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“Medi-Gator” - the new medigator
from Phillips Animal Health Ltd.
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Background
With ever more emphasis on hygiene and the increasing popularity of medicating through the drinking water supply the Medi-Gator breaks new ground in the
UK
market.It is a heavy duty, robust piece of kit – designed to work efficiently, to give long life, to be inexpensive, easy to repair and tamperproof.
There are many reasons to recommend the Medi-Gator. This is the only medicator that was designed for the 21st century. It was designed specifically for our industry and with the direction of people in our industry. It may come as a surprise to learn that some of the other medicators were designed for other applications such as in the machine tool business and then adapted for our business. Some others were rushed into production to obtain or hold market share. Diemold International, Inc., manufacturer of the Gator, was not forced by business economics to get the product into the market quickly. They took their time, got input from the industry, did field tests, tested it in the market, got feedback, and made adjustments to make sure that the product was right before they introduced it into the overall market.
We went to the farmers and asked them, after they had used other brands for many years, what would they like to see incorporated in an "ideal" medicator. They told us the other brands had not made any mayor changes or improvements in many years, were basically a 20th century design; we had to come up with a 21st century model with the latest technology and - among other things - the following improvements:
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To view the full specifications please [ click here ]
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1 - STRONGER: it had to be stronger than the other brands at that time. So we made the GATOR the strongest one on the market, with a special material that will withstand 400 PSI burst pressure, compared to under 100 PSI for all the other brands; so basically it is 4 times stronger
2 - LONGER: it had to be longer so it could have a longer "stroke" (travel) of the piston for longer life and less stress. The GATOR is almost twice as long as most of the otrher brands
3 - PISTON: it should have a piston, not a diaphragm; the diaphragm by its nature has a very short stroke and it is constantly "short cycling", shortening its life and loosing accuracy of proportioning
4 - BYPASS: it should have a "bypass", so that the solution is not mixed with the fresh water in the motor chamber like most others; harsh chemicals and badly dissolved additives damage and clog the motor; this is the best feature of the GATOR
5 - EASY REPAIR: it should be easy to repair in the field, rather than having to send it to the dealer; the GATOR is the only medicator of a "modular design", parts slip in and out easily; example, replacing the pump takes less than 13 seconds
6 - LOW COST REPAIR: the parts kits to repair the unit should be more reasonably priced; a typical GATOR repair kit is half the price of that of the competition
7 - SLEEVE: the piston should run in a sleeve and not rub against the housing; sand in the water can damage the interior wall of the unit; once it is scratched, it looses “suction” (it will leak and not work on low flow) and you will have to buy a whole new medicator. The GATOR’s piston runs in a sleeve; once the sleeve gets scratched you simply replace it, no need to buy a whole new unit. Besides, the piston seal is made of a special soft material, “elastimer” which reduces scratching.
8 - NON-ADJUSTABLE: many of the problems encountered on the farm were due to mal adjustment of the units. Sometimes the adjustments were difficult after several months of usage. Farmers often left the units wrongly adjusted, then could not understand why they did not work. Several large farms rigged the units so they could not be adjusted any longer. They wanted a simple unit that could not be tampered with. If they want to give a dosis twice as strong, they simply mix a double portion of the medication in the bucket. Note that Dosatron, after many years of touting the advantages of an adjustable medicator, has finally come out with a fixed ratio one, saying it “prevents unauthorized adjustments”, “ensures repeatability of the correct dosage” and “has 30% fewer parts”
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