US3005595A - Waste disposal apparatus - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 24, 1961 T. E. JENKINS 3,005,595

WASTE DISPOSAL APPARATUS Filed May 31, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 i 30 H 7 s W I a 10 9 032 2 2| 2 a I7 r- 6 g I I4 36 INVENTOR. THOMAS E. JENKINS HIS ATTORNEY Oct. 24, 1961 T. E. JENKINS I 3,005,595

WASTE DISPOSAL APPARATUS Filed May 31, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. THOMAS E. JENKINS BYz H [-5 ATTORNEY United States Patent WASTE DISPOSAL APPARATUS Thomas E. Jenkins, Louisville, Ky, assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Filed May 31, 1960, Ser. No. 32,800 Claims. (Cl. 241-46) This invention relates to apparatus for the disposal of garbage and the like, and more particularly to such apparatus for attachment to a sink drain for receiving a mixture of garbage and water, and provided with a flywheel with impeller blades and a coacting stationary shredding element for reducing or cornminuting the solid particles to produce a flowing mixture suitable for discharge to the sink drain; and this invention has as its general object to provide improvements in the flywheel and shredder constructions so that they function more eflectively to reduce or comminute solid particles, more eflectively in the sense that they will grind at a more rapid rate and to a finer degree.

One problem encountered in this kind of waste disposal apparatus is that when attempts are made to design a machine which will disintegrate more rapidly hard substances such as bones and the like, the machine will comminute soft materials, such as grapefruit, potatoes, etc. at such a rapid rate that the conventional sink drain may clog up.

This invention contemplates an improved material impelling flywheel and associated shredding structure which while grinding the hard substances at a very rapid rate will slow down the comminution of soft materials to a rate which can be handled by the sink drains usually found in homes.

This invention also contemplates such a flywheel structure which eliminates jamming of the wheel.

Briefly stated in accordance with one aspect of my invention, I provide a comminuting chamber in which there is located stationary shredding means, and a flywheel for impelling material against the shredding means including two top smooth surfaces both facing the comminuting chamber. One surface is generally circular in form and is located in an elevated position in the central area of the flywheel, while the other is of annular form surrounding the central surface and sloping downwardly continuously without any re-entrant areas from the central area to theperiphery of the wheel. The structure includes a flywheel in which a material impelling member is supported in a retracted concealed position. This member is caused to move upwardly and outwardly to an extended exposed material impelling position by centrifugal force when the flywheel is rotated. The foregoing parts are made of strong materials and are massive so that they will grind hard substances at a rapid rate without jamming.

The central circular area preferably is dished somewhat and the two surfaces, while they function to allow a relatively rapid disintegration of bones and like hard substances, slow down the rate of disintegration of soft substances to avoid drain clogging. The juncture of these two surfaces forms one side of a throat, the other side of which preferably is formed on the shredding ring, and the throat is designed to control the flow of large food particles and large masses of soft foods to the grinding area, whereby the rate of grinding is reduced and controlled.

For amore complete understanding of this invention, reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view of waste disposal apparatus embodying this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of certain elements of the 3,005,595 Patented Oct. 24, 1961 apparatus shown in FIGURE 1 taken from the line 22 of FIGURE 1 and looking in the direction of the arrows; FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary sectional view of parts of the apparatus shown in FIGURES 1 and 2, this figure being drawn to a larger scale than are FIGURES 1 and 2;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of a portion of the apparatus shown in FIGURES 1-3; and

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view taken through the line 55 of FIGURE 3 and looking in the direction of the arrows.

Referring to the drawings, this invention has been shown in one form as applied to food waste disposal apparatus comprising a generally cylindrical tubular casing or housing 1 for enclosing a grinding or shredding chamber 2 at the bottom of which the comminuting or shredding of waste material takes place. The housing 1 is positioned in a generally vertical position and its upper end will be adapted to be connected with a sink drain (not shown) through which waste food and water will be introduced into the housing 1. Any suitable means may be used to connect the upper end of the housing 1 with the sink such for example as shown in the United States Patent No. 2,819,028 to B. J. Brezosky et al. which issued on January 7, 1958, and any suitable drain stopper means may be provided for the sink such as disclosed in the patent to Moore No. 2,787,423 and dated April 2, 1957,- both of said Brezosky et a1. and Moore patents being assigned to the General Electric Company, the assignee of this application.

Mounted inthe lower end of theshredding chamber 2. are stationary shredding means 3 in the form of a ring, and a coacting material impelling disc or plate-like flywheel 4. The flywheel 4 is mounted for rotation on the central axis of the ring 3 which in turn is mounted substantially to the central vertical axis of housing 1. The flywheel 4 is driven by a suitable electric motor 5 which is mounted in a casing 6. The ring 3 as shown is interposed between the casing 6 and the housing 1. A casing or housing 7 surrounds the ring 3 and this is secured to the motor casing 6 in any suitable way as by screws 8.

