Herbal medicine today is alive and well — so well that Blessed Herbs, in Missouri’s Ozark Mountains, had to update its equipment. This family-owned business produces pharmaceutical-grade extracts from plant materials for medicinal and therapeutic use. Herbs and other plants are ground, mixed with water and alcohol, aged, and placed in a mesh bag. The bag then is compressed to extract a juice-like liquid.
Eight years ago, the company started with a hand-cranked, 8-ton car jack as its compression actuator. That system worked well, but it was labor-intensive and extraction usually was incomplete.
With the assistance of Power Team, Owatonna, Wis., Blessed Herbs now has modernized the extraction process by installing an efficient hydraulic press. Powered by a PE214S Quiet Pump, an RD5513 ram — with 55-ton capacity at 10,000 psi — descends into a stainless steel container to squeeze the herbal mixture.
The electrical controls are simple. A jog button activates the ram at low pressure; a run button increases pressure to 8000 psi and maintains that level even if unattended; a raise button retracts the ram.
