Environmental chamber and method for composting solid waste

An apparatus comprising:

• (a) a cylindrical container mounted for rotation about a horizontally disposed longitudinal axis, said cylindrical container having a side wall, a front inlet end and a rear outlet end;
• (b) rotary seal means affixed to said front inlet end for sealing the interior of said cylindrical container from the ambient, said rotary seal means including means for introducing fluids into the interior of said cylindrical container and means for extracting fluids from said cylindrical container as said cylindrical container continues to rotate;
• and
• (c) vane means inside said cylindrical container for pushing material along said side wall from one end to the other end as said cylindrical container continues to rotate, said vane means connected to a shaft journaled through said side wall of said cylindrical container, said shaft coupled on the exterior of said cylindrical container to means for rotating said vane means to a desired pitch.

An apparatus comprising:

• (a) a container mounted for rotation along a horizontal longitudinal axis, said container having a side wall, a front end, a rear end, and pipe means for fluid communication with the inside of said container;
• (b) a front support plate having a first major surface area, a second major surface area, and an annular counterbore in said first major surface area, said front support plate having a hole from said annular counterbore to said second major surface area;
• (c) a front seal bearing between said front end and said front support plate, said front seal bearing having a front surface area, a rear surface area and an arcuate channel in said front surface area, said arcuate channel having a hole from said front surface area to said rear surface area, said hole operatively coupled to said pipe means, said arcuate channel in face-to-face relation with said annular counterbore of said front support plate;
• and
• (d) means at said rear end for supporting said rear end for rotation along said horizontal longitudinal axis.

An apparatus comprising:

• (a) a front support plate having a first annular counterbore;
• (b) a rear support plate having a second annular counterbore;
• (c) a container having a side wall, a front end and a rear end;
• (d) a front rotary seal attached to said front end and a rear rotary seal attached to said rear end, wherein said front rotary seal is inserted in said first annular counterbore and said rear rotary seal is inserted in said second annular counterbore for journaling said container for rotation;
• (e) means for rotating said container;
• and
• (f) vane means contained inside said container and actuable from a location exterior to said container for pushing material along said side wall from one end to the other end as said cylindrical container continues to rotate, said vane means including a shaft journaled through said side wall of said container.

An apparatus comprising:

• (a) a cylindrical container mounted for rotation about a horizontally disposed longitudinal axis, said cylindrical container having a side wall, a front inlet end and rear outlet end;
• (b) a pipe having an inlet and a plurality of outlets, said pipe being joined to the exterior of said cylindrical container with said plurality of outlets extending through said side wall of said cylindrical container at longitudinally spaced locations;
• (c) rotary seal means affixed to said front inlet end for sealing the interior of said cylindrical container from the ambient, said rotary seal means including an annular disc having first and second major surfaces and a cylindrical outer diameter, said first major surface having a plurality of arcuate channels formed inwardly therein, each such channel being separated from an adjacent channel by an intermediate wall member, certain channels including a bore extending through said second major surface and operatively coupled to said inlet of said pipe, wherein fluid communication is achieved from said arcuate channels through said bore and said pipe into the interior of said cylindrical container;
• and
• (d) means contained within said cylindrical container and actuable from a location exterior to said cylindrical container for controlling the flow of material through said cylindrical container as said cylindrical container continues to rotate.

An apparatus comprising:

• (a) a cylindrical container mounted for rotation about a horizontally disposed longitudinal axis, said cylindrical container having a side wall, a front inlet end and a rear outlet end;
• (b) rotary seal means affixed to said front inlet end for sealing the interior of said cylindrical container from the ambient, said rotary seal means including means for introducing and extracting fluids from said cylindrical container as said cylindrical container continues to rotate;
• and
• (c) vane means contained within said cylindrical container and rotatable from a location exterior to said cylindrical container for pushing material along said side wall from one end to the other end as said cylindrical container continues to rotate, said vane means rotatable to variable pitches.