A feed shaft for feeding particulate material to a mill

Abstract

A description is given of an inclined feed shaft (1) for feeding particulate material to a mill (2). The feed shaft (1) is peculiar in that it is configured for rotation about its longitudinal axis. It is hereby obtained that any incipient formation of coatings on the wall of the shaft will continuously be cleaned off and dislodged from the wall by the larger descending material particles in the feed material so that the feed shaft will be of a self-cleaning type. This is due to the fact that during the rotation of the shaft the entire circumference of the shaft will intermittently be located at the bottom of the cross-sectional profile of the shaft, and thereby be cleaned off by the descending material. As a result, coatings continuously being formed during the rotation of the shaft on those parts of the shaft wall not located at the bottom will continuously be cleaned off when these parts pass the bottom of the cross- sectional profile of the shaft.