MIXER APPARATUS

摘要

MIXER APPARATUS A miser for liquids and liquid suspensions has a motor drive and housing which is portable and can be carried from tank to tank and attached to the tank where mixing is carried out. The housing depends from the yoke and contains a quill which is driven by the motor drive. A chuck mechanism is associated with the housing and quill to enable mixer impeller shafts to be held in assembled relationship in the mixer and readily removed and replaced with shafts having impellers specially adapted for the particular mixing application of interest. The chuck mechanism is operable even though the quill is hidden in the mixer housing. A latch is pivotly mounted on the outside of the quill and has a tab which extends into the quill. The tab latches on to a rim of the mixer shaft when the shaft is inserted into the quill and received in driving relationship with the motor drive, as in a drive socket floatingly supported at the upper end of the quill. The latch is held by a spring suitably provided by a expansible lock ring so as to enable the latch to pivot as a lever about a fulcrum which contacts the quill along the base surface of a slot in which the latch is retained by the expansible ring. The latch provides temporary support for the shaft. The shaft is locked in the quill by a manually actuable connector (suitably a set screw) which is disposed in alignment with the latch in order to align the quill with an opening for a tool which is manually actuable to lock the shaft in place with the set screw. An indicator surface is provided on the latch facing an MX-330/334 indicator which is mounted in the housing. The indicator is preferably flexurally mounted in an opening in the housing so as to enable it to be used as a button to pivot the latch in order to release the mixer shaft. The indicator may be a bi-stable magnetic indicator with a moveable member having a magnet at the end thereof facing the quill surface at the opposite end thereof for providing an indication of alignment:, when the magnet thereon is repelled by a magnet providing the indicator surface of the latch. The indicator may be a body of optically transmissive material which makes the indicator surface visible through an end thereof outside of the housing. The indicator may alternatively be a tactile indicator which has a surface configuration complimentary to that of the indicator surface on the latch so that the operator can feel when the indicator surface on the latch comes into alignment therewith. MX-330/334