Abstract: A treating process for the separation of coated nuclear fuel particles from a graphitic matrix in which the nuclear fuel particles are embedded, which is employed in an installation for the conditioning of graphitic fuel elements of high-temperature nuclear reactors. The graphite which encompasses the nuclear fuel particles is conducted away through the action of a brush which isolates the nuclear fuel particles together with their coatings or the nuclear particles themselves, and wherein the nuclear fuel particles which are contained in the brushed product are then separated from the comminuted graphite. The nuclear fuel particles are worked out of the graphitic matrix through the action of the bristles of the brush which conduct the graphite away, but in which the coated nuclear fuel particles when they are contained within hard coatings or the nuclear fuel particles themselves, remain preserved.

Abstract: Apparatus for simultaneously grinding coal and dolomite to a size suitable for fluid bed combustors in which the grinding mill is modified to allow for the formation in the mill of a bed of the mixed coal and dolomite which reduces the tendency of dolomite to fracture and produce excess of fine particles thereby optimizing the grinding conditions for both coal and dolomite, and a method of reducing coal and dolomite simultaneously in a common mill and in predetermined proportions for optimum reduction of each material.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for treating articles such as batteries in a manner permitting safe disposal thereof, each of the articles comprising a casing having reactive material therein, wherein the article casing is opened to allow access to the interior thereof, fluid is introduced to the interior of the opened casing, and any evolved gas is removed. The steps of opening the casing, introducing fluid and removing gas are performed simultaneously in a reaction vessel which is supplied with the fluid and which is in communication with gas collecting and scrubbing means. The reaction vessel preferably comprises a deluged hammermill and a tank. The hammermill is supplied with articles by a remotely fed conveyor and which discharges into a tank, fluid is supplied to the hammermill and to the tank, and the gas collecting and scrubbing means is in communication with both the hammermill and tank. The fluid preferably is water or an alkaline neutralizing solution.

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: An apparatus and method for treating for disposal organic waste material carried within a sludge, by adding to the sludge an alkali metal silicate and a setting agent, is disclosed. The apparatus includes several mixers, each having a trough with an input end and a discharge end, at least one rotatable shaft mounted longitudinally along the trough, a plurality of blades mounted to the shaft, and a drive for rotating the shaft. The sludge is deposited within a first mixer, and then directed from the mixer into a tank. A series of chopper pumps recirculate the sludge into the tank, and alternatively, the sludge may be passed through an additional mixer. Leaving the tank, the sludge is directed into a second mixer at its input end. Water is introduced at the input end, and a setting agent is added along the trough at a point adjacent the input end. Further along the trough, an alkali metal silicate is introduced. The mixture is recovered from the second mixer, and carried to a remote location for setting.

Abstract: This invention is directed to a new and improved animal bedding comprising newsprint subdivided into a range of particle sizes. The bedding provides the necessary liquid absorbence and resistance to compaction without excessive dust. The invention is directed also to the process and hammermill apparatus for preparing said bedding.

Abstract: Disclosed is the preparation of micro-bits of expanded styrene-polymers and of expanded polyolefins by comminuting the styrene-polymer or polyolefin in a particular combination of comminuting steps in a suitable comminutor that can provide that combination of steps and in the presence of water as a cooling agent. The polymer micro-bits, which are produced as an aqueous slurry, may be rendered dry-to-the-touch by vacuum filtration followed by passage through a filter press.

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: Scrapped storage batteries are first preliminarily crushed to discharge acid from individual cells, thereupon rinsed by alkaline water, crushed in a hammermill and simulataneously dried by a stream of hot air; noncrushed lead pieces are discharged separately from the hammermill and the remaining crushed material is discharged in dry condition from the mill and classified into two fractions, namely a coarse lead fraction and a second fraction consisting of fine particles of lead compounds mixed with coarser pieces of plastic material.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for more efficiently agitating and intermixing organic waste material in a containing vessel includes a rotary cutting assembly which is vertically advanced downwardly into an accumulated quantity of organic waste material. The rotary cutting assembly separates an end portion of an accumulation of material from the remainder of the material and intermixes the separated portion with ambient air. The separated portion of material is then transported to a new location in the containing vessel.

Abstract: The preparation of flexible polyurethane foam micro-bits by the comminution of a flexible polyurethane foam in the presence of a compatible protective cooling fluid under specific comminuting steps and conditions.

Abstract: A metal material, which is capable of reacting with hydrogen to form a metal hydride, is simultaneously granulated and conditioned with hydrogen to activate the metal material to a state in which it is capable of readily reacting with and absorbing hydrogen. The granulation and activation are achieved by heating the metal material to a temperature of at least about 200.degree. F. and treating the heated metal material with hydrogen, while concurrently subjecting the metal material to mechanical impact to reduce the average particle size thereof to less than about 1 centimeter.

