Abstract: An apparatus and novel method for processing medical waste materials comprising an elongate pressure vessel of generally cylindrical configuration having an inlet end, and a closely fitting closure member for the inlet. An elongate drum of generally cylindrical configuration is mounted in the vessel for rotation about its longitudinal axis, which drum can be selectively driven in either rotative direction. The longitudinal axis of the drum is disposed at a slight angle of incline to the horizontal, placing the inlet end at a slightly higher elevation than the opposite end. A helically configured member is disposed along the interior perimeter of said drum, such that during rotation of the drum in a first rotative direction, the helically configured member moves the waste material in a direction away from the inlet end of the drum, whereas during rotation of the drum in the second rotative direction, the helically configured member moves the waste material toward the inlet.

Abstract: A process for the purification of soil contaminated with organic material is provided. The preferred process generally involves superposed attrition and classification processes, which lead to removal and concentration of highly contaminated fractions. The process may also include a step of flotation whereby hydrophobic materials in the soil are released to an interface with air bubbles, and are floated to the top of a flotation cell. In preferred processes according to the present invention, soil to be treated is extracted from a contaminated site, and is broken into relatively small particles. These particles are preferably treated in attrition and classification steps, to remove fine, slow settling contaminated materials such as wood and fine soil materials. The resulting isolated coarser materials are then treated by flotation for a final polishing step.

Abstract: This invention relates to an improved method and apparatus to effect the separation of component fractions from paper-containing and plastic-containing waste materials. This method and apparatus accepts materials of widely varying characteristics such as paper, plastics, glass, metal, food wastes and other materials to be inserted en masse into a rotating vessel equipped with lifting paddles and directional flighting. In this way the intimate contact of materials with moisture and heat is accomplished, thus effecting the repulping of paper materials. The repulped materials, as a result of directional tumbling, are dispersed throughout the vessel. Because of the repulping of the pulpable materials, size reduction of the randomly large and odd-shaped pulpable material is accomplished. By virtue of the size reduction of the large and odd-shaped pulpable materials, the non-pulpable components are freed of the particle shapes and surfaces that affect separation.

Abstract: In a process of fragmenting and segregating metallic components fabricated from different aluminum alloys, a method of removing tramp impurities therefrom is provided. The method comprises the steps of providing a feedstock comprised of the metallic components having mixed therewith tramp impurities, the alloys having different incipient melting temperatures. The feedstock is heated to effect incipient melting of the component having the lowest incipient melting temperature and is then agitated sufficiently to cause the component having the lowest incipient melting temperature to fragment. The agitation also causes the fragmented component to scour tramp impurities from the unfragmented feedstock. The fragmented components and tramp impurities are segregated from the unfragmented feedstock and fragmented components are separated from the tramp impurities.

Abstract: An improved process for producing a ground crude pigment by grinding in the dry state a crude pigment composed of a phthalocyanine compound or a polycyclic organic pigment compound, is achieved by using a grinding apparatus comprising a cylindrical receptacle having an axis in the longitudinal direction, a stirrer having a rotating shaft disposed along the axis of the receptacle and at least two pairs of arms, each pair having arms fixed to the rotating shaft and extending outwardly toward the side wall of the receptacle, and steel balls as a grinding medium filled in the receptacle.

Abstract: A spiral gas stream is generated in a pipeline when a uniform flow of gas flowing in a cylinder having inner diameter larger than that of the pipeline is introduced through a funnelform reducer into the inlet of the pipeline and bringing the mean gas stream velocity in the pipeline faster than 20 meter per second. The uniform flow of gas is formed in the cylinder easily when outside low pressure gas is fed into the cylinder through a feed gas inlet pipe installed diagonally at the side of the cylinder apart from the bottom plate so as to make the flow line of the feed gas to cross the axis of the cylinder and inclined toward the bottom plate. When solid particles are introduced into the spiral gas stream zone, they are transported to the outlet of the pipeline. As the compressed gas layer is formed along the inside wall of the pipeline by the spiral motion of gas stream, solid particles don't contact directly with the inside wall of the pipeline and don't hurt it.

