US3830472A

US3830472A - Container for transporting, mixing or storing a flowable powdery or liquid substance

Info

Publication number: US3830472A
Application number: US00201423A
Authority: US
Inventors: M Storz; J Janhsen
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1970-11-25
Filing date: 1971-11-23
Publication date: 1974-08-20
Anticipated expiration: 1991-08-20
Also published as: FR2116034A5; DE2057890A1

Abstract

A container having a rotatable portion and a stationary portion which are joined together at an open end of the rotatable portion. The rotatable portion rotates around a shaft which is journaled in a bearing at a closed end and fixed to a frame. The rotatable portion is coupled to the stationary portion by a bearing radially spaced from the shaft with a sealing member arranged axially between the stationary and rotary portions.

Description

United States Patent 1 1 J anhsen et a1.

1 1 Aug. 20, 1974 CONTAINER FOR TRANSPORTING,

MIXING OR STORING A FLOWABLE POWDERY OR LIQUID SUBSTANCE I [76] Inventors: Jakobus Janhsen, Fuchseckstrasse 6, 7331 Faurndau; Martin Storz, Pfingsthalde 32, 7341 Eybach, both of Germany 22 Filed: Nov. 23, 1971 21 Appl.No.:201,423

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Nov. 25, 1970 Germany 2057890 [52] U.S. C1 259/3, 259/D1G. 16, 259/89 [51] Int. Cl Bolt 9/02 [58] Field Of Search 259/DIG. 16, 3, 13, 14, 259/30, 55, 56, 57, 81 R, 81 A, 89, 90, 175, 176, 177 R [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,350,285 5/1944 Maxon 259/176 2,835,123 5/1958 Galinski 259/81 R 2,919,116 12/1959 Fischer 259/81 R X 2,964,300 12/1960 Lisowski et a1... 259/81 R X 3,194,538 7/1965 Murray 259/3 3,216,666 11/1965 Svensson et a1. 259/89 X 3,259,372 7/1966 Phillips .1 259/3 3,400,185 9/1968 Kohnle et a1 1 259/81 R X 3,415,492 12/1968 Rule 259/3 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS l/l948 Canada 259/177 R Primary Examiner-Harvey C. Hornsby Assistant Examiner-Philip R. Coe

[57] ABSTRACT A container having a rotatable portion and a stationary portion which are joined together at an open end of the rotatable portion. The rotatable portion rotates around a shaft which is journaled in a hearing at a closed end and fixed to a frame. The rotatable portion is coupled to the stationary portion by a bearing radially spaced from the shaft with a sealing member arranged axially between the stationary and rotary portions.

7 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures maomz PATENTEDAUGZOIIQH SHEET 2 UF 2 CONTAINER FOR TRANSPORTING, MIXING OR STORING A FLOWABLE POWDERY OR LIQUID SUBSTANCE This invention relates to a container for transporting and processing a flowable substance and more particularly concerns a container having a rotatable portion and a stationary portion for mixing, wetting, aerating and dearating, drying a flowable substance.

All industries require effective handling of the materials to be worked in order to ensure rapid, low-cost processing and rapid transport of the raw materials and products. However, solids, particularly flowable and powdery substances, and pastes, paints. liquids and chemicals of many kinds have to be packed and transported in expensive, uneconomic packings such as sacks. bags. casings, barrels and the like. This mode of packing and the costs involved in packing material, packing machinery and packing appliances as well as the elaborate labor involved render the products unnecessarily costly. Moreover, many substances and mixtures tend to change either by chemical reaction or by dissociation of the mixture, which may be avoided by constant stirring, aeration or deaeration or by tempering, but this csn not be carried by conventional packings. For example, many dispersions of paints. tend to decompose with the settling of the heavy particles, which are deposited on the walls and the bottom of the vessels. Thus industries delivering paints in vessels are faced with a problem of accurately emptying these vessels since the required, constant mixing ratio and the homogeneity cannot be guaranteed owing to the deposits left in the vessels. Nevertheless, it is absolutely necessary for ensuring an invariable quality and property of the final product to maintain the prescribed proportional composition of the contents and to maintain the homogeneity. Additionally, in powder processing industries such as the synthetic resin industry. the inefficient packing of the raw material brings about the need for carrying out many technical operations and for much labor simply for storing the materials delivered in sacks, for tearing up these sacks and for feeding the materials in special conveying systems to the appropriate feeding systems or the starting position of the manufacturing process.