Abstract: An improved method and means for dry defibrating fiber material in the form of chemical, chemi-mechanical or mechanical fiber pulp or mixtures thereof by means of known defibration devices, so-called shredders, mills or similar devices, to obtain fluff, i.e. exposed, unbonded fibers and fiber flocks used in a manner known per se to make paper, paper-like and absorbent products, by which method said fiber material is fed to the defibration device in the form of a continuous web from a bale being said means and consisting of a pressed or non-pressed zig-zag-shaped, repeatedly folded continuous web.

Abstract: Zinc sulfide is concentrated by a froth flotation process using a substituted benzotrifluoride compound as depressant for calcium fluoride. The benzotrifluoride compounds are substituted by hydrophilic groups such as hydroxy, carboxylic acid and amino.

Abstract: A tub grinder suitable for comminuting forage crops as feed for livestock comprising a rotating circular tub having a floor with an opening therein through which a hammermill communicates for chopping the forage. When the forage is fed too quickly and overloads the hammermill, a governor senses that the rotational speed of the hammermill has been reduced and operatively signals the tub driving mechanism to slow the speed thereof, thus feeding forage at a lesser rate and allowing the hammermill to recover. A similar but opposite process occurs when the hammermill increases in speed to the extent that it is able to handle additional forage. A dampening mechanism is used in conjunction with the governor and functions to allow the tub rotation to slow immediately upon the hammermill being overloaded, but somewhat delays the increase of the tub rotation when the hammermill can receive additional forage.

Abstract: A process and products produced thereby, e.g., alumina tools, in which ceramic powder particles are subjected to high transmissive energy milling under dry conditions and with given ratios of impacting media to powder, the milling being conducted for a period beyond the threshold point of the powder constituents, whereby dense, composite powder particles are obtained having an interdispersion of initial constituent particles, a large internal interfacial surface within individual product powder particles, etc.

Abstract: Raw food materials, having a 10-65% water content, are ground between two opposing disc grinding members. The opposing discs are concave to form a central hollow portion therebetween having a nearly trapezoidal cross section.

Abstract: A method of economically producing a relatively rapidly soluble machine handleable particulate composite material from a material of relatively low solubility comprising pulverizing a material of low solubility, selecting a first appropriate size fraction from the pulverized material and mixing the selected fraction with a predetermined proportion of water to obtain a composite. The composite is dried at a predetermined temperature for a specified time. The dried composite is pulverized and a second selected appropriate size fraction is obtained. The second size fraction possesses increased solution solubility and machine handleability properties over the starting relatively low solubility material.

Abstract: A method for preparing a steel mill waste material comprised of inner metallic cores encased in outer shells of iron oxides for use as size-graded metallic abrasives and the product so produced are described.The waste material is screened to simultaneously separate it from all the foreign matter collected therewith and also to separate it into a fraction containing particles larger than about 6.35 mm and a fraction containing particles smaller than about 6.35 mm. The fraction containing the particles larger is recycled in the steel mill. The fraction containing the smaller particles is charged into a grinding mill containing appropriate grinding media. The smaller fraction remains in the mill for a time so that the outer shells are broken into small pieces substantially all of which are removed from the surfaces of the inner cores. The pieces of the shells and the metallic cores are separated from each other by screening. The metallic cores are graded into a plurality of sizes by screening.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for removal of glass from metal surfaces, as for example, glass tubing from aspiration cast rods, is provided in which the glass coated metal is passed between a pair of spaced driven rolls, one being a resilient roll and the other a toothed metal roll, said rolls being adjustable to vary the spacing therebetween dependent upon the thickness of metal being cleaned, whereby the glass coating is broken into small fragments by the toothed roll.

Abstract: A process and products produced thereby, e.g., ferrites, in which ceramic powder particles are subjected to high transmissive energy milling under dry conditions and with given ratios of impacting media to powder, the milling being conducted for a period beyond the threshold point of the powder constituents, whereby dense, composite powder particles are obtained having an interdispersion of initial constituent particles, a large internal interfacial surface within individual product powder particles, etc.

Abstract: A method is provided for converting waste paper materials into more useful forms for uses such as plant mulches, lightweight concrete aggregates, fertilizers, animal feeds, chemical food stock and other materials, fuels and uses such as recycling paper processes. Waste paper materials including corrugated box board, paper board, paper of all types, etc. is available as a raw material in a wide variety of forms such as sheets, bales, bundles, boxes, shavings, clippings from box making operations, magazines, newspapers, etc. and these products are much more useful for the purposes and uses mentioned after treatment and conversion into a more useful form. This conversion includes the steps of bale breaking, sorting, trimming and/or cutting these raw materials into pieces of relatively limited size for feeding across a cutter bar into a rotating knife cylinder wherein the raw materials are cut into small pieces.

