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Paperweek International 2003: Gadget Awards: Ingenuity from Sea to Shining Sea

This year’s Gadget awards were won by representatives of three mills from across Canada.FIRST PRIZE: Reel to spool alignment aideMike Shelton, millwright of Norampac, Burnaby, BC, built a reel to spoo…

This year’s Gadget awards were won by representatives of three mills from across Canada.

FIRST PRIZE: Reel to spool alignment aide

Mike Shelton, millwright of Norampac, Burnaby, BC, built a reel to spool alignment aid to reduce the both poor winding on the spool and excessive “reel bounce” due to uneven loading of the spool by providing an easy and effective way of indication how much adjustment is necessary. The alignment aid is a quick, easy way to align the spool with the reel drum to ensure uniform contact by the spool arms.

SECOND PRIZE: Smelt spout cover

Concerned about the danger of recovery boiler operators getting burnt while cleaning or inspecting melt spout hoods, Claude Normandeau (master recovery boiler operator) and Keith MacNaughton (shift engineer), both of Weyerhaeuser Canada in Grande Prairie, AB, designed an internal hood smelt spout cover that could be lowered onto the spout, thus protecting the operator from getting splashed. With the proper use of these spout covers, this installation eliminated any possible danger from getting burnt while performing everyday task. Its creators believe it has contributed to their mill’s 2,000,00 hours with no lost time accidents.

THIRD PRIZE: Adjustable dummy core

Donald Tremblett of Abitibi Consolidated, Grand Falls Division, NF, designed an adjustable dummy core that replaces the use of multiple dummy cores. This allows the motorized core feeder to safely insert the cores into the winder accurately with the possibility of adjustment and the elimination of many cut-to-size dummy cores. This decreases the risk of injury that was possible when pushing cores by hand, as well as being a cost saving.#text2#