Abstract: A pelleting die assembly includes a tubular die that is rotated by a quill flange. During rotation, particulate material inside the tubular die is extruded through extrusion holes by rollers inside the tubular die. The die is coupled to the quill flange by a flat, annular disc having one side attached to the die by bolts and an opposite side attached to the quill flange by other bolts. The bolts extend axially through the annular disc and face in opposite directions. The annular disc may include grooves to allow cyclic deflection of the die in a radially outward direction while reducing cyclic loading and strain on the quill flange.

Abstract: The hammermill includes a housing, a working chamber defined by a polygonal screen, an inlet to the chamber, an outlet and a plurality of free-swinging hammers attached to a driven rotor. Support brackets extend the length of the housing and mount deflectors for eliminating tangential motion of materials being comminuted in the working chamber in the region of the deflectors. Side doors mount screen carriages for movement toward and away from the doors. In a closed position of the door, springs bias the screen carriages into engagement with wear-linings and the support brackets. The doors are pivotal away from the housing for access to the screens and the interior of the working chamber. A bottom screen carriage is movable toward and away from the chamber for access to the bottom screen sections.

Abstract: A gravity flow apparatus that scalps off the large pieces of foreign material from grain before processing or storage. The scalper consists of an upright housing with a grain inlet at the top. The grain enters the housing and drops onto a dead head slide. The dead head slide with a flexible baffle slows the momentum of the falling grain then spreads the grain out over the slide width before it enters the screen. The slide is sloped to suit the grain's natural angle of repose and is lined with an anti-friction material for mass flow. The grain enters the full width of the screen while a second baffle stops grain from freely pouring into the foreign material discharge. The screen is adjustable to allow the grain to spread on the screen at its natural angle of repose while trash is scalped off over the screen into the trash discharge.

Abstract: A horizontal cooler/dryer having a continuous traveling conveyor, the conveyor being a chain conveyor formed of a plurality of links adjoined in end-to-end relationship, each of the links being pivotally pinned at its ends to adjacent links; a housing about the conveyor, the housing having a cooling gas inlet, a gas exhaust, a product inlet through which material to be cooled may be deposited on the conveyor and a product outlet through which cooled material can be discharged; and a plurality of non-perforate material pans mounted to the conveyor in juxtaposed overlapping relationship to form a substantially continuous surface about the conveyor. The product bed is leveled by dragging the lower edge of a hollow pivoting quarter drum across the product. The leveling is produced by the weight of the quarter drum pivoting down against the product. Counter weights can be used to control the leveling pressure against the product to avoid crushing or other product damage.

Abstract: A horizontal cooler/dryer having a continuous traveling conveyor, the conveyor being a chain conveyor formed of a plurality of links adjoined in end-to-end relationship, each of the links being pivotally pinned at its ends to adjacent links; a housing about the conveyor, the housing having a cooling gas inlet, a gas exhaust, a product inlet through which material to be cooled may be deposited on the conveyor and a product outlet through which cooled material can be discharged; and a plurality of non-perforate material pans mounted to the conveyor in juxtaposed overlapping relationship to form a substantially continuous surface about the conveyor.

Abstract: A manually actuated mechanism for roller mill feed gates that features both fine adjust and quick acting actuation. The mechanism consists of a hand wheel attached to an acme threaded rod, both of which are mounted in a bracket, the rod is attached to a clevis which is attached to a linkage and lever that is attached to the feed gate shaft. The fine adjust and quick action is accomplished by the lever which is spring loaded by tension spring. The lever has a half round acme nut that engages the acme threaded rod. The lever is normally held engaged to the rod by the spring for fine adjust but can be pulled by hand to release the rod for quick acting adjustment.

Abstract: A split housing pillow block bearing assembly for use with a roll having a shaft. A bearing assembly including a bearing housing split along a parting line passing through the axis of the shaft into an upper housing and a lower housing, the lower housing having a foot portion extending therefrom, the foot portion being offset towards the roll whereby a portion of the bearing housing projects axially outward from the foot portion away from the roll, the lower housing and the upper housing each having an arcuate bearing receiving aperture; a spherical roller bearing positioned within the arcuate bearing receiving apertures, the spherical roller bearing having a inner bore extending therethrough, the inner bore being tapered; and a tapered sleeve mounted on the shaft, the tapered sleeve being received within the bearing inner bore, the foot portion of the bearing being attached to the frame.

