Liquid/solids waste separator

Abstract

A liquid/solids waste separator apparatus for use in separating animal waste or waste water into filtered liquid and collected solid waste particles. It has an elongated housing having a pair of support legs attached adjacent to the rear end of the housing for varying the inclination angle of the housing. Positioned downward from the top edge of the housing is an elongated mesh screen that extends substantially the length of the housing. A plurality of nozzles are laterally spaced from each other and connected to the top of a tube that extends transversely beneath the mesh screen. A carriage supports the opposite ends of the tube and it has wheels that ride along tracks supported on opposite lateral sides of the mesh screen. An electric motor drives a chain passing around a pair of sprocket gears in the housing. A drive peg extends laterally from the chain and it is captured by a guide member whose bottom end is connected to the carriage. This allows the carriage to reciprocally travel back and forth beneath the mesh screen and the nozzles produces a water knife spray against the bottom surface of the mesh screen to unclog any apertures in the mesh screen that have become clogged. Part of the filtered liquid is recycled by a pump connected to a fluid line leading to the respective nozzles. Waste particles that do not pass through the mesh screen are collected in containers placed adjacent the front end of the housing.