Abstract: A vibrating discharge apparatus for discharging particulate stored material from a surge or blending bin or the like, having a discharge end, a discharge apron defining an support surface near the bottom of the bin extending in a substantially horizontal plane along a conveyance path to the discharge end. The apron is directed along a downwardly curving convex apron path sloping downwardly from the horizontal plane at the discharge end and comprises a plurality of rigid elongated parallel transversely extending slat members each having a main slat body portion and a thin plate-like lip projecting therefrom to overlie the adjacent slat member.

Abstract: An apparatus for weighing granular or pulverulent bulk goods, where the bulk good is moved by reduced pressure from a silo through at least one conveyance duct to a scale and where the flow of material is lowered by increasing the proportion of air toward the end of the conveyance procedure, is designed in such a manner as to make possible accurate and precise metering at high conveyance rates.

Abstract: An arrangement for preventing the development of a frozen bond between individual pieces of cubed or crushed ice collected in a storage bin. The arrangement includes an upstanding flexible wall lining a majority of the inwardly facing wall surface of a storage bin. An agitator device is provided for moving the pieces of ice about within the confines defined by the flexible wall. The agitator includes a rotatable shaft, an arm secured to the rotatable shaft and extending radially thereof and a drive arrangement for drivingly rotating the shaft. Structure is provided for effecting a flexing of the flexible wall toward and away from the inwardly facing walls of the storage bin. The agitator device and the additional structure causing a flexing of the flexible wall periodically initiates a movement of the individual pieces of ice to thereby prevent the development of a frozen bond between the individual pieces of ice.

Abstract: An apparatus for mixing materials for making animal feed, comprising a mixer including a pair of endless chains interconnected by parallel mixing members spaced from one another and forming a travelling endless conveyor. The chains are supported solely by two pairs of upper sprocket wheels, one of which is a driving pair. The length of the chains is selected so that the belt has a lower arcuate strand below the sprocket wheels and a substantially linear upper strand in between the sprocket wheels, the lower strand being longer than the upper one, both of these strands defining an inner mixing zone. The mixer is mounted in an open-top casing having an arcuate bottom beneath and adjacent to the lower strand and a linear strand between the sprocket wheels. A rotary lump breaking member is provided in the mixing zone close to an parallel to the mixing members, in front of a mixture discharge opening provided in the casing.

Abstract: Bulk silo with essentially centrally located aerated mixing or homogenizing chamber whose wall comprises a plurality of permanent passage openings for the material from the main silo area and is connected to an inspection area. In order to improve inspection and service, the inspection area is formed by a hollow column which is accessible from below, is located inside the chamber and comprises observation openings into the chamber as well as comprising the vent line.

Abstract: A basket is removably inserted in the upper end of each drain tube in those interbed assemblies of a catalytic tower whose catalyst beds are to be removed upwardly by vacuuming. The basket has a grid for a bottom wall, so that catalyst particles thereabove are retained but fluid being treated in the tower can easily pass therethrough. The provision of the baskets makes it possible to downwardly drain spent catalyst from the lower bed sections while simultaneously vacuuming it upwardly from the upper bed sections.

Abstract: A flowable granular, powder or flake material storage bin of the type having an inflatable generally cup-shaped bag with a blower for inflating and a blower for deflating the bag has a valve assembly of unique construction for controlling high-volume low-pressure flow for inflation and deflation cycles. The cycles themselves may be automatically controlled from sensing units which sense when the bag is fully emptied and fully deflated. The valve assembly may be adapted for the sequential discharge of a plurality of bins which may, for example, be located on a freight vehicle.

Abstract: This device for picking up separately selected slack articles from a heap of articles disposed in a container comprises a movable handling arm adapted to be lowered into the container for picking up the selected article, for example a textile, just as it is or wrapped in a plasticizer film bag, and a pair of wheels rotatably mounted to the lower end of the handling arm and driven by suitable means. The handling arm is lowered into the container and then the wheels are caused to rotate in opposite directions in order to nip one article at a time therebetween. Finally, the arm is lifted off the container and the wheels are separated for releasing the article. The device is intended more particularly for use in the mail order trade.

