Trickling device

Abstract

In a trickling apparatus ( 1 ) for producing thin vertical surfaces of a pressure-sensitive trickling material that floats downwards, the trickling material is received in a supply container ( 2 ) having an electrically driven roller ( 5 ) located underneath or in the supply container. The roller ( 5 ) has a smooth surface ( 8 ) and cams ( 9 ) on said surface that pick up and release the trickling material. When the roller or the tube ( 5 ) rotates, the material trickles into the open through the opening ( 4 ) in the base of the supply container ( 2 ).

1 . Trickling apparatus for pressure-sensitive trickling material, which is intended for producing, as a visual effect, thin vertical, curtain-like surfaces of material that floats downwards, and which has a supply container ( 2 ) for the trickling material, an elongate slit-shaped opening ( 4 ) formed on the lower end of the supply container ( 2 ) for releasing the trickling material, a roller ( 5 ) that is located underneath or above the slit-shaped opening ( 4 ), is driven by a motor, is rotatable about a rotational axis and has substantially a smooth and sealed roller surface ( 8 ) on which a plurality of small cams ( 9 ) or rods ( 14 ) are arranged that protrude from the roller surface ( 8 ). 
     
     
         2 . Trickling apparatus according to  claim 1 , comprising flexible sealing elements ( 10 ) that are arranged on the longitudinal edges of the slit-shaped opening ( 4 ), which extend in the direction of the rotational axis, slide on the roller surface ( 8 ) and are designed to avoid the cams ( 9 ) or rods ( 14 ) or have recesses in the region of the movement paths of the cams ( 9 ) or rods ( 14 ). 
     
     
         3 . Trickling apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein a plurality of elongate slit-shaped openings is formed on the lower end of the supply container ( 2 ), which are of such a size that the trickling material in the supply container does not trickle through the openings by itself when the apparatus is not in operation, the rotatable roller ( 5 ) being arranged inside the supply container ( 2 ) and above the slit-shaped openings in such a way that trickling material is transported through the openings into the open by the rods ( 14 ) sliding past. 
     
     
         4 . Trickling apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein elongate slit-shaped openings ( 304 ) are formed on the lower end of the supply container and each extend in the direction of the movement path of a rod ( 14 ) associated with the slit-shaped opening ( 304 ), and wherein the rods ( 14 ) are moved through the openings ( 304 ) when the roller ( 5 ) is rotated.