Patent ID: 8584974

Claim:
A rock dusting apparatus comprising: a housing; a tank mounted within said housing which comprises a removable top wall member, a sidewall member and a bottom wall member configured to form an internal tank compartment for holding and mixing a rock dust composition; a mixer positioned on the bottom wall member for mixing the rock dust composition; a tank discharge port positioned on the bottom wall member or a lower portion of said sidewall member through which the rock dust composition can be discharged from said tank; a conduit extending from said tank discharge port to a housing discharge port; said conduit comprising a pump for transporting the rock dust composition through the conduit and through a discharge line operatively connected to said housing discharge port; one or more motors mounted within said housing for powering said mixer and said pump; an air supply unit mounted within said housing that is operatively connected to the discharge line adjacent to the housing discharge port to inject air for aiding transport of the rock dust composition through the discharge line; and a recycle circuit operatively connected to said housing discharge port to receive and recycle to the mixing tank excess rock dust composition from said housing discharge port, so that the rock dust composition in said discharge line can be pumped at a pressure of from about 40 psi to about 80 psi, and compression of the rock dust composition can be controlled.