NZ238007A - Disintegrator; housing supports transverse drum with attached cutters which cooperate with comb incorporated in the housing - Google Patents

Description

New Zealand Paient Spedficaiion for Paient Number £38007 Patents Form 5 PATENTS ACT 1953 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION After Provisional No. 238007 1 May 1991 DISINTEGRATOR I, EDWARD JOHN JESSUP of Johnstone Street, Hinds, New Zealand being a British Citizen and a New Zealand Resident, do hereby declare the invention, for which I pray that a patent may be granted to me, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement - I - The invention relates to a disintegrator and more particularly to a machine for reducing or disintegrating waste or other materials to particulate form.

At present in a number of industries there is a need to reduce or disintegrate waste or other materials for use. Examples are in the meat processing industry where bone waste and offal are reduced to a particulate form and with garden waste which is reduced as an aid to composting.

Machines presently used run at high power ratings and are therefore costly to operate.

An object of the invention is to provide an inexpensive to operate disintegrator which at least offers a useful alternative choice.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description which is given by way of example only.

According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a disintegrator including a housing with an inlet and outlet, the housing supporting a transverse drum with at least one set of radially extending cutters placed on the periphery thereof, the cutters of each set being spaced apart and orientated in plan on the drum in the shape of a chevron, the housing incorporating a comb positioned to shearingly cooperate with the cutters to reduce and disintegrate material fed to the inlet of the housing.

The drum can have on its periphery three sets of cutters.

The housing can have an inlet hopper to which the material to be disintegrated is fed.

Further aspects of the invention which should be considered in all its novel aspects will become apparent from the following description which is given by way of example.

An example of the invention will now be described with reference to the drawings accompanying the provisional specification in which: Figure 1 shows a plan view of an example of -VUc disintegrator incorporating the present invention; Figure 2 shows a perspective view from the side of the disintegrator shown in Figure 1; Figure 3 shows an end view of the disintegrator shown in Figures 1 and 2; and Figure 4 shows a detail of the region A shown in Figure 3.

The example of the invention will be described with reference to the invention for use as a disintegrator for waste from freezing works. It is however, to be appreciated that with minor modifications the invention can be used in other industries for reducing or disintegrating other waste material to a particulate form.

The disintegrator has a housing 1 with an inlet 2 and outlet 3. The housing 1 may include a large feed hopper 4 shown dotted in Figure 3.

The housing 1 has a transverse drum 5 which is mounted to be driven via drive shaft 6 which may be connected to a suitable power source for example reduction motor 7.

The drum 5 has on its periphery at least one set of cutters 8. In the example the drum 5 has three sets of cutters 8 which in plan are orientated in the shape of a chevron (Figure 1). The individual cutters are spaced apart and the angle between the sets of cutters 8 is, in the example, 120°. A side view detail of one of the cutters is shown in Figure 4. The cutter 8 has a leading edge 10 which forms at B a point which improves the operating function of the cutter. The cutters 8 may be bolted to the drum 5 through the counter bored holes 11 (dotted). The cutters may be removable from the drum. The base 12 of each cutter may be seated in shaped slots formed in the periphery of the drum 5. An advantage of this construction is the ease of replacability for maintenance of the cutters which can be readily removed for reversal, sharpening or replacement when and if they are worn.

The housing 1 supports a comb 9 positioned on a wall of the housing l to shearingly co-operate with the sets of cutters as the drum 5 rotates in the direction of arrow 10. The teeth of the comb 9 are dimensioned to slide therebetween the cutters to create a shearing or chipping action between them and any material caught by the rotation of the drum.

Claims (11)

23800 In use the chevron orientation of the cutters means that fewer of them are working at any time, therefore reducing the amount of power required to turn the drum. The material when fed via the inlet 2 to the top of the drum 5 is conveyed by the cutters on the drum toward the comb. Initially and progressively only two of the cutters pass through the teeth on the comb to cut, reduce, chip or disintegrate the material which falls for collection from the outlet 3. Thus by this invention there is provided a disintegrator which requires less power than normal to operate. A particular example of the invention has been described and it is envisaged that improvements and modifications can take place without departing from the scope of the appended claims. 23 8 0 0 WHAT I CLAIM IS;

1. A disintegrator including a housing with an inlet and an outlet, the housing supporting a transverse drum with at least one set of radially extending cutters placed on the periphery thereof, the cutters of each set being spaced apart and orientated in plan on the drum in the shape of a chevron, the housing incorporating a comb positioned to shearingly cooperate with the cutters to reduce and disintegrate material fed to the inlet of the housing.

2. A disintegrator as claimed in claim 1 wherein the drum has on its periphery three or more sets of cutters.

3. A disintegrator as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the material is fed into the housing via an inlet hopper.

4. A disintegrator as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the transverse drum has a drive, the drive comprising a drive shaft connected to a power source.

5. A disintegrator as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the cutters are removably attached to the drum.

6. A disintegrator as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the cutters are fitted in shaped slots formed in the periphery of the drum.

7. A disintegrator as claimed in claim 1 wherein the teeth of the comb are dimensioned to slide between the cutters.

8. A disintegrator as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the material fed via the inlet is conveyed by the cutters towards the comb.

9. A disintegrator as claimed in claim 7 or claim 8 wherein 23 8 0 07 initially and progressively only two of the cutters are passing through the teeth of the comb at any instant of time to cut, reduce, clip or disintegrate the material which falls for collection from the outlet.

10. A disintegrator as claimed in claim 7, 8 or 9 wherein the chevron orientation of the cutters means that not all the cutters are working at a given time.

11. A disintegrator substantially as herein before described with reference to the drawings accompanying the provisional specification. EDWARD JOHN JESSUP By His Attorneys BALDWIN, SON & CAREY Per