GB2245209A

GB2245209A - Can crushers

Info

Publication number: GB2245209A
Application number: GB9113423A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Brian David Watts; Paul Martin Watts
Original assignee: D J K PACKAGING Ltd
Current assignee: D J K PACKAGING Ltd
Priority date: 1990-06-21
Filing date: 1991-06-20
Publication date: 1992-01-02
Anticipated expiration: 2011-06-20
Also published as: GB2245209B; GB9113423D0

Abstract

A drinks-can crusher operated by a hand-lever 11 (Fig 1) (49 Figs 7-8), has an interlock between the lever and a sliding door 18 (52) to the crushing chamber 3 (41), to ensure that the door 18 is closed against a spring bias (28, 29 Fig 3) (56 Fig 8 or 62, 63 Figs 10-14) before crushing begins and cannot be opened during crushing. The interlock involves a disc 22 (53) that rotates with the lever 11 and intersects the track of the door 18. The lever 11 can move from its rest position only when an aperture 24 (54) in the closed door 18 is in register with the disc 22, and the door 18 can move from closed only when, with the lever 11 in its rest position, an aperture 25 (55) in the disc 22 is aligned with the track. A longitudinally- inserted can 4 is crushed laterally by a plate 7 which has a narrow edge 27 for folding the can bottom 6 up behind the plate 7 to drop from the chamber on release of crushing pressure. <IMAGE>

Description

Crushers This invention relates to crushers, and is especially concerned with crushers for use in crushing drinks cans.

The sale of drinks in cans has increased significantly over recent years and has brought with it a need for economical disposal of the used, empty cans. The cans can be readily recycled, but collection and transport of the used cans often makes this uneconomic unless the cans are crushed to reduce their bulk before being transported to the recycling plant. However, equipment suitable for this purpose is not normally available where initial collection takes place, and existing crushers are generally too costly and hazardous to safety for location there. It is one of the objects of the present invention to provide a form of can-crusher that for reasonable cost and with safety, may be used where initial can-collection takes place.

According to the present invention there is provided a crusher having a chamber for receiving a can or other object to be crushed and including crushing means that is selectively operable to crush said object received by the chamber, wherein closing means is operable to close an entrance through which said object is received into the chamber, and there is interlock between the crushing and closing means for precluding operation of the crushing means to crush said object until the entrance is closed.

The present invention enables facilities for can-crushing to be provided safely wherever empty cans are collected for disposal. More specifically, the present invention provides a form of crusher that may be located, for example in a public place adjacent to a drinks point-ofsale station, such that the emptied cans can be crushed as they are collected; the crusher can be made available for operation by members of the public as they themselves commit their emptied cans for disposal. In the latter respect, the use of the interlock between the crushing means and the closing means, ensures that crushing cannot take place while there is access through the entrance of the crushing charter. This ensures that hands or other parts of the perscn disposing of the can, must be clear of the chamber before crushing begins.

According to a feature of the present invention there is provided a crusher having a chamber for receiving a can to be crushed and including crushing means that is selectively operable to crush the can received by the chamber, wherein the chamber has an entrance through which the can is inserted into the chamber and a door for selectively closing the entrance after the can has been inserted, and wherein an interlock mechanism between the door and the selectively-operable crushing means precludes operation of such means to crush the can until the door is closed.

The interlock mechanism may preclude opening of the door while the crushing means is operative Operation of the crushing means may be by angular displcement of a lever or other hand-operable member from a rest position, and in these circumstances the interlock mechanism may be operative both to block angular displacement of the handoperable member from its rest position unle s the door is closed and to block movement of the door fro; the closed condition unless the hand-operable member is in its rest position.

The door may be slidable by hand along a track between a closed position in which it blocks the entrance ane an open position in which it is clear of the entrance. In these circumstances, the interlock mechanism may include a disc or other member which is mounted to rotate in dependence upon angular displacement of the hand-operable member and which intersects the track of the door to block movement of the door from its closed position while the hand-operable member is displaced from its rest position.The rotatably-mounted member may in this respect have an aperture therein that is aligned with the track only while the hand-operable member is in its rest position, such that it is only while the hand-operable member is in this position that the door has freedom for movement between its open and closed positions along the track, Furthermore, the door may have an aperture which lies in register with the rotatably-mounted member only while the door is in its closed position, such that it is only while the door is closed that the rotatably-mounted member can rotate and the hand-operable member can be moved from its rest position.

