MXPA99003773A - Milling and pulverising apparatus and method - Google Patents

Abstract

The specification describes a method and associated apparatus for pulverising materials, wherein the pulverising apparatus includes a receptacle (4), two or more pulverising weights (2, 3) and a driving mechanism linked to the receptacle wherein the pulverising weights (2, 3) are disposed substantially horizontally with respect to the receptacle. The method of operating the apparatus includes the steps of:a) placing the pulverising weights (2, 3) in the receptacle (4), wherein the pulverising weights are disposed substantially horizontally with respect to the receptacle, and b) activating the driving mechanism, causing material(s) retained in the receptacle to be ground by the pulverising weights (2, 3).

Description

PE MILLING AND SPRAYING APPARATUS DESCRIPTION Background and field of the invention.

The following invention relates to an apparatus used to grind or pulverize materials, especially minerals. In the following, the mentions of the "material" within the present specification will be understood as referring to mineral in the form of rocks. It must be taken into account the fact that the present invention allows the use of other types of materials, among them: sand, coal, wood, slag, clay or tuff. A large amount of chemical analysis requires that the sample to be analyzed has the homogeneous powder consistency. This is true in the case of tests with mineral samples, in which it is necessary that the sample be pulverized into particles with a diameter of less than 75 microns. Some analyzes also need a large amount of sample to be sampled. The analysis in question may consume a large part of the sample, or it may be necessary to perform several to ensure that the results obtained are reproducible. In the case of the analysis of the chemical components of the minerals in the form of rocks, the preparation of the sample presents several problems. Large amounts of rock need to be pulverized to turn them into a fine and homogeneous powder sample.

An existing method for spraying rock samples is a ring mill. The ring mill consists of a container in which one or more solid rings and a solid disk are installed in the center. It also has a lid that can be hooked firmly to the container. The container is fixed to a horizontal platform mounted on a set of springs. The impeller motor that vibrates the container is secured in the lower part of the platform. When a rock sample is placed in the mill, the larger particles are crushed between the outer ring and the walls of the container, between the rings and between the disc and the adjacent rings. They are also crushed between the upper and lower surface of the rings, the container and the lid. The mill is operated until the sample has a homogeneous consistency and the particles are of adequate size. The design of this mill is efficient, but it suffers from a main problem that is a disadvantage for the operator. The ring mill can process only small amounts of sample in each process of operation. If too much sample is put in the container, the rings and the disc become stuck, limiting the movement of the rings when the appliance is in operation. This causes a serious problem, since the pulverization of the necessary amount of sample for an analysis becomes a long and tedious work, in which it is necessary to carry out several stages of processing. Sometimes it is necessary to crush the sample before putting it in the mill. If the material has too large or too thick pieces, the ring mill can not spray the sample effectively, or it will take an extremely long period of spraying to process a sample and obtain the homogeneity and proper size of the particles. Another type of spray mill is the disk mill, described in Australian Patent No. 570814. The disk mill uses the same drive mechanism as the standard ring mill, but replaces the rings and the central disk by a disk with a convex curve base. The disc also includes a cone-shaped opening outside the center of the disc. This mill uses a container with a concave base in which the disc moves. When vibrating, the disc can rise through the walls of the container, trapping the particles of the sample in the lower part and pulverizing them when falling from the walls of the container. The opening in the disc serves to distribute the material under the disc. The disc mill solves some of the disadvantages that arise when using the ring mill, since it can process a large amount of sample. However, the disc mill also needs long processing periods to spray a sample to the required particle size. This results in a slow preparation of the sample. Again, the operator has a limit for the amount of sample that can be processed in a certain period of time. An additional problem associated with disc mills is the emptying of the sample once it is pulverized. The discs used in conventional disc mills can weigh more than 25 kilos, therefore it is very difficult for operators to lift and remove it. Therefore, a hydraulic or pneumatic device is needed to lift and remove the disc from the mill.

