Material handling apparatus

Abstract

An apparatus for handling flowable material, particularly particulate material, which is held in a discharge container such as an IBC having an opening normally covered by a transport cap, comprises a device which is adapted to engage and remove the transport cap and a device to cover at least a rim of the cap during such removal. The problem of contamination is overcome using the apparatus which is in the form of an annular metal (in the embodiment) cowl which has two peripheral spaced apart upstanding walls, the inner wall rising from an internal base in the embodiment and from which also rises the engaging and removing device, which in the embodiment shown comprises a pneumatic piston and cylinder arrangement. The piston carries an extractor in the form of an annular disc or spider having a depending peripheral wall which carries an inflatable ring or tire. The external surface of the inner wall carries at its rim a lip seal which is mounted over an inflatable ring. The outer wall is higher than the inner wall, and carries an annular seal too, which extends over the lip seal.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.