Patent ID: 7625749

Claim:
A garden composter for decomposing organic waste, the garden composter having a longitudinally extending cylindrical drum for mounting to a support frame adapted to space the drum from a supporting surface and tumbling means for coupling the drum to the support frame for rotation of the drum relative to the support frame about an axis of rotation of the drum, the cylindrical drum having at least two load openings formed in a cylindrical wall portion thereof between two end wall portions; removable closure caps for selectively closing said load openings; at least one partition for dividing the cylindrical drum into a number of chambers disposed side by side along said axis, each chamber communicating with a respective load opening, the said at least one partition having a fixed portion coupled to the drum and a relatively movable portion, said fixed portion and said movable portion each having at least one flow control partition opening, said movable portion being adapted to be moved so that the associated said at least one flow control partition opening may be selectively brought into registration with a corresponding said at least one flow control partition opening in the fixed portion so that transfer of composted material between adjacent chambers is permitted and out of registration with a corresponding said at least one flow control partition opening in the fixed portion so that all of the at least one flow control partition opening are fully obstructed; wherein the said at least one partition has a handle fixed to the movable portion and extending radially through the cylindrical wall portion for arcuate movement along the cylindrical wall portion of the drum, the drum having an arcuate slot for receiving the handle and disposed to lie in registration with said partition to define open and closed limit positions, in which the flow control partition openings are in registration and fully open and in which the flow control partition openings are out of registration and fully closed, respectively; whereby the garden composter may receive organic waste through said load openings for decomposition in said chambers, and the waste may be aged selectively in said chambers to adjust its residence time, as required, before discharge from the composter.