This results in an increase in costs, since more equipment is needed for sample preparation. In addition, it slows down the preparation of the sample; the operator must control and maneuver a secondary mechanical equipment to be able to remove the sample from the mill. With prolonged use, the disk of the disc mill loses weight due to the abrasion that occurs when the sample is crushed. The efficiency of the disc will decrease with use as you lose weight, to the point where it will be necessary to replace it due to the extended time of spraying. In the mills of a single disc, the base of the used container also wears with the use, with what it is necessary to replace it. The container is a costly piece and, because the disc mills use curved base containers, they can not be repaired with a spare plate for the base. Another type of spraying apparatus, called a ball mill, can be used in the cases of continuous flow processing. The flow processing mills are used in in-line production, where the material is added in pieces continuously and removed from the apparatus in the form of a fine powder. This is the opposite of batch processing, where a mill containing a certain amount of sample is operated for a controlled time, stopped and the sample is removed. The ball mill used in continuous flow processing can be configured in various ways. However, all ball mills include a main receptacle which puts a certain number of balls together with the material to be ground. Then, the receptacle is rotated or, more frequently, it is agitated to hit the balls against the material to be sprayed.

As one skilled in the art can appreciate, ball mills do not work as efficiently as other mills and sprayers. The ball has only one point of contact with another ball and the material is sprayed between them. Only a small amount of material is sprayed on each impact of the balls, due to the small existing contact surface. This makes the ball mills relatively inefficient compared to other types of grinding apparatus. A milling and spraying apparatus that overcomes the obstacles mentioned above would constitute a breakthrough in the existing state of the art. A machine with such conditions would greatly increase the speed of sample preparation, reducing the time periods necessary to prepare a sample batch and processing more sample in each batch than is normally possible. Some laboratories process thousands of samples per day and, therefore, any reduction in spray time would result in considerable cost and labor savings. In addition, a grinding and spraying apparatus that accepts material in coarse pieces would further increase the processing speed of the sample, eliminating the need to crush the sample. The aim of the present invention is to attack the aforementioned problems or, at least, to provide the public with a useful alternative. In the following description, which is given by way of example only, other features and advantages of the present invention will be shown.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION According to one of the aspects of the present invention, it is composed of a spraying apparatus that includes a receptacle and at least two spraying weights, characterized in that the spraying weights are mainly located horizontally inside the spraying apparatus. receptacle. According to one aspect of the present invention, it provides a method of spraying material through a spraying apparatus described substantially in the foregoing, wherein said spraying apparatus includes a receptacle, at least two spraying weights and a mechanism connected impeller l receptacle. The method of spraying the material is characterized by the following steps: a) locating the spray weights in the receptacle substantially horizontally with respect to the receptacle, and b) activating the drive mechanism, with the result that the material (s) is ) placed in the receptacle are crushed by the spray weights.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention the movement of each of the spray weights is substantially horizontal with respect to the receptacle. The horizontal movement of each of the pulverizing weights provides ample areas for the spraying of the sample to be achieved.

