This invention relates to a processing vessel for use inter alia in the processing of materials in the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries.
One of the operations which such a vessel is required to perform is the agitation of a liquid containing pieces of solid material. Such agitation is performed by rotating an agitator within the vessel.
Known processing vessels employ agitators which are rotated about a vertical axis and such agitators, unless functioning at high speed, permit settling and do not effectively distribute the solid pieces in the liquid. Moreover, the known agitators exert a considerable shearing effect on the mixture end, where the solid pieces are of a sensitive material which is easily fragmented, this strenuous shearing effect results in the degradation of the solid pieces rather than the even distribution of the original solid pieces in the liquid which is desired.