Wheel challenge
March 1st 2004

When independent brickmaker, thebrickbusiness, decided it was time to refurbish kiln cars at its Warnham factory, its was HMC Brauer that helped keep the wheels on track literally. The 24/7 operation produces up to 55 million bricks each year, so the replacement of 600 wheels on 50 brick kiln cars was undertaken in stages. Cars run on four rails through a hydro-casing tunnel kiln. Each car carries 55t of bricks and has 12 wheels, running in a water-sand bed, quite a challenge, but one that the Brauer wheels have completely satisfied. A problem with four of the wheels on the dryer transfer car has also been solved by Brauer. The car is laser-guided along 100m twin rails that lead to the drying chambers. Its original wheels had flat treads and it was not unusual for it to slew off the track, causing the system to come to a standstill. Brauers solution was to replace two of the flat tread wheels on one side of the car with flanged wheels

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