Apparatus for uniformly feeding non-liquid material

Claim 1

Apparatus for uniformly feeding powder, crystalline, paste, pellet and the like material; said apparatus comprising: hopper means for dispensing the material being fed; enclosed, generally vertically-extending valve means sealingly attached to the bottom end of said hopper means for receiving the material from said hopper means and allowing passage therethrough when in an open feeding condition and preventing passage therethrough when in a closed non-feeding condition; enclosed, generally horizontally-extending conduit means defining a generally cylindrical hollow interior and being sealingly secured to said valve means for receiving and allowing passage therethrough of the material received therefrom and including an opening therein for dispensing the material from said apparatus; and rotary driven spiral conveying means disposed within said hollow interior of said horizontally-extending conduit for uniformly feeding the material therethrough and out of said dispensing opening, said spiral conveying means comprising a driven cylindrical shaft having a predetermined diameter and a smooth, non-grooved outer surface, and a spiraled, generally cylindrical, flexible, resilient brush member having a predetermined outside diameter anD defining a hollow interior having an initial predetermined diameter less than the diameter of said shaft, said brush being force-fitted on said shaft to prevent relative displacement during use but allowing disengagement of said brush member from said shaft for cleaning and replacement, the outside diameter of said brush member being greater than the diameter of said hollow interior of said conduit means so that said brush member will wipe against the portion of said conduit means defining the hollow interior for performing a cleaning action.