Abstract: A process for purifying crude silicon carbide lumps from an Acheson furnace comprising agitating the lumps in a drum having a cylindrical wall, its axis substantially horizontal and having openings of controlled size, smaller than said crude lumps, in said cylindrical wall, separating the particles passing through said controlled size openings according to size and recirculating oversize particles back to said rotating drum and finally recovering product retained in said drum.

Abstract: Disclosed is a composition adapted for use in coating pellets orally administrable to ruminants which protects the core material in the rumen and releases it in the abomasum comprising a film-forming polymeric material, a hydrophobic material dispersed in said polymeric material, and a physiologically acceptable flake material dispersed in said polymeric material, the flake material having been treated by bringing the particles into rubbing contact with the hydrophobic material so that the surface of the particles of flake material become hydrophobic.

Abstract: A rotating grizzly having a downwardly slanting axis of rotation for reducing the size of agglomerated mineral particles comprising a rotatable framework made up from a series of spaced axial baffles interconnected by a series of parallel spaced bars wherein the baffles extend inwardly toward the axis of rotation a greater distance than the bars.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for electromagnetically crushing, mixing and stirring substances is disclosed. The apparatus has a container for containing ferromagnetic or non-magnetic conductive working pieces together with substances to be processed, shifting magnetic field generators which act on and generate a random motion of the work pieces, and a mechanical driver which imparts a relative motion to said container on a plane generally parallel with the shifting direction of the shifting magnetic field generated by said shifting magnetic field generators. Similarly, the method comprises moving the container relative to shifting magnetic field generators on a plane generally parallel with the shifting directions of the generated magnetic fields.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for processing substances electromagnetically having a container for receiving conductive working pieces and substances to be processed and magnetic field generators located adjacent said container to generate violent random motion of said working pieces is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of operating said apparatus at a first magnetic field intensity level slightly greater than the minimum intensity level required to generate random motion of said working pieces, and then periodically either increasing or decreasing the intensity level from said first intensity level to maintain random motion of said working pieces. Similarly, the apparatus comprises a timing mechanism which periodically either increases or decreases the intensity level from said first intensity level.

Abstract: An improved method is provided for producing mechanically alloyed powders on a commercial scale comprising milling the components of the powder product in a gravity-dependent-type ball mill to produce a powder having a characteristic apparent density. Powder so produced will have reached an acceptable processing level and will meet one criterion for determining whether it will be suitable for further processing to the end product.

Abstract: Wood chips are debarked by compacting them in a mass, and agitating the compacted mass. In the compacted mass the chips are caused to rub against one another so that the bark is removed from the chips by rubbing friction of chip against chip. Frictional pressure on the removed bark finely comminutes the bark for easy separation from the debarked chips. The compacting and agitating of the chip mass is effected by a rotor device in a debarking drum chamber.

Abstract: A vibratory apparatus is disclosed for scrubbing, abrading, pulverizing, grinding, crushing, milling and/or separating granular material. The apparatus includes a two mass vibratory system with a tube, as part of the working mass, provided for the granular material and having an inlet end and an outlet end open to a stack at a location lower than the inlet end. The stack has means for creating an upward countercurrent air flow therethrough. A driving mass, including a vibration generating assembly, is provided for vibrating the driving mass and the working mass so that the granular material is agitated in the tube at large accelerations to scrub, abrade, pulverize, grind, crush or mill the granular material. When the apparatus is used as a separator or classifier, the countercurrent air flow in the stack causes minute particles to move up through the stack to separate the minute particles from the batch of granular material as the material is discharged into the stack.

Abstract: A grinding process and machine for granular particles comprising two flexible continuously moveable belts which form a cavity separated apart a critical distance. The granular particles rub against each other when the belts relatively moving at different speeds grind the materials to achieve a predetermined condition.

