Pin conveyor for pasty materials such as animal waste

A pin conveyor including:

• a housing having a substantially cylindrical inner surface extending along and about a first axis,
• a shaft mounted for rotation within said cylindrical inner surface of said housing, said shaft extending along and about said first axis and having a plurality of pins mounted thereto to extend substantially radially outwardly of said shaft and said first axis, said pins having tips spaced from the cylindrical inner surface of said housing, said pins being spaced from each other along and about said first axis, and
• a plurality of sleeve members slidably mounted about at least some of said pins, said sleeve members being centrifugally impelled outwardly of said pins to contact and scrape the cylindrical inner surface of said housing as said shaft is rotated about said first axis wherein at least a first set of pins radially adjacent one another about said first axis extend substantially in a first common plane substantially perpendicular to said first axis.

A pin conveyor including:

• a housing having a substantially cylindrical inner surface extending along and about a first axis,
• a shaft mounted for rotation within said cylindrical inner surface of said housing, said shaft extending along and about said first axis and having a plurality of pins mounted thereto to extend substantially radially outwardly of said shaft and said first axis, said pins having tips spaced from the cylindrical inner surface of said housing, said pins being spaced from each other along and about said first axis, and
• a plurality of sleeve members slidably mounted about at least some of said pins, said sleeve members being centrifugally impelled outwardly of said pins to contact and scrape the cylindrical inner surface of said housing as said shaft is rotated about said first axis wherein said pins have substantially cylindrical outer surfaces and said sleeve members have substantially cylindrical inner surfaces, said sleeve members being slidably received about said pins with the respective inner and outer cylindrical surfaces adjacent one another.

A pin conveyor including:

• a housing having a substantially cylindrical inner surface extending along and about a first axis,
• a shaft mounted for rotation within said cylindrical inner surface of said housing, said shaft extending along and about said first axis and having a plurality of pins mounted thereto to extend substantially radially outwardly of said shaft and said first axis, said pins having tips spaced from the cylindrical inner surface of said housing, said pins being spaced from each other along and about said first axis, and
• a plurality of sleeve members slidably mounted about at least some of said pins, said sleeve members being centrifugally impelled outwardly of said pins to contact and scrape the cylindrical inner surface of said housing as said shaft is rotated about said first axis wherein said sleeve members are made of polytetrafluoroethylene.

A pin conveyor including:

• a housing having a substantially cylindrical inner surface extending along and about a first axis,
• a shaft mounted for rotation within said cylindrical inner surface of said housing, said shaft extending along and about said first axis and having a plurality of pins mounted thereto to extend substantially radially outwardly of said shaft and said first axis, said pins having tips spaced from the cylindrical inner surface of said housing, said pins being spaced from each other along and about said first axis, and
• a plurality of sleeve members slidably mounted about at least some of said pins, said sleeve members being centrifugally impelled outwardly of said pins to contact and scrape the cylindrical inner surface of said housing as said shaft is rotated about said first axis wherein said pins are spaced from each other to extend along and about said shaft in at least one substantially helical pattern and wherein radially adjacent sleeve members contact and scrape substantially abutting areas of the cylindrical inner surface of said housing along said first axis as said shaft is rotated about said first axis.

A pin conveyor including:

• a housing having a substantially cylindrical inner surface extending along and about a first axis,
• a shaft mounted for rotation within said cylindrical inner surface of said housing, said shaft extending along and about said first axis and having a plurality of pins mounted thereto to extend substantially radially outwardly of said shaft and said first axis, said pins having tips spaced from the cylindrical inner surface of said housing, said pins being spaced from each other along and about said first axis, and
• a plurality of sleeve members slidably mounted about at least some of said pins, said sleeve members being centrifugally impelled outwardly of said pins to contact and scrape the cylindrical inner surface of said housing as said shaft is rotated about said first axis wherein said pins are spaced from each other to extend along and about said shaft in at least one substantially helical pattern and wherein radially adjacent sleeve members contact and scrape overlapping areas of the cylindrical inner surface of said housing along said first axis as said shaft is rotated about said first axis.

A pin conveyor including:

• a housing having a substantially cylindrical inner surface extending along and about a first axis,
• a shaft mounted for rotation within said cylindrical inner surface of said housing, said shaft extending along and about said first axis and having a plurality of pins mounted thereto to extend substantially radially outwardly of said shaft and said first axis, said pins having tips spaced from the cylindrical inner surface of said housing, said pins being spaced from each other along and about said first axis, and
• a plurality of sleeve members slidably mounted about at least some of said pins, said sleeve members being centrifugally impelled outwardly of said pins to contact and scrape the cylindrical inner surface of said housing as said shaft is rotated about said first axis wherein said pins extend outwardly of said shaft along respective radial axes substantially perpendicular to said first axis and said sleeve members are concentrically mounted about said pins to extend and slide along said respective radial axes relative to said pins.