Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
PROCESSING APPARATUS FOR SOLID UR~AN
REFU5E AND PLASTIC BAGS FII,LED WITH
SAME
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Inventioll
The present invention relates to processing apparatus
for solid urban trash or refuse, and more specifically to pro-
cessing apparatus which is capable of cutting or tearing solid
refuse, especially plastic or plasticiz~d bags containiny the
solid refuse, preliminarily to sorting of the solid refuce for
recycling purposes.
2. The Prior Art
Over the past few years the popularity~in urban areas
o~ storing trash and solid domesitc refuse in plastic or
plasticized bags has incxeased drammatically~ These bags, which
may be in each case moxe or less filled with the solid domestic
re~use, are conventionally left outside dwellinys for pickup by
public or private trash collectors, and these trash collectors
will place the bags in their truc~s and ultimately transport them
to recycling plants for processing, sorting and recycling
-~reatments.
Once at the recycling plant the bags containing the
~) solid refuse must be broken open and their contents sorted/ i.eO,
because the contents will include many different types of
materials, e.g., smaller bags, boxes, cans~ etc.~ which must be
--'! .,
treated differencly during recycling. Actually, automatic
sys~ems ~or open:in(3 bags containing solid refuse are difficult to
,iconstruc-t, principally because any apparatus must accomodate ~or
vast differences in shapes and haLdnesses of materials whish can
be anticipated to be contained in the bags.
One apparatus for processing bags containing solid
urban refuse is shown in U. S. Patent Number 3,891,105. In this
apparatus a series of spikes ;s used to hold each bag, these
I spikes cooperating with corresponding blades to provide a ser.ies
, oE longituclinal tears or cu~s in the trea~ed material. However,
` the alternating motion utilized in this device limits~khe range
of movement of the elements and thus a complete opening (cutting)
is never obtained. This produces problems in thè subsequent
shearing operation because material is still left untouched in
lS sections of the bags. In addition, this device fails to operate
in a satisfactory way because there are two groups of blades
and coun~eract.ive blades operating independently, the coun-ter-
ac~ive blades holding the refuse material to be sheared in a
fixed position while the blades advance in the same direction and
~0 more quickly than the underlying conveyor, thus dragging the
refuse material against the counteractive blades, each of which
makes a tear, ~hé counteractive blades being sornewhat free in
the cutting operation and the blades in the return mode~ More-
over, the counteractive blades are ln positive contro~ only du.ring`
~5 tile lift operation and 'cheir weight is what makes them operate
2![~
in the lowering phase, while the blades are in a positive control
cluring both opera~ions. This device has thus proved to be overly
permissive - ~he counteractive blades may easily retract when
meeting objects having a certain resistance. The result is an
irregular operation and frequent stoppages of operation of the
, apparatus.
Another known apparatus involves a high speed mill
using fixed or articulated ha~ners or flexible whips attached to
I high speed rotors which are kept taut by centrifugal forces.
However, this apparatus is not entirely desirable because it
i operates on the materials so vigorously that subsequent
recovery of the cut ma~erials into the desired categories is
very cliEficult.
The present invention is directed to a process and
-1 S ` apparatus which will operate to break open the bags containing
the 501 id urban reEuse and wlll also operate to compact and
shear or cut the contained refuse, e.g., the boxes, plastic
I items, wood items, etc., which may be contained therein, so that
I the solid re~use can then be easily sorted out into the desired
;() catecJorieL; ancl ~urther processed as necessary.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
, The process to break open bags containing solid
urban reEuse according to the invention consists basically in
' pushing the material to be sheared or cu-t forward along a type
;;!5 of platform made up by the tc,ps of spaced apart slat blades
(
. f
3~
positioned withi.n a housing, the platform forming a flattened
spiral surface extending from the side of the housing toward a
shaft which mounts cutting blades. According to the invention
! the cu~ting blades are mounted on the shaft so as to be movable
between adjacent slat blades and the material to be processed
is pushed forward on the tops of the slat blades, and due to
their spiral curvature, the mater.ial will become compacted.
Thereaf-ter it is broken open by coaction of the cutting blades
~moving past the slat blades. The sheared material then falls
1.0 j between the spaces left between the adjacent slat blades and,
after collection, moves on for further treatments.
