Marcel O Rohr

US Patent:

54509840, Sep 19, 1995

Filed:

Apr 29, 1994

Appl. No.:

8/236539

Inventors:

Marcel O. Rohr - Haddonfield NJ

Assignee:

K-Tron Technologies, Inc. - Wilmington DE

International Classification:

B67D 508

US Classification:

222 56

Abstract:

Material feeding apparatus having, as one aspect, combining the loading, feeding and refilling functions in a single, vertically disposed housing with a feeder hopper portion of the housing below a refill hopper portion of the housing and separated from the refill hopper portion by a divider wall. The passage of material from the refill hopper portion to the feeder hopper portion is through a valve and material is drawn into the refill hopper portion by a vacuum source and discharged to the feeder hopper portion in response to indications of the level of the material in the refill hopper portion and the feeder hopper portion. A second aspect of this material feeding apparatus is the use of a flap valve as the valve which determines the passage of material from the refill hopper to the feeder hopper. A third aspect of this material feeding apparatus is combining two or more such systems in a blender and loading the systems with a single vacuum source which is selectively indexed to load the individual systems with constituent parts of a blend as the demand for material is sensed.