US 12,065,779 B2
Raw-material feeding device
Koji Motohashi, Nagano (JP); Makoto Sato, Nagano (JP); and Takashi Abe, Yamagata (JP)
Assigned to Seiko Epson Corporation, Tokyo (JP)
Filed by SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION, Tokyo (JP)
Filed on Jul. 28, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/386,601.
Claims priority of application No. 2020-129644 (JP), filed on Jul. 30, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2022/0034029 A1, Feb. 3, 2022
Int. Cl. D21B 1/08 (2006.01); B27N 3/04 (2006.01); D21B 1/06 (2006.01); D21F 9/00 (2006.01)
CPC D21B 1/08 (2013.01) [B27N 3/04 (2013.01); D21B 1/063 (2013.01); D21F 9/00 (2013.01)] 12 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A raw-material feeding device comprising:
a storage section that includes a bottom section and a side wall standing from the bottom section and that stores, in a storage space surrounded by the bottom section and the side wall, small pieces of raw material constituted by a material containing fibers;
a stirring section that is provided in the bottom section at a position facing the storage space, the stirring section including a rotator, the rotator including
a disk-shaped rotating section covering the bottom section of the storage section and configured to rotate about a rotational axis extending in a direction in which the side wall stands, and
a blade fixed to the rotating section so as to protrude from the rotating section, and configured to stir the raw material in the storage space by being rotated with the rotating section;
a first discharging section that is provided in the side wall so as to communicate with the storage space, that includes a first tubular body rotating about a first axis not parallel to the rotational axis, and that, upon rotation of the first tubular body, discharges, via the first tubular body, the raw material in the storage space to a processing section that processes the raw material, one end of the first tubular body defining a first communication port that opens at the side wall, the first axis being inclined downwardly so that the one end of the first tubular body defining the first communication port is positioned higher than an opposite end of the first tubular body; and
a second discharging section that is provided in the side wall at a position different from a position at which the first tubular body is provided so as to communicate with the storage space, that includes a second tubular body rotating about a second axis not parallel to the rotational axis, and that, upon rotation of the second tubular body, discharges, via the second tubular body, the raw material in the storage space to the processing section, one end of the second tubular body defining a second communication port that opens at the side wall.