Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02411833 2002-11-14
Docket No.: THIELK-024XX
Rev. 11/01/2002
PROCEDURE AND MACHINE TO SEPARATE CARDBOARD
COMPONENTS FROM BULK WASTE PAPER
TECHNICAL FIELD
00( 01) The invention relates to a procedure and a machine to
separate cardboard components from bulk waste paper consisting
of softer paper components and stiffer cardboard components.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
00r 021 Waste paper here means paper collected for recycling that
is formed in bulk after coarse sorting that consists of softer
paper components and stiffer cardboard components. The paper
components are delivered by recycling firms to paper factories
that use the paper components for the manufacture of newsprint.
Newspapers nowadays are printed on paper that consists to a
large extent of recycled paper. This assumes that the used,
recycled paper will undergo a de-inking process in which the
color components are extracted from the cellulose material.
This, however, works only with printed paper, but not with
colored paper or cardboard. Therefore, the cardboard components
must be separated out of the bulk waste-paper to be recycled.
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SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
00[ 03l In practice, it is not possible with justifiable expense
to completely extract the cardboard component from a normal mass
of waste paper. Therefore, paper factories in which waste paper
is used to manufacture newsprint still accept a cardboard
content of 2.5%. Therefore, after the coarse sorting process,
arriving waste paper undergoes a fine sorting process in which
not only colored paper content but also the cardboard content
are separated. This fine sorting process is performed manually
on moving linear transport devices such as conveyor belts by a
large number of workers, and is an activity that must be
performed under difficult conditions, and is one whose accuracy
decreases as the concentration of the workers decreases in the
course of a shift.
001 041 From the old German patent document 637 056 a sorting
facility for household trash by means of which softer components
such as waste paper and fabric may be extracted is known. For
this, a transport belt equipped with barbs is provided onto
which the trash components are thrown, and on whose barbs the
softer components, including pieces of paper, are transfixed. By
means of a drum that engages at the deflection point of the
transport belt equipped with barbs, using hooks into slotted
teeth of the idler roller as far as below the support area of
the transport belt, the transfixed pieces of paper are stripped
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off the barbs of the transport belt. Discrimination between
pieces of softer paper and relatively stiffer cardboard is not
provided here.
00( 051 US patent document 5,590,789 describes a procedure and a
device to sort thermoplastic components from a stream of
materials, whereby a barbed roller is used. The thermoplastic
components transfixed on the barbs of this roller are stripped
off along the circumference of the barbed roller at a distance
from the reception point by a suitable device. The device known
in the document does not provide a device to extract cardboard
from bulk waste paper, nor is it suitable for this purpose.
10006 The task of the invention is to create a procedure and a
machine of the type mentioned at the outset that will enable
extraction of cardboard components from bulk waste paper with a
constantly high level of accuracy.
10007 The task is solved procedurally by the invention in that
the paper and cardboard components are transported flat on a
conveyor belt and only partially supported with such a support
separation, and in that first, the softer paper components are
drawn into the free space below the non-supported sections of
the conveyor belt as well as carried further by the conveyor
belt by means of ascending barbs of a receiver device over the
non-supported sections of the paper and cardboard components,
and second, the cardboard components are penetrated and
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transfixed, after which the cardboard components are stripped
off the barbs of the receiver device at a spatial separation
from the paper components passing through the conveyor belt.
00r 0s1 Further, this task is solved by a suitable machine by
means of a conveyor device transporting the paper and cardboard
components lying flat. The conveyor device ends at a sorting
station, and includes empty spaces in the end area between
supporting areas as well as below it, and the task is further
solved by means of a receiver device positioned at the sorting
station. This receiver device includes free-standing, projecting
barbs, and moves synchronously with the conveyor belt, whereby
the barbs of the receiver device are so arranged that they
extend down through the lower free spaces of the receiver device
and draw along the paper components remaining on the conveyor
belt and transfix and extract the cardboard components, and it
also includes a stripper device for the cardboard components
that is positioned on the one hand in the movement area of the
receiver device, and on the other hand, is spatially separated
from the exit position for the paper components along the
conveyor belt.