According to the invention. there is provided a container comprising a rotatable portion adapted to turn about a horizontal shaft and having at least one open end connected to a stationary container portion concentric with the shaft. The rotatable container portion is coupled through a bearing, (preferably a toothed rim bearing) to the stationary container portion with a sealing member provided axially therebetween and preferably near the bearing. The rotary shaft of the rotatable container portion is suspended in a bearing at a closed end with the bearing being rigidly arranged with a bearing cushion on a frame or in a framework. The stationary container portion, however, is elastically connected with the frame by means of resilient elements preferably having a high self-damping effect. for example, rubber-steel element. In this way the container embodying the invention is held against any potential moment on a supporting frame or in a framework so that regardless of the charge or the position, the rotatable container portion will rotate with a low amount of friction.

The stationary container portion is perferably provided with a filling opening in the upper part and with an outlet opening on the lower side so that during the rotation of the rotable container portion .the container may be filled and emptied in a closed circuit. Additionally, blades or a mixing worm may be provided in conventional fashion on the inner wall of the rotatable container portion, which may extend through the open end into the stationary container portion for ensuring complete emptying of the container.

Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a container having a rotatable portion and a stationary portion for the economic packing, storing and transporting of flowable solids or liquids.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a container of the type described wherein the contents thereof may be simultaneously mixed, stirred, aerated, deaerated, dryed, heated and cooled.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a container of the type described which is elastically-held on a frame to prevent any moment on the supporting frame when the rotatable portion is rotatmg.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a container of the type described wherein the container may be continuously filled and emptied while the rotating portion is rotating.

These and-other objects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when consideration in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a container embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 shows on an enlarged scale the connecting bearing and seal between the rotable portion and the stationary portion; and

FIG. 3 shows schematically a plurality of coupled containers suitable for use as a feeding unit in a factory plant.

Referring, now to the drawings wherein like reference characters designate like or corresponding parts throughout, there is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 a container embodying the invention comprising a rotable portion, generally designated as reference numeral 1, and a stationary container portion 2, which are arranged on a displaceable frame 3. A closed end of the rotable portion 1 is provided with a stub shaft 4, which is rotable in a bearing 5 on the frame 3. The stub shaft 4 may be hollow, to permit ducts to enter the container and provide either a flowable solid, or a liquid or a gaseous substance or an aggregate or produce a vacuum or aerate or deaerate the contents of the container. The rotable container portion 1 may have any shape, but is preferred to use a cylindrical form with the stationary portion having a frustoconical extension. An open end of the rotable container portion 1 is provided with a bearing 9 comprising a rotating race 7 which rotates coaxially with an axis 6 of the shaft 4 and is rigidly secured centrally to the rotable container portion 1 by a centering container flange 8. The rotating race 7 is joined to a stationary bearing race 29 via a plurality of balls 39 and a sealing or stuffing member 10. The stationary bearing race 29, the balls 39 and stuffing member 10 are held by the stationary container portion 2, which is rigidly secured to the frame 3 by means of elastic connecting elements 11, for example, rubber-metal elements. The elastic elements 11 and the connection of the stationary container portion 2 with the frame 3 are advantageously arranged in the jplane of rotation of the bearing 9 in order to eliminate the bending moments exerted on the bearing 9 and the stuffing members 10.

The bearing 9 absorbs both the axial forces and the radial forces in order to ensure a torsion-free connection of the rotable container portion 1 with the stationary container portion 2 in an axial and radial direction.

ers. Moreover, the lower containers may be connected together with a duct system 22 which acts as a stationary buffer station for an adequate reserve of material.

A variant of the construction according to the invention is the container 25, which has connected on each side of the rotating section 1, a stationary container portion 2. Such a container may be advantageously The stationary container portion 2 is advantageously provided with a preferably upwardly orientated filling opening 12 and a downwardly orientated outlet opening 13 each of which have a flange connection 14 for communicating, for example, with a filling system or a feeding system. The outer end of the stationary container portion 2 has centrally to the axis 6, a manhole which can be closed by a lid 15 and which can be opened for cleaning or inspection of the interior of the container. The lid 15 may be replaced by a bearing lid, for incorporating an additional tool such as a worm conveyor or the like, lf desired, a shaft, not shown in the drawings, may be joumaled in the bearing lid 15 and in the hollow stub shaft 4.

In the rotable container portion 1 an uninterrupted or an interrupted mixing and conveying helix 16 may be incorporated for stirring and moving the contents of the container in the two axial directions, as well as for filling and emptying the container by inversion of the direction of rotation. The conveying helix 16, which may have as many turns as desired, preferably extends beyond the rotable container portion 1 into the stationary portion 2 for improved, filling and emptying.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the bearing 9 and the sealing or stuffing system 10. The bearing 9 is preferably arranged with the stuffing system 10 in a housing 17, detachably connected with the stationary container portion 2 in order to facilitate a change of seal by simply removing the stationary portion 2 by loosening a plurality of connecting elements 18.

