Abstract: A milk claw includes upper and lower body portions forming a milk collecting chamber having a central vertical axis. Four inlet nozzles slant downwardly to said upper body portion while extending tangentially in one direction relative to said axis, whereby milk from these nozzles is caused to spin in said one direction about said axis as the milk descends in a spiral path in said chamber. A discharge nozzle opens into the lower part of the chamber at a region located in the spiral path of the spinning milk and discharges the milk tangentially from the chamber in the direction of said spin.

Abstract: A method of processing fish in which whole fish are reduced to fish solubles in aqueous solution and to fish solids comprising bones and scales. Fish are continuously processed in a series of interconnected vessels so that a continuous steady-state discharge of product is obtained and so that additional fish can be introduced into the system during discharge of product.

Abstract: A particle-containing air stream is passed downwardly through an orifice into a housing and toward an upwardly facing target area in the housing while directing a flow of liquid upwardly through said target area and thence outwardly in generally horizontal paths extending in opposite directions along said area and along extensions of said area, whereby particles from the air stream are entrained in the liquid flows in said opposite directions. Particle-laden liquid is discharged through bottom outlets of the chamber at the outer ends of said horizontal liquid paths, while passing divided streams with remaining particles upwardly from the respective horizontal liquid paths and into respective chambers where particles are separated by a cyclonic action from the air streams before they discharge from the chambers.

Abstract: An animal feeding station having an improved design to facilitate feeding of the animal. In particular, a manger that has a bottom portion approximating a hemispherical shape, side wall portions extending upward from the bottom portion as a conical tangent of the hemisphere, a front wall portion which extends vertically upward and is tangential to the aforesaid hemispherical portion and a rearwardly, upwardly sloped flat surface portion which generally conforms to the position of the animal's lower jaw when ingesting its food. Further, a shroud is provided over the manger which has a top wall sloped and disposed in a manner which restricts the vertical movement of the animal's head until the animal moves rearwardly.Another feature of the stall is the provision of slidably removable side panels, which permit the animal to eat in relative isolation and without the eye distraction caused by being able to see animals outside the stall.

Abstract: The sludge outlets of the centrifugal rotor are normally closed by a piston valve which moves axially to open these outlets when operating liquid is drained through openings at the periphery of a closing chamber adjacent the valve, the drain openings being normally closed by a main slide with which the rotor forms an opening chamber. Operating liquid fed to the opening chamber first moves the main slide axially to open the drain openings, thereby effecting opening of the sludge outlets, and then overflows into a third chamber to actuate a second slide and thereby open a drain passage leading from the periphery of the opening chamber into the third chamber, whereby the main slide is returned to its normal position for re-closing the drain openings from the closing chamber.

Abstract: A basket centrifuge is provided with a load indicator comprising a vertical shaft rotatable in a sleeve secured to and extending through a stationary frame cover overlying the basket, a paddle on the lower end of the shaft being adapted to ride on the inner wall of the annular mass of material in the rotating basket and thus rotate the shaft to operate the mechanism for indicating the radial thickness of this mass. Sealing means surround the shaft in sealing engagement therewith below the sleeve, and releasable means clamp the sealing means in sealing engagement with the lower end of the sleeve. The releasable means preferably include spring clamps having lower portions on which the sealing means are seated and upper portions secured to the sleeve.

Abstract: In a basket centrifuge, a hollow boss extending downwardly through a hole in the stationary frame cover is secured to the cover, and a shaft extending downwardly through said boss is mounted for rotation in a sleeve secured to the upper portion of the boss, a scraper being carried by the shaft below said boss. Means are mounted on said sleeve for rotating the shaft in opposite directions to swing the scraper toward and from the annular wall of the rotating basket, thereby scraping material deposited centrifugally on said wall. A collar surrounding the shaft below said boss has annular means in sealing engagement with the shaft, and releasable means are provided for urging the collar upwardly in sealing engagement with said boss.

Abstract: A stream of wax-containing crude oil is passed through a heating zone which heats it sufficiently to melt the wax and is then passed through a rapid cooling zone where it is cooled to a temperature below the freezing point of the wax but sufficiently rapdily to prevent solidification of the wax. The cooled oil is then subjected promptly to further treatment while the wax is still in liquid condition in the oil at a temperature below said freezing point. The further treatment preferably includes passing a mixture of the cooled oil and wash water through a centrifuge and there separating the wash water from the oil while retaining the wax in the washed oil discharged from the centrifuge.

Abstract: Connected to the suction pipe leading to a pump inlet is an air eliminator comprising a valve housing defining a chamber and having a first valve seat through which the suction pipe communicates with the chamber and a second valve seat through which the chamber communicates with atmosphere, the chamber increasing in cross-sectional area from the first seat toward the second seat. A ball valve is normally seated on the first seat to prevent air from entering the suction pipe but is displaceable to allow discharge of air under pressure from the suction pipe through the second seat while suspended by the force of the discharging air. The ball valve has a specific gravity less than the liquid, whereby liquid entering the chamber from the suction pipe floats the ball valve against the second seat to block the discharge of liquid.

Abstract: A device for connecting fluid and electrical lines between a stationary structure and a rotary platform, more particularly a device for milk, vacuum, and electrical lines for a dairy rotary milking parlor.