Accordi.ng to the inventive process, the cutting blades
coacting with the slat blades sequentially reach the proper
position to cut or shear the material, thereby reducing the
lS force required for this operation, and if the cutting blades
meet with a resistance greater than that set beforehand, a special
means enables their direction of rotation to be reversed in
order to free the space between two adjacen~ slat blades and
then reset the device in~o standard operation once again.
~o As indicated, the apparatus is constituted by a shaft
~ ca.rryi.ng cutting blades in an angularly offset arrangement, the
- cutti.ng blades being rigid.ly attached to the shaft, whlch by
rotation of the shaft perform the cutting operation. During this
rotational movement the cut~ing blades penetrate between a series
of fixed slat blades, orcing the material -to pass through the
slits constituted by the spaces between ~he sla-t bladesO
, . .
One result provided hy the rotational motion of the
.shafl- moullting the cllttiny blades whi.ch is not achieved with
. other systems is the elimination of the unproductive (dead)
~ return operation~ thereby saving the time required fox such an
operation.
Compared to the other systems, therefore, the
i.nvent.ive processiny apparatus has the capacity to receive a
greater quantity of material to be processed.
~he apparatus is operable with the sha~t rotating at
a slow speed, ensuriny that the materialdoes not come into
contact more than once with the cutting blades and slat blade~,
ancl is inste~d moved beyond the slat blades immediately, thereby
preven~ing complete destruction of the refuse material, such
that it cannot be thereafter sorted easily.
~5 Setting the present apparatus apart from similar ones
with high speed rotors is the size of the slat blades, their
shape, their placement, the shape o~ the slat blades, and the
structure of the entire apparatus, which permits unprocessible
matelials to be expelled.
~0 The size of the cutting blades is specially controlled
so as to allow large items to be introduced into the apparatus
wi~hout the ~ssistance o~ other push devices. The large opening
~reated at e-~rery turn between the cutting blades and the fixed
F~ h~ 6-t..~uc~ur~ i~ such ~hat it permiks cumbersome
~5 ~ elements to be grasped and dragged toward the slat blades.
z~ l
The shape of the cutting blades is strictly .in corre-
sponc`lence with the shape of the slat blades so as to minimize the '
effort of t:he machine to expel foreign elements by reversing, as
indicated, the clirection of rotation of the shaft~
~s indicated above, the cutti.ng blades are arranged
'in an angularly offset fashion about the shaft on which they
are mounted - so that only one blade at,a time perfQrms its
task, thus making it possible to absorb all the power needed to
crush and cut the more resistant bodies.
The cutting blades perform well because the slat
blades have a special, spiral profile to drag the material to be
crushed toward the center of the shaft axis, and is thereby
forced to move across ~he slat blades. This system reduces the
force levers developed at the time of cutting, thereby signi-
1.'. ficantl~ reducing torque on the shaft axis. This precaution
permits very long cutting blades and eliminates the need for
', cut~ing forces applied -to their extremities, which would result
, in extremely hlgh levels o~ torque at specific moments.
; The shape of the cutting blades in conjunction wlth
~o the device for reversing the direction of rotation of the shaft
, enables hard and uncrushable materials ~o be removed from the
cutting area, and for them to be brought over the sha~t and
discharged directly onto the area below.
I A better understanding of the present invention will
!~ I be achieved by reference to the attached drawings, taken in ,
canjunc~ion with the following discussion.
~ -
i~
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In the drawings,
Figure 1 shows a schema-tic side view of a
, processing apparatus constructed in accordance with the present
' invention, and
Figure 2 shows a schematic front view of the
processing apparatus shown in Figure 1.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIME~T
As seen in Figures 1 and 2, the processing apparatus
1.0 , according to the present invention includes a housing 1, a shat
2 which is rotatably mounted in the housing, and a plurality of
: parallel slat b]ades 4 which are stationarily mounted ~ithin the
~ houslng in a spaced apart fashion across its w.idth. The shaft
i I
I I
. 2 mounts a plurality of blade members 3 which are positioned to
IS cooperate with the slat blades 4 to compact and cut solid refuse
which is supplied to the housing 1.
