Cooling pocket for a rotary drum cooler having a flexible vent pipe assembly

A rotary drum cooler for cooling particulate material, said cooler comprising:

• a housing adapted to have a bath of cooling liquid therein;
• an elongated shell rotatably mounted in said housing, said shell having an inlet at one end for receiving said particulate material and an outlet at the other end through which said particulate material is removed after it has passed through said shell, said shell having openings spaced along one side thereof and apertures in the opposite side of the shell wherein each of said openings is aligned with a respective aperture;
• a cooling pocket positioned into each of said openings whereby said pocket is in contact said particulate material as said material passes through said shell, each of said pockets being open at a first end through which said pocket can be filled with said cooling liquid as said shell is rotated through said bath of cooling liquid in said housing;
• a vent pipe assembly at a second end of said pocket, said vent pipe assembly comprising:
• a tube, said tube slidably extending through a respective aperture in said shell and having an inner end and an outer end, said inner end of said tube being affixed to and in fluid communication with said second end of said pocket;
• and
• flexible means for sealingly connecting said outer end of said tube to said shell for allowing said tube to slide within said aperture in said shell in response to expansion/contraction of said pocket within said shell.