Particleboard furnish blender

A process for blending a wood particle furnish with a liquid in a hollow housing having continuous cylindrical walls centered along a vertical axis and leading to an open bottom end, including an upper end presenting an annular downwardly flared inner housing surface smoothly merging into the cylindrical walls, comprising the steps of:

• feeding the furnish into an opening centered about the vertical axis at the upper end;
• forming the furnish within the housing into a continuous free falling cylindrical shell of loose particles centered about said axis by rotating a horizontal disk coaxially mounted about the vertical axis for throwing furnish radially outward toward the annular downwardly flared inner housing surface;
• forming a pool of liquid in a plurality of upwardly facing conical disks, centered on said axis within the shell and housing;
• and
• rotating the disk about said axis to produce an atomized spray of the liquid in a circular band directed outward of the conical disks and against the shell;
• agitating the particles within the shell of loose particles after they drop past one conical disk and before being exposed to the next conical disk as the particles fall through the housing toward its open bottom end.