Soil or rock conditioning machine

Abstract

A soil and/or rock conditioning machine including a feed hopper to feed material to be conditioned to a feed conveyor and a mixing chamber including one or more rotors to accelerate the material particles direct from the end of the feed conveyor against inclined surfaces in the mixing chamber.

1 . A soil and/or rock conditioning machine including a feed hopper, a conveyor to feed the soil or rock to a mixing chamber, means to feed conditioning material to soil on the conveyor, at least one rotor in the mixing chamber, said one of said rotors positioned adjacent the end of the conveyor to cut the soil or pick the rocks from the end of the conveyor and accelerate it to deflecting means to an outlet, and means to convey the conditioned soil from the outlet. 
   
   
       2 . A soil and/or conditioning machine as defined in  claim 1  characterised by two rotors in the mixing chamber, the second rotor being below and offset from the rotor adjacent the end of the conveyor 
   
   
       3 . A soil and/or conditioning machine as defined in  claim 1  characterised by two rotors in the mixing chamber, the second rotor being below and directly beneath the rotor adjacent the end of the conveyor 
   
   
       4 . A soil and/or conditioning machine as defined in  claim 2 , wherein the rotors rotate in predefined directions to accelerate the material to the adjacent rotor. 
   
   
       5 . A soil and/or conditioning machine as defined in  claim 1  wherein each defecting means is a door hinged at one end to the mixing chamber and adjustable means supporting the other end of the door whereby each door is adjustable to and from the adjacent rotor. 
   
   
       6 . A soil and/or conditioning machine as defined in  claim 5  wherein each door is adjusted to a self cleaning position whereby the adjacent rotor removes excess clay from the door surface. 
   
   
       7 . A soil and/or conditioning machine as defined in  claim 1  including means to blow air across the outlet and into the mixing chamber to blow air through the particles as they leave the rotor and fall through the outlet to assist in removing volatiles from the material 
   
   
       8 . A soil and/or conditioning machine as defined in  claim 1 , characterised in that the rotors may be mixing rotors for treating soil or hammer rotors for treating gravel or rocks. 
   
   
       9 . A soil and/or rock conditioning machine as defined in  claim 1  characterised by a cutting rotor adjustably positioned in the feed hopper cutting back surplus wet cohesive soils to provide a uniform thickness layer on the conveyor, the cutting rotor mounted on a rotatable are to permit removal from the feed hopper. 
   
   
       10 . A soil and/or rock conditioning machine as defined in  claim 1  characterised by a serrated cutting blade across the feed conveyor prior to the end of the conveyor to cut the material longitudinally prior to being cut from the end of the conveyor. 
   
   
       11 . A soil and/or rock conditioning machine as defined in  claim 10  wherein the serrated cutting blade includes oscillating means to oscillate the blade across the feed conveyor. 
   
   
       12 . A soil and/or conditioning machine as defined in  claim 3 , wherein the rotors rotate in predefined directions to accelerate the material to the adjacent rotor.