The term "substantially horizontal" may be defined by saying that the two spraying weights are located one above the other horizontally with respect to the receptacle, but may also have a slight angle with respect to the horizontal plane of the receptacle of the mill. In this way, the spraying weights may move substantially in the horizontal plane relative to the receptacle and may also deviate slightly from the horizontal plane as they strike against each other and against the base of the receptacle. Throughout the text of the present specification reference has been made to the fact that the present invention is used only for laboratory spraying applications. Those skilled in the art can realize that the present invention can be used in many other applications, in addition to laboratory ones, and the fact that we refer only to these should not be considered as a limitation in any way. For example, the present invention can be used in an indeterminate number of industrial production lines, where it is necessary that the materials be pulverized and crushed into fine and small particles. The configuration of the present invention includes a receptacle and at least two spray weights, which are arranged horizontally with respect to each other and both with respect to the receptacle. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the width of the receptacle is limited so that the spraying weights are always one on top of the other. By limiting the width of the receptacle the spraying weights do not have sufficient space to fall from above the other and, therefore, always remain one on top of the other in a substantially horizontal arrangement with respect to the receptacle. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the receptacle is configured with a width small enough so that the spray weights always remain one above the other, and large enough so that the weights can move and leave the maximum surface uncovered on the lower sprayer weight . It was contemplated that the width of the receptacle was increased to a point where it was not possible for the weights to fall on top of each other, maximizing on the other hand the surface of the lower weight that is exposed when the weights are separated. By maximizing the exposed surface of the lower weight, a greater amount of material is allowed to fall on the exposed surface, which will be crushed against the upper weight as it returns from its oscillating movement over the surface of the lower weight. The spraying is carried out both between the lower spraying weight and the bottom of the receptacle, and between the upper surface of the lower spraying weight and the lower surface of the upper spraying weight. In addition, spraying can also take place on the sides of the receptacle and on the lid of the receptacle where the upper part of the upper sprayer wears. When a thick sample is placed in the spraying apparatus, the large pieces and flakes of material are crushed between the sides of the weights and the walls of the receptacle. As the size of the material particles decreases, the smallest particles pass freely through the receptacle and end up, eventually, depositing on the upper surface of the weights where they are crushed by the action of the weights colliding against each other. . In another embodiment of the present invention, the spraying weights are capable of performing a slightly vertical movement by raising the walls of the receptacle, when the walls of the receptacle have an angle or inclination. The vertical movement of the pulverizing weights allows the material to fall under the pulverizing weight, being then crushed in. the lower part of the weight when it falls or returns to its horizontal plane. Those skilled in the art can realize that it is possible to use any number of spray weights in the present invention. As the number of spray weights increases, the height of the receptacle used also increases. The material added to the receptacle can be ground into fine particles between each of the faces of the used weights - with the number of weights used it increases the amount of area over which the materials can be crushed and pulverized. In the text of this specification, reference has been made to the present invention using only two spray weights in its preferred embodiment. However, those skilled in the art will be aware that it is possible to use any number of sprayer weights in conjunction with the present invention, and the fact that only two are referred to should not be considered as a limitation. In one of the embodiments of the present invention, the spray weight has the shape of a substantially flat disc. This gives the weighing spreader a large surface on its upper and lower faces, further allowing the weight to roll easily on the sides of the receptacle, provided that the sides of the receptacle have a cylindrical shape. In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, one of the spraying weights may have angled or rounded edges, which allows the weights to climb to some extent by the walls of the receptacle. A preferred embodiment of the present invention is that each of the spray weights used has a mass substantially different from the mass of all other spray weights used in the apparatus. The mass of each spray weight can vary according to the size of the weight compared to the size of the remaining weights, or it can vary according to the type of material used to build them. Hereinafter within the present specification reference will be made to the spraying weights assuming that they are in the form of spray disks. However, it should be noted that other embodiments of the present invention may not use disc-shaped spray weights and that other configurations exist for the spray weights. The preferred embodiment of the present invention contemplates that the faces or spray surfaces used to spray material have a suitable shape so that they can fit together. If one side of a spray disk has a concave or convex curve, then the matching side of the second spray disk to be used must have a suitable shape to fit into or around the first spray disk. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the spray apparatus includes: a spray container with a flat bottom as the receptacle, a lower spray disk with a convex curved bottom surface, a concave curve upper surface and a disc upper sprayer with a lower surface in a convex curve shape. A mill configured with spray discs and spray container allows all the spray surfaces to fit and furthermore the spray discs have some degree of vertical and horizontal movement when in operation. In another preferred embodiment, in which only two discs are used, the upper disc may have a convex surface on its upper part. However, it must be taken into account that if more than two discs are used, only the upper disc in the receptacle must have a convex surface on its upper face. The use of a convex surface on the upper face of the upper spray disk allows the material located on the disk to roll and fall from the surface of the disk towards the lower sections of the mill. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the receptacle used to contain the sample material and the spray disks has the shape of a cylindrical container with a flat internal base. The curved internal walls of the container allow the spray discs to roll easily, thereby pulverizing the material as they travel. Hereinafter, within the present specification reference will be made to the receptacle in the form of a cylindrical container. However, it should be noted that other embodiments of the present invention may utilize a receptacle of a substantially different shape from that of a cylindrical container. Preferably, when the cylindrical container of the mill is new, it is configured with a flat internal base. However, it must be remembered that with time and prolonged use the internal base of the cylindrical container may wear out and take on the complementary shape of the lower surface of the lower disc.