LQ0091 Essential to the invention is the consideration that
printed paper such as newsprint is relatively soft, and thus
presents a high degree of flexibility in comparison with
cardboard. Resultantly, cardboard may be transfixed by barbs or
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spines on the receiver device included as part of the invention
under certain conditions, while the flexible paper will not be.
Accordingly, the slot dimension or the diameter of the free
spaces on the conveyor belt transporting the bulk waste paper is
so selected that the barbs of the receiver device may press the
paper lying largely flat into these lower free spaces, and, in
contrast, the stiffer cardboard in the bridging area between the
support positions at the edge of the free spaces will present
such a high resistance to bending to the imposed barbs of the
receiver device that they are pierced by the barbs. The barbs
are shaped accordingly, and especially thus configured in the
area of the barb tips. The cardboard pieces transfixed on the
barbs are retained on the receiver device because they are
jammed, and are removed from the conveyor device, while the
paper components are carried along by the conveyor belt, from
which they are expelled. Stripping the cardboard components from
the receiver device occurs at another position than where the
paper components are expelled from the conveyor device, so that
the cardboard components extracted from the receiver device may
be spatially separated from the paper components.
0010 With a conveyor device for the transport of bulk waste
paper so that the paper and cardboard components are lying flat,
the support separations between the support points which allow
piercing of the cardboard lying flat, but not of the flexible
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paper, may be configured in various ways. Thus, the
conveyor device may consist of a conveyor belt that has
proper apertures whose positions correspond to the
arrangement of the projecting barbs in order to enable the
desired barb engagement. The conveyor device may also
consist of a conveyor belt that includes a large number of
projecting humps that form the support positions, and
between which the barbs of the receiver device extend.
Longitudinal slots in the conveyor device are also,
possible, as will be explained in the following using an
embodiment example. In a particularly advantageous
embodiment, the barbs of the receiver device may mesh with
the roller forming the supply end of the conveyor device
that possesses the free spaces to receive the barbs.
[0011] Advantageous embodiments of the invention may be
taken from the sub-claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0012] These and other features and advantages of the
present invention will be better understood by reading the
following detailed description, taken together with the
drawings wherein:
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O0I 131 Figure 1 a largely schematic, perspective
reproduction of a device to extract the cardboard components
from bulk waste paper, as seen obliquely from above the supply
station;;
00j 141 Figure 2 is a perspective view of another embodiment
of the end of the conveyor device transporting the bulk material
in the sorting station of a device positioned as shown in Figure
10015 Figure 3 an oblique view from above the end of the
conveyor device shown in Figure 2 with the receiver device
omitted-;
00r 1s1 Figure 4 a view of the end of the conveyor device as
in Figure 2 viewed along the transport direction;; and
10017 Figure 5 another slightly perspective lateral view of
the end of the conveyor device as in Figure 2.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
0018 Specifically, Figure 1 shows a frame 1, which supports a
conveyor device 2 that consists of conveyor belts 3 positioned
parallel with one another and at the same height. The conveyor
belts 3 are guided over common idler rollers 19 and 20 that are
driven by a motor (not shown). The upper outer side of the
carrying run of the conveyor belts 3 represent the transport
side of the conveyor device 2; the conveyor belts 3 are moving
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in the direction of the arrow A. On one end of the frame 1, the
transport belts 3 have their transport side free from above,
thus forming a supply station 4 at which the paper and cardboard
components of bulk waste paper are placed onto the conveyor
device 2 lying flat. These paper and cardboard components are
transported from the supply station 4 to a sorting station 5.
0019 Another frame 8 is positioned on the frame 1 outside the
front supply station 4 that supports a receiver device 9. This
receiver device 9 includes circulating belts 10 that are guided
over joint idler rollers 21 and 22, of which one is driven by a
motor so that the lower carrying runs of the belts 10 move
synchronously according to the arrow B with the upper carrying
runs of the transport belts 3 of the conveyor device 2 along
their supply direction.
00[ 20l The transport belts 3 that are positioned parallel to one
another are separated from one another at a specific distance.
One of the belts 10 of the receiver device 9 is positioned to
flow along with each gap between two of these transport bands 3.
