Abstract: Apparatus and method for testing the internal friction and yield strength properties of bulk solids, for use in the design of material handling equipment. A sample of the solids is confined under controlled pressure in a test cell having an annular wall converging from one end of larger cross section downwardly toward a second end of smaller cross section. The pressure at the one end is varied until the ratio of the two pressures becomes constant. The two resulting pressures are then used together with the separately measured bulk density of the solids and the angle of friction thereof with the wall of the test cell to compute the effective angle of internal friction. By a further step including removal of the pressure applying means at the other end the unconfined yield strength may be determined.

Abstract: A high speed belt to belt transfer chute useful in handling, without modification or adjustments, material ranging from sticky clay and fine dust to large rocks. The generalized chute is designed either to bend the material flow to the vertical after it has left a leading belt or, conversely, to direct material moving vertically downward into the direction of a following belt. The chute is constructed of individually replaceable, ribbed elements, which may be repositioned and replaced as they wear in order to maintain the same directed, controlled flow of material, while minimizing the replacement cost and downtime.

Abstract: Apparatus for testing abrasive wear on a surface of a sample. Flowable abrasive material is fed from a barrel against the surface. The sample is mounted reciprocally in the direction of feeding of the material, and urged by a force opposing that of the material thereon. The rate of feeding is controlled to maintain a gap between the end of the barrel and the sample so that the material flows continuously through the gap.

Abstract: Apparatus for blending bulk particulate solids comprises a distribution chute bin, a cone section having outer and inner cones, and a flow pattern controller outlet device. The solids may be recirculated from the outlet device to the chute bin for additional blending. The chute bin prevents particle size segregation by causing mixing of coarse and fine particles. The inner cone permits mass flow adjacent the outer cone, and also enforces the flow velocity profile imposed at the bottom of the cones to continue to the top of the inner cone. The flow pattern controller is operable to shift between a blending mode resulting from the difference in the velocity profiles within and around the inner cone and a uniform flow mode useful when emptying the apparatus.