Mobile apparatus for turning and aerating compost materials in a compost windrow
US5309703A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 30, 1992 |
| Grant date | May 10, 1994 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 30, 2012 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY02W30/40
- WIPO fieldBasic materials chemistry
- WIPO sectorChemistry
Abstract
A mobile apparatus for turning, and otherwise agitating, compost materials in an elongated windrow, is described. The invention includes a chute structure, that can be moved into, and along, the windrow. A toothed drum, at the leading end of the chute structure, penetrates the compost material, and throws it upwardly, and rearwardly, onto an inclined conveyor. The conveyor transports the materials upwardly to a discharge point, located at the trailing end of the chute structure. Gravitational forces cause the materials to intermittently fall back toward the drum, thereby churning and mixing the materials. Pressurized air is continually sprayed onto the materials on the conveyor, in order to aerate the materials while they are being churned and transported.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.