Portable agitator for fluidizing bottom solids in tanks
AssigneesCadence Environmental Energy, Inc., Ash Grove Cement Company
InventorRalph A. Supelak
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A portable agitator is provided for fluidizing contents of a tank car that has settled during shipment. The agitator includes a column that can extend into a tank car through a manway, a wedging assembly for holding the column in place in the tank between the manway and the bottom wall of the tank, and a pivotable impeller platform appended to a distal end of the column. A pair of impellers are mounted on opposite ends of the impeller platform and are operable to stir and fluidize the contents of the tank car.
Claims16
A portable agitator for extending into an interior region of a tank through a manway tube mounted on the tank to fluidize material contained in the tank, the manway tube including an axially inner end lying adjacent to the tank and an axially outer end extending away from the tank, the agitator comprising
- a frame including an upright column and foot means for engaging a bottom wall in the tank to stabilize the upright column in the interior region of the tank,
- means for mixing solid and liquid material contained in the interior region of the tank to produce a pumpable slurry, the mixing means being mounted on the frame and including first and second platforms, each platform being pivotably connected to the upright column to move between a retracted position situated to lie alongside the upright column to facilitate insertion of the platform into the interior region of the tank through the manway tube and a pivoted position oriented to lie at an angle to the longitudinal axis of the upright column, a first impeller rotatably mounted on a distal end of the first platform and arranged to face in a first direction, a second impeller rotatably mounted on a distal end of the second platform and arranged to face in a second direction opposite to the first direction, a drive member, means for slidably mounting the drive member to the upright column for reciprocating movement relative to the upright column, a first pivot arm having a first end pivotably coupled to the first platform and a second end pivotably coupled to the drive member, a second pivot arm having a first end pivotably coupled to the second platform and a second end pivotably coupled to the drive member, and means for reciprocating the drive member between a platform-projecting position to move the first and second platforms to their pivoted positions by pivoting the first ends of the first and second pivot arms away from the upright column and a platform-retracting position to move the first and second platforms to their retracted positions by pivoting the first ends of the first and second pivot arms toward the upright column, and
- means for selectively wedging against the axially inner end of the manway tube to anchor the frame and position the mixing means in the interior region of the tank, the wedging means being mounted on the frame.
A portable agitator for extending into an interior region of a tank through a manway tube mounted on the tank to fluidize material contained in the tank, the agitator comprising
- a frame including an upright column and foot means for engaging a bottom wall in the tank to stabilize the upright column in the interior region of the tank,
- first and second platforms, each platform being pivotably connected to the upright column to move between a retracted position situated to lie alongside the upright column to facilitate insertion of the platform into the interior region of the tank through the manway tube and a pivoted position oriented to lie at an angle to the longitudinal axis of the upright column,
- a first impeller rotatably mounted on a distal end of the first platform and arranged to face in a first direction,
- a second impeller rotatably mounted on a distal end of the second platform and arranged to face in a second direction opposite to the first direction,
- a drive member,
- means for slidably mounting the drive member to the upright column for reciprocating movement relative to the upright column,
- a first pivot arm having a first end pivotably coupled to the first platform and a second end pivotably coupled to the drive member,
- a second pivot arm having a first end pivotably coupled to the second platform and a second end pivotably coupled to the drive member, and
- means for reciprocating the drive member between a platform-projecting position to move the first and second platforms to their pivoted positions by pivoting the first ends of the first and second pivot arms away from the upright column and a platform-retracting position to move the first and second platforms to their retracted positions by pivoting the first ends of the first and second pivot arms toward the upright column.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.