The chamber may be such as to receive the can inserted longitudinally or laterally through the entrance, and may be open opposite the entrance apart from an abutment for restraining the uncrushed can, but not the crushed can, from falling from the chamber through the opening.

Provision may be made for sensing in regard to any can or other object inserted into the chamber, whether that object meets certain predetermined criteria (for example, as to weight) consistent with it being an empty can, and, if it does not, to eject it from the chamber or to block operation of the crushing means. In the case where weight is sensed, a counterbalanced flap may be used to pivot under the weight of the object if that is outside a predetermined, acceptable range.

Two forms of can-crusher in accordance with the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figures 1 and 2 are front and sectional side elevations respectively, of a first of the two forms of can-crusher according to the present invention; Figures 3 and 4 are plan views from above and below respectively, of the can-crusher of Figures 1 and 2; Figure 5 illustrates a can crushed by the crusher of Figures 1 to 4; Figures 6 is a perspective view illustrating a modification of the can-crusher of Figures 1 to 4; Figures 7 and 8 are, respectively, a sectional side elevation and a plan view of the second form of cancrusher according to the present invention, the section of Figure 7 being taken on the line VII-VII of Figure 8; Figure 9 illustrates a can crushed by the crusher of Figures 7 and 8;; Figure 10 is a perspective view from below illustrating a modification of the can-crusher of Figures 7 and 8; and Figures 11 to 14 serve to illustrate further the modification of the can-crusher, shown in Figure 10.

Both forms of can-crusher to be described are for location adjacent to a point-of-sale station or other distribution point for canned drinks, and are for use by any person who, having consumed drink from a can, wishes to dispose of the used can. In each case, the crusher is mounted in a wall of a locked enclosure that houses a receptacle for collection of waste cans crushed by the equipment, and carries an invitation to members of the public to dispose of their used cans through operation of the crusher. A person responding to the invitation, inserts the used can into the crusher and then operates the crushing mechanism manually, to crush the can and allow it to fall into the receptacle for collection and subsequent recycling.

The form of can-crusher shown in Figures 1 to 4 will now be described.

Referring to Figures 1 to 4, a face plate 1 of the crusher provides the top wall of the enclosure housing the collection receptacle (not shown), and opens through a square entrance aperture 2 into a chamber 3 for receiving a used can 4 (illustrated in chain broken line in Figures 2 and 4) inserted longitudinally. The bottom of the chamber 3 is open, and the can 4 is held from falling through into the collection receptacle below, by a ledge-projection 5 that is abutted by the bottom end 6 of the can 4.

A rectangular crushing-plate 7 is located within the chamber 3 and is carried by a slide-rod 8 to face a plate side-wall 9 of the chamber 3. The rod 8 slides within a fixed guide-tube 10 that extends perpendicularly from the chamber 3, and is driven along the tube 10 to close the plate 7 upon the wall 9 and crush the can 4, by handoperation of a lever 11 external to the crusher enclosure. The lever 11 is carried by a rotatablymounted shaft 12 that projects through a wall 13 of the enclosure, and has radial arms 14 that extend to front and back externally of the chamber 3.

Two links 15 couple the arms 14 respectively, to opposite ends of a cross-rod 16 that extends transversely through the slide-rod 8, so that as the arms 14 turn with angular displacement of the lever 11 from its rest position (represented in the drawings), the rod 16 is drawn laterally towards the chamber 3. This lateral movement of the rod 16 takes place along slotting 17 in the sides of the guide-tube 10 and draws the slide-rod 8 along the tube 10. The rod 8 is drawn further along the tube 10 so as to close the plate 7 up to the wall 9 (as indicated in broken line in Figure 2) and crush the can 4 between them, as the hand-operated lever 11 is pulled by hand through the full angular displacement (of some 120 degrees) available from its rest position.

Displacement of the lever 11 from its rest position to crush the inserted can 4 is, however, precluded by means of an interlock, unless the entrance aperture 2 to the chamber 3 is first closed off by a sliding door 18. The door 18, which has a circular, polycarbonate inspectionwindow 19 and a finger-grip 20 to assist with sliding, is mounted under slides 21 on the face plate 1. The slides 21 constrain the door 18 to a rectilinear sliding track that extends between one extreme position in which the door 18 is clear of the entrance aperture 2, and an opposite extreme position in which the aperture 2 is closed by the door 18. The door 18 is shown in Figure 3 set back slightly from its fully closed position; the fully closed position is shown by chain-dotted lines 18', and the fully open position by chain-dotted lines 18''.

