HAND-HELD SPREADER

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.