The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 11, 2000
Filed:
Nov. 03, 1997
Jerry R Johanson, San Luis Obispo, CA (US);
J R Johanson, Inc., San Luis Obispo, CA (US);
Abstract
An improvement to a hopper to promote the flow of solid particulate material includes mounting one or more walls of the hopper for limited oscillatory motion in a direction parallel to the wall and perpendicular to the desired flow direction, and then providing an actuator connected to the remainder of the hopper to impart such motion to the wall. The relative motion between the moving wall and the particulate material effectively rotates the friction force to the direction of relative motion, leaving the friction in the desired flow direction approaching zero. As a result, downward flow can occur on walls that are only shallowly inclined. The improvement is applicable to hopper-like structures in railroad cars and ships, where it facilitates discharge onto moving conveyors.