However, because most of the grinding and spraying work is done between the two complementary surfaces of the discs, the wear that occurs at the base of the cylindrical container does not decrease the efficiency of the mill. This allows the mill to be used for a long period of time without it being necessary to replace the base of the cylindrical vessel once it has been worn in a curved manner. A preferred embodiment, which is intended to help further minimize the costs of worn parts of the container, contemplates the use of a replaceable coating on the walls of the container. The coating may consist of a specially inserted wall section, or a piece of pipe of similar size and shape to those of the container. These removable wall sections can be fixed on a base and can be changed when they are already worn by the friction of the discs against the walls of the container. Those skilled in the art can realize that the present invention can be used for both batch processing operations and continuous flow processing operations. In batch processing operations, a measured quantity of material is placed in the receptacle and pulverized with the crusher weights. Once the spraying apparatus has been operated for an established period of time, the drive is stopped and the weights and the crushed and pulverized materials are removed from the receptacle. In addition, the present invention can also be used in continuous flow processing operations. In these operations the spray apparatus can be operated continuously and can include inlet and outlet holes. The material in pieces, not crushed, is entered through the entrance orifice, the pulverizing weights crush it and then it recovers already pulverized through the exit orifice. The present invention can be configured to fit easily into an existing continuous production line. Thanks to its compact configuration, any number of sprayer weights can be used in the receptacle, since the increase in the number of spraying weights affects only the height of the receptacle, not its width. In addition, it is possible to join several mills and spray devices, in such a way that the outlet orifice of one of the devices is connected to the inlet of another device. In this way, the materials pass in a continuous flow through the production line, being pulverized in an increasingly fine way in each stage of the line. By using the invention in a continuous flow production line it is possible to control the size of the particles by means of! volume of material flow that is added to the apparatus through the inlet hole. If a large volume of material flow is introduced into the present invention, the material can flood the receptacle and quickly exit the apparatus. In contrast, if a small volume of material flow is introduced into the receptacle, the material takes more time to graduate to reach the exit orifice and, therefore, is crushed into finer particles. In a preferred embodiment it is contemplated that the particle size of the pulverized material can be controlled by how long the material remains inside the receptacle when the crusher weights are in motion. The longer the materials are inside the receptacle with the apparatus in operation, the finer and smaller the particles of final pulverized material will be.

In another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the flow processing system is used, the spraying apparatus can pulverize the particles present within a pulp. The pulp can be fed into the receptacle through the inlet located near the base of the receptacle or at the base itself, and remove the already pulverized mud through an exit hole located near the upper edge of the receptacle, or vice versa. Locating the entrance hole near the base of the receptacle ensures that the sludge passes through a long processing and ascension time to the exit orifice. As a result of this long processing time, a shredded sludge is obtained in extremely fine particles. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the container includes a cap that can be firmly secured to retain the sample material and spray discs within the container. It is necessary to use said cover with fixings to keep the material inside the container during operation, because the movement of the spray discs drives and blows the small particles out of the spray container if the cover of the latter is not secured. A secured lid also helps to reduce the noise produced by the spraying apparatus and to prevent the sample from becoming contaminated during the spraying process. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the capacity of the container for receiving samples may vary depending on the amount of sample that needs to be shredded in the same operation. The amount of sample that the spray container receives can vary simply by adjusting the height of the cap that fits over the container. The cap can be lowered into the container by a sufficient height to retain a small amount of sample, and in other embodiments, to provide an additional surface against which the spray discs can crush material. In this way, the usable height of the receptacle can be changed. In the case of larger sample volumes, the lid of the container can be fitted at a higher height inside the container or on the very edge of the spray container. This allows much greater variations in the amount of sample that the spraying apparatus can process, from forcing the crushing of a small amount of sample to be crushed in a small volume, until allowing the crushing of a large quantity of material in a larger volume. An alternative embodiment of the present invention is that the spraying apparatus can be fed with additional sample material during its operation, it also being possible to remove the suitably processed sample while the apparatus is in operation. The apparatus may be configured in a mode that includes a mouth or opening in the lid of the container, which allows the display to be added to the apparatus while the apparatus is in operation. In addition, other embodiments of the present invention include a mesh at the outlet of the container that allows the passage of particles having the proper size into a container of the processed sample while the apparatus is in operation. In another alternative embodiment, it is not necessary to use a mesh to remove the suitably processed sample from the receptacle. For example, in an alternative embodiment, there is a small opening or hole located in the center of the container, through which the material exits when the lower disc of the mill moves away from the exit orifice. In this way, the material can be removed through said orifice once it has passed through the receptacle, going down from the feed opening towards the spray disks and then exiting through the outlet orifice. An expert in the field will quickly realize that the. This invention is much more efficient than the standard ball mill that is used for continuous flow processing applications. The present invention employs a much larger grinding surface for the weight of the apparatus used than a ball mill, which only has an extremely small surface for the mass of the balls used. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the drive used to print movement to the spray discs is the same drive used in current ring or disc mills. This drive mechanism consists of a rotary shaft driven by a motor. The shaft has a mass tied in an eccentric position, so that the center of the mass changes as the motor shaft rotates. The spray container is fixed on a horizontal platform mounted on a set of springs. The drive motor that vibrates the vessel is fixed to the bottom of the platform. As the drive motor rotates the eccentric mass, the spray container vibrates while the rotation of the eccentric mass imparts a limited horizontal movement to the spray container. This configuration of the drive mechanism allows the spray discs to move substantially in their horizontal plane and can also make some small vertical movements thanks to the vibrations of the apparatus that are transmitted through the movement of the springs in which it is mounted.