The receiver device 9 lies with its outer side of its lower
carrying run are essentially at the same height as the outer
side of the upper carrying runs of the adjacent transport belts
3. In the area of the sorting station 5, the receiver device 9
with its belts 10 overlaps the conveyor device 2 so that, in the
rearward area, the receiver device 9 viewed along the transport
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direction extends above the reverse idler end of the conveyor
device 2.
00[ 211 Glide rails 6 are positioned between the separated
transport belts 3 of the conveyor device 2, against whose upper
sides the belts 10 of the receiver device 9 are pressed at at
least one point at which entry will subsequently be made. The
belts 10 have free-standing barbs 10 on their outer sides that
do not collide with the glide rails 6 because the glide rails 6
possess longitudinal slots that form hollow cavities 7 below the
transport level or surface for the paper and cardboard
components being transported while lying flat on it, into which
the projecting barbs 11 of the belts 10 of the receiver device 9
may project. Also, the upper sides of the glide rails 6 are at
the same level as the outer sides of the upper carrying runs of
the transport belts 3, so that the goods placed onto the
transport belts 3 which are carried along the transport
direction by means of adequate friction may slide along the
upper sides of the glide rails 6.
0022 When the mass consisting of paper and cardboard
components arrives to the sorting station 5, the barbs 11 on the
circulating belts 10 of the receiver device 9 come into play.
The barbs 11 that lie about the circumference of the belts 10 of
the receiver device 9 in a row with the slots or hollow cavities
7 of the glide rails 6 of the conve.yor device 2 press the paper
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components into the above-mentioned hollow cavities 7 without
penetrating the flexible or soft paper. In contrast, the
cardboard in the cardboard components bridging the hollow
cavities 7 is so stiff that the cardboard is pierced by the
barbs 11 on the belts 10, whereby the cardboard components are
transfixed on one or more of the barbs 11 on the belts 10. The
paper drawn into the hollow cavities 7 and not pierced remains
on the conveyor device 2, and is transported further by it.
00[ 23l The paper components move off the conveyor device 2 at
the end of the conveyor device 2, i.e., along the transport
direction after the idler roller 20, and fall onto a exit point
14. In contrast to this, the cardboard components transfixed on
the barbs 11 on the belts 10 and adhering to the outer side of
the lower carrying runs are passed along and separated using a
separation partition 13 that divides the exit point 14 from a
exit point 15 for the cardboard components. Above the exit point
15, the belts 10 move past a stripping device 12 with their
outer sides facing it. This stripping device 12 strips the
cardboard components from the barbs 11 on the belts 10, so that
these cardboard components fall off the rear end of the entire
device onto the exit point 15.
0024 The two exit points 14 and 15, one for the paper
components and the other for the cardboard components, may be
configured as supply stations for further transport devices in
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order to direct the paper and cardboard components along their
separate pathways for further use.
O0t 25i It must be ensured that the belts 10 of the receiver
device 9 for the cardboard components move in the area of the
lower carrying run at the same speed as the upper carrying runs
of the transportbelts 3 of the conveyor device 2. The specific
embodiment of the invention shown in the illustration offers the
advantage of being able to provide a relative velocity between
the belts 10 of the receiver device 9 and the transport belts 3
of the conveyor device 2, since the belts 10 gliding on the
glide rails 6, whose barbs 11 extend through the longitudinal
slot-shaped free spaces 7 of the glide rails 6, need not come
into contact with the transport belts 3 of the conveyor device
2.
-0026 The carrying runs of the belts 10 of the receiver device
9 adjacent to the conveyor device 2 overlap in the area of the
input side of the sorting station 5 at their inner sides by
means of sensor rollers 16. These sensor rollers 16 may pivot
against an elastic resistance. For this, the sensor rolls 10 are
mounted on a bracket 17 shaped like a rocker on whose first
lever arm is positioned on the sensor roller 16. A tensioning
spring 18 engages with the second lever arm of the bracket 17,
providing the force onto the particular carrying run of the
concerned belt 10. The separation between the lower carrying
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runs of the belts 10 of the receiver device 9 and the transport
side of the conveyor device 2 increases along the transport
direction away from the sensor rollers 16.
