Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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'I`he presen-t invention ls directed primarily to the
field of solid waste disposal in which there is a growing trend ~
-toward the use of refuse shredding, pulverizing or o-ther forms ~'
of presizing or prereducing equipment to condition the waste
prior to further processing or complete disposal. The objectives
of refuse presizing as related to solid waste management are -
multi-faceted and may include preparing the waste material as
suitable feed for use as supplementary fuel, particularly in
coal-fired boilers; minimizing health and esthetic problems
often associated with municipal refuse handling such as blowing
paper, odor, fly and rodent propagation, etc.: improving refuse
placement and compac-tability in sanitary land fills, reducing
the need for costly daily cover in such land fllls; preparing
the material as suitable feed for refuse disposal by pyrolysis,
fuel bed or vortex incineration; and preparing the material for
physical and chemical segregation into useful byproducts, such ~ '
as chemical fiber.
This basic change in municipal solid waste handling
practice is occurring as a result of the concentrated national ~`
20 effort (beginning in 1965) to improve solid waste management
in the United Sta-tes, reduce environmental problems associated
with current operations, and conserve national resources through
; reclamation and use of waste materials where economically feas-
ible.
Refuse shredding or presizing is a basic step for ~ ~
improving the material handling characteristics of municipal ~ -
refuse and other solid waste. Shredding converts a difficult
and objectionable heterogeneous material into something approach-
ing a semi-fluid of even and small size distribution which is
30 readily transportable and easily handled by automatic machines;
smaller material is more readily rendered homogeneous and the
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material is highly desirable from the standpoint of waste mate-
rial reclamation and reuse.
In keepin~ with the foregoing, a primary object of this
invention is to provide novel apparatus ror and methods of
rendering heterogeneous materials homogeneous following a pre-
sizing operation, and particularly doing so :by separating ferro-
magnetic or magnetic materials from non-magnetic material.
In keeping with a further object of this invention, the
novel apparatus for achieving magnetic-nonmagnetic separation
10 includes first and second in-line but spaced conveyors, the first
of which has a flight carrying presized refuse containing ma-
gnetic and non-magnetic components, means are provided for
removing the magnetic material and delivering the same to the
second conveyor along with minor amounts of the non-magnetic
15 material, and second means for removing the minor amvunts from
the second conveyor, the second removing means being a source
~: of moving air directed above and along the second conveyor in : .
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;` a direction toward the first conveyor whereby the minor amounts
; of non-magnetic material are blown off the entrance end of the
second conveyor.
A further object of this invention is to provide novel
apparatus of the type heretofore described wherein the second :~
. removing means further includes a rotating roll adjacent the
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entrance end portion of the second conveyor having a surface .
against which will impinge the blown material, and the roll is :~
appropriately rotated to deliver the thus impinged material .
into the gap between the conveyors. ~
Still another object of this invention is to provide :. -
novel apparatus of the type immediately heretofore set forth
wherein the roll is spaced above the second conveyor and
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~ortiolls G ~' th~' blo~ tcr i.a] p3SS throu~h the gap or throat ~:
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bc~.weell the entrance end o~ tlle .second conveyor and the roll
.in~o the gap ;~
Though the l~rimary objects o~ this invention are con-
cerne~ with -the separatioD o~ ma~netic and non-magnetic material,
a fur-ther object is that o~ providing novel apparatus ~or and
a method o~ separating heavy and light materials iYrespect.ive o~
their magnetic and/or non-ma~netic ~haracteristics by providing
a conveyor having entrance and exit end portions, the conveyor ~-
lV having a ~light movable in a ~irst direction :~rom the entrance
end portion to the exit end poxtion, means ~or depositing heavy
~nd light matexial upon the ~ ht at the entranco end portion
wh~reb~r tha same will move toward the exit encl portion, means for
removing the light material ~rom the ~light, the removing means :
.~ 15 including means ~or directing air above and along the ~light in ~ ~
i a second direction opposite the first direction whereby the light ~ ~`
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material w.ill be blown toward the entrance end portion, the re~ ;~
moving means ~urther including means at the entrance end porti.on
alrainst which wil:L impi.nge a portion o~ the blown light material,
~l~ ancl mea~s ~or moving the last-mentioned means in the seconcl di-
:rect:ion whereby the impinged and blown light material will be .moved in the second diraction and thus separated ~rom the heavy i.
material moved in ths ~irst direction ~y the ~light.
