US2912176A - Free swinging impeller for waste disposal apparatus - Google Patents

Description

H. JORDAN Nov. 10, 1959 FREE SWINGING IMPELLER FOR WASTE DISPOSAL APPARATUS Filed D90. 26, 1956 3 Sheets-Sheet -l ,6? ///s Imam/d gs. fling/s, M504, 1 0.972? 8 113901 7 NOV. 10, 1959 JORDAN 2,912,176

FREE SWINGING IMPELLER FOR WASTE DISPOSAL APPARATUS Filed Dec. 26, 1956 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Q 244, .43 a 9 2p 4 l 1 III ml .Z-Ius warm/v,

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H. JORDAN 2,912,176 FREE SWINGING 'IMPELLER FOR WASTE DISPOSAL APPARATUS Nov. 10, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Dec. 26, 1956 EH in 4, .l'snsw Meals.

Unitid S Patent FREE SWINGIN G IMPELLER FOR WASTE DISPOSAL APPARATUS Hans Jordan, Los Angeles, Calif., assignor to Given Machinery Company, Los Angeles, Calif., a partnership Application December 26, 1956, Serial No. 630,631

2 Claims. (Cl. 241-194) This invention relates to cutting or grinding means in waste disposal devices such as household and restaurant garbage grinder structures.

An object of the invention is to provide simplified cutting or grinding combinations for such equipment.

A further object is to reduce manufacturing operations, simplify parts and correspondingly reduce costs in waste disposal apparatus of the indicated nature.

In a more particular respect, one object is to provide for free swinging mounting and action of grinding impellers characteristically used on rotary tables of some types of disposal structures, whereby such grinding or cutting impellers may swing freely in reverse directions under influence of centrifugal forces, as may be encountered under varying circumstances.

:I have found'surprisingly, that, whereas grinding impellers used on rotary tables of kitchen waste grinders heretofore have been limited in their movements by stops carried by the tables, very excellent action may be accomplished by providing for free swinging movement of the impellers in all directions, both forward and reverse, while under the influence of centrifugal force. In other words, such impellers may be mounted to swing freely in full circular paths of 360 in one direction or the reverse, as circumstances may demand, and waste grinding becomes substantially as satisfactory and complete as in typical instances where the impellers are limited to the maximum centrifugally-established or radial positions, Such impellers have characteristically main shanks whose inner ends are mounted on pivoting means and whose outer ends are in the form of weighted grinding heads having leading edges and trailing edges. The impeller construction may be symmetrical and the center of mass therefore on a median line or axis and near the outer end. Such head preferably is formed on an arc whose radius is that of the swinging impeller itself, the leading and trailing edges of the head being preferably square-cut to form vertical cutting edges co-operating with cutting edges provided in a grind ring surrounding the rotary table. The center of mass may, however, be offset somewhat from such median line by reason of non-symmetrical construction.

Other objects of the invention and various features of construction involved will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reference to the following specification and the accompanying drawings wherein certain embodiments are illustrated.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is partly a vertical section and partly an elevation of a waste disposal structure in which the present improvement is embodied;

Fig. 2 is partly a transverse section and partly an internal plan view approximately as indicated by the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section approximately as indicated by the right-angled line 3 3 of Fig. 2;

' Fig. 4 is a view similar to that of Fig. 3 showing a 2 somewhat modified construction and is taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary plan view and horizontal section approximately as indicated by the line 5-5 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary vertical section of another modification of the impeller as indicated by the line 6-6 of Fig. 7;

Fig. 7 is a plan view taken approximately on the line 77 of Fig. 6;

.Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic plan view on a reduced scale showing a different relationship between the pivot axes of the impellers and the axis of rotation of the rotary table;

Fig. 9 is a plan view of another modification of the impeller;

Fig. 10 is a side elevation of the impeller of Fig. 9;

Fig. 11 is a plan view of a still further modification of the impeller; and

Fig. 12 is aside elevation of the impeller of Fig. 11.

