AU2003246075A1 - Method and apparatus for recycling cardboard - Google Patents

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR RECYCLING

CARDBOARD

Field of the Invention This invention relates to a method and apparatus for recycli relating to a method and apparatus for recycling waxed card bricks for use in domestic fireplaces but is not limited to suc ackgound Art The popularity of log burning fireplaces as a supplemental s With wood cutting restrictions on crown land and natural wi of many wood processing plants, wood logs can be difficult result, artificial fire logs have been gaining in popularity.

Boxes and containers made from cardboard are widely used as packaging, shipping and storage of goods and the like. As supply of discarded cardboard boxes readily available for rec that discarded cardboard boxes form a potential fuel material converting used or discarded cardboard boxes into burnable some level of success.

tg cardboard. It is particularly

I

board and forming combustible h use.

ource of heat continues to grow.

Iderness, as well as the closing and expensive to obtain. As a in a variety of applications such such, there is an abundant ycling. It has been recognized and the general concept of ire logs has been applied with Machines have been developed to convert such cardboard bokes into compact burnable fire logs. Such machines include a feed system for receiving a sheet of cardboard into the

I

cutting system, a cutting mechanism for slicing the cardboard sheet into strips and then cutting the strips into chips and compacting/compressing using a punch press assembly for p g/ p mgusl, g a punch press assembly for shaping the chips into compact fire log structures which can le burned in a fireplace.

Binders, such as glue, are used to hold the chips together after compression.

Additionally, the finished fire logs can be dipped into wax fo enhance their burn capability. These machines are designed ti

I

a outer wax coating to cut and shape plain cardboard boxes, i.e. without a wax or like coating thereon.

There exists a problem relating to recycling certain types of cardboard boxes. Wax-coated corrugated cardboard boxes, which are coated with a paraffin-based wax, are generally nonrecyclable because, in normal re-pulping systems, the wax is very expensive to separate from the corrugated cardboard efficiently. Therefore used wax-coated corrugated cardboard boxes are usually discarded in landfills. In view of conservation of resources and environmental consciousness, the ability to reuse such discarded material in a form of fuel would reduce the demand for other types of fuels, such as oil, gas or coal, which further conserves natural resources and preserves the environment.

Raw material picked up from markets etc fall basically into three different types of waxed boxes new -never used, used, and used but of double layer construction.

It is disclosed in US Patent No. 6,251,147 to have an artificial fire log and fire starter chip producing apparatus comprising a cutting assembly, a compression conveyor auger assembly and a die. The apparatus converts standard waxed corrugated cardboard boxes into artificial fire logs by first slicing cardboard sheets into cardboard strips, then chopping the cardboard strips into cardboard segments in the cutting assembly. The cardboard segments are compressed by the compression conveyor auger assembly and extruded in the die to form generally circular, longitudinally-shaped sections of a fire log. Fire starter chips are fabricated from said cardboard and paper segments by adhering said segments to each other.

However such a system relies on rotating auger and in the final product must be adhered together. Therefore no advantage is made of the material and the process is fundamentally no different in concept to the prior art pulverisation by hammermill and adhering together.

It is therefore merely a more expensive processing in order to overcome the difficulties of the waxed product.

It is disclosed in US Patent No. 6,136,054 to have a low cost synthetic fire log made by mixing specially processed waxed-cardboard or other wax coated papers of varying 2 proportions with a binder/fuel. The binder/fuel consists of a petroleum wax or a mixture of waxes, the nature and extent of which is suitably modified by in situ admixture with the paraffin wax already present in the waxed-cardboard. Sawdust or other wood fillers may also be added. In particular this patent discloses a method of making artificial logs comprising the steps of: a) converting paraffin wax treated paper products to produce particles with a largest dimension of less than about 1/2 inch, b) heating said particles to a temperature at least about 20* F. greater then the melting temperature of the paraffin wax on the paper product, c) thoroughly mixing said heated material from step b) with a binder/fuel at about 1900 F. to form a paper product/paraffin wax/binder/fuel mixture, d) cooling the mixture from step c) to below 1000 and e) forming said mixture into solid shapes having diameters and lengths suitable for use as artificial logs. Upon thorough incorporation of the materials, the resulting mixture is extruded, moulded, compressed, or otherwise formed, such that the resulting mass is sufficiently solid to hold its shape at normal room temperature.