Anothe.r more speci~ic object o~ this invention is to
provide n~vel appara-tus ~or and a method o~ separating light
and heavy material in the manner immediately set ~orth hereto--
~ore wherein the last-mentiorled means is a rota-ting roll having ~.
sur~ace means possessing an a-~inity ~or holding thereupon the
; ~o~m light material.
In keeping with anothe7 ohject o-~ thL~ invention -there
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is provide~ nc~l. m3t:h(~cl o~ s~para-ting relntively heavy and
light matelials by depositing the same upon a su.r~aGe m~ ing
in a ~i.rst directlon bet~Yeerl-Pirst and second positions, di-
recting air above and along the material opposite the ~irst
direction whereby the light material will be blown in a second
direction, collecting the light material thus blown, and there~
: a~ter furtheY conveying the collected light material in the
second direction by at least partial rotary motion. .
With -the above and other ob3ects in view that will
he.reina~ter appear, ths nature o~ the invention will be more
clearly understood by rePerence to the -following detailed de- ~.
'~ soription, the app0nded claimed subject matter, and the se~eral
~iews illustrated in the accompanying drawing
XN T~E DRAWINGS: :
Figure 1 îs a side elevational view illustrating ~ novel -~
apparatus.constructed in accorcdance with this invention Por ;~
separating materi.als, and illustrates ~irst and seconcl conveyors
haYing a gap therebetween spanned by a magnetic separator, mean~ . :
. .,
Por dlrecting air toward an entrance end portion o~ the second
~O conveyor, and a rvtat.ing roll ad~acent the 0ntrance end portion~
Figure 2 is an enlarged.sectional view taken generally
along the line 2-2 o-P Figure 1, and illustrates by the headed
arrows the manner in which magnetic and non-magne-tic materials
are separated, as viewed in the upstream direction o~ materia].
:. ~5 movement.
Figure 3 i5 all enlarged sectional view -taken gellerally
along lin~ 3-3 o~ ~'igure 1, and illustrates details o~ the
nozzle, a blower, and side s~irts o-~ the second conveyor.
Figure 4 is a :Eragmentary sectional view oP another
apparatus, and illustrates details o~` the magnetic sepaxator.
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Figure 5 is a fragmentary sectional view similar to
~igure 4, and again illustrates details of another magnetic
separator.
Figure 6 is a fragmentary sectional view similar to ;
Figures 4 and 5, and again illustrates details of another ;~
magnetic separator.
Referring first to Figure 1 of the drawings, an apparatus ~-
10 for separating magnetically attractive ~ferromagnetic) ma~
terial from magnetically non-attractive ~nonmagnetic) materials .
includes first means 11 for conveying the materials along a .
first path from left-to-right. The heterogeneous or admixed `~
: magnetic ana nonmagnetic material is generally designated by the :
reference numeral M. Prior to being deposited upon an upper
1ight 12 of the conveyor 11 the material M is preferably ::
shredded, presized or otherwise reduced into a relatively small
size such as to approach a semi-fluid or light-weight condition ;~
which may be readily handled, transported and, of course, pro-
.; cessed by the apparatus 10. .
