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US 5,511,730 AGranted
Insulation blower having hands-free metered feeding
OwnerMichael W. Miller, Kerry W. Millerinventors
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The thermal insulation blower of the present invention is built around a vertically oriented air lock system. The insulation blower is capable of being configured for high delivery rates suitable for open area blowing and is capable of being reconfigured for lower delivery rates as a through-the-blower system for closed area blowing operations. The insulation blower includes a metering feeder assembly which can be adjusted to control the rate at which a bale of insulation is ripped and fed into the air lock system. The thermal insulation blower of the present invention also includes a bypass system around the air lock which serves to automatically clear impending plugs of insulation material in the delivery hose.
Claims21
A thermal insulation blower comprising:
- a base frame;
- a vertical axle;
- a motor mounted on said frame and having a drive shaft attached to one end of said vertical axle;
- a hopper sized to receive a bale of thermal insulation attached to said frame;
- a rotating bale stripper positioned in said hopper and attached to said vertical axle;
- a blower attached to said frame;
- a rotating chamber wheel attached to said vertical axle beneath said rotating bale stripper, said wheel having a plurality of chambers distributed around said vertical axle that open upward toward said rotating bale stripper;
- a stationary air lock attached to said frame and including upper and lower walls sized to enclose at least one of said plurality of chambers and further having a pair of openings;
- a first conduit connecting said blower to one of said pair of openings of said air lock;
- and
- a second conduit having one end connected to the other of said pair of openings;
- wherein said rotating bale stripper includes a stripper having a plurality of spoke members extending radially outward from said vertical axle and a center post feeder attached to said vertical axle above said stripper;
- and
- wherein said center post feeder is sized and shaped to bore upwardly through a bale of thermal insulation placed in said hopper when said vertical axle is rotating.
11 more elements
A thermal insulation blower comprising:
- a base frame;
- a vertical axle;
- a motor mounted on said frame and having a drive shaft attached to one end of said vertical axle;
- a hopper sized to receive a bale of thermal insulation attached to said frame;
- a blower attached to said frame;
- a rotating chamber wheel attached to said vertical axle, said wheel having a plurality of chambers distributed around said vertical axle that open upward to receive falling pieces of thermal insulation therein;
- a stationary air lock attached to said frame and including upper and lower walls sized to enclose at least one of said plurality of chambers and further having a pair of openings;
- means, positioned in said hopper above said rotating chamber wheel, for ripping a bail of thermal insulation into relatively small pieces and for metering the rate at which the small pieces are allowed to fall toward said rotating chamber wheel;
- a first conduit connecting said blower to one of said pair of openings of said air lock;
- and
- a second conduit having one end connected to the other of said pair of openings.
8 more elements
A thermal insulation blower comprising:
- a base frame;
- a hopper sized to receive a bale of thermal insulation attached to said frame;
- a rotating bale stripper positioned in said hopper for ripping a bale of thermal insulation into relatively small pieces;
- means, attached to said frame, for rotating said bale stripper;
- a blower having a blower inlet and a blower outlet attached to said frame;
- a rotating chamber wheel positioned within said frame beneath said rotating bale stripper, said wheel having a plurality of chambers distributed around its periphery for receiving pieces of thermal insulation therein;
- means, attached to said housing, for rotating said chamber wheel;
- a stationary air lock attached to said frame and having a pair of spaced apart walls sized to enclose at least one of said plurality of chambers and further having a pair of spaced apart openings for carrying out pieces of thermal insulation when one of said plurality of chambers is in registry with said stationary air lock;
- a conduit;
- a delivery hose;
- and
- wherein the thermal insulation blower has a first operating condition in which said conduit connects one of said pair of openings to said blower inlet, one end of said delivery hose is connected to said blower outlet and the other of said pair of openings is open to the atmosphere;
- and
- wherein the thermal insulation blower has a second operating condition in which said conduit connects the other of said pair of openings to said blower outlet, said one end of said delivery hose is connected to said one of said pair of openings and said blower inlet is open to the atmosphere.
11 more elements
A thermal insulation blower comprising:
- a base frame;
- a vertical axle;
- a motor mounted on said frame and having a drive shaft attached to one end of said vertical axle;
- a hopper sized to receive a bale of thermal insulation attached to said frame;
- a rotating bale stripper positioned in said hopper and attached to said vertical axle;
- a blower attached to said frame;
- a rotating chamber wheel attached to said vertical axle beneath said rotating bale stripper, said wheel having a plurality of chambers distributed around said vertical axle that open upward toward said rotating bale stripper;
- a stationary air lock attached to said frame and including a plurality of walls sized to enclose at least one of said plurality of chambers and further having in said plurality of walls both a first opening and a second opening lower than said first opening;
- a first conduit connecting said blower to said first opening of said air lock;
- a second conduit having one end connected to said second opening;
- and
- a clean air tube connecting said first conduit directly to said second conduit such that air can pass from said first conduit to said second conduit through both said air lock and said clean air tube.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.