The stationary shredding ring 3 has mounted on its inner vertical wall 9 a plurality of shredding pads 10 spaced at intervals circumferentially around the surface 9. Each pad extends from a point near the top of the ring to a point adjacent the bottom of the ring and each comprises an upper substantially rectangular section 11 and a lower slightly recessed or set-in substantially triangular section i12 positioned to present a cutting edge 12a inclined towards the flywheel 4. The circular wall of the grinding ring 3 in its lower portion below the pads 10 is provided with a series of discharge openings 13 arranged entirely around the circumference of the ring. Below the openings 13 is an inturned horizontal shelf 14 in which there are provided a relatively few open-ended notches 15.' Each notch 15 has a depth and a width each somewhat greater than is the thickness of the shelf 14 It will be understood that in the operation of the apparatus thus far described the flywheel 4 will function to impel waste material and water supplied to the chamber 2 against the shredding means 10 to shred or comminute the waste material into a flowable state, and that the flywheel 4 will impel the comminuted material and water out through the openings 13 formed in the ring 3.

The flywheel 4 is generally in the form of a disc provided with an outer peripheral cylindrical vertical surface 17 which has a running clearance with the surround ing concentric vertical surface 18 formed on the inner edge of the horizontal shelf 14. The shelf 14 and its relationship with the flywheel 4 is described and claimed in my co-pending application Serial Number 33,001, filed 21 which is of annular form surrounding the central" area and, sloping down continuously without re-entrant parts from the outer periphery of the central area 26 to the peripheral edgeof the flywheel, as clearly shown in the drawings. Preferably the areas 20 and 21 will be so dimensioned that the annular surface 21 will slope downwardly at a relatively small angle to the horizontal; in other words the section 21 is generally in the form of a truncated frustum ofa right cone with a small slant angle measured with respect to the horizontal.

Mounted upon the flywheel 4 are a pair of impellers 22 which are mounted upon the flywheel for movement from a completely concealed retracted position when the flywheel is stationary to an extendable exposed materialimpelling'position by centrifugal force when the flywheel 4 is rotated above a predetermined speed. Each impeller 22 is generally of L-shape mounted in a vertical position on one edge of one leg 23 of the L so that the other leg 24 of the L is in a generally vertical position. The upper end of this leg 24 is received in an opening or window 25 joining the upper and lower surfaces 19 and 19a of the flywheel through the annular surface 21; that is, it is so received when the flywheel is stationary.

- Each impeller 22 is thus mounted in a radial position with the free end of the leg 23 outermost and the other end extending towards the axis of rotation of'the flywheel; and the outer end is pivoted to the flywheel by a pivot pin 26 which extends transversely under the flywheel and below it at a point adjacent the periphery of the flywheel. The ends of this pin '26 are supported by a pair of cars 27 formed integrally with the flywheel below its bot-tom surface (only one ear being shown). The inner end of the leg 23 is supported by a stop seat 28 formed integrally with the flywheel, preferably through the medium of circular web 29 formed integrally with and depending from the bottom of the flywheel.

The supporting pin 26 and the stop 28 support the impeller 22 in such a position and the mass of the impeller 22 is so distributed that the center of gravity of the impeller lies in a horizontal plane which is above the axis of motion of the impeller. They also are so arranged that the center of gravity also lies between the axis of rotation of the impeller and the central vertical axis of the flywheel. As a result, when the flywheel is stationary the impellers will lie against their stops 28 in a retracted position. However, when the flywheel is rotated above a predetermined velocity the impellers will be swung outwardly on their axis so that the legs 24 are exposed; that is, each leg 24 will move to the dotted line position of the left hand impeller as viewed in FIG- URE 3. Thus, when the impellers are moved to the outer positions they will overlie the shelf 14 and they will impel waste materials against the shredding pads 10. Preferably and as shown the surface 21 will be formed slightly concave so as to expose a greater area of the impeller legs 24 when extended.

The ring 3, and the flywheel 4 together with the impellers 22 are formed of hard strong materials and they are made relatively massive so that the apparatus will grind very hard substances such as bones and the like with relatively great speed, that is, relatively great as compared with corresponding apparatus now found on the market.

As pointed out previously, one of the problems encountered in the design of waste disposal apparatus intended to. grind hard substances rapidly is that the same machinev will grind soft materials such as potatoes, grapefruit, and the like so rapidly that the drain line likely will be clogged. I arranged the annular surface 21 to slow down the rate of comminution of thesofter materials, such as grapefruit halves, and in fact large batches of many soft food materials.

