SE344046

1,173,903. Screw conveyer for articles. HOFFMANN MFG. CO. Ltd., and IMPERIAL CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES Ltd. 17 April, 1967 [12 May, 1966], No. 21075/66. Heading B8A. [Also in Division C7] Articles, e.g. nuts, screws, bolts and balls and rollers for bearings, are carried through a zone where they are contacted with a gas or a liquid, e.g. an aqueous or organic solvent for degreasing, by feeding them along a screw conveyer 5 to rigidly connected rotating members 1, 2 each having spiral channels one of which feeds the articles from the centre outwards and the other back to the centre. The members 1, 2 are perforated and dip into tanks of, e.g. cleaning liquid. The channels are interconnected by a channel 3. A further screw conveyer 7 is provided at the exit end. Three units may be used in one cleaning chamber (Fig. 5, not shown) the first contacting the articles with boiling solvent, the second with ultrasonically vibrated cool solvent, and finally with hot vapour.