Patent ID: 6589781
Filing Date: 2003-07-08
Classification: C05F,Y02P,Y02W

Abstract:
Apparatus for processing farm compost material, wherein:the apparatus includes a trough, having left and right walls and a floor, and containing a heap of compost material; the apparatus includes a carriage, carriage-travel-guide-means for guiding movement of the carriage along the length of the trough, and an operable carriage-driver for driving the carriage into said movement; the apparatus includes an apron, which is carried by the carriage, and which is arranged to move along the trough, through the compost material, as the carriage is driven in the said movement; the carriage-driver is capable of being operated in either forward or reverse, in that the carriage-driver is so structured that the carriage can be driven in a line from a point X on the trough to a point Y spaced along the length of the trough, and also so that the carriage can be driven in reverse from Y to X; the apron has an angle of inclination relative to the carriage, and the apparatus includes an operable apron-angle-setting-means, for changing the said angle of inclination; the apparatus is so arranged that the angle of inclination of the apron is capable of being changed between an X-Y-angle and a Y-X-angle, relative to the carriage; the apron has a bottom and a top, and, when in the X-Y angle of the apron, the apron is so angled that the bottom of the apron is nearer Y than is the top of the apron; when in the Y-X angle of the apron, the apron is so angled that the bottom of the apron is nearer X than is the top of the apron; the apparatus includes an operable apron-height-setting-means, for adjusting the height of the apron, whereby the bottom of the apron can be set to a small clearance distance above the floor of the trough, when the apron moves along the trough; the apparatus is so arranged that, in changing between the X-Y angle and the Y-X angle, the apron passes through an upright position of the apron, in which the top of the apron lies vertically above the bottom of the apron; the apron-height-setting-means is effective to set the height of the apron relative to the trough, and thereby to hold the bottom of the apron clear of the floor of the trough, at all angles of inclination of the apron including the upright position of the apron; the walls of the trough include on-trough-carriage-guides, and the carriage-travel-guide-means includes an engagement of the carriage with the on-trough-carriage-guides; the arrangement of the carriage and the on-trough-carriage-guides is such that the carriage straddles across the trough, above the heap of compost material in the trough.