When many people think of a hose, they invariably think of fluid transfer. This is perfectly normal as most experiences are limited to washing the car and watering the lawn. Although this is a common use for a hose, in the industrial world there are far more applications, many of which are not fluid handling but the movement of bulk granular material or powder.
The entire cement and concrete industry is actually a good example of how and where Camlock fittings increase the efficiency of the operation.
Cement is the binder material used in the production of concrete. Cement is made from a mixture of limestone and clay which is then put through a process. This results in clinker. The clinker is further processed when a small quantity of gypsum is added and the entire mixture is ground into a fine powder. When cement is added to an aggregate such as ground rock or gravel and water, the resulting product is concrete; perhaps the most commonly used building material.
The cement is packaged for distribution, and a great deal of it is bagged and shipped. There are also many cases where cement is bulk-shipped in pneumatic tankers to batching plants. To get the powdered cement from the manufacturing facility to the tanker, it is blown through large diameter hoses, connected at both ends with Camlock fittings.
The same is true when the tanker reaches the batching plant; it is off-loaded from the truck to huge storage silos. The trucks have blowers, where hoses are connected to the discharge point of the truck and blown directly into the storage silos where is extracted on demand to produce concrete.
The same is true in any industry that uses a granular or powdered material which is purchased and delivered in bulk. This is the case with flour for commercial bakeries and grain for breweries.
Camlock fittings are the preferred choice in these industries as they are designed for a smooth bore from one end of the hose to the other, there is no wear on the fitting and the seal is not exposed. As well as these technical reasons, they are used because of the ease of connection, disconnection, the speed and safety.
