Plant management was looking to upgrade skirtboard sealing systems. The existing "slab rubber" skirting was in bad repair and leaking material.

With less than two inches (51 mm) of free belt area on each side of the loading zone, the conveyor had very limited amount of space available for installation of a sealing system.

Martin^® Self Adjusting Skirting floats on the belt, adjusting automatically to maintain an effective seal without maintenance. The skirting is supported on pressure arms between two steel plates, the rubber sealing strip rises and falls with fluctuations in belt travel to automatically maintain an effective seal.

With the lowest belt edge requirement of any commercial skirtboard sealing system, the Martin^® Self Adjusting Skirting will fit on any belt. It provides an effective seal on conveyors with as little as 1.25 inches (32 mm) of free area on each side of the belt.

Given the corrosive nature of the application, the Martin Engineering proposal originally called for Martin^® Self Adjusting Skirting with all stainless steel components. However, customer budget limitation required adjustment of the proposal.

To alleviate the concerns about corrosion of moving parts and budget, a hybrid version of the Martin^® Self Adjusting Skirting was developed. This version uses stainless steel pins and hardware at pivot points. Other components are mild steel and painted to provide corrosion resistance similar to the conveyor’s idler frames.

Martin Engineering provided “Personalized Performance” by tailoring the Martin^® Self Adjusting Skirting to provide improved corrosion resistance while remaining within the customer’s budget.

Installation was simple and straight forward; installation required less time than other skirting systems. Sealing performance has improved over time, as the belt-to-rubber seal has "worn in" after installation.

The customer has indicated plans to standardize use of the Martin^® Self Adjusting Skirting on all conveyors as time and budget allow.