The present invention relates to a means for transferring a predetermined quantity of powder or granular material, from a delivery point such as a store, to a reception point. Powder or granular material must often be transferred in specific quantities to a package, for instance, which shall 5 have a specific volume, or to a mould in which a product is to be moulded from the powder or granular material, having a specific volume. The problem, thus, is to transfer an extremely exact quantity of powder or granular material to the point where it is to be used when an exact quantity of powder or granular material is required.

10 The present invention relates to a means for transferring said powder or granular material from a delivery point to a reception point under the precise conditions described above. According to the invention, this is enabled by the use of a holder provided with one or more containers being brought in turn to a charging position and to a discharge position. In the

15 charging position the container is subjected to a vacuum, said vacuum being maintained throughout, or during part of the transport route to the recep¬ tion point. At the reception or discharge point, blast air is supplied to the container, thus removing the material from the container.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, each container con- 20 sists of a defining wall and a bottom, adjustable in relation to the defining wall, permitting different volumes.

'*• A container bottom according to the invention is suitably permeable to gas, i.e. suction as well as blowing takes place through the bottom.

The holder for the containers preferably consists of a cylinder or a 25 circular disc, the openings of the containers being towards the cylinder surface or peripheral surface of the disc.

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The surface of disc and cylinder is spherical.

Said surface cooperates with a supply member in yielding abutment there¬ with so that the supply member also acts as a wiper.

Further characteristics of the present invention are revealed in the fol- lowing claims.

The present invention will be further described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which

Fig.1 shows a holder with containers and a supply member, and

Fig.2 shows schematically how the supply and removal of powder or granular material takes place.

In the drawings, 1 is a delivery point and 2 a reception point. Between these two points is a holder 3 in the form of a sphere bevelled on two opposite sides. The holder 3 thus has a spherical surface and two flat end surfaces- The holder can be caused to turn about its longitudinal axis by means, not shown, at the righthand end surface. The holder 3 is provided with a transverse hole 12 passing right through it. A pluglike part 13 is secured in the middle of the hole in one way or another. The pluglike part 13 has a central aperture I ¹ * provided with internal thread. A rod 15 with external thread is screwed into the aperture 14. The rod 15 is provided at its lower end with a disc 7, forming the bottom of a container 5. The disc 7 is such that air can pass through it. Suitable material for the disc is sintered metal or plastic. The rod 15 is also provided with an internal thread and into this is screwed a threaded shaft 16. At its upper end the shaft is provided with a disc 6 having the same properties as the disc 7. The existence of the disc 6 forms a container 4. A delivery unit 17 is connected to the holder 3 and is relatively pivotable in relation to the holder 3. The delivery unit 17 includes a connection 8 to a vacuum unit and another connection 9 to a blast air unit. These connections communicate with the spaces behind the discs 6 and 7. The connection 8 is adjustable

so that it is connection to the space below the disc 6 both in the shown upper position of trie disc 6 and also during rotation of the holder 3 for part or all the movement to the position taken up by the disc 7. The connection 9, on the other hand, is only connected to the space behind a disc when this is in or near its lowermost position. A supply member 11 abuts the outer surface 10 of the holder and is pivotable about the lower spherical edge 20 of an outlet pipe from a store. Abutment of the supply member 11 against the surface 10 is maintained by springs 21, for instance. The outlet pipe contains a pressure eliminator 22 to prevent the powder or granular material from being sub ected to the entire pressure of the material in the store.

The means described functions as follows: The two discs 6 and 7 are screwed in to obtain the desired volume in containers 4 and 5. It should be noted that the two discs 6 and 7 can be adjusted independently of each other. Thereafter, powder is supplied to the container 4 via the supply member 11, the container 4 being kept under vacuum through the connection 8 during the supply process. When the container 4 has been filled, the holder 3 is turned approximately 180 and the container 4 may be kept under vacuum during this rotation. The vacuum can be caused to cease when the holder has completed its 180 • turn or after rotating less than 180 . When the container ^' 4 has reached its lowermost position the vacuum is discon¬ nected and blast air is supplied through the connection 9, thus expelling the material from the container 4. The supply of blast air also cleans the pores in the disc 6 from any clogging particles of dust. When the con- tainer 4 is in its lower position the container 5 is ready for filling. At a rotary movement of the holder 3 the supply member 11 acts as a wiper, thanks to its surrounding edge 18.

A holder with two containers has been described above. However, ^' it should be evident that the holder may also be provided with more than two con- tainers.

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