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12
Safer cleaning up with
herder vacuum
flail mower
Councils’ efforts to clean up busy roadside verges could be carried out more safely - and
more cost effectively – with the Herder vacuum flail mower. Newly introduced to the UK by
Mastenbroek Environmental, the Herder was recently demonstrated in yorkshire where its
litter-picking capabilities were put to the test with outstanding results.
Local authorities, including
Richmondshire District Council, have
already registered strong interest in
the machine, which could replace
manual litter removal, a costly,
labour-intensive and notoriously
dangerous practice on busy roads.
“We have to maintain the roadside
environment, and that usually means
manual litter-picking, which brings
with it inevitable health and safety
issues. The Herder offers an attractive
alternative,” explained Terry Thorpe,
a supervisor with Richmondshire’s
street scene department.
Johnson Ramsay is a local plant
hire contractor who put the machine
through its paces and believes it has
huge potential. “It is able to pick up
all manner of waste from the roadside
in a single pass. There are obvious
safety benefits, as council operatives
are not put at risk. In the long term,
there would be cost savings.”
The machine is based on Herder’s
successful Grenadier MBK 512 tool
carrier, capable of accommodating
a range of 15 different attachments,
August 2010
including flail mowers, weed mowing
baskets and verge maintenance
systems. The vacuum flail is
available in 3 widths, weighing in
at between 500 and 600kg, and
the articulated boom comes in five
different lengths giving it the capability
to reach most roadside situations.
There is a choice of three different
hydraulic sliding arms offering a wide
selection of reach, travelling height,
flexibility, weight and cost choices.
The flail, operated by dual hand
controls, may be positioned to either
side of the host vehicle, or directly
in front of the driver’s vision. Once
a job is completed the arm folds
conveniently behind the cab permitting
fast transportation to the next location.
The hydraulic unit is fitted in the
three-point linkage as standard or,
optionally, the pumps may be driven
on a forward PTO, in which case the
hydraulic tank can be situated above
the front wheel and hydraulic valves
fitted next to the engine compartment
in front of the cabin. Herder state that
such an arrangement is ideal since the
vacuum unit will then be positioned
on the trailer, offering a standard
tractor-trailer hook-up configuration.
A hydraulically driven auger (0-60l/min
@ 150 bar max.) is situated directly
behind the flail, feeding the waste
centrally to the vacuum inlet, and is
controlled from the cabin where the
driver has on/off, forward and reverse
and stepless speed control. The vacuum
unit operates on its own high pressure
(420 bar max) closed circuit, hydraulic
system (80l/min. at 1,900 rpm).
Travelling speeds are typically in the
range of between 2mph-4mph (3-
6km/h), depending on the density
of the litter encountered or local
circumstances. The hydraulic arm is
controlled by low pressure hydraulic
controls and optionally with one or two
fully proportional electronic joysticks.
The sequence and functions on the
joysticks can be chosen by the operator,
depending on his personal preferences.
Significant interest in the machine
from the Highways Maintenance
sector means that Mastenbroek
Environmental is planning further
demonstrations of the machine.