The Gyp Monster is a revolutionary departure from the past and a well-engineered product to provide the customer a long and productive service life.
The concept of eliminating gypsum from the construction waste stream by grinding, chipping or hammer milling is not new, only the way our new Gyp Monster performs this task. To understand our system it is best to review a little history of gypsum disposal machines with which I have worked over the past 25 years.
The idea for a gypsum specific disposal machine supposedly originated in Minnesota in the early 1980's. A retired contractor was tinkering in his garage with a cedar post and 16-penny nails. He attached a motor to rotate the nail-studded post and shoved gypsum drywall into the nails. Immediately, the drywall began to come apart.
After several years the fellow filed a Design Patent and began shopping the idea around for financial backing. Here's where he began to lose control. Every time anyone offered to back the idea the inventor would sign away ownership rights. Over time several people owned the same rights and numerous machine designs were being presented for eventual production. In late 1988, a single product finally came to market in Texas where the inventor had moved. The unit was first powered by a 5 HP electric motor, then an 18 HP gasoline-propane combustion engine. The unit was nothing at all like the design patent the inventor had received and effectively these changes ended the retired inventor's rights to the entire concept.
This early product was underpowered, and only had a 24" wide intake for scrap. It was heavy and had to be delivered to jobsites, manually unloaded and loaded again, a daunting task as the system was over 500 pounds. With all its limitations, the product was generally embraced by contractors and eventually sold worldwide for a few months.
I was the person who garnered media attention for this little gypsum chipping machine beginning in mid 1988 through 1990. We appeared (the machine and I) on many local television stations and even were eventually featured on CNN worldwide. In INC magazine in the fall of 1990, the company and the product received an eight-page spread.
I wrote the operations manual and handled all public relations for this product's manufacturer until it was discovered that the owners of the company had completely mismanaged (perhaps criminally) the investment funds and driven this little golden opportunity into the dirt. The company dissolved in early 1991, it's owners in disgrace and the investors wondering what had happened. They closed their doors still owing me over $60,000 for media work. The INC article had only been on the newsstands for 3 weeks!
Despite all the negative press regarding these manager/owners, the product was generally well liked. I advocated on numerous occasions that the market demanded a trailer version that was more easily towed to jobs and could handle scrap up to 36" wide. Also, more power was requested. None of this was ever considered seriously at that time.
The seed for on-site disposal was planted for future work though. In the mid 1990's I attempted to get the original inventor to design a larger machine for mobile jobsite applications. The system he created was an unqualified failure. He deviated from his original theories, trying a new design virtually every week. I closed the company after only six months. I vowed to never ask this retired tinkerer to be a part of any venture in the future.
During the early part of 2001, I spent several months drawing up and testing a theory on paper that utilized a new concept for the complete disintegration of gypsum drywall. This would be accomplished by applying physics to the problem. (I refer to this process as the Rolling Punch Method) It would apply a force of over 40,000 pounds per square inch to the leading edge of the scrap gypsum drywall across a surface length of 36 to 49 inches, repeatedly, over 6,000 times per second! Since there was no effective patent in place for this process, I pursued discussions with my patent attorney (I have several other patents in another field) on the possibility of a Standard Patent. He assured me that this was well within the realm of possibilities and I have since delivered a complete patent disclosure on something related to this system. Until a patent pending is issued, I am not at liberty to disclose the nature of the new associated technology. I will say, it is nothing that anyone, including the Minnesota tinkerer ever dreamed of for this technology.
The Gyp Monster is mobile-mounted on a Department of Transportation approved frame for highway use. It has 15 inch tires and good ground clearance. The system is rear fed for ease of use on a jobsite. (just walk up to the back and go to work) The gypsum drywall powder can be exhausted directly on the ground under the machine or the system can be ordered with an auger for side disposal. If the unit is the 49 inch feeder version, the discharge is by auger at the rear and the scrap is fed in from the side of the vehicle.
Power is derived from a Kohler twin cylinder gasoline power plant, with an automatic low oil shutoff for safety, at either 20 or 25 horsepower depending on the intake width of 36 or 49 inches respectfully. All rotating members (belts, pulleys, shafts, etc. and the muffler) are shrouded for safety. Even the intake mouth for scrap is restricted to only 1 ¼ inches in height to keep an operator from reaching inside the machine while it is powered. An emergency power disconnect from the engine is included at the disintegration box mouth.
Labeling is clear and within OSHA guidelines. A photo-dominant operator's manual guides those with limited language skills through operation and maintenance procedures.
A video training tape for maintenance and machine operation is currently in production. Factory warranty is for six months as a Limited Warranty with specific restrictions and limitations (proper use, proper materials being disintegrated, and proper maintenance being observed, and no obvious abuse or neglect).
The Gyp Monster has a Vehicle Identification Number stamped into the frame and a serial number for the manufacturing date log.
A custom-made theft alarm system is also available upon request for an additional cost.
The Gyp Monster's road frame is painted red and accented with a black engine, safety shrouds, 12 gallon gas tank, battery cover and disintegrator box. At the front, the unit is given a full sized chrome pickup tool box for customer convenience. At only about 1,500 pounds gross, the Gyp Monster system tows well behind the smallest pickups. Its body size is 5 feet wide, six feet in length and only 40 inches in overall height. The tongue is an additional 45 inches.