Considering the basic elements of the apparatus in
greater detail, the housing 1 is constructed to have an inlet
opening I formed by upper walls la at its upper end and an out-
2~ let opening O formed by lower walls lb at its lower end. Asshown in Figure 1, the outlet opening O of ~he housing is` of~set
forwardly (to the right~ with respect to the inlet opening I~
The s.hat 2 is mounted in bearings 20 which are
located in the lateral sides of the housing 1 50 as to be
,
- 7~
positioned between the inlet opening O and outlet openiny I, and
it is d.rlven in ei.ther clockwise or counterclockwise (as seen in
E~i~ure 1) fashion b~ a drive means M. The blade members 3 are
Imounted along the shaft 2 in a side-by-side relationship and they
1 include base portions 3a which surround the shaft 2 and are
. f.ixedly attached thereto, and head portions 3b which extend
radially away from the base portions 3a and are somewhat
narrower i.n width, i.e., so as to provide lateral spaces S there-
between (see Fi~ure 2)o The head portions 3b have opposed front
and rear surfaces which converge towards the topmost end of the
head portion and define cutting edges which are reinforced with
" a hard material 7. As seen in Fi~ure 1, the blade me~bers 3
are positioned about the shaft 2 such that their head portions
, are sequentially angularly oriented about the shaft.
The stakionary slat blades 4, which are removably
mounted in the housing by way of a bolt S that extends across
the wiclth of the housing, are spaced apart so as to be aligned
with spaces S between the head portions 3b of the blade members
3~ Each slat bl.ade has an enlarged upper edge -formed of a hard
2~ material which is shaped to provide a first curved portion 4a,
a second cur~ed portion 4h and a third curved portion 4c. The
first curved portion 4a of each sla-t blade is shaped to form a
smooth, flattened spiral surface which extends from a point
adjacent the rear wall la of the inlet opening I of the housing
2S to a point beneath the rotary shaft 2, the second curved portion
i
~ ~ .
z~ ~
4b extends abruptly upwardly from the end of the first curved
portion berleath the rotary shaft to a point nearer the shaft,
; and the third curved portion 4c extends around a portion of the
j shaft (actually around -the base portions of the associated blade
ntembers) from the end of -the second curved portion 4b nearest
the shclf t.
When the inventive processing apparatus is in use,
soli~ reEuse 10 (including any bags in which the solid refuse
rnay be contained) is deposi-ted into the inlet opening I of the
housing 1 SQ as ~o fall onto the first curved portions 4a of the
slat blades 4, and due to the rotation of the shaft 2 (counter
.,
clockwise in Figure 1), the action of the blade members 3 and the
shape of ~he first curved portion 4a, the solid refuse will move
along the first curved portions 4a and abut again6t the second
curved portions 4b, the solid refuse in the meantime becoming
compacted and crushed, and then it will be cut by the cutting
edges of the head portions 3b as blade members 3 pass downwardly
between the slat blades 4. The cut refuse will then fall down-
warclly between the slat blades and will be discharged from the
housinc3 by gravity through the outlet opening O at the lower
end o the housing~ The very close spacing which is provided
betweerl-the third curved portion 4a of the slat blades 4 and
the base portions 3a of the blade members 3 wi]l prevent long,
-fibrous materials such as rags, plastic, rope, etc., from becom- '
ing wrapped or Ja~med ahout the shaft 2 and its hub and thus
re;ult in a shutting down of the apparatus.
.~
~9_
, . ~ .
6Z~
Because the cutting of the solid refuse will be
achieved by the head portions 3b of the blade members near the
base portions 3a and because the head portions 3b will come into
cutting contact wikh the solid refuse in a sequential fashion
(as a resu:Lt of their sequential angular orientation about the
shaEt 2), the inventive processing apparatus will operate
satisEact:orily with the shaft X rotating at a relatively slow
speed, e.g., 10 to 15 turns per minute. Thus, the inventive
processing apparatus will be inexpensi-ve to operate, and because .
the apparatus is simple in construction, it will be inexpensive
to manufacture.
The dri.ve means M used to drive the shaft 2 can
include a torque meter or an overpressure device to enable the
drive means to reverse, when necessary, the direction of rotation
of the shaft 2. Such a reverse rotation, continued for 2 or 3
revolutions of the shaEt 2, will cause refuse materials which
cannot be cut to be moved backwardly along the first curved
portions 4a of the slat blades 4 and then up and over the shaft
2 so as to fall through the outlet opening O oE the housing 1
and -to accumulate with the refuse which has been previously
shearecl.
The drive means M can then be reversed in operàtion to
aqa.i.n rotate the shaft 2 in its normal (counterclockwise in
ure 1) di.rection~
~:lt)~
Various ob~ivus changes in the elements o~ the
invellt:ioll as clescribed above can be rnadc and yet still fall
~ithin the scope o the appended claims.