10027 The belts 10 increase their separation from the conveyor
device 2 from each sensor roller 16 up to the input point at the
idler roller 21 so that a decreasing angle for the goods to be
sorted is formed up to the sensor rollers 10 at the input side
of the sorting station 5. If the mass to be sorted lying flat is
too thick because of foreign objects such as pieces of wood,
then at least one of the sensor rollers 16 pivots along with the
concerned run of the belt 10 of the receiver device 9 against
the force of the spring 18 to the extent that the entire device
stops in order to allow the removal of the foreign object
without having to gain access into the separated paper and
cardboard components.
10028 It remains to provide a special track at the idler
rollers 19 and 20 of the conveyor device 2 in order to guide the
transport belts 3, since the lateral displacement of the
transport belts 3 is ensured by the glide rails 6 on the one
hand, and by additional guide rails 23 on the outer sides of the
two transport belts 3 positioned at the outside. Likewise, such
guides are not required on the idler rollers 21 and 22 for the
belts 10 of the receiver device 9. Guide rollers 24 are provided
on both sides of the belts 10 for lateral guiding of the belts
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near the concerned idler rollers 21, 22 that are positioned
on cross spars 25 of the frame 8.
10029 The device shown in Figure 1 may be modified in a manner
shown in Figures 2 through 5. Instead of individual transport
belts 3, the conveyor device 2 includes a supply belt 26 that
extends over the entire transport width of the conveyor device
2. In the same manner as the transport belts 3, the supply belt
26 is passed over idler rollers, one of which is shown in Figure
2 near the idler roller 20 at the supply end of the conveyor
device 2. At the output end of the supply belt 26 is a roller 28
whose upper edge is at the same level as the upper carrying run
27 of the supply belt 26. Also, the axis of the roller 28 is
parallel to the idler roller 20 for the supply belt 26, and the
separation between the roller 28 and the output end of the
supply belt 26 is so small that the mass to be sorted is fed
away from the supply belt 20 via the upper edge area of the
roller 28. Additionally, the roller 28 may be driven at a
circumferential speed corresponding to the supply speed of the
conveyor device 2. The roller 28 forms the supply end of the
entire conveyor device 2 from which the paper components exit.
10030 The cardboard components are treated differently here
too- they are penetrated and transfixed on the barbs 11 of the
receiver device 9, as is the case with the embodiment example in
Figure 1. This is why the receiver device 9 is configured the
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same. The difference from the modified embodiment in Figure 1 is
that the free spaces 7 are provided at the roller 28 into which
the barbs 11 of the belts 10 of the. receiver device 9 extend or
penetrate.
00f 311 Additionally, in particular as Figure 4 shows, the roller
28 consists of a large number of coaxially-arranged disks 29 of
the same diameter positioned at regular distances along an axis
30. As a result of these distances, a free space 7 exists
between two of the named disks 29 that is free for movement in
the circumferential direction of the roller 28. On the transport
belts 10, the barbs 11 are arranged in a row aligned along the
circulation direction, and such a row of barbs is aligned toward
one of these free spaces into which the barbs extend. The
flexible paper components here are also pressed in by the barbs
11, and drop off the side of the roller 28 facing away from the
supply belt 26. In contrast, the cardboard components bridge
over the free spaces 7, and are supported correspondingly by the
edges of the disk 29 extending in the circumferential direction
of the roller 28. Thus, the cardboard components are also
transfixed by the barbs 7 on the belts 10 of the receiver device
9 because of their stiffness, and are carried along by the
circulating remover device 9 over the exit side of the roller 28
onto which the paper components are tossed.
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00~ 321 In contrast to Figures 2 - 5, the receiver device 9 may
include a larger number of belts 10 or, instead of this, one or
two such belts with greater width in order to increase the
number of rows of barbs 11 engaging with the circumferential
free spaces 7 of the roller 28. Also, the roller 28 may be
formed at those points at which the barbs 11 do not engage
without a circumferential contour including the free spaces 7.
[0033] Modifications and substitutions by one of ordinary skill
in the art are considered to be within the scope of the present
invention which is not to be limited except by the claims which
follow.
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