Apparatus for continuous deposition of particulate material

Claim 1

APPARATUS ADAPTED TO DEPOSIT POWDERED MATERIAL IN A LAYER OF UNIFORM THICKNESS ONTO A CONTINUOUSLY ADVANCING WEB, SAID APPARATUS BEING VERTICALLY POSITIONED IN RELATION TO SAID WEB AND COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, A HOPPER HAVING A BOTTOM DISCHARGE ORIFICE, SAID ORIFICE HAVING A LATERAL EXTENSION THE EFFECTIVE WIDTH OF SAID WEB, A ROTATABLE FLUIDIZING ROLL HAVING A PLURALITY OF RADIALLY PROJECTING SPICULES POSITIONED WITHIN SAID HOPPER FOR DELUMPING AND MAINTAINING CONSTANT BULK DENSITY OF SAID POWERED MATERIAL, THE AXIS OF SAID FLUIDIZING ROLL EXTENDING LATERALLY OF SAID HOPPER, A ROTATABLE METERING ROLL POSITIONED EXTERNALLY OF SAID HOPPER IN PARALLEL RELATIONSHIP TO SAID FLUIDIZING ROLL AND HAVING AN UPPER ARCUATE PORTION THEREOF LOCATED WITHIN SAID ORIFICE, SAID METERING ROLL BEING PROVIDED WITH A KNURLED SURFACE, A DOCTOR BLADE IN PARALLEL RELATIONSHIP TO SAID METERING ROLL HAVING AN EDGE IN CONTACT WITH THE KNURLED SURFACE OF SAID METERING ROLL FOR CONTROLLING THE VOLUMETRIC DISCHARGE OF POWDERED MATERIAL FROM SAID HOPPER, A ROTATABLE BRUSH ROLL PARALLEL TO AND IN PERIPHERAL ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID METERING ROLL, SAID BRUSH ROLL BEING LOCATED EXTERNALLY OF SAID HOPPER AND BEING ROTATABLE IN A DIRECTION OPPOSITE TO THE DIRECTION OF ROTATION OF SAID METERING ROLL FOR FORCEABLY REMOVING THE POWDERED MATERIAL WITHIN THE KNURLS OF SAID METERING ROLL DOWNWARDLY IN A CLOUD-LIKE FASHION, A FINE MESH SCREEN FOR EFFECTIVELY CONTAINING THE CLOUD-LIKE TURBULENCE CREATED BY THE COUNTER-ROTATIONS OF THE BRUSH AND METERING ROLLS WHILE PERMITTING A UNIFORM DISTRIBUTION OF POWDERED PARTICLES TO PENETRATE, SAID SCREEN BEING INTERPOSED BETWEEN SAID HOPPER AND SAID WEB AND ENCLOSING THE LOWER PORTION OF SAID HOPPER, THE METERING ROLL, AND THE BRUSH ROLL AND PROVIDED WITH ACTIVATION MEANS FOR PREVENTING RESIDENCE OF THE POWDERED MATERIAL WITHIN AND ON THE SURFACE OF SAID SCREEN.