Second conveyor means, generally designa-ted by the re--.--- '
ference numeral 13 is provided contiguous and in-line to the .;.
conveyor 11. The second conveyor 13 likewise includes an upper
flight 14 which moves material Ml from left-to-right. The ma-
. terial Ml is substantially composed of magnetic material `` ?:
although minor amounts of nonmagnetic material may be initially ~ ;
admixed therewith adjacent an entrance end por-tion of the
conveyor 13. For the most part the nonmagnetic material M2
drops by gravity through a gap G between the conveyors 11, 13
while the magnetic material Ml and the minor amount of t:he
nonmagnetic material M2 is conveyed across the gap G by magnetic
separating means 20.
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- The magnetic separating means 20 .includes a permanent or
electromagnet 21 suitably supported within the framework F of
the apparatus 10, in the manner clearly apparent from Figure 2.
A lower surface (Figure 2) of the magnet 21 lies in a generally
horizontal plane and a lower flight 22 of a conveyor 23 moves
there across from left-to-right, as viewed in Figure 1. The
conveyor belt 23 is entrained about a plurality of suitably con~
ventionally journalled pulleys 24 through 27, the latter of which
is driven counter-clockwise, as viewed in Figure 1, by gearing
from an electric motor 28. Preferably, though not necessarily,
the conveyor 23 includes a plurality of cleats or pushers 30
which assure that the magnetic material Ml and the minor amount
of nonmagnetic material M2 attracted to the flight 22 will be
moved thereby and subsequently deposited upon the entrance end
portion of the conveyor 13. As an alternate construction
the conveyor belt 23 may simply be a pair of spaced chains spanned
by the pushers 30 whereupon the magnetic material Ml attracted
from the material M will impinge against the lower surface of
the magnet 21 and will be pushed therefrom by the pushers 30,
; 20 along with any minor amounts of the material M2, and thus will
likewise be deposited upon the end portion 15 of the second
conveyor 13. :.
The second conveyor 13 is generally of a trough-like
. configuration (Figure 3) and the upper flight 14 is supported
in the configuration best illustrated in Figure 3 by a plura-
lity of support rollers 31 suitably journaled for rotation in :~
. the machine frame F. A pair of skirts 32 constructed of
flexible material are likewise conventionally secured to the
frame F and with the upper flight 14 define a generally :~
U-shaped configuration defining a trough T in which the ~:
material Ml is conveyed from the entrance end portion to
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an exit end portion 33 of the conveyor 13. The con~eyor 13 is
antrained about a conventionally journaled pulley 34 and another
pulley 35 (Figure 1), the latter of which is rotated in a clock-
wise direction by an electric motor 34 and an appropriate con~
ventional pulley and drive belt arrangement.
Menas generally designated by the reference numerals 40
and 50 are provided for removing the minor amount of magnetic -
material M2 from the material Ml, M2 on the flight 14 of the
conveyor 13 as the latter moves from left-to-right or in a di-
rection Dl of Figure 1. The means 40 includes a no2zle 41 having
a generally rectangular orifice 42 (Figure 3) which is positioned
above the upper flight 14 o~ the conveyor 13 and the material Ml, ;
M2 thereupon. A conventional ~an (not shown) of a blower 49 is
rotated or driven from an electric motor 43 through suitable
conventional pulleys and a drive belt (unnumbered) with the air
being conducted to the nozzle 41 by an appropriate flexible
conduit ~4 suspendingly supported from the frame F in a con- ;
- ventional manner. Preferably the nozzle 41 may be adjustably
supported from the frame F to increase or decrease the height
thereof, as weIl as the angulation relative to the horizontal,
to achieve a desired flow path of the air as it is emitted from
the orifice 43, it being noted that the reference character A
indicates generally the flow path of the air when the nozzle
41 is in the position shown in Figure 1. It is also to be noted
that the skirts 32, 32 in addition to precluding the materials
Ml, M2 from falling o~f the sides of the upper flight 14 of the
conveyor 13 also serve as a guide for the air path A and con-
fines the same generally between the skirts 32, 32. The purpose
of the blast of air A is to blow the minor amounts of the material
M2 from the materials Ml and M2 deposited at the entrance end
portion into the gap G thereby commingling with the materials
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M2 dropped d.irectly from the conveyor 11 into the gap whereupon
only the magnetic material Ml departs the end portion 33 of the
conveyor 13. Essentially, the material M is shredded municipal
refuse which may, for example, include pieces of iron, ferro=
magnetic alloys, nickel, cloth, paper, string, etc. Though the
magnetic separator 20 will remove substantially all magnetic
material M1 from the materlal M there is a tendency for cloth, ~:
paper, string, or other pieces of non-magnetic material to cling
~ to the separated material and thus be deposited upon the end:~ 10 portion of the conveyor 13. However, due to the air blast
A minor amounts of the material M2 will be blown into the gap
G in one of two ways or impinged against a surface 51 of the
removing means 50. The air path of air stream ~ may be viewed
as being composed of a plurality of different streams which
for purposes of description have been broken down into simply
three streams Al, A2~ and A3.
