Tar sand processing apparatus

Apparatus for processing tar sands to recover bitumen therefrom, and without the use of heat of steam, such apparatus including a processing tank having a concave, upwardly facing bottom constructed for receiving the upper flight of an endless conveyor thereat. Structure is provided for admitting tar sands onto the feed end of such conveyor and for discharging the same at the discharge end thereof. Stirrer means are provided as needed, above the endless conveyor, for maintaining in solution the very fine tar sand particles, this to effect as efficient a recovery of oil therefrom as possible. A baffle is constructed to separate recovered oil, disposed as a layer over the aqueous bath of the tank, from the discharge end of the tank and the spent sands coming upwardly thereat. In one embodiment the processing tank is constructed for towing by a vehicle and, in another embodiment, the bottom of the tank is constructed to separately contain diluent for pre-processing the tar sands to be fed into the main tank proper.