A method of discharging particulate material from a hopper which minimizes vibration and impact loading is disclosed. The method provides a centrally located discharge column having a series of discharge openings extending vertically of an annular mass of particulate material in the hopper. The particulate material is discharged from a generally conically shaped, downwardly and inwardly directed, top portion of said mass of particulate material, progressively downwardly, through a choked flow discharge path provided by the interior of the discharge column.
A thin-walled deep grain storage tank with improved sidewall discharge system involving a plurality of successive flat plates periodically mounted to the inside of a pair of vertical, parallel I-beam and/or Z-bar sidewall support members with openings for grain flow between successive plates, and a sidewall discharge means at the base of the tank. In this manner an internal chute is formed capable of staged discharge from successive top strata of stored grain. Such a system is useful in alleviating the problems associated with the build up of excess eccentric sidewall pressure during grain discharge without significantly altering the design and construction parameters and their associated economics.
An improved rain gauge in which a large rain collector feeds collected rain into a receptacle having 1/5 the cross-sectional area, and in which a float and counterweight connected by a flexible strand passing over a pulley mechanism creates electrical impulses with each 1/100 inch of rainfall added to the receptacle, and in which the receptacle is periodically emptied by a syphon device of generally U-shaped contour providing intake leg and discharge leg, wherein complete emptying of the syphon tube is facilitated by incorporating within the discharge leg thereof a small diameter tube closed at the top end, open at the bottom end, and having a plurality of small holes spaced longitudinally thereof, whereby air entering the small tube and passing through the longitudinally spaced holes therein, serves to equalize air pressure and permit the full discharge of liquid from the syphon tube.
The present invention is a universal blending method for blending the material contents of a silo having a predetermined interior cross-sectional area by layer blending or across vertical columns, column blending, or a combination of layer and column blending. The presently preferred method of the present invention employs either vertical displacement of a partial vertical column of the silo content to provide a representative mixture in every horizontal cross-section in order to reduce the number of necessary recycles to a minimum or substantially simultaneous multilevel displacement, with subsequent uniform discharge over the whole horizontal cross-section of the silo to remix material that may have been segregated during the filling or recycling. In either event, the presently preferred universal blending system includes a blending bottom whose construction gives the opportunity to make a choice of (1) discharge over only a partial area of the outlet area; (2) uniform discharge over the whole outlet area; or (3) predictable discharge velocity distribution over the outlet area.
The toner container (10) described has a bottom in the shape of a funnel, with a very deep toner storage region. The side walls of the container consist of flat surfaces, whereby at least one wall (12) of the container forms a support surface for the toner container (10). In order to prevent the adhesion of the toner on the walls of the container, said walls are sloped. The toner container (10) is emptied by means of a vertically movable suction spout arranged in a vertically movable manner. In this way, it can be used both as a transfer tank for fresh toner and as a collection tank for used toner.
