Particleboard furnish blender

A particleboard furnish blending apparatus for applying liquid adhesive to wood particles, comprising:

• a hollow housing having continuous cylindrical walls centered along a vertical axis and leading to an open bottom end;
• the housing including a hemispherical upper end centered about the vertical axis and smoothly merging into the cylindrical walls to form an annular downwardly flared inner housing surface;
• an infeed opening centered about the vertical axis at the hemispherical upper end;
• furnish distribution means located within the hemispherical upper end of the housing directly beneath said infeed opening for receiving loose furnish and for forming the loose furnish into a free fall continuous concentric shell of loose particles adjacent to the housing cylindrical walls;
• the furnish distribution means including a horizontal disk coaxially mounted about the vertical axis and having a frictional upper surface for throwing furnish radially outward toward the annular downwardly flared inner housing surface;
• means for rotating the disk about the vertical axis;
• a plurality of inverted conical adhesive atomizers, each atomizer having an upwardly facing cupped surface with a circular peripheral edge centered about the vertical axis;
• the atomizers being arranged coaxially within the housing along the vertical axis for producing atomized spray bands of liquid adhesive directed outwardly against the shell of loose particles;
• means for supplying liquid adhesive to the cupped atomizer surfaces;
• means for rotating the atomizers about the vertical axis;
• and
• means for agitating the particles within the shell of loose particles after they drop past one atomizer and before being exposed to the next atomizer as the particles fall through the housing toward its open bottom end.