Patent ID: 8512036

Claim:
Apparatus comprising: a processing chamber comprising a housing having side walls and a top wall at a top end extending across and closing the top end; at least one heating assembly within the housing at a position therein below the top end for generating heat in the housing so as to rise to the top end of the housing; a ventilation outlet duct arranged at or adjacent the top end of the housing through which gases and residue at the top end are discharged; and an incinerator connected to the outlet duct and for heating the gases to a temperature such that the gases and residue escaping through the outlet duct from the closed top end of the housing are incinerated prior to release; the incinerator comprising: an upstanding tube; a mounting member at a bottom end of the tube closing the bottom end; an inlet at one side of the tube adjacent the bottom end of the tube to which the outlet duct is connected for discharge of the gases and residue into the inlet of the tube; an electrical heating element in the form of a rod with a resistance heating wire therein having a bottom end of the rod attached to and carried by the mounting member; the heating element extending from the mounting member at the bottom of the tube along the tube and past the inlet; the tube having an upper end for discharge of the gases and residue after heating by the heating element within the tube; the tube being closed except at the upper end and at the inlet so that the gases and residue entering the inlet all pass to the upper end for discharge from the tube; a layer of insulation surrounding an outside surface of the tube; an end cap at the upper end of the tube shaped and arranged to cause the gases and residue to impact thereon and to be diverted thereby; the end cap having at least one passageway therethrough such that the diverted gases are released from the tube through the end cap; and a valve in the end cap operable to vary a rate of flow of the gases and residue through the upper end of the tube.