Abstract: A nozzle holder has a deformable end portion adapted to be passed through a hole in a distribution plate of an up-flow filter, whereby this end portion lies below the lower side of the plate. A nozzle extending through the holder engages the deformable end portion internally to maintain it in expanded condition and thereby prevent it from being withdrawn upward through the hole, and clamping means coacting with the holder at the upper side of the plate serve to clamp the expanded end portion of the holder against the lower side of the plate. This arrangement enables the nozzle to be installed entirely from above the plate.

Abstract: A stationary cylinder is jacketed to provide a first passage for a first heat exchange medium and forms a chamber for throughflow of a product to be heated or cooled. The cylinder contains a coaxial rotor comprising a shaft having a cylindrical outer surface and forming a second passage for a second heat exchange medium, whereby said stationary cylinder and said shaft surface are heated or cooled by said media. Each of a plurality of tubes has its opposite ends secured to the shaft and has an intermediate portion extending outside the shaft in spaced relation to its cylindrical outer surface. The second heat exchange medium is fed through one end portion of the shaft to adjacent ends of said second passage and said tubes and is discharged from the opposite ends thereof through the other end portion of the shaft. Scraper means protrude from the rotor between adjacent tubes and are operable to sweep the inner surface of the jacketed cylinder.

Abstract: A cylindrical chamber in the pulsator housing has upper and lower end portions subjected continuously to atmospheric pressure and to a vacuum, respectively; and the pulsation spaces of the teat cups are connected to corresponding openings in the housing which lead from a region of the chamber located between its said end portions. These end portions are separated from each other by a rotor driven on the cylindrical axis of the chamber and having a peripheral surface engaging the chamber's cylindrical wall substantially continuously around the axis. The rotor has segments spaced from each other and forming parts of said peripheral surface which are located, respectively, above and below said region of the chamber openings, whereby each said pulsation space is subjected alternately to atmospheric pressure for a first time period and to vacuum for a second time period; and the ratio of these time periods can be varied by adjusting the rotor axially in the chamber.

Abstract: An oil and water mixture is fed under pressure to a lower chamber wherein any free oil rises to the upper part for discharge through an oil outlet while an emulsion of remaining oil and water is displaced upwardly through a baffle and a coalescing bed into an upper chamber having an upper outlet for coalesced oil and a lower outlet for separated water. To clean the coalescing bed, the mixture feed to the lower chamber is interrupted and the liquid level in the chambers is lowered to a region of the coalescing bed, after which gas is delivered under pressure to the liquid in the lower chamber so as to cause bubbling of the liquid in the bed, whereby dirt trapped therein is freed. The liquid level is then raised as the bubbling action continues, so that the dirt-containing liquid can be discharged from the upper chamber.

Abstract: A device for revolving a liquid has a hollow shaft for supplying gas to the liquid, and the free end of the shaft is immersed in the liquid where it carries a propeller for revolving the liquid. The propeller comprises at least one screw-shaped vane, and at least part of the vane's surface forms an acute angle with the longitudinal axis of the hollow shaft, as seen from the free end of the shaft, the vane extending along at least two thirds of the circumference of the shaft.

Abstract: The material to be evaporated is continuously fed into a stationary vertical cylinder where it is heated to a boiling condition through the cylinder wall while scraping material from said wall and while rotating the material about a vertical axis to maintain an upwardly opening cavity therein. Vapors drawn from the cavity to concentrate the material are passed through a first path; and concentrated material is displaced through a second path along part of the cylindrical surface while in a cooled condition to arrest the boiling and while maintaining the two paths separated. The discharge pressure of the concentrated material is increased by imposing a substantial resistance to its rotation in the second path; and to permit control of the evaporation, a sensing device is inserted in the second path to indicate changes in the temperature of the discharging concentrated material, which is substantially free of vapor.

Abstract: A product is continuously processed by passing it upwardly through a vertical heat exchange cylinder while continuously scraping the inner surface of the cylinder free of any product which may adhere thereto. This cylinder is surrounded by upper and lower outer cylinders to form upper and lower annular spaces through which respective heat exchange media are circulated, whereby the product can first be heated and then promptly cooled while passing through the heat exchange cylinder. To allow for different rates of expansion and contraction of the cylinders, a double expansion joint is provided between the two outer cylinders; and a temperature sensing device protrudes through this joint and into the heat exchange cylinder to measure the temperature of the product as it passes from the heating section to the cooling section of the heat exchange cylinder.

Abstract: A feed mixture of liquid and solids is delivered into a central nave at the lower portion of a basket mounted for rotation about a vertical axis. The nave is rigidly connected to the outer portion of the basket by spoke-like tubes in which the feed mixture is accelerated while flowing from the nave into a channel extending around the rotation axis and opening upwardly into the separating chamber in the basket's outer portion. To further reduce turbulence, the channel is closed at the top in the regions where the spoke-like tubes communicate with the channel. A discharge shoe in the basket is movable relative thereto to plow accumulated solids from the outer part of the separating chamber, so that the plowed solids fall through bottom openings of the basket between the spoke-like tubes.

Abstract: The centrifuge comprises a centrifugal bowl having means for alternately opening and closing its outer periphery to discharge separated sludge intermittently from the separating chamber, there being a stationary paring disk in a paring chamber of the bowl for discharging separated liquid from the bowl while its outer periphery is closed to maintain a normal liquid level in the bowl. The paring chamber has an air passage located radially inward toward the bowl axis from this normal liquid level and adapted to discharge air from the bowl to atmosphere while the liquid is at said normal level, the liquid level moving radially outward in response to opening of the bowl's outer periphery.