Abstract: A combination tub comminuting apparatus and blower for simplifying and reducing the number of moving parts in a forage comminuting means. The comminuting portion comprises rotor means which rotates on a radius of the tub and is situated in an opening extending from near the edge of the tub to a point which is near the center of the tub. Since the forage is fed to the end of the cylinder described by the rotor rather than to the sides as in normal comminuting means, the length of the cylinder is very short compared to the diameter. The beating means grab the forage and pull it into the enclosure in pieces. Some embodiments of the concept include teeth on the stator enclosure for the rotor to provide further comminution before the rotor executes its final step of forcefully discharging the comminuted forage, via the beating means, in a blower-type action.

Abstract: An improved apparatus for the simultaneous crushing and drying of materials, such as coal with high moisture content, which includes a hammermill having parallel top inlets for the material and a rapid flow of hot air. The material drops into the impactor circle of the hammermill prior to any substantial mixing with the flow of hot air. The flow of hot air is selectively directed into the crushing chamber, behind the breaker plates or in parallel to both locations, to dry the material during crushing. A substantially unobstructed bottom outlet permits high flow rates through the apparatus. A method of crushing and drying high moisture content material is also disclosed.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for treatment of waste on ships and the like, in the form of solid waste and black water collected in a tank from reduced flush toilets. The solid waste is mixed with black water from the tank in a drum. Rotating knives in the drum effect the disintegration of the solid waste, and also the picking up of the waste in the drum from the bottom thereof to permit it to drop repeatedly by gravity from the upper regions of the drum. A flow of hot air is passed through the drum and hence through the dropping mixed black water and disintegrated solid waste. The axis of the drum is substantially horizontal, and may be slightly inclined with bottom ridges to inhibit the flow of liquids therealong.

Abstract: Reduction or loss of rotary hammermill grinding action for a tub grinder is prevented by effectively extending the surface of the floor of the tub grinder across the gravity feed opening for the hammermill chamber area. In one form, the floor extension includes a plurality of relatively narrow cross-bars which extend completely across the chamber opening in the floor so as to block relatively heavy or dense clumps of unground feed from resting on the hammermill discs or jamming between the hammermill and its chamber sidewalls. The pivoted hammers are permitted to rotate in an arc extending above the cross-bars. In another form, the tub floor extension is formed by a multiplicity of generally triangular shaped members which extend from the feed side of the opening across the opening with sufficient distance to prevent jamming against the hammermill discs while providing sufficient vertical support to allow initial grinding of such dense clumps by the pivoting hammermill hammers.

Abstract: There is provided a process for recovering block shaped graphite fuel elements made of a graphite block with a parallel cooling channel and which block contains the fuel arranged in separate zones. The process is especially useful for such fuel elements in which the cooling channels and the fuel zones are distributed in a screenlike manner adjacent to each other and wherein these fuel elements are first comminuted mechanically and then are reconditioned by burning and wet chemical separation into fissile material and waste material. For the mechanical comminution of the graphite block conical pins (or mandrels) are simultaneously pressed into several cooling channels until the block is broken apart along the entire length of these cooling channels.

Abstract: A method of operating a rotor-equipped breaker/crusher for coal and other material in which the drum is rotated at close to critical speed, and in which lifter shelves in the drum are adjusted for dropping material into the path of the rotor at a point where the rotor not only fragments the material, but also emphasizes the flinging of the material against the downwardly moving perforated wall of the drum. Methods of this character enable a relatively small breaker/crusher to effectively duplicate the performance of much larger existing units, while successfully controlling the production of fines.

Abstract: A method for dispersing a powder in a liquid entails the successive steps which consist in forming a liquid flow passage between a pouring point and an atomization station, in continuously feeding powder into the liquid flow passage at the pouring point so as to guide the powder to the atomization station within and together with its liquid envelope and in atomizing the liquid flow passage containing the powder at the atomization station.

Abstract: A comminutor for comminuting solid materials carried by flowing fluids, such as industrial wastes or sewage, in which cutter elements carried by a plurality of rotating rings forming a cone shaped rotor co-act with stationary cutter elements supported alongside the rotor, and a method of comminuting. The stationary cutter elements are reversable so that upon repositioning, new stationary cutting edges are presented to the cutter elements carried by the rotating rings. A plurality of stationary cutter elements are formed on a single structure, each stationary cutter element forming a cutting station. The cutting action is further increased by providing co-acting cutting edges in planes perpendicular as well as parallel to the rotor axis at each cutting station.