Fig. 1 of the drawings shows an appropriate form of garbage grinder having a main housing 15 providing at its lower end a motor housing 151:. The grinder structure is supported from a kitchen sink S through a typical depending drainage sleeve 16 receiving a stopper 16a, the sleeve 16 supporting the underlying structure through the medium of a free-suspension rubber neck or ring 17 shown as carrying a removably mounted splash guard 17a. The lower end of the ring 17 is suitably connected with the outer main housing 15 and with an upper metallic ring member 18 enclosing a waste-receiving grinding chamber 19.

As illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3, any form of impeller 20 of this invention is carried upon a fiat top 21 of a rotary table 22 that is driven through a drive shaft 23 to which the table 22 is secured as by a nut and washer combination 24 terminating below or flush with the top of the table. The shaft 23 thus also establishes an axis of rotation. The table 22, which commonly carries a pair of diametrically opposed impellers 20, is constructed and arranged to rotate within and co-operate with an upstanding grind ring 25 arranged between the chamber-providing ring 18 and an underlying lower casting 26 which is disposed around the table 22 and around the top of the motor M (Fig. 3) provided within the lower housing portion 15a.

The grind ring 25 has at its lower edge and in its inner face a plurality of in-cut vertical passages 27 which receive ground waste material from the impellers 20 and discharge such ground waste, with accompanying flushing water, from their open bottoms. The side edges of these passages 27 provide hard cutting edges 28 which cooperate with grinding portions of the impellers 20.

Each impeller 20 includes a cutting head 30 at the outer end of a main shank 32 whose inner end is pivoted at an appropriate location on the table 21, 22 by suitable means such as an integral pivot pin 34 (Fig. 4) or a separate pin 34 (Fig. 3). Such pivot pin establishes an impeller axis 34a and it is mounted in a bearing 35 carried in the table 22 below its flat top 21. Any suitable means such as indicated at 36 is employed to retain the impeller and its pivot pin 34 in operative position.

In a preferred arrangement of the impellers, the axis of each pivot pin 34 is located radially outward from the axis of the table a slightly greater distance than half the table radius, this arrangement being indicated by the broken line circles in Fig. 2. Thus the two impellers 20 may rotate freely around full circles without interference with each other. If desired, such impeller radius may be somewhat less than indicated. Again, in an ar rangement at present considered to be less desirable, it wouldbe'possible to employ impeller radii somewhat greater than half the table radius, as indicated in Fig. 8,

in operation, and would merely act'as stops for one another should there be any such operating contact.

With respect to the construction of an impeller such as the impeller 20 of Figs. 1 to 3, such impeller is symmetrical in shape in so far as concerns its construction at the opposite sides of its longitudinal axis or median radial line. Its head 39 is elevated above its main shanl; 32 at its outer end so as to increase the mass adjacent such outer end and place its center of gravity or mass center well out toward its extremity so that such center of gravity is positioned, for example, at about the point 38 seen at the left of Fig. 2. Since this construction is symmetrical, and the outer end of the head 30 is formed on a radius whose center is the axis 34a of the pivot pin 34, such gravity center 38 will lie on the median line of the impeller. In the particular configuration of the impeller of Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the head 30 has a downward and outward sloping circular wall 40 terminating at its lower edge in a flat horizontal circular shelf 42 at the top of a vertical cylindrical wall 44 constituting the outermost face of the impeller 26. The verticality and the cylindrical characteristic of the wall 44 are determined largely by the positioning of the adjacent, spaced cutter teeth 45 with which the outermost portions of the impeller 20 co-operate in the grinding of the waste being treated.