The container according to the invention may be equipped with a stuffing system appropriate for the individual use. For example, FIG. 2 shows schematically a stuffing system 10 suitable for readjustment from the exterior, which may be adjusted in the event ofleakage by means of intermediate pressure rings 19 and the aid of screws 20 inserted from the exterior. Instead of using the screws 20, a sealing agent or a gaseous or liquid pressurized medium may be inserted between the stuffing members 10 for obtaining a permanent seal.

The rotable container portion 1 may be driven by a built-in variable-speed motor via a tooth rim 21 secured to the rotable portion 1 or via other desired driving elements.

FIG. 3 shows an arrangement of a plurality of containers. which are suitable, for example, for feeding a factory plant. For this purpose the containers are held in a known manner in a frame 13 surrounding the container so that the containers may be arranged one above the other and side by side. The outlet openings 13 are preferably shaped so that, when the containers are vertically stacked, they can communicate, (if necessary with the aid of short connecting duets) with the filling openings 12 of a subjacent container. After complete exhaustion of an upper container, it may be replaced by a filled container without interruption of the feeding operation which is fed from the lower containused as a stationary feeder That is, during the rotation and the movement of the substance within the container towards the outlet opening 13, the container 25 may be refilled via the filling opening 12 in the opposite end face.

The outlet openings 13 are coupled with the duct system 22, and may be provided with a conveyor worm 23 in the case of powdery substances and the like. It is preferable to couple the containers electrically with each other so that at a command from a central control system via a standard circuit incorporated in each container, the required materials may be fed by means of the individual driving motor rotating the selected tooth rim of the rotable portion of the selecteed container in the production chain. By using the containers in accordance with the foregoing, conventional conveying systems hitherto employed in factory plants may be completely eliminated.

If required, the containers may be connected with many addition devices, for example, with a duct system for introducing into the rotation portion, prior to the processing thereof, the components of a multicomponent mixture or for inserting compressed air for improving the flowability. of powders. Moreover the filling openings 12 may be provided with air adaptors, vacuum devices and the like.

lt should be understood that the foregoing relates to only a preferred embodiment of the invention, and that it is intended to cover all changes and modifications of the example of the invention herein chosen for the purposes of the disclosure, which do not constitute departures from the spirit and scope of the invention.

The invention claimed is:

1. A container for transporting, mixing or storing a flowable, powdery or liquid substance comprising,

a frame.

a rotatable portion rotatable about an axis of rotation, said rotatable portion having at least one open end,

a stationary portion, fixed to said frame,

coupling means for connecting one end of said stationary portion to said rotatable portion at said open end, said coupling means comprising a ring shaped member fixed to said open end of said rotatable portion and forming a rotating bearing race therat,

a bearing means arranged around said ring shaped member and supported by said one end of said stationary portion said bearing means including a stationary bearing race means having a plurality of balls and a stationary bearing race, said balls being inserted between said rotating bearing race and said stationary bearing race,

said stationary portion having at least one closable opening, and

journal means for rotatably supporting said rotatable portion at the end distal from said stationary portron.

ble portion includes a closed end at said journal means, said journal means including a bearing and a hollow stub shaft journalled in said bearing.

6. A container as recited in claim 1 wherein said openend of said rotable portion has an external toothed flange adapted to be engaged and rotated.

7. A container as recited in claim 1 wherein said stationary portion is elastically mounted on said frame.

Claims

1. A container for transporting, mixing or storing a flowable, powdery or liquid substance comprising, a frame, a rotatable portion rotatable about an axis of rotation, said rotatable portion having at least one open end, a stationary portion, fixed to said frame, coupling means for connecting one end of said stationary portion to said rotatable portion at said open end, said coupling means comprising a ring shaped member fixed to said open end of said rotatable portion and forming a rotating bearing race therat, a bearing means arranged around said ring shaped member and supported by said one end of said stationary portion said bearing means including a stationary bearing race means having a plurality of balls and a stationary bearing race, said balls being inserted between said rotating bearing race and said stationary bearing race, said stationary portion having at least one closable opening, and journal means for rotatably supporting said rotatable portion at the end distal from said stationary portion.

2. A container as recited in claim 1 wherein said bearing means further includes sealing means arranged between said rotating race and said stationary race.

3. A container as recited in claim 1 wherein said rotable portion further includes a conveying and mixing helix which extends into said stationary portion.

4. A container as recited in claim 1 wherein said stationary portion is provided with at least one filling opening and one outlet opening.

5. A container as recited in claim 1 wherein said rotable portion includes a closed end at said journal means, said journal means including a bearing and a hollow stub shaft journalled in said bearing.