. The stream Al inaicates that portion of the over-allair stream A lying closest to the material upon the upper fli~ht
; 14 and that which tends to move along toward and through a
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throat or opening 45 between the end portion of the conveyor
. 13 and the roll Sl. Thus any of the lighter material M2 con-
: tacted by the stream of air Al will follow this same path
and will be directed into the gap G preferably though not
necessarily with the assistance of a baffle 46 spanning the
width of the conveyor.
The stream of air A3 indicates that portion of the
: over-all air stream A which tends to he deflected upwardly by
.;. the material upon the upper run 14, the roll 51 itself, and the
particular position of the nozzle 41 relative to the horizontal.
The stream A3 therefore will blow material M2 into the gap G
during such time as it is being carried along with the material
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fx om a poirl't X a lo?g a path P unt:i.l it passes the p~riphery `
of the roll ~ Thus while travelling alo l~ the path P betweer~
the tiIne the mate.rial3 Ml, M2 leave the -f'light 22 o:f the conv~yor ~ :.
23 and tlle time the material M:L, M2 reach~es the conveyor 13 a
por-tion of the lat-ter will be blown by the air stream A3 into ',.
t~e gap G. '.
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The air stream A2 designates a midportion of the main
stream A which will blow the material M2 against a periphery
or surface 52 o~ the roll 50 and cause the same to impinge there~
'~ 10 against. The roll 51 is rotated counter-clockwise a.s ~iewed in ''` ~.
Figure 1 by an electric motor and a suitable pulley ancl drive '"
belt arrangement. Thus cloth, strirlg, and other non-meta].lic ~ :
or nonmagnetic material i.mpinged against the sur~ace 52 wl].l ''.
. ;.
rotate therewith counter-clockwise and upon approaohillg th~ gap
., 15 G the same will drop therefrom by gravity or ma~ be wiped there~
'I ~rom by the upper portion (unnumbered) of the baffle ~6 which ; ;~
can be positioned in close intimate xelationship to the ~surface :~:
', 52. Pr~'erably the surface 52 may be cloth or -the roll 51 may
" ~ ~e simply a bristle brush thus having a great a~finity ~or such
,' ~0 loose.material to adhere thereto.
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S~nce the me~allic material Ml leaving the enA po.rtiol~
33 of the conveyor 13 has a high angle of repose and, there~ore, .:'
does not spread easily a discharge chute 60 is mounted for rota~
tion in a conventional manner adjacent the end portion 33 of ,~:
2i~ the conveyor 13. The chute G0 is of a generally U-shaped con-
figuration in cross section gradually decreasing in size to~Jard :'~
a discharge end 61 thereof. Thus as material ~'ollows the path
Pl ~Ipon the rotation o-f the chute 60 in a conventional manner a
~athP2 o a generally circular shape is circumscribed -thus more
~0 eYenly dlstributing the magnetic material ~Il in a sto:rage area,
bin, trailer or the likeO Thus the apparatus 10 sep~rates the
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e~ero~eneou.c~ as~ oL re~u~e M into homogeneous ma~nel:ic ma-
terial Ml alld ~lolnogelleOlls nonmagnetic material M2.
