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US 5,341,962 AGranted
Swing arm feeder
AssigneeCadence Environmental Energy, Inc.
InventorsPeter F. Way, William L. Petitjean
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A feeder for discharging a load of material includes a hopper, a swing arm pivoting between raised and lowered positions in the hopper, and a ram mounted on the free end of the swing arm. The ram is moved by the swing arm back and forth on a curved floor in a trapezoidally shaped trough underneath the hopper to push material in the trough out of the hopper through a discharge outlet. A shutoff valve at the discharge outlet prevents backflow of discharged material into the trough.
Claims26
A feeder for discharging a load of material to a place outside the feeder, the feeder comprising
- hopper means for holding a supply of material, the hopper means being formed to include an interior region containing the supply of material and a discharge outlet, the hopper means further including an inclined trough located in a bottom portion of the interior region, the inclined trough being formed to include a curved material-receiving channel having a curved floor and communicating with the interior region of the hopper and the discharge outlet of the hopper,
- a ram movable in the curved material-receiving channel and on the curved floor between a raised position away from the discharge outlet and a lowered position adjacent to the discharge outlet, and
- means for moving the ram on the curved floor from its raised position to its lowered position to discharge a load of material lying in the curved material-receiving channel out of the hopper through the discharge outlet to a place outside the feeder, the moving means including a swing are positioned in the interior region and coupled to the ram and means for pivoting the swing arm in the interior region about a pivot axis to move the ram in the curved material-receiving channel and on the curved floor between the raised and lowered positions, the curved floor having a center of curvature and being curved and oriented to position the center of curvature on the pivot axis of the pivoting means.
A feeder for discharging a load of material to a place outside the feeder, the feeder comprising
- hopper means for holding a supply of material, the hopper means being formed to include an interior region containing the supply of material and a discharge outlet, the hopper means further including an inclined trough located in a bottom portion of the interior region, the inclined trough being formed to include a curved material-receiving channel having a curved floor and communicating with the interior region of the hopper and the discharge outlet of the hopper,
- a ram movable in the curved material-receiving channel and on the curved floor between a raised position away from the discharge outlet and a lowered position adjacent to the discharge outlet, and
- means for moving the ram on the curved floor from its raised position to its lowered position to discharge a load of material lying in the curved material-receiving channel out of the hopper through the discharge outlet to a place outside the feeder, the through including first and second trough side walls extending along the curved floor of the material-receiving channel and lying in spaced-apart relation to one another, each trough side wall including a curved top edge lying in spaced-apart relation to the curved floor of the material-receiving channel, the hopper means further includes a first conical side wall section appended to the curved top edge of the first trough side wall and a second conical side wall section appended to the curved top edge of the second trough side wall, and the first and second conical side wall sections lying in spaced-apart cup-shaped relation to funnel material in the interior region into the curved material-receiving channel.
A feeder for discharging a load of material to a place outside the feeder, the feeder comprising
- hopper means for holding a supply of material, the hopper means being formed to include an interior region containing the supply of material and a discharge outlet, the hopper means further including an inclined trough located in a bottom portion of the interior region, the inclined trough being formed to include a curved material-receiving channel having a curved floor and communicating with the interior region of the hopper and the discharge outlet of the hopper.
- a ram movable in the curved material-receiving channel and on the curved floor between a raised position away from the discharge outlet and a lowered position adjacent to the discharge outlet, and
- means for moving the ram on the curved floor from its raised position to its lowered position to discharge a load of material lying in the curved material-receiving channel out of the hopper through the discharge outlet to a place outside the feeder, the ram including a body having a curved bottom surface riding on the curved floor of the material-receiving channel and a nose appended to a forward end of the body and sized to pass through the discharge outlet during movement of the ram from its raised position to its lowered position, the hopper means further including a feed chamber formed to include an inlet at one end and the discharge outlet at the other end, the curved material-receiving channel being arranged to pass through the feed chamber, the feed chamber further including a curved ceiling extending between the interior region and the discharge outlet and lying in uniformly spaced-apart relation to the curved floor of the material-receiving channel, and the body of the ram including a curved top surface sliding on the curved ceiling of the feed chamber during passage of the ram through the feed chamber.
A feeder for discharging a load of material to a piece outside the feeder, the feeder comprising
- hopper means for holding a supply of material, the hopper means being formed to include an interior region containing the supply of material and a discharge outlet, the hopper means further including an inclined trough located in a bottom portion of the interior region, the inclined trough being formed to include a curved material-receiving channel having a curved floor and communicating with the interior region of the hopper and the discharge outlet of the hopper,
- a ram movable in the curved material-receiving channel and on the curved floor between a raised position away from the discharge outlet and a lowered position adjacent to the discharge outlet, and
- means for moving the ram on the curved floor from its raised position to its lowered position to discharge a load of material lying in the curved material-receiving channel out of the hopper through the discharge outlet to a place outside the feeder, the trough having a trapezoidal shape and including first and second inclined side walls extending along the curved floor of the material-receiving channel in spaced-apart relation to one another and converging toward the floor to define the trapezoidal shape, the hopper being formed to include an upper wall defining a top opening into the interior region, and the trough including an upper section forming a portion of the upper wall.
A feeder for discharging a load of material to a place outside the feeder, the feeder comprising
- hopper means for holding a supply of material in an interior region,
- a trough appended to the hopper means, the trough being formed to include a top opening communicating with the interior region of the hopper means and a trapezoidal material-receiving channel underlying the top opening and having a trapezoidal cross-sectional shape,
- a trapezoidally shaped ram movable in the material-receiving channel, and
- means for moving the ram in the trapezoidal material-receiving channel to discharge a load of material lying in the trapezoidal material-receiving channel through a discharge outlet formed in the trough.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.