With this structural arrangement of the impeller, a heavy grinding force is produced, under centrifugal operation, at the radially outermost grind point of the operating impeller 20 which is the point on the are opposite a given co-operating tooth 45. Such operating point depends upon the portion of the arcuate wall 44 positioned,

by action of waste undergoing grinding, on the respective table radius passing through both the table axis and the. impeller axis. The leading and trailing vertical edges of the head 30 are preferably approximately square cut whereby to provide sharp cutting corners 46 that will cooperate with the cutting edges 23 of the grind ring 25 which are at the sides of the vertical passages 27, and

preferably also constitute the edges of the mentioned.

cutting teeth 45.

With the described construction of the grind head 30, some portion thereof always, lies adjacent the. grind ring 25, even though under operating variations there may be appreciable movement of the impeller about its respective axis 34a. Regardless of that portionv of the grindhead 30 which is nearest to the grind teeth 45, the described vertical cutting edges 46 produce some distinct cutting action upon accumulated waste bearing upon the top of the impeller and centrifugally thrown against the cutting elements of the grind ring 25 duringtablerotation. This will also be true in a reverse direction should there be any such push-back of the impeller 20 by temporary obstruction or resistance against the grind head such as may be occasioned by accumulated waste, a bone for example. V

The present impeller construction, whether Symmetrh cal or not, has the further advantages that, after significant wear has developed upon respective cutting edges 2 at one side of the passages 27 of the grind ring 25, the direction of rotation of the motor M, conventionally used to operate the rotary table 22, may be reversed, thereby rendering the cutting edges 28 on the opposite sides of the passages 27 and the cutter teeth 45' primarily. effective, and also rendering the corresponding cutting corners 46 of the impellers 20 primarily effective. This.

possibility avoids the necessity for renewing the impellers 2t)- and the grind ring 25 as long as either set of cutting edges 28 and cutting corners 46 is in grinding condition,

As seen in Fig. 5, the impeller 20 may be somewhat modified from its form of Figs. 1,2 and 3, in that its outer grinding end, while still presenting considerable working mass to produce a substantial grinding force, may have its arcuate portion considerably reduced in length. Thus its grinding head 50 may be shorter than the head 30 of the forms of Figs. 1, 2 and 3, and its working extremity indicated at 52 may have a very short are much less than the arc of the upstanding head 50. This will, of course, place the center of mass somewhat farther inward ont'ne impeller toward its axis 34a than the corresponding point 38 of Fig. 2 on the impeller. While the arc of the head 30 of the form of Figs. 1, 2 and 3 may be about 30, the working arc of the portion 52 of Fig. 5 may be around only 5. Thus, the advancing vertical approximately square-cut corner 54 corresponding with the leading square-cut corner 46 of the form of Figs. 1, 2 and 3 will be located closer to the cutting corners 28 of the cutting teeth .45 at the sides of the incut passages 27 in the grind ring 25, when the impeller is in median position.

Figs 4 and 5 illustrate a further modification wherein there is mounted on the flat table top 21 an elevating plate 55 which spaces each impeller 20 upward from the table top 21 a distance equal to the thickness of the plate 55. With this form, the spacing plate 55 is provided with a radially extending finger 55a for each impeller 20, such finger having an advancing cutter tooth 56 at the periphery of the table top- 21, which tooth, in conjunction with the cutting head portion 52 also cooperates with the cutting edges 28 and teeth of the grind ring 25. With this construction embodying the finger 55a, in each instance, clogging is avoided between the outer portion of the impeller 20 and the table top 21 by reason of the narrowing of this impeller head as it extends outward to the outer grind portion 52. Also the correspondingly curved end 57 of the head 50 leading t9 the cutting portion 52 clears this area to avoid clogging, especially inconjunction with the illustrated annular series of apertures 58 through which flushing water supplied to the grind chamber 19 flushes out fine material. The spacer and bearing plate may be retained on the rotary table 22 (which may be a cast table) by appropriate rivets 59 or the like in substantially the same manner as the flat table top 21 of Figs. 1, 2 and 3 is retained.