However such a system requires external heating means and again makes no use of the special material being processed. Again the treatment is a more expensive add-on treatment compared to the usual process of recycling cardboard.

Accordingly, there exists a need to provide the capability of recycling pre-waxed corrugated cardboard boxes into fire bricks. The present invention is directed at those needs, as well as others, and overcomes the deficiencies or at least ameliorates the deficiencies found currently in known artificial fire log producing machines.

It is an object of the invention to provide an improved method and apparatus for recycling cardboard which overcomes or at least ameliorates the problems of the prior art and particularly for providing an improved method and apparatus for recycling waxed cardboard and forming combustible bricks for use in domestic fireplaces BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the invention there is provided a method for recycling waxed cardboard and forming combustible bricks for use in domestic fireplaces including the steps of: feeding waxed cardboard into a shredder to provide shredded material; (ii) selecting a volume of uncompressed shredded material; (iii) compacting the material into an intermediary volume less than the uncompressed volume and transferring said compressed intermediary volume to a main compaction chamber; (iv) compacting the material to a volume less than a quarter of the uncompressed volume such that the resulting flammable product is in unitary shapes such as bricks and where the compaction has caused the wax to at least partially exude and bind the product.

The method for recycling waxed cardboard and forming combustible bricks can have the compaction causing the wax to at least partially melt and upon cooling re-adhere to bind the compacted shredded material to output a resulting flammable product in unitary shapes such as bricks. However heat can be added during compaction to assist the wax to at least partially melt and upon cooling re-adhere to bind the compacted shredded material to output a resulting flammable product in unitary shapes such as bricks.

The compaction can result in a reduction to less than or equal to a quarter of the uncompressed volume while providing sufficient compaction to at least partially exude and bind the product. However in one form the compaction results in a reduction to less than or equal to a tenth of the uncompressed volume while providing sufficient compaction to at least partially exude and bind the product. Preferably the compaction results in a reduction to a resulting product of about two thousandths of a cubic metre.

Also in accordance with the invention there is provided a method for recycling waxed cardboard and forming combustible bricks for use in domestic fireplaces including the steps of: shredding waxed cardboard to provide shredded material of substantially in the range of less than 300 centimetres; (ii) feeding the shredded material to a compactor hopper (iii) compacting the material in a first planar direction (iv) compacting the material in a second planar direction at an angle to the first planar direction compacting the material in a third planar direction at an angle to the second planar direction wherein the compaction has caused the wax to exude and bind the compacted shredded material to output a resulting flammable product in unitary shapes such as bricks The method can have the compaction causing the wax to at least partially melt and upon cooling re-adhere to bind the compacted shredded material to output a resulting flammable product in unitary shapes such as bricks. Heat can be added during compaction to assist the wax to at least partially melt and upon cooling re-adhere to bind the compacted shredded material to output a resulting flammable product in unitary shapes such as bricks.

At least two of said first, second and third planar directions are at substantially 900.

The compaction can result in a reduction to less than or equal to a quarter of the uncompressed volume while providing sufficient compaction to at least partially exude and bind the product. Preferably the compaction results in a reduction to less than or equal to a tenth of the uncompressed volume while providing sufficient compaction to at least partially exude and bind the product. The resulting product can be of about two thousandths of a cubic metre.

Still further according to the invention there is provided a method for manufacturing fire bricks, including the steps of: providing a waxed corrugated cardboard cutting assembly having a plurality of cutting blades on two opposing elongated rotating shafts; shredding the waxed corrugated cardboard to pieces preferably less than 50 millimetres; forming a rectangular box-like fire brick from said cardboard and paper segments by compacting in at least two directions normal to each other and with sufficient pressure to create a temperature or pressure that allows the wax of the waxed corrugated cardboard to exude and form an adhesion of the compressed pieces to form a fire brick.

Also the invention provides apparatus and system for recycling waxed cardboard and forming combustible bricks for use in domestic fireplaces including an input means for feeding waxed cardboard of a predefined size or range of sizes; a compactor hopper having a plurality of compartments for receiving the cardboard from the input system; a plurality of hydraulic cylinders for each compartment which compress the cardboard in at least two directions; a linkage between the hydraulic system of the hydraulic cylinders of respective compartments such that hydraulic fluid can be scavenged from one to the other in alternate cycles.

