Sweep auger apparatus

Claim 1

Apparatus for moving a horizontal layer of uniform thickness of a free flowing granular material along the bottom wall of a circular storage bin toward the center of the bin comprising: a. A sweep auger extended radially of the bin having a forward leading side, a rear trailing side, a lower side, and a top side, b. means for rotating said sweep auger horizontally through said material and on said bottom wall about a vertical axis located centrally of the bin, and c. a housing structure for said sweep auger located below the level of the material in said bin and movable horizontally with the auger through the material, said housing structure having an upright rear wall adjacent the rear side of the sweep auger and a continuous top wall adjacent the top side of said sweep auger connected to and projected forwardly from the upper edge of said rear wall, d. said rear wall having a lower edge in a working clearance with the bottom wall of said bin, and said top wall having a material supporting upper surface and a front edge positioned forwardly of the leading side of the sweep auger a distance such that the apex of the angle of repose of the material vertically below said top wall is located forwardly of the lower side of the sweep auger when said front edge is in the plane of the upper surface of the material forming the angle of repose, whereby during each revolution of horizontal rotation of the sweep auger there is moved toward the center of the bin a horizontal layer of the granular material of a thickness substantially equal to the vertical distance between said front edge of the top wall and the lower side of said auger.