Philippi-Hagenbuch has introduced its newest patent-pending invention from LeRoy Hagenbuch, P.E, the Rolling Wedge™ Cutter. The Rolling Wedge Cutter offers an innovative material-cutting approach that could dramatically improve material trenching and mining processes while improving cut size and reducing cutting (coal) dust by as much as 50 percent.

The Rolling Wedge Cutter is a solution for trenching and mining through challenging environments for general construction, road construction, mining and utility applications. It can be used in aboveground and underground environments, and can create time efficiencies and accomplish techniques that were previously thought very difficult, and in some cases, unachievable.

The greatest benefit of using the Rolling Wedge Cutter is that 60-70 percent less energy is required to roll material out in tension than the sheer, brute force required to take materials past their compressive strength. Instead of blasting material apart by exceeding its compressive strength through brute force, which has been the traditional method, the Rolling Wedge Cutter places material in tension and pulls it apart by overcoming the material’s tensile strength. When put in tension, material such as concrete has just one-fifth the tensile strength of its compressive strength.

Because of that, the Rolling Wedge Cutter curtails the challenges associated with trenching and mining through difficult materials such as concrete, concrete with rebar, frozen ground and pavement. It causes less disruption to the ground underneath streets and roadways than backhoes and jackhammers forcing their way through pavement. It eliminates the need to wait for the ground to thaw by allowing users to trench or cut through materials without jackhammers, saws or other cutting devices. And users who want to break up a chunk of concrete can just drill a small hole and drive in a Rolling Wedge Cutter.

The Rolling Wedge Cutter adapts easily to many makes and models of trenchers and mining equipment. It is constructed out of hardened steel and is available in various sizes, from 0.75- to 9-inch diameters. It can be outfitted with a host of optional tips to meet the specific needs of a project, and Hagenbuch is currently developing specific cutters for specific cutting applications. The width of the trench dictates the total number of cutters required.

With the Rolling Wedge Cutter, Hagenbuch continues in his long-held vision of designing solutions that improve productivity while maximizing efficiency.

LeRoy Hagenbuch and Philippi-Hagenbuch, Inc., Peoria, Ill., have been building construction and mining equipment since 1969, and both names have become synonymous with innovation, cutting-edge design and seeing a need and creating a solution to the problem. For more information, contact LeRoy Hagenbuch at 7424 W Plank Road, Peoria, IL 61604; 309-697-9200; toll-free 800-447-6464; fax 309-697-2400; sales@philsystems.com; www.philsystems.com