METHOD AND MEANS FOR ADDING SMALL MEASURED QUANTITIES OF SELECTED MATERIALS TO A LARGE CAPACITY MATERIAL-MIXING PLANT

摘要

Small, measured amounts of concentrated liquid and dry flowable microingredients, such as vitamins, minerals, antibiotics and hormones, are stored and metered separately but delivered simultaneously to the large-capacity batch mixer of a commercial feed mill. Here the microingredients are added to large quantities of previously delivered macroingredients, such as various animal feed grains and molasses, during the batch-mixing cycle. The amounts of microingredients and optionally some macroingredients dispensed are accurately determined through the use of calibrated cyclically operating metering pumps in the case of liquids and augers in the case of dry materials. The number of metering pulses or revolutions required to dispense a desired quantity of each ingredient is predetermined, and each pulse or revolution is counted during operation of each metering device. When the preset number of counts for each metering device is reached, that device is automatically shut off. Delivery and mixing continues until all metering devices have reached their preset counts and shut off and all dispensed microingredients have been delivered to the batch mixer and blended into the feed.