Waste material converter and method of digesting waste

Claim 1

A DIGESTER FOR ORGANIC WASTE MATERIAL COMPRISING AN UPWARDLY OPENING RECEPTACLE ADAPTED TO CONTAIN A GENERALLY HORIZONTAL BED OF SAID MATERIAL, SAID RECEPTACLE INCLUDING A DELIVERY SIDE AND A DISCHARGE SIDE, EACH OF SUBSTANTIAL LINEAR EXTENT, DISPOSED IN LATERALLY SPACED, GENERALLY OPPOSED RELATION, MATERIAL DISTRIBUTING MEANS FOR INTRODUCING FRESH MATERIAL SUBSTANTIALLY UNIFORMLY THROUGHOUT AT LEAST SUBSTANTIALLY THE ENTIRETY OF SAID DELIVERY SIDE OF SAID RECEPTACLE, MEANS FOR REMOVING DIGESTED MATERIAL FROM SAID BED GENERALLY UNIFORMLY THROUGHOUT AT LEAST SUBSTANTIALLY THE ENTIRETY OF SAID DISCHARGE SIDE OF SAID RECEPTACLE TO MAINTAIN A SUBSTANTIALLY CONSTANT BED DEPTH, A CARRIAGE SUPPORTED FOR MOVEMENT ABOVE SAID BED, MEANS FOR MOVING SAID CARRIAGE PERIODICALLY OVER AT LEAST SUBSTANTIALLY THE FULL AREA OF SAID BED, A PLURALITY OF ROTARY AGITATORS DEPENDING GENERALLY VERTICALLY FROM SAID CARRIAGE INTO SAID MATERIAL TO A POINT ADJACENT THE BOTTOM THEREOF, AND MEANS FOR ROTATING SAID AGITATORS TO LIFT THE MATERIAL ENGAGED THEREBY TO THE BED SURFACE.

Claim 2

A METHOD OF AEROBICALLY DIGESTING ORGANIC WASTE MATERIAL IN SOLID FLOWABLE FORM, CHARACTERIZED BY STEPS OF MAINTAINING A MASS OF SAID MATERIAL UNDERGOING THERMOPHILIC DECOMPOSITION IN A GENERALLY HORIZONTAL BED OF SUBSTANTIALLY CONSTANT DEPTH AND HAVING AT LEAST TWO SIDES OF SUBSTANTIAL LINEAR EXTENT, ONE OF SAID SIDES BEING LATERALLY SPACED FROM AND GENERALLY OPPOSITE TO THE OTHER OF SAID SIDES, ADDING FRESH MATERIAL TO BE DIGESTED IN SMALL INCREMENTS COMPARED TO THE MASS IN SAID BED SUBSTANTIALLY UNIFORMLY THROUGHOUT AT LEAST SUBSTANTIALLY THE ENTIRETY OF ONE OF SAID SIDES OF SAID BED, REMOVING SUFFICIENT DIGESTED MATERIAL TO MAINTAIN SAID SUBSTANTIALLY CONSTANT BED DEPTH SUBSTANTIALLY UNIFORMLY THROUGHOUT SUBSTANTIALLY THE ENTIRETY OF THE OTHER OF SAID SIDES OF SAID BE WHICH IS OPPOODICALLY AGITATING SAID BED BY RAISING MATERIAL TO THE BED SURFACE IN LATERALLY SUCCESSIVE INCREMENTS, SAID MATERIAL BEING LIFTED WITHIN A ZONE COVERING A NARROW ELONGATED AREA OF SAID BED EXTENDING GENERALLY AT RIGHT ANGLES TO THE BED SURFACE, WHICH ZONE IS MOVED BODILY AND PROGRESSIVELY THROUGH SAID BED.