Patent ID: 8241025

Claim:
An apparatus for scattering fibrous material chips, said apparatus serving to spread chips using either a throw or air-jet spreading method to form a mat ( 3 ) of chips onto a moving band conveyor ( 4 ), whereby a scattering process utilizes a gas flow, the apparatus comprising: a scattering chamber mounted above the band conveyor to prevent lateral turbulence, said scattering chamber having a predetermined volume defined by a height, a width and a length extending in a longitudinal direction wherein a major portion of the fibrous material being scattered falls onto the band conveyor and the fibrous material is at least partially divided into smaller subspaces adjacent to each other in a cross-machine direction by plate elements ( 6 , 9 , 12 ) extending in the longitudinal direction and set apart from each other in the cross-machine direction at a spacing substantially larger than the particle size of the material being scattered, said plate elements being spaced above the moving band conveyor within said scattering chamber a predetermined distance to avoid contact with the mat of chips formed on the moving band conveyor.