Tiered container with flow distribution system
AssigneeReynolds Leasing Corporation
InventorRobert C. Johnson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A tiered container for use in an autoclave of an apparatus used in a process for increasing the filling capacity of tobacco, said process utilizing a compound to impregnate the tobacco and a hot gas to vaporize the impregnating compound.
Claims10
A tiered container for use in the autoclave of an apparatus used in a process for increasing the filling capacity of tobacco, said process utilizing a volatile organic compound to impregnate the tobacco carried in beds in the tiered container and a hot gas to vaporize the compound in the tobacco, said tiered container comprising at least two baskets, each of said baskets including:
- a. a bottom with an aperture therein;
- b. a side wall secured to and circumscribing said bottom;
- c. a perforated member positioned above said bottom and within said side wall providing a flow passage between said perforated member and said bottom, said perforated member receiving a portion of the total quantity of tobacco to be processed;
- and
- d. a conduit communicating with the flow passage and said aperture within its basket and the aperture and flow passage of an adjacent basket, whereby a fluid can pass upwardly through said apertures into said flow passages and through the perforated members into the tobacco beds and downwardly through said beds into said flow passages and into said conduits adjacent said basket.
A tiered container for use in an autoclave of an apparatus for increasing the filling capacity of tobacco including a lower basket and at least one upper basket, said lower basket comprising:
- a. a cone-shaped bottom having an aperture therein;
- b. a side wall circumscribing said bottom;
- c. a perforated sheet located within said side wall and positioned above said bottom to form a flow passage between said bottom and said perforated sheet, said flow passage diverging inwardly from the side wall towards the center of the basket;
- d. a conduit extending through said perforated sheet and communicating with said flow passage;
- and
- e. a sealing member secured to the outside surface of said side wall which is adapted to mate with said autoclave;
- said upper baskets comprising:
- a. a cone-shaped bottom having an aperture therein;
- b. a side wall circumscribing said bottom;
- c. a perforated sheet located within said side wall and positioned above said bottom to form a flow passage between said bottom and said perforated sheet, said flow passage diverging inwardly from the side wall towards the center of the basket;
- d. a conduit extending through said perforated sheet and communicating with said flow passage;
- and
- e. means for positioning said upper basket on an adjacent basket below so that said conduit of said adjacent basket below is in a sealing relationship with the bottom of the above adjacent basket and communicates with the flow passage of the above adjacent basket through the aperture in its bottom.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.