The top annular ridge defined by the juncture of the two surfaces 20 and 21 is the lower jaw so-to-speak of a throat leading from the comminuting chamber to the shredding ring; the upper jaw is defined by an annular wall 30 found on the top of the shredding ring 3 overhanging the portions of the grinding chamber within the ring, as shown. This throat controls the size of food particles which may enter thegrinding area. It is proportioned so that large grapefruit halves, large potatoes and such materials may not pass as a Whole into the grinding area, but must be disintegrated into smaller parts which may pass to the grinding area. This action slows down the grinding rate, and in fact it will control the rate of grinding not only of large food particles but also large batches of soft foods regarless of size. Thus, the rate of discharge to the drain is controlled; and also the load imposed on the driving motor 5 is correspondingly reduced.

If desired and as shown in FIGURE 3 a tumbler or flipper 31 for corn cobs and the like may be added to the ring 3.

In order to tumble grapefruit halves and the like I provide a conical tumbling protuberance 32 on the top of the flywheel within the central area 20 and at one side of the vertical axis of rotation of theflywheel. The major portion of this conical protuberance is concealed below the upper peripheral edge of the area 20, as shown, while its upper conical point extends above this edge. The small amount of the cone 32 which protrudes above the surface 19 will substantially prevent jamming of the flywheel, particularly by bones and the like, between the grapefruit tumbler and the shredding ring 3, and yet the overall height of the cone is effective to tumble grapefruit halves which fall down onto the surface 20.

It has been found at times that waste materials, particularly fibrous materials, may form a ring against the vertical wall 9 "of the shredding ring 3 and as it is circulated around by the flywheel it will act as a brake against the shredding ring which, of course, will resist the motion of the flywheel and increase the load on its driving motor. To eliminate this brake action I provide the shredding ring 3 with a series of secondary pads 33 arranged on the level of the apertures 13 and, as shown,

at intervals between them. As shown more clearly in FIGURES 4 and 5, I provide one of these secondary pads 33 for each two openings 13.

Preferably and as shown in FIGURE 2, the impellers will be provided with inclined lead-in angular faces 34 positioned when the flywheel is rotated to move toward the inclined cutting edges 12a on the pads 10; these faces will cause the impellers to be depressed by a bone or like hard object if caught between the impellers and either the pads 10, the secondary pads 33 or the member 31.

A drainage chamber 35 is formed in the motor casing 6 beneath the flywheel 4 and grinding ring 3, as shown, and the chamber 35 in turn drains into a drain line 36 which ordinarly will be connected with the sewer through the normal sink drain.

It will be understood that in the operation of the apparatus the garbage and the like to be disposed of will be inserted into the grinding chamber 2 where it will fall upon-the upper exposed areas 20 and 21 of the flywheel. It will be further understood that the motor 5 will be energized to operate the flywheel and that at the same time water will be caused to flow into the chamber 2 from the sink. At the start of the operation the impellers 22 will be retracted and so the flywheel by virtue of its smooth surfaces 20 and 21 will not impart any substantial impelling action to the materials in the chamber 2. However, when the flywheel attains a predetermined velocity the impellers 22 will swing out to their extended positions and will violently impel the waste materials against pads and 33. The flywheel will be rotated in a direction to move the impellers 22 toward the inclined cutting edges 12a formed on the pads 10, as explained before. Eventually the waste material will be comminuted to a form which will flow out through the openings 13 with the water flowing through the apparatus. The waste material and water will drain into the drainage chamber 35 and thence to the drain line 36.

During operation, the smooth surfaces 20 and 21 pre sent no obstacle which will create a jamming situation. An object which tends to jam between either impeller 22 and any fixed part in the comminuting chamber will by acting on the inclined lead-in surface 34 depress the impeller to free the object. As explained before the flow of bulky, soft materials to the grinding area and hence the the juncture between surfaces 20 and 21 of the flywheel speed of grinding is controlled by the throat defined by and the overhanging surface 30 of the shredding ring.

