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US 4,047,623 AGranted
Module loading device
AssigneeAjax International Corporation
InventorsRobert Blevitt, Miguel Eugene O'Brien
Life of this patent
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AssigneeAjax International Corporation
InventorsRobert Blevitt, Miguel Eugene O'Brien
Estimating the term…
Disclosed is a device for loading and unloading modules relative to a pressure vessel and utilized in reverse osmosis systems. The device includes an elongated support for receiving the modules, a fluid actuated cylinder located at one end of the support and a clamp at the opposite end of the support for clamping the support to the open end of the pressure vessel. As each module is disposed on the support, the cylinder is actuated to extend its piston whereby the piston head displaces the module along the support into the open end of the pressure vessel. Additional modules are similarly loaded into the pressure vessel whereby the modules are serially arranged within the pressure vessel. To unload the modules from the pressure vessel, a rod is disposed between the piston head and the first module and the fluid actuated cylinder is actuated to displace all of the modules in the pressure vessel axially toward its opposite open end whereby the module first disposed into the pressure vessel is first unloaded therefrom. Additional rods are utilized to successively unload the modules from the opposite end of the pressure vessel, the near ends of the rods nesting one into the other, with each rod having a pair of centering plates to maintain it axially aligned in the pressure vessel and with the center pipe of the modules.
Apparatus for loading modules into a pressure vessel having at least one open end with a groove thereon adjacent said end comprising a frame, an elongated support carried by said frame for receiving a module, a pusher element carried by said frame for movement between a first position adjacent one end of said support and a second position adjacent the opposite end of said support, said element adapted to push a module along said support from the first to the second position, means for coupling the opposite end of said support to the pressure vessel at the open end thereof, said coupling means including a flange carried by said support and engageable in said groove to prevent relative endwise movement of said support and the pressure vessel, and means for moving said pusher element from said first position to said second position to move the module along said support and into the pressure vessel at its open end.
In a reverse osmosis system having an elongated, generally cylindrical, pressure vessel for receiving modules, said vessel being open at opposite ends and having a groove adjacent at least one of said ends, a pair of end caps and means for releasably securing said end caps to respective opposite ends of said vessel, the improvement comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.