Patent ID: 6199704
Filing Date: 2001-03-13
Classification: B01D

Abstract:
A sludge collecting apparatus comprising:a vehicle body and reciprocating driving means disposed in a treatment tank, the treatment tank being generally rectangular, havinig a bottom and a sludge collecting pit located at one longitudinal direction, the vehicle body having a width extending substantially the entire width of the bottom of the treatment tank and configured to travel back and forth along the longitudinal axis of the bottom of the treatment tank in a plane immediately above and parallel to the bottom;two or more sludge scrapers disposed at regular intervals along the direction of travel, the intervals less than the travel of the vehicle body, each scraper rotatably attached to the vehicle body about an axis that is generally transverse to the direction of travel and is movable between an orientation to move sludge that becomes deposited on the bottom of the treatment tank toward and into the sludge collecting pit when the vehicle body travels in a first direction and an orientation in which the scraper passes above the sludge when the vehicle body travels in a second, substantially parallel direction;wherein the length of the vehicle body measured along the direction of travel is greater than the width of the vehicle body;the vehicle body having two lever members rotatably attached thereto, one lever member disposed at each transverse end of the vehicle body; anda mechanical linking means that interengages the driving means, lever members, and each sludge scraper configured such that each sludge scraper is simultaneously deployed in the same orientation.