Abstract: A hand held granular material spreading device including a housing with holding storage chamber for a flowable dry material where the chamber is located over a horizontally rotating impeller where there is an opening from the chamber to the impeller whereby rotation of the impeller spreads the material over an area forward of the location of the device. A valve member,,is provided in the opening from the storage chamber to the impeller and an opening is defined by the valve member and is determined by a linkage arrangement which is operated by a lever device which is rotated to adjust the position of the valve member in the opening. Stops can be provided for positioning the lever member to allow the retention of the position of the valve member without continuous pressure on the lever member.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for combusting solid fuel by introducing a mixture of fuel particles and carrier fluid into a reaction chamber near the center of one end of a combustion chamber and injecting oxidizer gas tangentially into the chamber to establish a swirling flow of gas, fuel particles, and combustion products within a region adjacent the chamber walls. The mass flow rates of oxidizer gas and fuel are regulated to maintain a relatively oxygen-rich stoichiometry within an annular region and a relatively fuel-rich stoichiometry within a central region, and to cause flow of the oxidizer gas and combustion products thru the reaction chamber with throughput residence times of the order of a few hundred milliseconds. This combination of a fuel-rich core portion and a relatively oxygen-rich annular zone effects oxidation of most of the carbon content of the fuel before it reaches the walls and avoids reduction of metal compounds in the fuel, all without overall excess-air combustion.

Abstract: The present invention uniformly spreads a topping material over a wet concrete surface and includes a spreader, a bridge and a drive system. The spreader stores a supply of topping material and dispenses a uniformly wide layer of the topping material as it is translated along the bridge. The bridge supports the spreader above the wet concrete surface and spans the entire width of the concrete surface. The drive systems translates the spreader across the bridge to dispense a uniformly wide layer of topping material over the concrete surface. Sequential lateral translations of the spreader across the bridge followed by sequential lateral translations of the bridge along the length of the concrete surface covers the entire concrete surface with a uniform layer of topping material.