~e~e:rring to Figllxe 4 o~`-the drawings, a portion of
a machi.ne lO' is illustra-ted which is substantially similar
to the macl~ e lO and those elements identical thereto bear
like re~`erence characters although primedO The machine lO'
di~ers from the machine 10 in the particular con~iguration o~
-the conveyor belt 23' o~ -the separator 20'~ Instead o~ being
entrained abou$ pulleys which impart a generally polygonal)
l~ con~iguration to the conveyor belt, as illustrated in cross
section in Figure l, the conveyor belt 23' is entrained about
the pulley 27' which ~.s the drive pulley and two id:le pulleys
6~, 64 posi~,ioned to impart generally'~ triangular con~igura-
tion to the conveyor belt 23', as viewed in cross section,
Thl.ts the material hl is ~irst attracted to the sur~ace o~ the
conveyor belt 23' at a flight 65 which moves do~n~Ya~dly and
away ~rom the conveyor 11', rounds the roller 64 and there~
a~ter: con-tinues along a generally hori~ontal ~light 66 ~or
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subsequent deposit upon the conveyor 13'. In addition, attached
to the ~rame F' are a plurality o-~ permanent magnets 67, 6~ an~
69 having alternate pole~ adJacent each other. This configura-
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tion o~ the conveyor 23' and particularly the angulation betwezn
the ~lights 65, 66 results in the e~ icient separation o~ the
materials Ml, M2 and a lesser carry-over of the minor amounts
~5 o~ the material M2 upon the conveyor 13~o
Referring to Figure 5 o~ the drawings the apparatus
lO" likewise is similar to the apparatuses lO and lO' and thus
li~e elements have been simi.larly identi~ied except for the
doub].e priming thereo~. In this embodiment the ma~netic se~
~o parator 20" is a drum 70 appropriately mounted ~or rotation
in the -~rame F" and driven by conventional means (not shown~
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Eor rot~.'icri in a counter clockwise directlon as viewed in
Fig,u-fe 5~ A permarlent magnet core 71 is conventionally sup- ;
ported in stationary or i`lxed relationship to the fl~ me ~"'
; with the drum 70 simply rotating thereabout. Thus, the ma-
terial Ml is a$tracted to the rotating drum 70 and is conveyed
along a generally arcuate path prior to being moved out of the -
influence of the magnet 71 and deposited upon the conveyor 13~
Referring to Figure 6 of the drawings, anothex machine
- lO"'is once again identical to the machin~s 10, 10' and 10
except for details of the magnetic separator 20"' and thus like
elements have been triple primed. In keeping with the con~
struction oF the separator 20"' a belt 75 thereo~ ls ~ntrained
a~out a pair of pulle~s 76, 77 journalled appropriat~ly in the
~rame F"' with the latter pulley 77 being rotated clockwise
through a suitable driv~ mechanism (not shown~ Thus the
pulley 7~ is likewise rotated in the same clockwise direction.
The pulley 76 is further constructed as a permanent magnet or
may consti$ute a permanent magnet secured internal]y of a ~ ~
con~entional pulley. Thus in either event the magnetic core ! ` ~ ~ ;
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~0 o~ ma~netic p-tlley 76 is rotated clockwise and thus material
~ll and m:inor amounts o-P the material ~ attracted thereto is
carr-led clockwise by the conveyor 7S over an upper flight 78
prior to discharge upon the conveyor 13"'~ -~
While preferred ~orms and arrangements of parts have
~5 been shown in illustrating the invention, it is to be clearly ,~
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I understood that various changes in details and arrangement o~ ;
parts may be made without departin~ from the spirit and scope ~-
; of this disclosure.
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