Now, lets look at something else. This Gyp Monster is not designed for the demolition industry. At no time will we sell a system (knowingly) to a demolition company. I spent over 17 years in the field of lead-in-paint detection technology and created the first portable, microcomputer powered X-ray fluorescence detector in 1985. That company is still the leading lead-in-paint instrument detection maker in the USA. I left the firm in 1989 to pursue other interests.
Demolition materials often are generated from buildings of great age. Their surfaces are generally coated with lead paint. Powdering up this lead-laden gypsum drywall creates an environmental nightmare. The dust is extremely toxic and cannot be dumped anywhere but in a hazardous waste facility. The machine would become contaminated and could cause injury to the users just by attempting to clean it. This would expose the workers to breathable toxic lead. Not a good idea. Not legal either.
How big is this scrapping market? Lets look at just how much scrap is actually generated in the US each year based upon published 2002 gypsum drywall board production in square feet. When the math is performed, 10% of the tonnage is easily considered scrap and must be sent to the dump or disintegrated on site for disposal. The US EPA has deemed the most effective method, where possible, for waste reduction flowing into the construction waste stream to be disposal where the waste is generated. That means creating a way to dispose of gypsum on the jobsite where it is generated.
In the past, contractors merely buried this material. The practice is now prohibited virtually everywhere. A second method has been to cut up the scrap and stack it in walls and hollow spaces of buildings where it was generated. This is effective but merely puts off the inevitable task of getting rid of this material until later when building repairs, renovations or demolition occurs.in the long run, another poor choice.
Not long ago, several states began to ban this material from landfill disposal. The reason: gypsum drywall is a strange material; i.e., its physical properties radically change depending on the environment in which the material is present. In the home or office, as a wall material, it is completely inert. Its only drawback is its inability to tolerate the presence of water. Once wet, it stays wet and deformed.
However, in a non-air environment (landfill or garbage dump) this scrap gypsum material, when combined with anaerobic (non-air breathing bacteria), ground water and the presence of cellulose can produce volumes of hydrogen sulfide gas. That's the rotten egg-smelling gas your high school teachers taught you about in chemistry. It is extremely toxic and can destroy beneficial bacteria in a landfill. Further, the solid form is hydrogen sulfide and can combine with ground water to pollute aquifers and drinking water supplies. Not good.
If the material, on the other hand, is pulverized in an oxygen rich environment, for example on the jobsite, and combined as a powder (and small flecks of drywall paper) with soil, it actually benefits the soil by breaking up clays and enhancing the available water for landscaping plants later. No toxic material is formed since the environment is rich in oxygen and beneficial bacteria. It has changed properties completely all for the better.
Many ask what can be done with this waste besides jobsite disposal. The primary material in gypsum drywall board is calcium sulfate. When this powdered and reclaimed material is applied to clay based land at a rate of 5 to 20 tons per acre, the yield of food crops is shown to increase since available water and oxygen is increased for plant growth.
If the material is powdered finely, it can be mixed with acoustic glue and paint to create an excellent "blow on" ceiling treatment. Mix the material with a little Portland cement and water and spray it on the frame of a house just before applying wall coverings and the frame will resist dramatically, fire that can spread through the walls. Add a little brown mineral for color and apply this material to wooden cedar shingles and they become almost impervious to embers from a forest fire, yet retain their wood look and smell. In tests in the late 1980's in a major research lab in San Antonio, Texas I witnessed this material on a wood shingle withstand over 1,800 degrees F. for five minutes before smoking began on the other side. These lab people informed me that fire embers from a wild fire seldom get up to temperatures over 600 degrees and that in their opinion treating wooden shingles would eliminate significant risk from fire damage!
Pulverized gypsum drywall is also suitable for making lightweight concrete by using the gypsum scrap powder as the aggregate (replacing sand and gravel). This material can serve as path disks for yards and gardens, air conditioner pads, and high temperature insulator material when poured around (encasing) structural I-beams in buildings, etc.
At the Texas A&M University several years ago, it was discovered that dry gypsum drywall powder could effectively desiccate the bodies of fleas and ticks (dry them up to the point of death) on dogs and cats without any harmful effects for the animals. I have used it for my farm animals with the same results.
Since gypsum is often banned from many dumps, expensive transportation charges add to the tipping fee burden. Giving contractors a choice to pay these fees or dispose of their scrap gypsum drywall on the jobsite is truly the first real choice they have ever had for this trash problem.
Recently, several large landfill operators have begun recycling and reclaiming in earnest. Having access to fresh, new drywall scrap from new construction, these operators have expressed keen interest in generating reclaimed gypsum drywall powder for gardening enthusiasts. This material would generate cash flow coming to the landfill-recycling center and leaving as a useful and salable product. We, at Gyp Monster look for this market to rapidly expand when the immediate economic advantages are discovered!
Little has changed in the composition of this material for over 80 years. Reclaimed gypsum drywall from new construction is a beneficial material that has too long been maligned and neglected. Opportunities for new products and markets generated from reclaimed drywall gypsum have only recently begun to be taken seriously by those who, up until now have litterly fallen over this treasure.
By the way, if one cut all of the 2002 waste scrap gypsum drywall into one foot square pieces, a stack over 22,000 miles high could be created (provided it was a very calm day and the ladder was very, very tall).
The possibilities are virtually endless.
The Gyp Monster
The History, The Machine and the Market
by JW Petermann
Disintegrate It! Don't Dump It!
