Hand-held spreader

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10743459-B2
Application number	US-201715410453-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 19, 2017
Priority date	Jan 19, 2016
Publication date	Aug 18, 2020
Grant date	Aug 18, 2020

Abstract

A hand-held spreader is provided having a housing with a compartment for particulate material, a chamber below the compartment having a bottom wall with a circular aperture, an impeller mounted for rotation in the chamber along such bottom wall responsive to a hand crank, a discharge opening, and a path along which the particulate material passes into the chamber for discharge via the discharge opening. The impeller has an outer circular periphery proximal to and extending over an outer edge of the aperture to form a gap between the impeller and the bottom wall of the chamber that seals the gap from the particulate material larger than the gap from entering under the impeller and risking obstruction of impeller rotation. Any particulate material that enters the gap passes downward through the aperture to enable self-cleaning of particulate material that would otherwise collect under the impeller in the chamber.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A hand-held spreader comprising:
a housing having a compartment for particulate material, a chamber below said compartment having a bottom wall with a circular aperture defining an outer edge, an impeller mounted for rotation in said chamber along said bottom wall, a discharge opening along one side of said chamber, and a path along which said particulate material passes into said chamber for discharge from said chamber away from said spreader via said discharge opening when said impeller is rotated; and
said impeller comprising a circular platform having an upper surface and opposite bottom surface together defining an outer circular periphery and a plurality of vanes extending upwardly from said upper surface, wherein a length of each of said plurality of vanes is less than a radius of said outer circular periphery, wherein said circular periphery extends radially outwardly of and adjacent to said outer edge of said circular aperture to form an overhang wherein a length of said overhang is less than the difference between said length of said vanes and said radius of said platform, and wherein said bottom surface of said platform is spaced above said chamber bottom wall to form a gap between said platform and said bottom wall of said chamber, said gap preventing particulate material larger than said gap from entering under said impeller, with any of said particulate material smaller than said gap that enters said gap passing through said aperture and away from said impeller.

2. The spreader according to claim 1 wherein said particulate material exits said spreader via said discharge opening of the chamber and said bottom opening of the housing for distribution upon a surface.

3. The spreader according to claim 1 further comprising a hand crank rotationally coupled to said impeller via said aperture to enable rotation of said impeller.

4. The spreader according to claim 1 wherein said housing has a handle portion enabling a user to hand carry the spreader.

5. The spreader according to claim 4 further comprising a movable trigger along said handle portion, and a movable gate mechanically coupled to said trigger and extendible over an opening at a top of said chamber in said path of particulate material from said upper compartment into said chamber, in which said trigger is biased forward to normally close said gate over said opening at said top of said chamber to prevent particulate material from falling onto the impeller along said path, and backward motion of said gate by pulling back said trigger enables flow via said opening at said top of said chamber into said chamber.

6. The spreader according to claim 1 wherein said spreader is operated in a first mode by discharge of said particulate material via said discharge opening, and said housing further comprises an upper opening through which particulate material may be received for storage in said compartment, and a cap located over said upper opening to close said upper opening, in which said cap has a plurality of holes which enables said spreader to be operated in a second mode by manually shaking said particulate material out of compartment via said plurality of holes.

7. The spreader according to claim 6 further comprising a cover over said plurality of holes when said spreader is operated in said first mode.

8. The spreader according to claim 1 wherein said housing includes a cover over said bottom opening to define another compartment, in which said another compartment collects said particulate material that enters said gap and passes downward through said aperture, and said cover is removable to enable removal of collected said particulate material from said another compartment.

9. The spreader according to claim 1 further comprising a flow rate cap member having an opening in said path of said particulate material from said upper compartment into said chamber, in which said opening of said flow rate cap member is of a diameter to permit flow of particulate material up to a maximum flow rate along said path.

10. The spreader according to claim 9 wherein said flow rate cap member represents one of a plurality of flow rate cap members each with a different diameter opening selected for use in said spreader, and said flow rate cap member is replaceable with another one of said plurality of flow rate cap members.

11. The spreader according to claim 1 wherein said impeller has a shaft defining an axis of rotation of said impeller, said shaft having an upper end journaled for rotation in a hole along a top wall of said chamber, and a lower end under said chamber journaled for rotation in a retainer mounted in said housing.

12. The spreader according to claim 11 wherein said spreader comprises a plurality of gears, wherein one of said gears extends downward along the underside of said impeller which engages another of said gears which rotates responsive to a hand-crank.

13. The spreader according to claim 1 wherein said gap allows rotation of said platform along said bottom wall while being at or less than 0.04 inches along a dimension between said platform and said bottom wall of said chamber, and said platform radially overhangs approximately ⅛ inches along said bottom wall away from said circular aperture.

14. A hand-held spreader comprising:
a housing having an upper compartment for particulate material and a lower chamber having a bottom surface with an aperture;
a rotationally mounted impeller extending through said aperture onto which falls the particulate material from the upper compartment;
a discharge opening along a side of the chamber through which the particulate material which falls upon the impeller are discharged outward from the spreader;
a hand crank rotationally coupled to the impeller to enable rotation thereof;
said impeller comprising a circular platform having an outer edge offset with respect to an outer edge of said aperture so that an outer periphery of said platform extends radially outwardly over and adjacent to said outer edge of said aperture along said bottom surface of the chamber to form an overhang, and a plurality of vanes extending upwardly from an upper surface of said impeller, wherein a length of each of said plurality of vanes is less than a radius of said outer periphery and wherein a length of said overhang is less than the difference between a length of said vanes and a radius of said circular platform; and
a gap between said bottom surface of the platform along said outer periphery and said bottom surface of the chamber, said gap being selected of a height that seals said gap from said particulate material larger than said gap from entering under the impeller, and particulate material that enters the gap passes there through under the impeller via the aperture of the chamber,
wherein said housing has a bottom opening below said chamber and said aperture through which the particulate material that enters said gap and passes downward through said aperture exits said spreader while said spreader is in use.

Assignees

• Chapin Mfg Inc

Inventors

• Rosenbaum Neil J
• Ryan Howard S
• Marconi Jr Fred A

Classifications

• A01C7/02 Primary

  Hand sowing implements · CPC title

• A01C15/02

  for hand use · CPC title

• A01C17/001

  Centrifugal throwing devices with a vertical axis · CPC title

• E01C2019/206

  Hand operated spreading devices · CPC title

• B05B12/002

  Manually-actuated controlling means, e.g. push buttons, levers or triggers (for single units B05B11/00) · CPC title