Abstract: A roll arrangement, for milling machine, comprising: a frame; a first elongated roll rotatably mounted within the frame, the first roll having a first end and a second end, the first roll having first sheaves attached at each end; a second elongated roll rotatably mounted within the frame, the second roll having a first end and a second end, the second roll having second sheaves attached at each end; a first belted drive means coupled to the first and second roll first ends; and a second belted drive means coupled to the first and second roll second ends.

Abstract: A regrind deflector for an apertured screen in a hammermill has a plate extending along substantially the entire length of the screen and having a straight surface smoothly blending to a curved surface, the straight surface beginning at an inner surface of the screen and substantially tangent thereto and extending outwardly to the curved surface which curves back inwardly to the inner surface of the screen and intersects therewith at an angle of less than 90 degrees. The number of deflectors required depends on hammermill size and operating conditions as well as characteristics of the feed material to be processed.

Abstract: A steam injection device for a vertical steam conditioning chamber for particulate material has one or more hollow modules having substantially conical tops and open bottoms arrayed along a support column extending from below the conditioning chamber to a point above the chamber. Steam for conditioning is supplied preferably through the support column in such a way that it uniformly permeates the particles along the height of the conditioning chamber as well as across its cross section. Additionally, by employing modules having other than symmetrically conical tops, it is possible to impart an irregular flow path to the particles being conditioned in the chamber. This permits uniform exposure of the particles to the steam in the conditioning chamber and, thus, promotes uniform conditioning.

Abstract: A steam injection device for a vertical steam conditioning chamber for particulate material has one or more hollow modules having substantially conical tops and open bottoms arrayed along the vertical centerline of the chamber, each supported by at least one hollow leg attached to the chamber wall. Steam for conditioning is supplied to the modules through the support legs by means of a manifold which distributes steam to steam ports in the chamber wall. Additionally, by employing modules having other than symmetrically conical tops, it is possible to impart an irregular flow path to the particles being conditioned in the chamber. This permits uniform exposure of the particles to the steam in the conditioning chamber and, thus, promotes uniform conditioning.

Abstract: A horizontal cylindrical sifter is provided, including a housing with an inlet for feed material of mixed size at a first end, an outlet for coarse material at a second end, a cylindrical screen for sifting the mixed feed material to separate the coarse material from fine material mixed therewith, the screen extending from the inlet to the outlet of the housing and having a rotatably driven shaft extending along an axial centerline of the cylindrical screen, agitator arms extending substantially radially outwardly from the rotatably driven shaft and having mounted at outer radial extremities of the arms agitator blades for rabbling the mixed feed material on the screen, and the improvement, in combination with the sifter, which provides for adjusting the agitator arms to alter an angular orientation of the agitator blades.

Abstract: A vertical steam conditioning chamber, for feed grains and other steam conditioned particles, has a circular cross section and is formed from a plurality of stackable modules, each such module having a larger diameter than the module next above. A flange like member permits stacking and joining of the cylindrical modules and prevents the upper modules from telescoping downward into the modules below. This permits generation of a stepwise diametric expansion or even a variable stepwise diametric expansion in a conditioning chamber to accommodate different conditioning responses of different particulate materials. The ratio of cylindrical module height to diameter and the change thereto from one module to the next succeeding module provides the versatility and the variability of the stepwise diametric expansion.

Abstract: Disclosed is a device for automatically adjusting the roll gap between the rolls of a roll mill including simultaneously operated screw jacks which adjust the gap and a shaft mounted geared box drive to accomplish the drive of the secondary roll from the primary roll further including a drive tensioning device which permits automatic adjustment of the roll gap while maintaining tension between the drive belts utilized for driving the shaft mounted gear box. The combination permits the automatic selection and adjustment of roll gap without further adjustment to accommodate the drive to the different roll gap settings.