Agitating – With specified discharge means – By endless belt or screw conveyor
Reexamination Certificate
1998-08-06
2001-07-31
Cooley, Charles E. (Department: 1723)
Agitating
With specified discharge means
By endless belt or screw conveyor
C366S147000, C366S300000, C366S321000, C366S603000, C241S260100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06267497
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to a disposal of edible waste material consisting of domestic and commercial food waste products in addition to marine, livestock and agriculture by-products resulting from the commercial production of food items and, more particularly, to a method and device for producing feed stuff or organic fertilizer from such waste material by naturally fermenting and drying the material at low temperatures while uniformly mixing and crushing such material.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In accordance with the elevation in the standard of living, the amount of edible waste material, such as domestic and commercial food waste products in addition to marine, livestock and agriculture by-products resulting from the commercial production of food items, rapidly increases, so that an issue arises concerning the disposal of such waste material.
In an effort to effectively treat such waste material, several types of devices, used for producing feed stuff or organic fertilizer from such waste material through a fermentation and drying process, are proposed as disclosed in Korean Patent Publication Nos. 93-1480, 94-9484 and 96-4473.
In the above Korean devices, a fermenting/drying chamber is vertically, horizontally or inclinedly positioned with a drive shaft being axially and rotatably set in the chamber. An agitating blade or helical screw is provided on the drive shaft, thus stirring, mixing and crushing edible waste material while moving the material within the chamber, thus producing feed stuff or organic fertilizer from edible waste material.
However, such a typical device, with the agitating blade or helical screw, is problematic in that the device only partially loads waste material on a part in the chamber due to a structural limit of the agitating blade or the helical screw. Therefore, it is impossible for the device to uniformly or effectively stir or mix the waste material. In order to overcome such a problem, the helical screw may be designed for rotating upon the drive shaft in opposite directions and having different diameters. The helical screw, with opposite spiral directions and different diameters, somewhat effectively mixes edible waste material while moving the material in opposite directions. However, such a helical screw, with opposite spiral directions and different diameters, also fails to uniformly mix or crush waste material since the material is heavy and bulky, thus sinking under its own weight.
Due to such a nonuniformity in mixing and crushing the edible waste material in the chamber, the typical device fails to completely ferment or dry the waste material into feed stuff or organic fertilizer and reduces the quality of resulting feed stuff or organic fertilizer. It is extremely impractical to provide animals with such a low quality feed stuff or organic fertilizer.
Another problem experienced in the above devices resides in that the agitating blade or helical screw in the chamber is partially overloaded with heavy and bulky material and this results in exceeding consumption of electric power and shortens the expected life span of these devices.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method and device for producing feed stuff or organic fertilizer from edible waste material by naturally fermenting, drying and sterilizing the material at low temperatures while uniformly and effectively mixing and crushing the material in a chamber.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and device for producing feed stuff or organic fertilizer from edible waste material through a low temperature, natural fermentation and drying process suitable for almost completely fermenting and drying the material into high quality feed stuff or organic fertilizer.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a device for producing feed stuff or organic fertilizer from edible waste material through a low temperature, natural fermentation and drying process, which effectively mixes and crushes the material while uniformly loading the heavy and bulky material on a mixing/crushing means, thereby being effectively used for a lengthy period of time while being economical in the consumption of electricity.
In order to accomplish the above object, the primary embodiment of the present invention provides a method of producing feed stuff or organic fertilizer from edible waste material, consisting of domestic and commercial food waste products in addition to marine, livestock and agriculture by-products resulting from the commercial production of food items, through a low temperature, natural fermentation and drying process in a fermenting/drying chamber, comprising the steps of: moving the waste material upwardly along an inclinedly arranged first screw feeder unit from a declined end to an inclined end of the unit while mixing and crushing the material by helical screws of the unit prior to passing the material to an inclined end of an inclinedly arranged second screw feeder unit; moving the waste material downwardly along the second unit from the inclined end to a declined end of the second unit while mixing the material by helical screws of the second unit prior to passing the material to a declined end of an inclinedly arranged third screw feeder unit; moving the waste material upwardly along the third unit from the declined end to an inclined end of the third unit while mixing and crushing the waste material by helical screws of the third unit prior to passing the material to an inclined end of an inclinedly arranged fourth screw feeder unit; moving the waste material downwardly along the fourth unit from the inclined end to a declined end of the fourth unit while mixing the material by helical screws of the fourth unit prior to passing the material to the declined end of the first unit, thus allowing the waste material to be repeatedly processed by the first to fourth units until the material is appropriately fermented and dried into feed stuff or organic fertilizer.
In the above method, the first and third screw feeder units individually consist of alternately and parallely arranged first and second screw feeders rotatable in opposite directions, thus moving the waste material upwardly while mixing and crushing the material.
In accordance with another embodiment of this invention, the method comprises the step of: repeatedly moving the waste material along two horizontally and parallely arranged screw feeders outwardly and inwardly while mixing and crushing the material by helical screws of the two screw feeders rotated in opposite directions.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4040571 (1977-08-01), Lindeborg
patent: 4310252 (1982-01-01), Ryan
patent: 4432499 (1984-02-01), Henkensiefken et al.
patent: 4577805 (1986-03-01), Seymour
patent: 4896970 (1990-01-01), Schuler
patent: 4951883 (1990-08-01), Loppoli et al.
patent: 5005980 (1991-04-01), Zimmerman
patent: 5148999 (1992-09-01), Curfman et al.
patent: 5240321 (1993-08-01), Miller
patent: 5340214 (1994-08-01), Juzwiak
patent: 5351899 (1994-10-01), Koenig
patent: 5375925 (1994-12-01), Elkin
patent: 5630944 (1997-05-01), Terblanche
patent: 5984218 (1999-11-01), Peat
patent: 93-1480 (1993-03-01), None
patent: 94-9484 (1994-10-01), None
patent: 96-4473 (1996-04-01), None
Cooley Charles E.
Nawrocki, Rooney & Sivertson P.A.
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