Apparatus for wetting divided solid material

Abstract

Apparatus for wetting divided solid material so that it can be sucked into a storage tank by an entraining air stream without danger of damaging the expensive heavy duty air pump consists of a cylindrical body providing a wetting chamber which tapers outwardly from an inlet and inwardly to an outlet. A plurality of spray nozzles, each mounted in a recess, are provided uniformly spaced circumferentially and longitudinally around the chamber, so as to provide minimum spray pattern interference. A deflector means is provided immediately after the inlet to distribute the air flow over the chamber, consisting of a plurality of uniformly circumferentially distributed inwardly-extending finger-like members and an axial barrier on the flow axis. Another spray nozzle is provided spraying onto the deflector and also serving as a by-pass for the liquid supply pump, so that the nozzles operate with optimum spray patterns while the pump is at optimum flow capacity.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.