Patent ID: 8342738

Claim:
A vertical mixer comprising: a housing having a continuous sidewall and a bottom wall forming a mixer chamber therein, the housing having a front end, a rear end, and a top end; a material within the mixing chamber; at least one vertical auger within the housing adapted to rotate about a vertical axis in an upward direction that causes the material within the housing to move toward the top end of the housing; mechanism for rotating the at least one vertical auger about the vertical axis in the upward direction; a deflector within the housing attached to the sidewall and being positioned to cause downward movement to be imparted to the material towards the bottom wall within the housing in response to the movement of the material towards the top end imparted by the vertical auger; and wherein the housing includes a discharge opening therein having an upstream side and a downstream side relative to the rotation of the auger within the mixing chamber, the deflector being within the housing adjacent the upstream side of the discharge opening.