GB238350A - An improved method of and apparatus for crushing and comminuting waste metal or wooden articles, such as tin cans, enamelled metal articles, wooden boxes and the like - Google Patents

Abstract

238,350. Marks, E. C. R., (Magnet Werk Ges. Eisenach Spezialfabrik f³r Elektromagnet- Apparate). July 17, 1924. Cleaning.-Relates to a method of and apparatus for crushing and comminuting enamelled metal articles, so as to remove the enamel. The articles are comminuted by machinery and with preceding or simultaenous deformation in a single process; they are directly reduced without any preliminary treatment or sorting to a granular or small-pieced scrap which has been cleaned from the enamel coating. Tin cans, or sheetmetal preserve boxes with paper labels or the like, may be similarly treated. The apparatus comprises a number of rotating knives or cutters which co-operate with stationary counter-knives in a conical or other casing so that the material is bent, compressed, sprit, torn, scraped, and cut up by the interengaging comminuting-members. As shown, the comminuting and disintegratng means comprises a hopper 28, Fig. 2, with stationary knives or abutments 30 on its interior . walls, and two knife-heads 31, 32 mounted on the upper end of a vertical shaft 6 which projects from below into the hopper 28. The hopper consists of two sections 33, 34, the upper funnel part 33 being bolted to a supporting carrier or cage 36 which is bolted to the base 5 and provided with lateral openings 38 to give access to the lower portion 34. The part 34 is frictionally connected to the part 33 and base 5, an intermediate piece 72 being provided and adjustable bolts 39 passing through an upper flange of the part 34 bearing against a rim on the part 33. A member 43, Fig. 8, secured to a rib portion 44 on the part 34 engages two pins 41 carried by a sleeve 42 screwed into the wall of the carrier 36. The outer end of the member 43 is bladeshaped, and upon excessive strain on the part 34 the pins 41 are sheared off so that the part 34 can rotate with the knife-head 31. The shaft 6 is driven through bevel-bearing 12, 13 from a shaft 11, the wheel 13 being loose on the shaft 6 and having two ribs 15 to engage projections 17 on a clutch-piece 16 keyed to the shaft 6. The wheel 12 is integral with the part 18 of a clutch ocupling 18, 19, the loose part 19 of which forms the inner end of a sleeve 47 mounted in the bearing 48. A fly-wheel 20 on the outer end of the sleeve has teeth gearing with a wheel on a shaft 22 driven through gearing 23, 24 from an electric motor 25. A shearing-stud 45 in the coupling section 19 engages a steel member 46 in the coupling member 18. The knives 30 in the upper section of the hopper are secured to the under sides of helical ribs 49 on the hopper and are adjustable inwardly by means of screws. Gaps or recesses 54, 55, Fig. 12, are provided in the knives in both hopper sections 33, 34. The knife-head 31 comprises a hub portion 61, Fig. 3, keyed to the shaft 6 and having three arms 63, 64, 65 of different lengths to which the knives 30a are bolted. The lower knife-head 32 is secured to the shaft 6 by the same key 62 as the head 31, and projections on the bottom surface of the head 31 engage grooves in the top side of the head 32. The knives 67, Fig. 6, of the head 32 have their cutting-edges arranged on a cylindrical surface and are inserted in grooves 68 adjacent projections 69. The knives 67 co-operate with a row of knives 71 carried by the annulus 72. The hopper section 34 consists of four sectors that can be removed through the openings 38 of the cage 36, and the annulus 72 1 may also be in sectors. Stays 73, Fig. 4, bear at one end against ribs 74 on the cage, and the other ends engage sockets 75 in the annulus. The stays have cranked portions and are fractured when a hard foreign body enters between the head 32 and the knives 71. The hopper is provided with a door or closure in its side wall for the removal of foreign bodies. Figs. 14 and 15 show a modification wth a knife-head 32<a> carrying groups of substantially wedge-shaped knives 76 annularly disposed one above the other and engaging with stationary knives 77 projecting inwardly from an annulus 72<a> composed of four sectors forced inwards by springs 80, the outer ends of which bear upon cross-heads 81 secured to projections 79 on the base 5. Adjustable bars 83 on the cross-heads have head portions 84 to engage recesses 85 in the sectors of the annulus and limit their inward movement. In operation, the tin cans &c. are bent, compressed, and cut up by the action of the arms of the head 31 and the knives 30, 30a, and the split-off enamel &c. passes out of the apparatus through a shoot 9 in advance of the comminuted pieces of metal &c. The particles of metal are further comminuted in the lower section 34 of the hopper, and the operation is completed by the knife-head 32. Specifications 871/14 and 140,117, [both in Class 59, Grinding, crushing, &c.], are referred to.