The input system can include a shredder for shredding the cardboard into shreds less than millimetres and a conveyor for transporting the shredded material to the compactor wherein the output of the shredder, the conveyor and the input of the compactor are similarly sized to avoid bridging of the shredded material causing blockages.

The compactor hopper can have one or more of the plurality of compartments changeable in size to receive one of the different types of waxed cardboard and to compress the cardboard to the required rate dependent on the type. The compactor hopper can further have the plurality of compartments changeable in size to compress the material to the required output shape.

Also provided by the invention is an apparatus and system which converts standard waxed corrugated cardboard sheets into artificial fire bricks and produces artificial fire bricks by first slicing cardboard sheets into cardboard strips, cutting the cardboard strips into cardboard segments and compressing and shaping the cardboard segments for the artificial fire bricks into generally rectangular, longitudinally-shaped pieces resembling a fire brick.

The compaction can result in a reduction to less than or equal to a quarter of the uncompressed volume while providing sufficient compaction to at least partially exude and bind the product. However in one form the compaction results in a reduction to less than or equal to a tenth of the uncompressed volume while providing sufficient compaction to at least partially exude and bind the product. Preferably the compaction results in a reduction to a resulting product of about two thousandths of a cubic metre.

An embodiment of the present invention is an apparatus and system which converts standard waxed corrugated cardboard sheets into artificial fire bricks. The invention produces artificial fire bricks by first slicing cardboard sheets into cardboard strips, then cutting the cardboard strips into cardboard segments. The cardboard segments for the artificial fire bricks are compressed and shaped into generally rectangular, longitudinally-shaped pieces resembling a fire brick.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be brought out in the following portions of the specification, wherein the detailed description is for fully disclosing preferred embodiments of the invention without placing limitations thereon.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In order that the invention can be more fully understood an embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings by way of illustration only wherein: FIGURE 1 is a front view of a vertical cross section of a compactor hopper of an apparatus for recycling waxed cardboard in accordance with a first embodiment of the invention.

FIGURE 2 is a side view of a vertical cross section of a compactor hopper of the apparatus for recycling waxed cardboard of Figure 1 FIGURE 3 is a front view of a vertical cross section of a shredder of an input means of an apparatus for recycling waxed cardboard in accordance with a first embodiment of the 7 invention.

FIGURE 4 is a side view of a vertical cross section of the shredder of the input means of an apparatus for recycling waxed cardboard of Figure 3.

FIGURE 5 is an overhead plan view of the shredder of the input means of an apparatus for recycling waxed cardboard of Figure 3.

FIGURE 6 is a number of views of a compactor hopper of an apparatus for recycling waxed cardboard in accordance with the first embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring to the drawings, there is shown an apparatus and system for recycling waxed cardboard that includes a compactor 11 as shown in Figures 1 and 2 and in Figures 3, 4 and a shredder 51. An input conveyor roller feed (not shown) connects the two together. It is important that the conveyor roller is sized and connected to provide direct feed from the shredder without back pressure. This is achieved by the roller having a width equal to, and directly connected to the output of the shredder and equal to, and directly connected to the input of the compactor hopper.

The compactor 11 has a base frame 15 upon which is mounted the compacting apparatus with at a top portion a hopper 21 having one vertical side wall and a box like other side walls extending at an angle from an open rectangular top to a smaller rectangular bottom 24.

Shredded material is fed into the open top from the shredder 51 by the input conveyor roller feed. More details of this process will be further discussed later.

Located at the bottom 24 of the hopper 21 and horizontally aligned is a first hydraulic cylinder 26. The hydraulic cylinder 26 ends just beyond the vertical wall of the hopper 21 with a openable gate 28 selectively closing the end of the cylinder. A piston 27 is mounted at the other end of the first hydraulic cylinder 26 and by connection to hydraulics is able to be driven towards the openable gate 28 at the vertical wall of the hopper 21.

This cylinder provides two functions. Firstly the cylinder 26 is able to receive the shredded material in an uncompressed state directly from the hopper. By selection of the position of 8 the piston 27 and the sizing of the shredded material a predetermined volume of material is selected. Secondly the hydraulically connected piston can provide a first compression to the predetermined volume of material while the gate 28 is closed and transfer into a second hydraulic cylinder 31 when the gate 28 is opened. The preferred compression is between 800 and 1200 pounds per square inch.