Abstract: Manufactured goods such as cast components to which molding sand is still adhering, are treated in a vibratory conveyor chute for cleaning and cooling the goods. As the goods travel down the chute they are exposed to force components extending perpendicularly and across to the travel direction along the length of the chute. These force components impose on the goods a revolving motion along a helical path. This revolving motion may be improved or intensified by directing the resulting force components (R, R') of the force causing the revolving motion to extend at a spacing from a so-called "center of gravity line" (S, S') defining or interconnecting the center of gravity points along the length of the vibratory chute system. This spacing causes a distribution of the goods (11) in the chute such that the goods (11) have a slanted surface (10) in the chute (1). Thus, the vertical acceleration values (k.sub.v) are larger at the upper return zone 26 than they are at the lower return zone 27.

Abstract: Disclosed is a solidified charge protection control for rotating grinding mills. A charged mill which has been shut down for a period of time is rotated to a pre-set angle of rotation and a bi-directional sensor feeds the signal caused by rotation to an electronic circuit where it is analyzed. Once the mill has reached the pre-set angle of rotation, it is declutched and the sensor feeds a second signal to the electronic circuit. These signals are compared to pre-set limits to determine if the charge has broken-up during the initial rotation so continuous operation of the mill can be commenced.

Abstract: In a centrifugal crusher including a rotor rotating at high speed for receiving a supply of material to be crushed, and a crushing chamber enclosing the rotor, the material is thrown out of the rotor in a tangential direction by centrifugal forces into collision with a dead-bed constituted by particulate material stacked in a heap in the crushing chamber after being produced by crushing the material. The particulate material brought into collision with the dead-bed is allowed to stay in the crushing chamber for a period of time long enough to serve as a dead-bed for crushing the particulate material into particles of a desired particle size, before being discharged continuously or periodically from the crushing chamber.

Abstract: This invention provides a process and apparatus for the wet attrition of ore. The process comprises grinding the ore to a pulp having a particle size distribution such that about 80% by weight of the particles have a diameter of from about 30 to about 0.4 mm; and agitating the pulp in a slightly turbulent medium. The apparatus comprises a vat having top and bottom covers with central openings and a gutter disposed along the exterior circumference of the top of the vat; a cylindrical shaft extending through the opening in the top cover; and a pair of impellers mounted at a distance apart on the shaft, the blades of the impellers being so arranged that the pulp is pumped towards the space defined between the two impellers.

Abstract: An improved method of shredding municipal solid waste or garbage including the steps of introducing the solid waste into a tumbling mill having a diameter to length ratio of about 2.5:1 to 3:1, maintaining a negative pressure within the tumbling mill and maintaining a sufficient moisture content in solid waste. Shredding is accomplished by contacting the waste with irregular shaped grinding media within the tumbling mill.

Abstract: In a process and a device for manufacturing partially oxidized lead dust from lead pieces, the natural pile of dissociated coarse and fine material formed in a rotating drum is mechanically disturbed by radially extending guide plates in the interior of a drum which plates are arranged in pairs and displaced toward each other by 180.degree. in the direction of the circumference of the drum and the individual plates of each pair of plates are spaced axially apart, by which arrangement the efficiency of the process and the product quality are greatly improved.

Abstract: A process for the production of a metal or metal alloy powder with flake-shaped particles comprises mechanically crushing a ductile starting material. A foreign substance which forms a separate phase between the crystallites of the starting material is added thereto to facilitate crushing the starting material, while retaining the original workability thereof.

Abstract: In a method for treating liquid dross wherein the dross is situated in a skimming trough and charged into a rotating, substantially horizontal cooling pipe through which it passes so that the dross is cooled to a temperature below the melting point thereof to obtain a granulated form, the dross is charged from the skimming tank into the cooling pipe and passed therethrough substantially in the absence of air or oxygen whereupon the cooled granulated dross is subjected to an autogenous grinding process, the ground dross then being separated into a granulated metal fraction and a fine-grained fraction. Apparatus for performing the method of the invention includes a hood located over the inlet side of the cooling pipe so that the entrance of air into the pipe is substantially prevented. The skimming trough is sealingly engaged to the hood so that the dross is charged from the skimming trough into the cooling pipe without any substantial contact with the air.