The interlock with the door 18 involves a rotatablymounted disc member 22 that projects through the face plate 1 to intersect the slide-track of the door 18 at right angles. The disc member 22 is coupled by a link 23 to one of the radial arms 14 to rotate with the shaft 12 (but in the opposite sense) under angular displacement of the lever 11. Rotation of the disc member 22, and, by virtue of this same coupling, displacement of the lever 11, is however blocked unless the door 18 is in its closed position (18'). More especially in the latter regard, the door 18 has within one of its longitudinal margins, a slot 24 that is aligned in register with the disc member 22 only while the door 18 is in the closed position (18'), and the disc member 22 has freedom to turn with displacement of the lever 11, only through this slot 24.The presence of the disc member 22 within the slot 24 blocks movement of the door 18 from the closed position (18') until the hand lever 11 is returned to its rest position.

In the latter respect, it is only in the rest position of the hand lever 11, that a slot 25 in the peripheral margin of the disc member 22 is aligned rotationally with the slide-track of the door 18. When the lever 11 is in this position, the door 18 can be moved to take the slot 24 out of alignment with the disc member 22, the margin of the door 18 being only then freed through the slot 25, from obstruction by the disc member 22. However, once the slot 24 is moved out of alignment with the disc member 22 (for example, as in the position shown in Figure 3), rotation of the disc member 22, and with it of the hand lever 11, is precluded by the obstruction to such rotation caused by the presence of the door margin within the slot 25.As a consequence therefore, the door 18 can be opened to allow the used can to be inserted into the chamber 3 only while the hand lever 11 is in its rest position. Once the can 4 is inserted, the door 18 is closed bringing the slot 24 into register with the disc member 22, and allowing the lever 11 to be displaced angularly by hand so as to close the plate 7 upon the can 4 and crush it against the wall 9 as the lever 11 is turned through its full range.

The plate 7 bears on the cylindrical surface of the can 4 along all except about 20 mm to the can bottom 6, and has a bevelled-down back surface 26 to present a thin or sharp bottom edge 27. As pressure on the can 4 is increased during crushing, the major part of the can 4 located between the plate 7 and wall 9, is squashed flat.

The remainder of the can 4, below the edge 27, turns up around a crease line at the edge 27, this lifting the can-bottom 6 away from the ledge-projection 5 and round towards the back surface 26. After the lever 11 has been pulled forwards to its full extent, crushing is complete and the lever 11 is returned to its rest position. The consequent relaxation of pressure on the crushed can 4 allows it to fall from the chamber 3 past the ledgeprojection 5 into the collection receptacle. The crushed form of the can 4 with its turned up and over bottom 6, is illustrated in Figure 5.

Throughout the angular movement of the lever 11 from its rest position and until it is returned to that position, a portion of the peripheral margin of the disc member 22 lies within the slot 24 of the closed door 18. It is thus not until the lever 11 has been returned to its rest position that the door 18 can be opened; this precludes the possibility of the hands or other parts of the body of the person using the crusher becoming caught in the chamber 3 during crushing.

As an additional safety feature, the crusher includes a device 28 that is mounted on the face plate 1 and has a sprung-plunger 29 that abuts the door 18 as it closes.

The action of the device 28 is to provide a resilient bias that is exerted through the plunger 29 and acts against full closure of the door 18. The bias is sufficient to push the door 18 back slightly from the fully-closed position (18') so that the slot 24 in the margin of the door 18 is taken out of register with the disc 22. In this way, it is necessary for the door 18 to be urged into the fully-closed position (18'), and held there, by hand, before the lever 11 can be operated, thus reducing the likelihood of unintentional operation of the machine. Furthermore, once hand pressure on the door 18 is relaxed and the lever 11 is returned to its rest position, the device 28 pushes the door 18 back from the fully-closed position (18'), preventing the possibility of the lever 11 swinging out of its rest position and causing injury.

In the crusher described above, the ledge-projection 5 is fixed, but according to a modification, it may, as a safety measure, be replaced by a pivoted flap 30 as illustrated in Figure 6. In the latter respect, and with reference to Figure 6, the pivoted flap 30 has the same essential function as the ledge-projection 5, of blocking the inserted, uncrushed can from falling through the chamber 3. However, the flap 30 is balanced on its pivots 31 by a counterweight 32 to occupy an orientation in which it obstructs an empty can, but to pivot out of that orientation against the action of the counterweight 32, if it is contacted by a significantly-heavier object (for example, a full or nearly-full can). The pivoting aside of the flap 30 thus allows objects detected as being other than those appropriate for crushing, to fall directly into the waste receptacle for subsequent recovery.