In other types of modalities, the driving apparatus may not be provided with a weight fixed to the shaft in a position outside the center. For example, in an alternative embodiment, the driving apparatus uses an eccentric bearing, therefore, the entire receptacle is mounted eccentrically with respect to the drive shaft of the apparatus, thus printing a horizontal eccentric movement to the spray container. In other embodiments, other types of driving apparatus may be used in conjunction with the present invention. For example, when a grinding apparatus is configured for processing large flows according to the present invention, a single driving mechanism will not be able to transmit the energy necessary for the apparatus to function efficiently. In this case, several drive mechanisms may be needed to print movement to the apparatus. The drive mechanism of the present invention may be configured in some embodiments to print to the spraying apparatus a speed 50% greater than the standard frequency of existing ring mills and disk mills. This increase in pulse frequency increases the efficiency of the drive apparatus, which results in much faster processing of the samples fed into the spray container. However, the efficiency of the present invention indicates that an increase in speed is not necessary to have a better performance than that of conventional mills. The inventor has also discovered that the energy consumption needs of a drive used in conjunction with the present invention decrease markedly if compared to the energy consumption of a standard ring mill. Energy savings can be "reinvested" to make the mechanism work approximately 50% faster than normal, thus speeding up processing. The present invention has many advantages compared to existing rock spray instruments. By using two or more spray discs, the efficiency of the spraying device is considerably increased compared to existing spray devices. The spray surface also increases considerably, since spraying occurs both between the surfaces of the spray disks and the spray container, and between the surfaces of two or more adjacent spray disks. The variable capacity of the spray device also allows samples of different sizes to be placed in the spray container. The capacity of the spray container may vary depending on the size of the sample inserted, reducing the volume to allow easy contact between the spray discs and the spray container lid. The increase in the frequency of the driving device: it also increases the speed of operation of the device. The spray apparatus produces mixtures of small particles of a highly homogeneous nature in a much shorter period of time than is normally possible with current spray technology. The use of multiple spray discs allows the operator to easily remove the discs from the mill, without the need for mechanical lifting devices. This decreases the expenses of the invention, since the total weight of a large spray disk is distributed among several components that the operator can remove one by one from the mill.

The use of a convex upper surface in the spray discs allows the material that is deposited on the disc to fall from the surface towards the middle and the center of the spray container. This feature favors the recirculation of the sample material during operation. The present invention can continue to operate effectively even when the discs have worn out the base of the spray container. This is a great advantage compared to the existing grinding and pulverizing devices, since when the base of these mills is spent it is necessary to replace it in order for the mill to work efficiently. This results in great savings of money and time for the operator of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Other aspects of the present invention may be appreciated through the following description, which is given by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a cross-sectional view of the spray apparatus . Tables 1 to 4 illustrate the experimental data obtained with the use of the present invention.

Detailed description of the drawings Figure 1 illustrates a schematic view of the spray apparatus 1.

The spraying apparatus 1 includes spraying weights, which in this version consist of the spraying discs 2 and 3. The spraying disc 3 is located on the spraying disc 2, Both disks being oriented substantially horizontally with respect to the spray apparatus 1. The spray disks 2 and 3 are configured so that the adjacent sides of each of the disks have complementary surfaces. As shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2, the spray disk 2 has a concave upper surface, while the spray disk 3 has a convex lower surface, which allows it to fit easily into the upper surface of the spray disk 2. The upper surface of the spray disk 3 has a convex shape. This allows any material that is deposited on the upper surface of the spray disc 3 to roll and fall in the center and bottom of the spray container 4. The spray disks 2 and 3 are located inside the spray canister, in this case the spray container 4. The disks • sprayers 2 and 3 can move horizontally inside the spray container 4 to crush the material against the vertical wall and against the bottom 20 of the spray container 4. Spraying of the material also occurs between the surfaces of the spray disks 2 and 3, when the contact surfaces of both discs collide with each other. As can be seen in the diagram, the receptacle is configured with a width large enough so that the long part of the The disc 2 is exposed when the disc 3 moves towards the other end of the receptacle 4. This feature allows the upper surface of the disc 2 to collect a large amount of material, which will be pulverized as the disc 3 returns passing over the disc 2. The spray container 4 also includes a cover 5, which retains the material and the spray disks 2 and 3 inside the spray container 4. The cover 5 is held attached to the spray container 4 by means of a clamp 6. Clamp 6 ensures that the lid 5 is firmly attached to the spray container 4, so that no material can jump out of the spray apparatus during operation. Table 1 shows the experimental data obtained after extensive tests of the present invention. Table 1 shows the data obtained in tests A, and B, in which the same amount of material was processed using two different sets of discs. The disks weighed 8.2 kilos and 7.5 kilos in total respectively. This test shows that despite the reduction of 8.5% in the mass of the discs, the difference in consistency and the size of the particles obtained was very small. Table 2 shows the results of a test similar to that of Table 1. In this case it is shown that a reduction of 14.6% in the total weight of the discs resulted in a difference of 1.5% in the performance of the devices . Table 3 shows the results of other tests comparing the performance of a known ring mill with that of the present invention, in which approximately twice as much material was introduced into the receptacle of the present invention with respect to the receptacle containing the disk and the rings As can be seen by observing the results, the invention operated under the same standard conditions as the disc and ring mill and was used during the same period of time, but processed approximately 71% more material. Table 4 shows the current consumption of the driving apparatus used in tests E and F carried out with respect to table 3. As can be seen, the present invention consumes on average less current through its driving apparatus, while processing, a greater amount of material.

