| 主权项 |
1. An expandable gravity-feed bin for storage and dispensing of bulk material, comprising:
a generally hollow main bin section including:
a storage reservoir having a first interior wall with first and second opposing bin interior sidewalls, an open end and a bottom; a resilient seal element; and a first, generally hollow, extension section selectably coupled to the open end of the main bin by arrangement of the resilient seal element intermediate the main bin section and first extension section, the first extension section having a second interior wall with first and second opposing extension interior sidewalls and being in communication with the storage reservoir, the storage capacity of the storage reservoir being increased by the coupling of the first extension section, wherein the resilient seal element includes:
a first inwardly-facing seal portion configured to be generally flush with the first interior side walls of the first and second interior walls when selectably coupled to the bin sections, anda second inwardly-facing seal portion having an angled, generally planar surface section, the second seal portion extending away from the second interior sidewalls of the first and second interior walls and protruding into the reservoir when selectably coupled to the bin sections, the resilient seal element providing a substantially air-tight seal between the main bin section and the first extension section when selectably coupled thereto, and wherein the second, inwardly-facing and protruding seal portion is configured to interfere with the free gravitational flow of any stored bulk material along the second interior sidewall while the flush mounted first inwardly-facing seal portion is configured to allow free gravitational flow of any stored bulk material along the first interior sidewall, thus causing an asymmetrical gravitational flow of any stored bulk material toward the bottom of the storage reservoir for dispensing. |