Abstract: Apparatus and method for unloading bulk material (M) from a rectangular trailer (10') comprising a collapsible rectangular liner (29) having a collapsible funnel-shaped base (31), said liner being hung extended in said container with said base (31) collapsed and its discharge opening (32) inserted in a bottom discharge opening (33) in the trailer (10'), and a cable and winch (44,47) to lift the liner (29) to extend the base (31) for gravity discharge of the bulk material (M) through said bottom discharge opening (33).

Abstract: The invention concerns an apparatus for feeding solid fuel from a storage silo or equivalent to a solid fuel-using heating boiler. The feeding apparatus comprises a piston, which has been disposed to carry out a reciprocating motion within a tube which through an aperture communicates with the solid fuel storage silo or equivalent, and which communicates by its other end with the heating boiler. With a view to accomplishing the feeding of the solid fuel with reliable certainty, before the piston, in the feeding apparatus of the invention there has been provided in the lower part of the storage silo or equivalent, a rotatably disposed vane.

Abstract: A bulk-storage apparatus has a large hopper adapted to hold a large supply of bulk material and having a floor formed with a central outlet opening centered on a vertical axis and a side wall extending upward from the floor. An upwardly tapered hood generally centered on the axis and open downwardly toward the opening has a lower edge vertically spaced from the floor around the opening. A drive supported in the hood has a rotary output projecting down into the space between the floor and the lower edge above the opening and carries an arm sweepable over the floor around the opening by the drive. The hood is supported in the hopper on at least one tubular traverse having an inner end secured to and opening into the hood and an outer end secured to and opening outside the hopper. This traverse is of a cross-sectional size big enough that a man can crawl between outside the hopper and inside the hood along the traverse. An openable cover closes the traverse between its ends.

Abstract: This invention relates to the draining of bulk materials which are not spontaneously flowable, from a high-rise silo in which the bulk material is fed from the top layer of the bulk material at any instant, into a central gravity shaft having a bottom extraction facility. To this end, the invention consists in a gravity shaft which is combined with the gastight high-rise silo and is rigid, stationary, tubular and closable at the bottom. The shaft is provided with perforations distributed along its height and circumference, of which at least one is situated at each vertical position of the prevailing level of bulk material. The bottom of the shaft can be sealed off with a slider or a plug of the material which is permitted to be built up to a predetermined height.

Abstract: A wheel supported open top receptacle such as a railway car is provided with a liner arrangement comprising a plurality of belt members arranged between the end walls of the car with the sides of adjacent ones of the belts overlapped in the direction between the end walls, and with each belt overlying the side walls and bottom wall of the car. One end of each belt member is attached to the upper end of the corresponding one of the side walls and, by upward displacement of the other end, each belt is adapted to be displaced upwardly relative to the car. Material in the car is progressively unloaded laterally outwardly of the car by sequential displacement of the belts in accordance with the pattern of overlap.

Abstract: Device for emptying a vertical, round, bulk-material silo of simplified construction and reduced maintenance and cost of manufacture, and prevention of bulk materials discharged through an annular gap being impeded in its passage through a chute. Motor drive means used for rotation of an associated bucket wheel protected against damage from bulk-material movements.

Abstract: The present invention is a universal blending system and method for blending the material contents of a silo having a predetermined interior cross-sectional area by layer blending or across vertical columns, column blending, or a combination of layer and column blending.The presently preferred method of the present invention employs either vertical displacement of a partial vertical column of the silo content to provide a representative mixture in every horizontal cross-section in order to reduce the number of necessary recycles to a minimum or substantially simultaneous multilevel displacement, with subsequent uniform discharge over the whole horizontal cross-section of the silo to remix material that may have been segregated during the filling or recycling.

Abstract: By providing a tractor with easily disassembled and assembled modular construction, with pneumatic drive and with high-pressure hydraulic means and vacuum means for, respectively, liquefying collected debris and exhausting it from the work area, an unique machine is provided which is particularly adapted for introduction into and use in cleaning areas, such as inside oil storage tanks, where flammable fumes exist and access openings into the work area are limited in size.

