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US 2015/0086277 A1Published application
Method and apparatus for volume reduction of fine particulate
OwnerWilliam E HODGEinventor
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for the volume reduction of fine particulate by either promoting the dense packing of the discrete solid particles using a poker equipped with at least one paddle for mixing the particles and imparting vibration or by injecting the finest tailings fractions into the open void spaces between the coarser grains.
Claims20
An apparatus for the compaction of fine particulate comprising:
- a poker for insertion into said fine particulate, said poker comprising an elongated cylindrical outer casing mountable to a delivery vehicle;
- a drive shaft extending within said outer casing and operatively connected to a rotatable coupling;
- at least one elongate element connected at one end to said rotatable coupling and at an opposite end to a nose cone;
- and
- wherein said at least one elongate element being movable from a first position to a second position radially extended from said outer casing.
2 more elements
A method for compacting particulate material comprising:
- inserting a poker into particulate material to be compacted, said poker having at least one stirring element extendible from a first position for penetrating said particulate material when said poker being inserted to a second position extending radially outward from said poker;
- extending said stirring element from said first position to said second position;
- alternately rotating said stirring element through said particulate material and causing said stirring element to vibrate.
A method for minimizing the volume occupied by the combined volumes of a volume of particulate material and a separate volume of viscous fluid comprising:
- inserting a poker into said particulate material;
- dispersing said viscous fluid through said poker into said particulate material surrounding said poker, thereby filling void space between adjacent particulate with said viscous fluid.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.