Pellet mill with separate fee means for each die roller

Claim 1

A pellet mill for making pellets from flour products or similar material, comprising a frame, a first horizontally extending hollow drive shaft mounted for rotation in said frame and having two ends, an annular die member mounted coaxially on said first drive shaft at one of said ends thereof, said annular die having an inner cylindrical surface and a plurality of radial die openings extending through the annular body of said die, said annular die enclosing an interior die space open at the side of the die removed from said drive shaft, an extrusion roller assembly including a plurality of extrusion rollers arranged in spaced relationship in the interior of said annular die for cooperation with said cylindrical inner surface thereof, and a common roller frame supporting each of said rollers for free rotation, a second shaft extending through said first hollow drive shaft and having two ends, said roller frame being secured to one end of said second shaft, bearing means rotatably supporting said second shaft, shear pin means connecting said second shaft to said frame for holding said second shaft stationary during normal operating conditions of the mill, and a feed assembly for feeding the material to be pelleted to the interior of said annular die, said feed assembly including a plurality of separate feed means one associated with each of said extrusion rollers, each of said feed means comprising conveying means for said material having a discharge end situated opposite said open side of said annular die, and a feed tube supported by said roller frame and extending axially through the interior of said die spaced from said inner cylindrical die surface, said feed tube having an open inlet end situated with a minimum clearance directly opposite said discharge end of the associated conveying means, means closing said feed tube at its end opposite of said inlet end, said feed tube further having an opening in its side wall, said side opening having an axial length corresponding to and coinciding with the axial length of said associated extrusion roller and said side opening having a circumferential width gradually increasing inwardly towards said closed feed tube end whereby the material supplied to the feed tube by said conveying means and discharged through said side opening is substantially evenly distributed over the axial length of said associated extrusion roller and over the corresponding effective width of said annular die.