US 4,610,397 AGranted

Comminuting equipment

AssigneeUrschel Laboratories, Inc.

InventorsRobert R. Fischer, Joe R. Urschel

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Abstract

The invention involves equipment comprising what may be referred to as a cutting head cylinder or unit provided with discharge passages and adjacent cutting edges and an improved impeller rotatable in the unit for directing a product or material introduced into the head tangentially against the cutting edges for comminuting or reducing the size of the product for flow outwardly through the passages. More particularly, the impeller structure embodies improved principles of design and construction and method of its operation whereby the product is presented substantially uniformly or evenly to the cutting edges and over the inside surface throughout the length of the cutting head or cylinder in order to substantially alleviate any concentration of the product in any localized areas within the confines of the head. Such presentation or dispersion of the product serves to maintain or preserve the inherent quality of the resultant comminuted product and appreciably reduces friction and the noise level during the comminuting process by utilizing the improved impeller structure.

Claims6

Dependent claims

An apparatus for comminuting a product comprising:

(a) a bottom support;
(b) a tubular cylinder, having an interior wall, mounted on the bottom support, the interior wall of the cylinder being provided with a plurality of transverse passages and a plurality of corresponding cutting edges disposed adjacent the passages;
(c) an impeller supported for rotation about an axis within the cylinder;
(d) the impeller including a base having a periphery and an even number of blades supported on and extending upwardly from the base and disposed in a circular configuration, half of the total number of blades sloping forwardly from the base towards the direction of rotation and the remaining half of the total number of blades sloping rearwardly from the base away from the direction of rotation with respect to the impeller axis of rotation, each forwardly sloping blade being positioned between two rearwardly sloping blades;
and
(e) a top end of each forwardly sloping blade extending beyond a top end of each rearwardly sloping blade and a bottom end of each rearwardly sloping blade extending beyond a bottom end of each forwardly sloping blade for defining an undulating path along which the product is caused to flow during rotation of the impeller.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.