Abstract: A rotary screen device for sorting refuse material particularly adapted for sorting a mixture of glass and plastics material. The device is generally cylindrical in shape, inclined at a preferred angle to the horizontal, and having three sections, an intake end, a central portion, and an output end. Transverse vanes are arranged in the input end to direct the incoming refuse material towards the central section. The central section includes plural longitudinal vanes which are connected at one end with the transverse vanes in the inlet end and is provided with a uniform distribution of perforations in the regions between the vanes. The outlet end includes no vanes but is provided with peripheral evacuating holes having their largest dimension in a direction perpendicular to the generatrices so that there is no risk of rotating a plastic bottle which could have the effect of an impeller which would drive pieces of glass out of a collection hopper provided below the central section and outlet end.

Abstract: An apparatus for the grinding of hard materials having a conveyor for forming a thin layer of material and moving the layer upward at an angle, and then causing the material in the upper region of the conveyor to tumble back down and along the surface of the upward moving layer, to generate a fine abraded product from the rubbing surfaces of the material.

Abstract: A method is disclosed of converting tangled ribbons of ductile machining scrap into a densified intermediate product useful for making metal powder. A collection of the scrap having a packing density less than 50 lbs/ft.sup.3 is subjected to impacting forces between weighted, freely moving elements and an anvil means for progressively flattening the scrap. The impacting is repeated to substantially flatten all of the scrap and reduce some of the ribbons by fatigue breakage to chips; the resulting processed scrap will have a packing density in excess of 90 lbs/ft.sup.3.

Abstract: A method of comminuting a mineral involves introducing into a grinding chamber which has an internal, rotatable impeller driven by an electric motor, water, a dispersing agent and pieces of said mineral not larger than 20 mm to form a slurry. The slurry is agitated in the grinding chamber and a slurry of comminuted minerals is continuously withdrawn from the grinding chamber. The rates of introducing the water, the dispersing agent and the pieces of mineral into the grinding chamber and the rate of withdrawing the slurry of comminuted mineral from the grinding chamber are such that the slurry of comminuted mineral withdrawn from the grinding chamber contains at least 50% by weight of solids. The volume of material in the grinding chamber is maintained substantially constant, and the power consumed by the electric motor driving the impeller is maintained between upper and lower limits.

Abstract: A boron-containing nickel or cobalt spray-and-fuse self-fluxing alloy powder contains hard precipitates of chromium boride and, optionally, chromium carbide which are internally precipitated from a melt of said alloy. Such alloy powder is made by atomizing the melt at about the temperature at which the melt is viscous.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for controlling an autogenous or semiautogenous crusher, in which the quantity of charge within the crusher is determined continuously. The speed of rotation of the crusher is controlled in accordance with a function which links the speed of rotation of the crusher to the quantity of the charge in the crusher. In a preferred embodiment, the charge is determined from the resistance experienced by the motor which drives the crusher. This resistance is a linear function of the charge within the crusher. The control apparatus provides an electrical signal which is proportional to the quantity of charge and the electrical signal is then used to control the speed of rotation of the crusher.

Abstract: A method of dynamic disintegration of a lumped material by impact and chipping forces produced by kinetic energy imparted to the lumped material in a rotating rotor and expended on disintegrating it in an active zone over the rotor. A material disintegrating apparatus according to the disclosed method includes a hollow cylinder mounted concentrically about a shaft above the rotor and connected to a housing by vertical partitions dividing the working space of the housing into a series of adjoining chambers, the rotor is arranged with respect to these partitions so that a horizontal zone is defined therebetween for active disintegration of the material. Furthermore, the internal space of the rotor is made up of sections having each in the lower portion thereof an aperture for the supply of a carrier fluid into the zone of active disintegration of the material.