While the impellers 20 of Figs. 1 to 5 are illustrated as extending only to the periphery of the table top 21, and the outer' portions taper downward and outward, as where indicated at 40 in Fig. 2, such impeller may nevertheless be constructed as shown in Figs. 6 and 7 wherein an impeller 60, mounted as in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, has an upstanding peripheral head portion 61 which is arcuate like the head finger 63 of reduced vertical extent or height. In operation, this finger 63 lies betwen and co-operates with superimposed rows of cutter teeth 45 appropriately vertically spaced by a groove 64 accommodating'the finger 63 between the teeth. Here the same in-cut passages 27 are used, and on the inwardly facing wall of the annular groove 64 between the rows of teeth 45, shallow teeth 65 may be provided continuously or in series for co-operation with thecutti'ng finger 6 3.

The cutter: finger 63, as shown, provides upper and lower faces 66 which are uniformly positioned with respect to the opposing lower and upper faces of the teeth 45 to effect good cutting or grinding. Thus, each end of the finger 63 provides upper and lower cutting edges 67 which advance toward respective opposing co-operating cutting edges 68 at the opposite sides of the underlying and overlying teeth 45, depending upon the direction of rotation of the table 22 Thus, additional cutting means are provided between the teeth 45 andthe finger 63 for tearing apart or cutting stringy materials which may be included in the waste beingprocessed. I

dinal axes or median radial lines, such construction is not always essential, and each impeller might be like the nonsymmetrical impeller 70 of Figs. 9 and 10. In this instance the weighting impeller head 72 which upstands from the main shank of the impeller lies wholly to one side of the median line 73 of the shank. This structure is primarily directional in that normally the table on which it is mounted would be rotated counterclockwise or in the direction of the curved arrow of Fig. 9, so that the vertical cutting corner indicated at 74 leads.

Again, as in Figs. 11 and 12, an impeller 30 might be employed wherein the upstanding impeller head 82 is nonsymmetrical, so that, although it extends from side to side of the impeller, it presents a greater mass on one side of its median line 83 than at its other side. Also, in the forms of these Figs. 9 to 12, the outer face of the impeller head may extend vertically as at 75 in Figs. 9 and 10 or be sloped outward and downward as at 84 in Figs. 11 and 12. With these constructions the center of gravity lies ofi to one side of the respective median lines or longitudinal axes 73 and 83.

The invention claimed is: I

1.' Waste disposal apparatus including: a rotary table; means rotatably mounting said table on a vertical axis; cutting impellers eccentrically pivoted on said table on approximately vertical axes, said impellers being free to rotate entirely around their axes, a relatively stationary grind ring surrounding said impellers and providing spaced teeth directed toward said impellers, each impeller having on its swinging end a cutting finger overlapping the positions of said teeth for rotation in close vertical proximity to said teeth; and approximately horizontal cutting edge means provided on said teeth and said fingers and cooperating to cut stringy materials.

2. Waste disposal apparatus including: a rotary table; means rotatably mounting said table on a vertical axis; cutting impellers eccentrically pivoted on saidttable on approximately vertical axes, said impellers being free to rotate entirely around their axes, said impeller axes being located slightly less than half way inwardly from the periphery of said table for clearance of said impellers upon rotation entirely'aro-und their axes, a relatively stationary grind ring surrounding said impellers and providing spaced teeth directed toward said impellers, each impeller having on its swinging end a cutting finger overlapping the positions of said teeth for rotation in close vertical proximity to said teeth; and approximately horizontal cutting edge means provided on said teeth and said fingers and cooperating to cut stringy materials.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,171,463 Tschauner Aug. 29, 1939 2,536,929 Hammell Ian. 2, 1951 2,573,213 Miller Oct. 30, 1951 2,730,308 Jordan Jan. 10, 1956 2,760,730 Jordan Aug. 28, 1956 2,767,927 Green Oct. 23, 1956 2,819,847 Hanser Jan. 14, 1958 2,828,083 Macemon Mar. 25, 1958 2,828,084 James et a1 Mar. 25, 1958

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