The second hydraulic cylinder 31 is located vertically from the end of the first hydraulic cylinder 26 with its hydraulic piston 32 extending alongside the vertical wall of the hopper 21. Therefore the first hydraulic cylinder 26 when its gate is open feeds to the top of the second hydraulic cylinder just below the piston 32 at full extraction. At the other end of the second hydraulic cylinder is its gate 33. The hydraulically connected piston 32 can provide a second compression to the predetermined volume of material at an angle normal to the first compression while the gate 33 is closed and transfer into a third main hydraulic cylinder 36 when the gate 33 is opened. The preferred second compression in this pre compression chute or cylinder is about twice the compression of the first compression.

The third main hydraulic cylinder 36 is located horizontally from the lowest end of the second hydraulic cylinder 31 with its hydraulic and piston 37 located at the furthest end and a gate 38 closing off the other end of the cylinder 36. Therefore the second hydraulic cylinder 31 when its gate 33 is open feeds in a middle portion of the second hydraulic cylinder somewhere between the piston 37 at full extraction and the end gate 38 at the other end. The hydraulically connected piston 37 provides a third main compression at an angle normal to the second compression while the gate 38 is closed.

Therefore the apparatus and system for recycling waxed cardboard forms combustible bricks for use in domestic fireplaces including the steps of feeding waxed cardboard into a shredder to provide shredded material; selecting a volume of uncompressed shredded material; compacting the material into an intermediary volume less than the uncompressed volume and transferring said compressed intermediary volume to a main compaction chamber; and compacting the material to a volume less than a quarter of the uncompressed volume such that the resulting flammable product is in unitary shapes such as bricks and where the compaction has caused the wax to at least partially exude and bind the product.

As the pressure in the main third hydraulic cylinder 36 is preferably of the order of 125,000 pounds per square inch provided by a force generated by the hydraulics 37 of the piston of between 30 to 70 tons, the gate 38 must be significantly stronger to provide a backing wall to the compression of material in the third main compression cylinder. The compaction causes the wax to exude and bind the compacted shredded material resulting in a flammable product in unitary shapes such as bricks. At the end of the compaction, the gate 38 can be released to allow outputting of the resulting fire brick.

The volume of the initial uncompressed material in the first hydraulic cylinder 26 is about 0.024 cubic metres while the volume of the pre compression chute forming the second hydraulic cylinder 31 is about half original uncompressed volume. The resulting brick is compressed to a size of 10 x 10 x 20 centimetres with volume of about 0.002 cubic metres.

As can be seen in Figure 2 the compactor has dual hoppers and dual adjacent first, second and third compacting hydraulic cylinders with linkages connecting the hydraulics to allow scavenging of hydraulic liquid at alternating strokes of their offset cycle. An element of regeneration thereby occurs and due to the offset cycle continuous production occurs rather than only being effective in the compression portion of the piston cycle.

In accordance with one example of use of the invention a series of procedures occur. Firstly raw material is picked up from retail and wholesale establishments such as markets etc.

Basically there are 3 different types of waxed boxes new never been used, used and used but of double layer construction.

The waxed boxes are fed into the shredder of the apparatus at an angle, to ensure output is in small pieces which are less than 300 millimetres but ideally no longer than 50 millimetres and with a width of about 10 mm. The width of blades can be varied to suit the requirements of the final product. The shredder is powered by a 50 horsepower 3 phase electric motor through a reduction gearbox to provide adequate power at blades. The blades of the shredder have teeth by which the boxes are drawn into the shredder. The shredder is of a two shaft design and does not require screens for the product output sizing.

The operation of the shredder is to first slice cardboard sheets into cardboard strips, then cutting the cardboard strips into cardboard segments. The cardboard segments for the artificial fire bricks are compressed and shaped into generally rectangular, longitudinallyshaped pieces resembling a fire brick.

