Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 4
Claim 1
Independent Claim
321 words
A granulator comprising a receptacle and a pair of intermeshing rotating screws provided therein in parallel alignment, one end of the receptacle having a hopper for charging a material, the other end thereof having a downwardly opening discharge port and the top surface thereof having a cover; wherein the inside of said receptacle is composed of a feeding zone, a kneading zone and a breaking zone, the feeding zone has forwardly conveying screw blades on both of the two screws, the kneading zone is comprised of an upstream section and a downstream section, said upstream section having an alternate arrangement of a pair of a backwardly conveying screw blade on one screw shaft and a forwardly conveying screw blade on the other in opposition to each other and a pair of a forwardly conveying screw blade on said one screw shaft and a backwardly conveying screw blade on said other screw shaft in opposition to each other, said alternation of the forwardly and backwardly conveying screw blades occurring at least once in each of said screw shafts, and either one of the forwardly and backwardly conveying screw blades in each pair being discontinuous for meshing with the other screw blade in said pair, and said downstream section having backwardly conveying screw blades on both of the two screw shafts, the blades are aligned with the same pitch in each of the feeding zone, the upstream section of the kneading zone and the downstream section thereof, the breaking zone is of an open structure and has a plurality of projections provided on both of the two screw shafts for breaking agglomerated masses, and that portion of the cover of said receptacle which corresponds to the feeding zone and the upstream section of the kneading zone is a fixed cover and that portion of the cover of the receptacle which corresponds to the downstream section of the kneading zone is a movable cover.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
321 words
A granulator comprising a receptacle and a pair of intermeshing rotating screws provided therein in parallel alignment, one end of the receptacle having a hopper for charging a material, the other end thereof having a downwardly opening discharge port and the top surface thereof having a cover; wherein the inside of said receptacle is composed of a feeding zone, a kneading zone and a breaking zone, the feeding zone has forwardly conveying screw blades on both of the two screws, the kneading zone is comprised of an upstream section and a downstream section, said upstream section having an alternate arrangement of a pair of a backwardly conveying screw blade on one screw shaft and a forwardly conveying screw blade on the other in opposition to each other and a pair of a forwardly conveying screw blade on said one screw shaft and a backwardly conveying screw blade on said other screw shaft in opposition to each other, said alternation of the forwardly and backwardly conveying screw blades occurring at least once in each of said screw shafts, and either one of the forwardly and backwardly conveying screw blades in each pair being discontinuous for meshing with the other screw blade in said pair, and said downstream section having backwardly conveying screw blades on both of the two screw shafts, the blades are aligned with the same pitch in each of the feeding zone, the upstream section of the kneading zone and the downstream section thereof, the breaking zone is of an open structure and has a plurality of projections provided on both of the two screw shafts for breaking agglomerated masses, and that portion of the cover of said receptacle which corresponds to the feeding zone and the upstream section of the kneading zone is a fixed cover and that portion of the cover of the receptacle which corresponds to the downstream section of the kneading zone is a movable cover.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
18 words
The granulator of claim 1 wherein the backwardly conveying screw blades in the kneading zone are discontinuous blades.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
45 words
The granulator of claim 1 wherein both of the forwardly conveying and backwardly conveying screw blades in the upstream section of the kneading zone are formed as thin twisted blades, and thin twisted fragmentary ribbon-like blades are interposed between the discontinuous backwardly conveying screw blades.