Roasting method for particulate solids

Claim 1

The method of claim 1, togetheR with the step of purging the interior of the roasting vessel of any air therein to preclude oxidative degradation of the solids being roasted by said air.

Claim 3

A method of roasting coffee and comparably processable solids, comprising the steps of: forming in a roasting vessel a vertically extending bed of solids having a horizontal cross-section which diverges from an inner boundary to an outer boundary so that said bed has an inner region adjacent the inner boundary which is narrower than an outer region adjacent the outer boundary; introducing solids to be roasted into said bed at a first location; displacing said bed as an entity to thereby move said solids to a second location; roasting said solids by so effecting a flow of a heated fluid upwardly through the divergingly sectioned bed as said solids are moved from said first location to said second location as to cause the solids in the bed to circulate through paths in which they move upwardly in one of said regions of the bed and downwardly in the other of said regions of the bed, thereby producing intimate contact between the solids and the heated fluid and promoting uniformity in the roasting of the solids; removing the roasted solids from the bed at the second location; and discharging the solids from the roasting vessel; said solids being introduced into the roasting vessel by introducing them into a lock isolated from the roasting vessel; isolating the lock from the ambient surroundings; evacuating the lock to remove air therefrom; filling said lock with roasting fluid until the pressure therein is substantially equal to that in the roasting vessel; and, while keeping the lock isolated from the ambient surroundings, providing communication between the lock and roasting vessel and transferring the solids to be roasted from the lock to the roasting vessel; and said bed being displaced by alternately incrementally advancing and halting it and the solids being introduced into and removed from the bed while the bed is halted to thereby facilitate the introduction of solids into the bed and the removal of solids therefrom.

Claim 5

A method of roasting coffee and comparably processable solids, comprising the steps of: forming in a roasting vessel a vertically extending bed of solids having a horizontal cross-section which diverges from an inner boundary to an outer boundary so that said bed has an inner region adjacent the inner boundary which is narrower than an outer region adjacent the outer boundary; introducing solids to be roasted into said bed at a first location; displacing said bed as an entity to thereby move said solids to a second location; roasting said solids by so effecting a flow of a heated fluid upwardly through the divergingly sectioned bed as said solids are moved from said first location to said second location as to cause the solids in the bed to circulate through paths in which they move upwardly in one of said regions of the bed and downwardly in the other of said regions of the bed, thereby producing intimate contact between the solids and the heated fluid and promoting uniformity in the roasting of the solids; removing the roasted solids from the bed at the second location; and discharging the solids from the roaSting vessel; said solids being discharged from the roasting vessel by transferring them into a lock isolated from the ambient surroundings and filled with roasting fluid at substantially the same pressure as the roasting vessel; isolating the lock from the roasting vessel; evacuating the roasting fluid from the lock and returning it to a receiver to thereby conserve said fluid; and thereafter opening the lock and discharging the solids therefrom; and said bed being displaced by alternately incrementally advancing and halting it and the solids being introduced into and removed from the bed while the bed is halted to thereby facilitate the introduction of solids into the bed and the removal of solids therefrom.