This operation is achieved by the shredder shown in Figures 3, 4 and 5 where waxed cardboard is able to be fed between two vertically adjacent infeed pinch rollers to feed into two similarly vertically adjacent rotating shafts having a plurality of substantially parallel cutting discs mounted normal to the axis of the shafts. The discs on respective shafts are located relatively to each other so as to cut and shred the cardboard by timing of rotation of blades due to rotation of the shafts on which the discs are mounted. The discs shred by shearing into strips and a further cutting device is located on the output side to cut at the required speed and thereby form the required length of shredded material.

The shredded material is conveyed to the compactor hopper where it is fed into two compartments whose cubic capacity is variable to accord to the type of cardboard being used. The conveyor feeding from the shredder to the compactor hopper should be of equal width to the shredder outlet so that the shredded material does not "bridge" and therefore avoids material being jammed along the conveyor or at either end.

It should be noted that there is a variation in the compaction of different types of waxed boxes mentioned above and also between boxes of the same type. Once the shredded raw material from the conveyor has filled the trough, a horizontal hydraulic ram pre-compresses the material. The pre-compressed material is transferred into a vertical tube for further compression. A further transfer of the compressed material occurs into a horizontal chamber for final compression to the required size and shape.

A unique feature of the compaction unit in this format is that it has two adjacent barrels and produces two firebricks per cycle. In order to reduce the power consumption of the machine it scavenges hydraulic fluid from one cylinder to the other. Further the disclosed compactor has been designed to enable various thickness firebricks to be made. The shape of the log can be varied as required by varying the cylinders. The compaction of the firebrick in this embodiment comes about from utilising a minimum of four hydraulic cylinders per chamber and therefore eight in total.

The binding of the raw material is achieved by using the wax component within the raw material. There is sufficient wax to bind the firebrick together without any additive. The shape of the end product is in the form of a rectangular house brick.

Although the description above contains much specificity, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention but as merely providing illustrations of some of the presently preferred embodiments of this invention. In particular, a person skilled in the art reviewing the above and the drawings will understand the invention and readily understand variations without any inventive input and such understanding and variations are included within the scope of this invention as defined in the following claims.

Claims (26)

1. A method for recycling waxed cardboard and forming combustible bricks for use in domestic fireplaces including the steps of: feeding waxed cardboard into a shredder to provide shredded material; (ii) selecting a volume of uncompressed shredded material; (iii) compacting the material into an intermediary volume less than the uncompressed volume and transferring said compressed intermediary volume to a main compaction chamber; (iv) compacting the material to a volume less than a quarter of the uncompressed volume such that the resulting flammable product is in unitary shapes such as bricks and where the compaction has caused the wax to at least partially exude and bind the product.

2. A method for recycling waxed cardboard and forming combustible bricks according to claim 1 wherein the compaction has caused the wax to at least partially melt and upon cooling re-adhere to bind the compacted shredded material to output a resulting flammable product in unitary shapes such as bricks.

3. A method for recycling waxed cardboard and forming combustible bricks according to claim 1 or 2 wherein heat is added during compaction to assist the wax to at least partially melt and upon cooling re-adhere to bind the compacted shredded material to output a resulting flammable product in unitary shapes such as bricks.

4. A method for recycling waxed cardboard and forming combustible bricks according to claim 1, 2 or 3 wherein the compaction results in a reduction to less than or equal to a tenth of the uncompressed volume while providing sufficient compaction to at least partially exude and bind the product.

5. A method for recycling waxed cardboard and forming combustible bricks according to claim 1, 2, 3 or 4 wherein the compaction results in a reduction to less than or equal to a 13 twelfth of the uncompressed volume while providing sufficient compaction to at least partially exude and bind the product.

6. A method for recycling waxed cardboard and forming combustible bricks according to any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein the compaction results in a reduction to a resulting product of a standard brick of about two thousandths of a cubic metre.

7. A method for recycling waxed cardboard and forming combustible bricks for use in domestic fireplaces including the steps of: shredding waxed cardboard to provide shredded material of substantially in the range of less than 300 centimetres; (ii) feeding the shredded material to a compactor hopper (iii) compacting the material in a first planar direction (iv) compacting the material in a second planar direction at an angle to the first planar direction compacting the material in a third planar direction at an angle to the second planar direction wherein the compaction has caused the wax to exude and bind the compacted shredded material to output a resulting flammable product in unitary shapes such as bricks

8. A method for recycling waxed cardboard and forming combustible bricks according to claim 7 wherein the compaction has caused the wax to at least partially melt and upon cooling re-adhere to bind the compacted shredded material to output a resulting flammable product in unitary shapes such as bricks.