With the crusher described above, the can is inserted lengthwise into the crushing chamber and is crushed substantially flat laterally. Lateral crushing in this way has advantages in certain preliminary processes of recycling of the cans. However, as an alternative, the cans may be crushed longitudinally, and a crusher for this purpose is illustrated in Figures 7 and 8.

Referring to Figures 7 and 8, the crushing chamber 41 in this case has an elongate entrance aperture 42 for receiving the empty can 43 inserted laterally. The can 43 rests on its side within the chamber 41, being held from falling through into a collection receptacle below, by a bottom plate 44 that extends a substantial part of the length of the chamber 41 towards an end wall 45 of the chamber 41. A crushing plate 46 is carried by a slide-rod 47 within a slotted guide-tube 48, and moves along the chamber 41 to crush the can 43 lengthwise against the wall 45, in response to angular displacement of a hand lever 49. The lever 49 is part of a rotatablymounted shaft 50 that is coupled via links 51 to the slide-rod 47 for drawing the rod along the tube 48, and thus the plate 46 closer to the wall 45, as the lever 49 is pulled further from its rest position.

The plate 46 is set at an angle inclined downwardly to the path of the rod 47 across the chamber 41, so as to give a slight shear deformation in the initial compression of the can 43; this makes longitudinal crushing easier. The downward inclination of the plate 46 also assists in release of the crushed can 43 to fall through the gap between the wall 45 and the bottom plate 44, and thence into the collection receptacle, when pressure on the lever 49 is released to return it to its rest position. The form of the longitudinally-crushed can 43 is illustrated in Figure 9.

An interlock is active to allow displacement of the lever 49 from its rest position only when a sliding door 52 blocks the entrance aperture 42 to the crushing chamber 41, and to preclude opening of the door 52 while the lever 49 is displaced from its rest position. In this respect, a disc member 53 on the shaft 50 intersects the sliding-track of the door 52 at a slot 54 in the margin of the door 52 when the door 52 is in the closed position, and has a peripheral slot 55 that aligns with the track in register with the slot 54 only when the lever 49 is in its rest position.

Provision may be made in the crusher described above with reference to Figures 7 and 8, as with the crusher described with reference to Figures 1 to 4, for closing of the door to the crushing chamber to be opposed by a resilient bias. This may be done, for example, as illustrated in broken line in Figure 8 by means of a spring device 56 corresponding to the device 28 of Figure 3. However, the provision of the bias may be combined with steps taken to preclude the crushing of objects other than empty cans. A modification of the crusher to this end will now be described with reference to Figures 10 to 14.

Referring initially to Figure 10, the fixed bottom plate 44 of the crusher of Figures 7 and 8 is in this case replaced by a pivoted flap 57. The flap 57 is counterbalanced on its pivots 58 by a weight 59 to obstruct any uncrushed empty can inserted into the chamber 41, but to be deflected slightly downwards if a significantly heavier object is inserted. Downward deflection of the flap 57 in this way, causes it to bear down on a pin 60 located just beneath, and in doing so to obstruct rotation of a second pin 61.

As also illustrated in Figures 11 and 12, the pins 60 and 61 are coupled to a disc 62 which lies just beneath the track of the sliding door 52. The disc 62 is spring biased to adopt a position in which a pin 63 that projects upwards from it into the track of the door 52, is abutted by the door 52 just prior to completion of its closing movement (as illustrated in Figure 13). While the flap 56 remains undeflected, movement of the pin 61 is unobstructed and the disc 62 is free to turn against its spring bias. Thus, when the door 52 in its closing movement abuts the pin 63, there is no obstruction to completion of that movement against the spring bias, the pin 63 simply turning the disc 62 to accommodate the final displacement.However, when the flap 56 is deflected (the condition represented in Figure 14), the edge 64 of the flap 56 obstructs the pin 61, preventing the disc 62 from turning, so that it is not then possible to close the door 52 completely. Because in these latter circumstances, displacement of the hand lever 49 is precluded, crushing cannot take place.

The resilient bias acting on the disc 62 is exerted on the door 52 through the pin 63, so that the door 52 is pushed back slightly from its fully closed position when released after the lever 49 is returned to its rest position. Intentional or unintentional movement of the lever 49 is not then possible until the door 52 is again urged closed against the bias.

