Prater Industries

For over half a century Prater Industries has developed thousands of airlocks for almost every free flowing dry material application there is.

Prater's staff of professional application engineers have the experience, knowledge, and know-how to provide expert consultation on your most exacting requirements.

The Prater Rotary Airlock Advantage
Volumetric Efficiency	Volumetric sizing may provide a “smaller” airlock. This feature of Prater airlocks may provide our customer with the opportunity to use smaller ductwork and save significant dollars in a new construction design.
Rotor Speed	By manufacturing airlocks with larger pockets (up to 50% more volume), Prater offers the opportunity to run the airlock at a slower speed. This provides the benefits of longer life, less maintenance and higher return on investment for our customers.
Temperature Compensation	Knowing that temperature plays an important part in the operation of rotary airlock feeders, ALL Prater airlocks are carefully machined for proper operating temperature. Each airlock manufactured is checked against the customers specified operating temperature to ensure proper clearance at that temperature. This service is performed at no extra cost for our customers. Ambient temperature is defined as 65 to 99 degrees F. Above 100 degrees F rotors are machined to match operating temperature. In applications above 500 degrees F, special high temperature bearings and seals are provided. The maximum temperature for Prater airlocks is 1000 degrees F.
Materials of Construction	Prater heavy-duty airlock housings and end plates are made of cast iron. For abrasive requirements, chrome or tungston coatings are often used with "L" slot replaceable rotor blade tips. For corrosive materials and food products, stainless steel (304 or 316) is recommended. Sticky products may require teflon coatings and where smearing occurs, beveled tips are generally required. The Quick-Take-Apart Airlock and other options are shown on the previous pages for specific applications requiring special features.

Prater Airlock Options
Features	Advantages	Benefits
Housings and End Plates are made of Cast Iron (STD).316 Stainless Steel is also available.	Durability. Right material for the right job.	Less Maintenance, less down time, fewer replacement orders.
Oversized Flanges for drilling Round or Square Bolt hole patterns	One size airlock will work for either Round or Square Bolt hole Pattern or application.	Standardize on One Supplier for all your Airlock applications.
Coatings are available in Teflon, Chrome, and Tungsten Carbide (HVOF).	More application specific. Right coating for the right job.	Increases the life of Airlock in excessive wear, corrosive, and sticky applications, reducing replacement costs and shorter down time.
Rotor - Our Std. Is 8 Blade. We also offer a 6 and 10 blade version in mild steel and in 304 and 316 Stainless Steel.	8 Blade rotor offers both economy and efficient rotating seals. (4 blades seal at all times)	Provides more volume, reduces feeder pulsing. May require size smaller Airlock for same job. Save $$$$.
Rotors come in your choice of Std. (large capacity) Closed End, and Shallow Capacity (75%, 50%, 25%) in Mild Steel and 304 Stainless Steel.	More control over product being metered.	More accurate and continuous flow of product. More control - fewer accessories.
L-Slot Wear Bars are available in Mild Steel, Brass, Teflon, and Stainless Steel.	L-slot improves rigidity while making replacement quick and easy.	Increases the life on Airlock in excessive wear applications,reducing replacement costs and shorter down time.
Beveling of Tips and Sides and tips only.	Narrows the Land Area and reduces frictional drag.	Less smearing and packing of material between housing and rotor tips. Reduced Maintenance.
Air Purge Seals are available in Bronze, Stainless Steel, and Nylon.	Keeps material from building up around the rotor blades and the end plates.	Less Maintenance, less down time, more productivity.
Prater Airlocks use drives with Siemans motors and Nord reducers. TEFC housings, 1800 RPM units from 1/2 HP - 5 HP in Parallel. We also have NEMA 7 & 9 Explosion Proof, OHSA guards, Reducers, and Motor bases.	High Quality motor and reducer. Wide range of sizes and styles for every application.	Fewer Problems, Longer lasting design with the Parallel version.

For additional information or answers to your questions, please contact us at our office nearest you.