9. A method for recycling waxed cardboard and forming combustible bricks according to claim 7 or 8 wherein heat is added during compaction to assist the wax to at least partially melt and upon cooling re-adhere to bind the compacted shredded material to output a resulting flammable product in unitary shapes such as bricks.

A method for recycling waxed cardboard and forming combustible bricks according to any one of claims 7 to 9 wherein at least two of said first, second and third planar directions are at substantially 900.

11. A method for recycling waxed cardboard and forming combustible bricks according to any one of claims 7 to 10 wherein the compaction results in a reduction to less than or equal to a quarter of the uncompressed volume while providing sufficient compaction to at least partially exude and bind the product.

12. A method for recycling waxed cardboard and forming combustible bricks according to any one of claims 7 to 11 wherein the compaction results in a reduction to less than or equal to a tenth of the uncompressed volume while providing sufficient compaction to at least partially exude and bind the product.

13. A method for recycling waxed cardboard and forming combustible bricks according to any one of claims 7 to 12 wherein the compaction results in a reduction to a resulting product of about two thousandths of a cubic metre.

14. A method for manufacturing fire bricks, including the steps of: providing a waxed corrugated cardboard cutting assembly having a plurality of cutting blades on two opposing elongated rotating shafts; shredding the waxed corrugated cardboard to pieces preferably less than 50 millimetres; forming a rectangular box-like fire brick from said cardboard and paper segments by compacting in at least two directions normal to each other and with sufficient pressure to create a temperature or pressure that allows the wax of the waxed corrugated cardboard to exude and form an adhesion of the compressed pieces to form a fire brick.

Apparatus and system for recycling waxed cardboard and forming combustible bricks for use in domestic fireplaces including an input means for feeding waxed cardboard of a predefined size or range of sizes; a compactor hopper having a plurality of compartments for receiving the cardboard from the input system; a plurality of hydraulic cylinders for each compartment which compress the cardboard in at least two directions; a linkage between the hydraulic system of the hydraulic cylinders of respective compartments such that hydraulic fluid can be scavenged from one to the other in alternate cycles.

16. An apparatus and system according to claim 15 wherein the input system includes: a shredder for shredding the cardboard into shreds less than 50 millimetres; (ii) a conveyor for transporting the shredded material to the compactor wherein the output of the shredder, the conveyor and the input of the compactor are similarly sized to avoid bridging of the shredded material causing blockages.

17. An apparatus and system according to claim 15 or 16 wherein the compactor hopper has one or more of the plurality of compartments changeable in size to receive one of the different types of waxed cardboard and to compress the cardboard to the required rate dependent on the type.

18. An apparatus and system according to claim 15, 16 or 17 wherein the compactor hopper has the plurality of compartments changeable in size to compress the material to the required output shape.

19. An apparatus and system which converts standard waxed corrugated cardboard sheets into artificial fire bricks and produces artificial fire bricks by first slicing cardboard sheets into cardboard strips, cutting the cardboard strips into cardboard segments and compressing and shaping the cardboard segments for the artificial fire bricks into generally rectangular, longitudinally-shaped pieces resembling a fire brick.

An apparatus and system according to claim 19 wherein the compaction results in a reduction to less than or equal to a quarter of the uncompressed volume while providing sufficient compaction to at least partially exude and bind the product.

21. An apparatus and system according to claim 19 or 20 wherein the compaction results in a reduction to less than or equal to a tenth of the uncompressed volume while providing sufficient compaction to at least partially exude and bind the product.

22. An apparatus and system according to any one of claims 19 to 2 1 wherein the compaction results in a reduction to a resulting product of about two thousandths of a cubic metre.

23. A method for recycling waxed cardboard and forming combustible bricks for use in domestic fireplaces substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the drawings.

24. A method for manufacturing fire bricks substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the drawings.

Apparatus and system for recycling waxed cardboard and forming combustible bricks for use in domestic fireplaces substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the drawings.

26. An apparatus and system which converts standard waxed corrugated cardboard sheets into artificial fire bricks substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the drawings. Dated this day of 12 September 2003 By PIPERS Patent Attorneys for the applicant Bruce Nunan