.
“This week has been a dream, the way it’s taken off,” Penner said.
After Winkler-based Soaring Eagle Grain Equipment sold just a few of his conveyor belt systems in his first year of operation, “roughly” a half-dozen units were bought in the three days of Ag Days alone, which ended on Thursday at the Keystone Centre.
Chances are, he’ll sell as many as 25 to 50 this calendar year, he estimated.
His grain unloading device works like other drive-overs on the market, which collects grain dumped from the truck, moves it down the conveyor belt and into an auger before depositing it in the bin.
Soaring Eagle’s invention can swing back and forth, averting the need for precise parking over the belt. At a low profile of only 2.5 inches, even a car can drive over it.
The reaction from Ag Days attendees is humbling.
“Everybody says, ‘Man, will that be handy,’” said Penner, whose brother Brian is the only full-time employee thus far.
Twelve months ago, Penner was the foreman at a welding shop when he quit his job to pursue this invention. His business partner was the one who proposed the idea, recruiting Penner for his expertise.
“I quit at the end of January last year, and now look where I am,” he marvelled. “I can’t believe it.”
He always figured this invention would be a winner, if not from Ag Days’ judges than by the farmers who stopped by his booth.
“I grew up on a farm, so I’d seen the need for something like this.”
During Ag Days, each purchased unit went for $13,500. It will fit 13- and 16-inch augers, he said.
The machine includes self-cleaning rollers and an emergency shut-off feature.
Penner’s business, Soaring Eagle, is named after the Biblical verse Isaiah 40:31, which refers to followers of the Lord having strength to “mount up with wings as eagles.”
“We’re hoping it takes off like an eagle,” Penner said of his business.
The swinging drive-over was one of 14 new inventions on display at Ag Days this year.
» ifroese@brandonsun.com
» Twitter: @ianfroese