Table 1 Test A Test B Table 2 Test C Test D Table 3 Test E Test F Test E Test F The aspects of the present invention have been described only by way of example, and it should be taken into account that any modification or addition can be made without departing from the scope thereof as defined in the appended claims.

Claims (19)

1. A spraying apparatus including a receptacle and at least two spraying weights characterized in that the spraying weights are disposed substantially horizontally within the receptacle and the spraying weights are in the form of substantially flat disks with rounded edges.

2. The spray apparatus according to claim 1, further characterized. because the spray weights include flattened edges at an angle.

The spraying apparatus according to any of claims 1 or 2, further characterized in that the spraying weights include complementary surfaces which allow a spraying weight to substantially fit into one of the surfaces of another spraying weigher.

The spray apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 3, further characterized in that the upper spray weight includes a convex curve and a lower spray weight on its lower surface that includes on its upper surface a concave curve, which during the operation fits with the convex curve in the lower surface of the upper spray weight.

The spray apparatus according to claim 4, further characterized in that the upper spray weight includes a convex curve on its upper surface.

The spraying apparatus according to any of claims 4 or 5, further characterized in that the lower sprayer weight includes a convex curve in the lower face of the weight.

7. The spraying apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 6, further characterized in that each of the spraying weights used has a mass different from that of any other spraying weights in use.

The spray apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 7, further characterized in that the receptacle is a cylindrical vessel with a flat base.

The sprayer apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 8, further characterized in that the receptacle includes a lid that can be clamped on top of the receptacle.

The sprayer apparatus according to claims 1 to 9, further characterized in that the capacity of the receptacle is varied by changing the effective height of the receptacle.

11. The spraying device in accordance with the claim 10, further characterized in that the effective height of the receptacle is changed by placing the cap inside the inner surface of the receptacle.

12. The spraying device in accordance with the claim 11, further characterized in that the receptacle includes a supplementary opening to allow material to be added to the receptacle, during operation of the spraying apparatus.

13. The spraying device in accordance with the claim 12, further characterized in that the receptacle incorporates a mesh, which allows particles of a particular size to pass through the mesh.

14. The spraying device in accordance with the claim 13, further characterized in that the receptacle includes a collection container adapted to pick up the material that passes through the base mesh of the receptacle.

The spraying apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 14, further characterized in that the spraying weights in use move in a substantially horizontal plane relative to the receptacle.

16. The spraying device according to any of claims 1 to 15, further characterized in that the spraying apparatus uses drive mechanisms of existing grinding apparatuses.

17. The spraying device according to any of claims 1 to 16, further characterized in that the spraying of the material that is fed to the apparatus takes place substantially between the two complementary surfaces of the spraying weights.

18. A method of spraying material characterized by the following steps: a) placing at least two weights in a container, wherein the spraying weights are placed substantially horizontally with respect to the receptacle and b) activating a driving mechanism, causing the materials within the receptacle to be crushed by the spraying weights, where the spraying weights are configured as substantially disks planes with rounded edges. A material spraying method according to claim 18, further characterized in that the drive mechanism is operated at speeds approximately 50% greater than those of the drive mechanisms of existing mills.