The crushers described above are suitable for crushing aluminium and steel drinks cans of varying sizes. More particularly, the compartments 3 and 41 are dimensioned to accommodate cans of, for example, up to 175 mm in length and 65 to 80 mm in diameter.

Claims

Claims:

1. A crusher having a chamber for receiving a can or other object to be crushed and including crushing means that is selectively operable to crush said object received by the chamber, wherein closing means is operable to close an entrance through which said object is received into the chamber, and there is interlock between the crushing and closing means for precluding operation of the crushing means to crush said object until the entrance is closed.

2. A crusher according to Claims 1 including means responsive to the weight of a can or other object received in the chamber for ejecting such object from the chamber, or for blocking operation of the crushing means, in the event that such weight is outside a predetermined, acceptable range.

3. A crusher according to Claim 1 or Claim 2 including means for biasing the closing means resiliently away from the condition in which the entrance is closed.

4. A crusher having a chamber for receiving a can to be crushed and including crushing means that is selectively operable to crush the can received by the chamber, wherein the chamber has an entrance through which the can is inserted into the chamber and a door for selectively closing the entrance after the can has been inserted, and wherein an interlock mechanism between the door and the selectively-operable crushing means precludes operation of such means to crush the can until the door is closed.

5. A crusher according to Claim 4 wherein the interlock mechanism precludes opening of the door while the crushing means is operative.

6. A crusher according to Claim 5 including a lever or other hand-operable member that is angularly displaceable from a rest position to operate the crushing means, and wherein the interlock mechanism is operative both to block angular displacement of the hand-operable member from its rest position unless the door is closed and to block movement of the door from the closed condition unless the hand-operable member is in its rest position.

7. A crusher according to Claim 6 wherein the door is slidable by hand along a track between a closed position in which it blocks the entrance and an open position in which it is clear of the entrance, and the interlock mechanism includes a disc or other member which is mounted to rotate in dependence upon angular displacement of the hand-operable member and which intersects said track to block movement of the door from its closed position while the hand-operable member is displaced from its rest position.

8. A crusher according to Claim 7 wherein the rotatably-mounted member has an aperture therein that is aligned with the track to enable the door freedom for movement between its open and closed positions along the track, only while the hand-operable member is in its rest position.

9. A crusher according to Claim 8 wherein the door has an aperture which lies in register with the rotatablymounted member to enable the rotatably-mounted member to rotate and the hand-operable member to be moved from its rest position, only while the door is in its closed position.

10. A crusher according to any one of Claims 4 to 9 wherein the chamber is open opposite the entrance apart from an abutment for restraining the uncrushed can, but not the crushed can, from falling from the chamber.

11. A crusher according to any one of Claims 4 to 10 wherein the chamber receives a single can inserted laterally and the crushing means is operative to crush the can longitudinally.

12. A crusher according to any one of Claims 4 to 11 wherein the crushing means includes a crusher member that is mounted for movement within the chamber, and a mechanism for driving said member through the chamber to effect crushing against a wall of the chamber.

13. A crusher according to Claim 12 wherein the crusher member is a plate that is inclined to its path of movement through the chamber.

14. A crusher according to Claim 12 wherein the crusher member is a plate having an edge for creasing the object received within the chamber at an intermediate point and folding it up behind the plate as crushing proceeds.

15. A crusher according to any one of Claims 4 to 14 wherein the chamber receives a single can inserted longitudinally and the crushing means is operative to crush the can laterally.

16. A crusher according to any one of Claims 4 to 15 including means responsive to the weight of a can or other object received in the chamber for ejecting such object from the chamber in the event that such weight is outside a predetermined, acceptable range.

17. A crusher according to any one of Claims 4 to 15 including means responsive to the weight of a can or other object received in the chamber for blocking operation of the crushing means in the event that such weight is outside a predetermined, acceptable range.

18. A crusher according to Claim 17 wherein the weightresponsive means is operative to block closing of the door

19. A crusher according to any one of Claims 16 to 18 wherein the weight-responsive means comprises a pivoted flap that is counterbalanced to pivot when loaded with a can or other object having a weight outside said range.

20. A crusher according to any one of Claims 4 to 19 including means biasing the door resiliently away from its closed condition.

21. A can-crusher substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1 to 4 of the accompanying drawings.

22. A can-crusher according to Claim 21 modified as hereinbefore described with reference to Figure 6 of the accompanying drawings.

23. A can-crusher substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 7 and 8 of the accompanying drawings.

24. A can-crusher according to Claim 23 modified substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 10 to 14 of the accompanying drawings.