Abstract: A receptacle accommodates a waste paper suspension and a rotor located adjacent one portion of the receptacle wall. A first outlet is provided in the wall in the region of the rotor so tht pulp produced by shredding of waste paper by the rotor can be discharged from the receptacle. A strainer is interposed in the first outlet, and a second outlet is provided in an opposite portion of the wall and arranged to discharge matter having low specific gravity from the receptacle.

Abstract: The subject invention involves providing a cast tubular cylindrical cutter head having wall structure provided with openings and inner cutting edges for use with an impeller adapted for rotation therein for directing a product against the edges for cutting the product into pieces for discharge outwardly through the openings, and surfaces or faces which extend outwardly to define the openings are disposed in a unique divergent relationship whereby to promote or facilitate the flow or discharge of the cut product therethrough.

Abstract: A method of manufacturing a pharmaceutical having a plurality of active ingredients so that each active ingredient will be released at substantially the same uniform rate involves mixing the active ingredients with beta-1, 4-glucan and pulverizing the mixture.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for processing fibrous material into fluff and substantially individual fibers. The apparatus includes a hammermill having an impermeable wall of grid-like configuration against which fibrous material to be fiberized is thrown by impact element rotation. The fibrous material is conveyed through the mill in an air stream which defines a general path for the fibrous material under the influence of impact element rotation. The grid-like wall serves to slow the particles of fiber rebounding from the wall so that the particles are subjected to repeated impacts by the impact elements of the mills. Rings divide the interior of the hammermill to control the fiber flow in the air stream to the outlet. A pair of hammermills in sequence permits pulps which are difficult to defiberize to be readily reduced to fluff.

Abstract: Free-standing boulders or rocks are fractured and broken down into many smaller pieces by impacting the boulder with a high velocity projectile. The impact energy is delivered to the rock by a blunt nosed projectile in a time which is less than the transit time of a sound signal across the average diameter of the rock.

Abstract: A material reducer for coal, lignite, ore, stone, rock, oil shale and the like which employs rotary hammers, bars or the like not only to crush the material but also to propel the crushed material upwardly along a confined or partially confined path which discharges for example onto an output conveyor or directly to a screen or other processing equipment. The feed-in or input end of the crusher can be at a level sufficiently low to be supplied by the newer more mobile loading units such as front-end loaders, over-the-head loaders, and others. The center of gravity can also be substantially lowered, providing more stability without the normal cumbersome frame and support structure.

Abstract: A roller crusher is carried by a coal cutting mining machine which is, in turn, carried by a gantry for movement along the frame of a longwall face conveyor. The roller crusher is attached to the coal cutting machine by a U-shaped frame having hinge pins for pivotal movement thereof about a horizontal axis at the end of the machine which faces toward the oncoming stream of coal on the conveyor. The U-shaped frame supports a drive motor that is, in turn, coupled by a gear drive to the roller crusher. A piston and cylinder assembly is controlled to adjustably position the U-shaped frame and thereby the roller. The mining machine has support arms that are pivotal about horizontal axes and carry coal cutting drums to project into the working face of the mine.

Abstract: This invention relates to a method for dispersing a suspension of solid particles into the colloidal state, which comprises charging grinding media and said dispersion into a vessel so that the volume ratio of the grinding media and the suspension is within a range of from 2/1 to 1/2 and agitating the suspension and the grinding media by rotating one agitation rod mounted on the tip end of an agitation shaft at the lower part of the central portion of the vessel so that the peripheral velocity of the tip of the agitation rod is within a range of from 6 to 20 m/sec. The invention also is directed to an apparatus for practicing this method.

Abstract: A material reducer for coal, lignite, ore, stone, rock, oil shale and the like which employs rotary hammers, bars or the like not only to crush the material but also to propel the crushed material upwardly along a confined or partially confined path or discharge chute which empties onto an output conveyor, a screen or other processing equipment. The chute is provided with means to reduce or eliminate clogging at the discharge port from the reducer. The input end of the reducer can be at a level sufficiently low to be supplied by mobile loading units such as front-end loaders, over-the-head loaders, and others. The center of gravity can also be substantially lowered, providing more stability without the normal cumbersome frame and support structure.

Abstract: An improved apparatus for the simultaneous crushing and drying of materials, such as coal with high moisture content, which includes a .[.hammermill.]. .Iadd.crusher .Iaddend.having parallel top inlets for the material and a rapid flow of hot air. The material drops into the .[.impactor.]. .Iadd.impact .Iaddend.circle of the .[.hammermill.]. .Iadd.crusher .Iaddend.prior to any substantial mixing with the flow of hot air. The flow of hot air is selectively directed into the crushing chamber, behind the breaker plates or in parallel to both locations, to dry the material during crushing. A substantially unobstructed bottom outlet permits high flow rates through the apparatus. A method of crushing and drying high moisture content material is also disclosed.