History of Screeners

When we think of screens for materials processing, we think of the small, hand-held pans that gold miners used to use that shifted through sand and left gold bits behind. In fact, you can think of modern-day screeners as much the same thing — just on a much grander scale.

Wagner Equipment Co offers screening equipment on that grander scale through our partners Metso, McCloskey, Masaba, and more. Our crushers and screeners can help you smash down your raw materials, be it coal, rock, granite, and more, and then screen out the materials to suit your particular needs. We also offer trommels, conveyors, feeders, and so much more. In addition, as a Caterpillar dealer, we offer world-class Cat heavy machinery for all of your construction, mining, forestry, agriculture, and landscaping needs. From a dozer to a telehandler, backhoe, excavator, feller buncher, and more, we’ve got your industry needs covered. Below, we’ll take a brief look at the history of screeners. Contact our team to get started today!

What is a Screener?

A screener is any object whose sole purpose is to separate out particles from others for various purposes. These vary in size, scope, and scale. Some are mobile, mostly for smaller jobs, while others are quite large and are used in mining activities, quarries, and recycling where there are a lot of materials that need to be broken down. Filtering out impurities is crucial in many industries, such as pharmaceuticals, and it’s crucial when talking about construction materials as well.

How Does a Screener Work?

For mechanical screeners, you need a power source, which is usually an engine that will create the vibrations that shifts out the raw materials. These raw materials sit on a screen during these vibrations, and the materials when separated out fall into a catching area. That’s it. While on the surface this is super easy, the importance of screeners lies in their ability to separate out large amounts of materials in a short amount of time. If you think about panning for gold, you only can do a small amount at a time. The screeners that Wagner Equipment Co offers in conjunction with our partners can process thousands of pounds of materials in mere hours. This is the power and the beauty of screeners.

How Did Screeners Begin?

No one knows for sure when the first screen was invented. We do know that panning for gold was done as early as the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans and probably sooner. After all, the concept of screening is relatively simple with simple materials needed. Many fortunes were made by simply having the patience to pan for gold. As the Industrial Revolution continued to surge forward, a better, more efficient, and quicker way was desperately needed to keep up with the crushers so that industries could have the raw materials they needed to meet demand.


In our last blog post, we took at a look at the history of crushers. Crushers and screeners often go together because for the vast majority of applications, once raw materials, such as rock and glass are crushed, they then need to be screened in order to separate out materials. Thus, the history of screeners is closely tied to the history of crushers. After the first real crusher was patented in 1858, efforts were made to improve screening technology. As a relatively simple machine, it did not take long.


For the most part, modern screeners fall into two categories: dry screening and wet screening. Some screens are horizontal; others are inclined. Wagner Equipment Co offers a variety of screens to suit your needs. For example, we offer trommel screens, which feature a rotating drum on a slight angle with screen panels on the sides of the drum. Modern screeners are designed to offer high output and durability no matter the existing weather conditions. In addition, many screeners offer double or triple decks in order to keep up with your needs. Thus, instead of having to add a whole new screener, you can just add on decks and hoppers to hold the extra screener materials. Easy to use, modern screeners are amazing pieces of technology to make your work efficient, smooth, and fast. Browse our selection today!


Seventy-six percent of all of the crushed rock and stone used in the United States goes to our infrastructure. Without crushers and screeners, our road and bridge building and maintenance would cease. Think about how often you drive on a road, and then think about if that road were missing. Scary, powerful to think about. This makes a compelling argument that, despite what people think, dozers, excavators, and the skid steer do not make the world go around; it’s the crushing and screening machines such as those that Wagner Equipment Co offers that make our modern life possible.

Wagner Equipment Co is proud to partner with exceptional crushing and screening companies, such as Metso and McCloskey, in order to bring this vital technology to you. Having mechanical power at your fingertips is essential in today’s world, and using the best possible technology is just prudent. When you have the best tools at your disposal, the sky’s the limit.

Wagner Equipment Co is a Caterpillar dealer with locations throughout Colorado, New Mexico, and far west Texas. Our world-class heavy equipment helps many industries make their corner of the world a little bit better, including construction, demolition, forestry, mining, agriculture, and more. We offer new, used, and rental heavy equipment to fit your needs. We have over 230 field service technicians who can travel to you when you can’t bring your heavy equipment to us. Our Cat parts store offers all of the Caterpillar parts you need to repair your machines. In addition, we offer our Wagner Parts Exchange where you can exchange your old parts for refurbished ones, saving you money.

Our mission is to ensure your heavy equipment is taken care of. From our financing options to our selection, we are here to help. Call one of our Cat dealers to learn more today!