While I have shown and described a specified embodiment of my invention, I do not desire my invention to be limited to the particular construction shown and described, and I intend by the appended claims to cover all modifications within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What 'I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In waste disposal apparatus including a housing defining a grinding chamber, a material impelling device in said grinding chamber comprising a flywheel, means mounting said flywheel for rotation in said chamber, said flywheel having a smooth substantially circular generally elevated central area facing said grinding chamber and also having an annular wall surrounding said central area which has an outer surface facing said grinding chamber and inclining downwardly continuously from the periphery of said central area to the periphery of said wheel, said wall having an opening leading from the top to the bottom surfaces thereof, said opening being set back from the periphery of the flywheel so that the periphery is a continuous circular surface, a retractable material impeller having a portion within said opening, pivotal means pivotally connecting said impeller to said flywheel for rotary movement about an axis below said annular wall adjacent the periphery of said wheel, and a stop for said impeller, said stop and pivotal means locating the center of gravity of said impeller so that the impeller is held against said stop when the wheel is stationary and locating said center of gravity above said axis when against said stop so that when the wheel is rotated said impeller is rotated by centrifugal force to move said portion out of said opening to expose it outside of said annular surface in material impelling position.

2. In a waste disposal apparatus including a generally vertically positioned housing defining a grinding chamber, a material impelling device comprising a plant-like flywheel rotatable on a vertical axis in said chamber and having upper and lower surfaces, the upper surface being formed of a central circular elevated area and an outer annular area sloping downwardly continuously at a low angle to the horizontal from the periphery of said central area towards the periphery of said flywheel, said annular area having a window connecting the top and bottom surfaces of the flywheel, said window being set back from the periphery of the flywheel so that the periphery is a continuous circular surface, a roughly L-shaped retractable impeller, a pivotal connection between the end of one leg of said impeller and the under surface of said flywheel adjacent the periphery thereof and a stop heneath said under surface holding said impeller when the flywheel is stationary so that its other leg extends up into and is enclosed by said window, and the pivotal connection and stop supporting said impeller so that when the wheel is rotated above a predetermined velocity the impeller is rotated by centrifugal force to move said other leg out of said Window above said annular area to an exposed material impelling position.

3. The waste disposal apparatus defined in claim 2 in which said central area is generally concave in form and said annular area is generally in the form of a truncated right circular cone with its slanting side making a relatively small angle with the horizontal.

4. Waste disposal apparatus comprising a generally vertical housing defining at its bottom a comminuting chamber, a stationary shredding ring is said chamber for receiving waste material and water and having in its walls a plurality of apertures through which comminuted waste material and water are expelled from said chamber, a generally disk-like material impelling flywheel rotatable in a generally vertical axis in the center of said ring, said flywheel having an opening adjacent its periphery connecting its top and bottom surfaces, said opening being set back from the periphery of the flywheel so that the periphery is a continuous circular surface, an L- shaped retractable impeller member, and means sup porting said impeller member is a generally radial position on the edge of one leg with said one leg located under said flywheel and the other leg of said member extending up into said opening in a withdrawn position when said flywheel is stationary so as to be concealed by said flywheel, said means including a pivotal connection connecting the outer end of said one leg to the underside of said flywheel adjacent its periphery and a stop for the inner end of said one leg, said means supporting said impeller member with its center of gravity above its axis of movement so that when the flywheel rotates above a predetermined speed said member is swung upwardly by centrifugal force to move said other leg to an exposed position above and beyond the periphery of said flywheel for impelling materials against said stationary shredding ring.

5. Waste disposal apparatus comprising a generally vertical housing defining at its bottom a comminuting chamber, a stationary shredding ring in said chamber for receiving waste material and Water and having in its walls a plurality of apertures through which comminuted waste material and water are expelled from said chamber, a generally disk-like material impelling flywheel rotatable in a generally vertical axis in the center of said ring, said flywheel having a smooth substantially circular generally elevated central area that is concave upwardly facing said grinding chamber and also having an annular surface surrounding said central area which inclines downwardly continuously from the periphery of said central area to the periphery of said flywheel, a tumbling protuberance located on the flywheel within the concave central area and extending only slightly above the top surface of the flywheel to prevent bone jams and the like, retractable impelling means on said flywheel for impelling materials into shredding relation with said shredding ring when the flywheel is rotated, and a material flow controlling annular throat leading to said shredding ring formed on one side by the juncture ridge of said smooth central surface area and said annular surface, and said ring having an annular wall overhanging said flywheel to define the other side of said throat.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,045,690 Armstrong ....Iune 30, 1936 2,588,182 Van Ranst Mar. 4, 1952 2,760,730 Jordan ..Aug. 28, 1956 2,853,248 Long 'Sept. 23, 1958 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE 0F CORRECTION Patent No 3,005,595 October 24 1961 Thomas E. Jenkins 5 It is hereby certified that error appears in the above numbered petent requiring correction and that the said Letters Patent should read ea corrected below.

Column 5, line 55, for "plant-like" read plate-like column 6, lines 13 and 241 for "is", each occurrence read in Signed and sealed this 17th day of April 1962;

(SE-AL) Attest:

ESTON G. JOHNSON DAVID L, LAD]; Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents

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