Abstract: A round silo for storage of different kinds of grain, especially damp grain, in layers one above the other, in a predetermined ratio, so as to facilitate a desired mixture of different grain kinds. The silo is of the type including a central bottom outlet opening. The central bottom outlet opening is in the shape of a conical deflector having a truncated conical surface, with the point thereof upwardly facing, and an outer peripheral edge disposed at a predetermined distance from the bottom of the silo. Furthermore, the silo is provided at its bottom end with an annular zone defined outwardly by the silo wall and inwardly by the outer peripheral edge of the conical deflector. A rotatable blade is mounted at the bottom of the silo beneath the conical deflector for rotation around the central axis of the silo for conveying grain toward the center of the silo and the conveyor means.

Abstract: A bunker discharge apparatus, especially for bulk material. The apparatus includes conveyor elements having a ladder form or shape and extending parallel to each other and movable back and forth, by way of a drive, in the conveying or feeding direction. The elements include rungs or crossbars arranged transverse to the conveying direction and wedge-shaped in cross section. The crossbars have a stroke or pusher surface at right angles in the conveyor direction to shear and push bulk material to discharge; counter to the conveying direction, the crossbars have a flat-inclined wedge surface which returns to starting location with minimum displacement of bulk material. A drop-out or discharge connection or connecting piece having a conveying element and arranged at right angles is provided below the ladder-formed conveying elements.

Abstract: A large volume of recovered solid discrete waste material is adapted to be stored over a large storage area at the bottom of large volume bin space within a building having opposite sides and opposite ends and providing an enclosing housing having upstanding walls rising to a substantial height along the sides and ends of the storage area and a covering roof at the tops of the walls, a loading conveyor system being operative adjacently under the roof at the top of the bin space for filling the material into the bin space thoroughly over the storage area. In a semi-automated embodiment of the invention, the stored material is adapted to be discharged selectively from one end of the storage area onto a take-away conveyor, or at any of a plurality of selected places along one side of the storage area onto a take-away conveyor.

Abstract: Crank-operated rods are mounted on two vertically spaced apart crankshafts, which are driven to rotate in the same sense. Working tools are carried by said rods on the side thereof which faces the body of silage and penetrate said body as they move downwardly. Each crank-operated rod is provided at its lower end with at least one depending conveying tine, which at least during part of the movement of the respective crank-operated rod away from the body of silage moves over a bottom plate, which extends under all juxtaposed crank-operated rods and is trough-shaped on the side that faces away from the working tools.

Abstract: A refuse bunker of the kind having a horizontal open-topped pressing box disposed beneath a filling hopper and a pressing plunger which is movable longitudinally in the pressing box to feed refuse through an outlet opening of the bunker and, in use, into a container, is provided with a closure which is situated on the outlet side of the outlet opening. The closure includes three passage openings for the passage of refuse from the outlet opening, the passage openings being disposed in two spaced-apart vertical planes. One passage opening, which is in a plane furthest from the outlet opening, is in a stationary member and is aligned with the outlet opening and the other two of the passage openings are vertically movable, are spaced apart one above the other, are of different heights from each other and are situated in a plane between the plane of the stationary opening and the plane of the outlet opening.

Abstract: A discharger mechanism is disclosed for discharging solids from the bottom of a pile. The discharger has a single reciprocating stoker rod and thus avoids misalignment and distortion so common in two reciprocating stoker rod discharger mechanisms. The discharger has a single stoker rod extending beneath a pile, one end of the rod being a discharge end, a reciprocating means reciprocates the stoker rod longitudinally. A plurality of stoker cross bars, substantially perpendicular to the stoker rod, are equispaced apart and rigidly attached at their centers thereof to the stoker rod, each of the cross bars has a wedge shaped cross section with a vertical surface facing towards the discharge end and an upward sloped surface facing away from the discharge end at an angle less than 45.degree..

Abstract: A volumetric feeder is supported for movement between an operative position and an maintenance position. The feeder includes a housing having a rotatable blade means adjacent its lower end for feeding granular material from the housing. The blade means is driven by a motor disposed within the housing and enclosed within a shell. Conduit means is provided for supplying cooling air to the motor within said shell.