US3323728A

US3323728A - Comminuting apparatus

Info

Publication number: US3323728A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1967-06-06
Anticipated expiration: 1984-06-06

Description

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T. C. R. SHEPHERD COMMINUTING APPARATUS Filed May 20, 1965 June 6, 1967 FIG. 2.

IMVEZMTQE T C. R, fik lv [MUN/L 'f p frafi VZ m/VQ Ar oewzv United States Patent 3,323,728 COMMINUTING APPARATUS Thomas Cropper Ryley Shepherd, Arbour Hill, Ross-on-Wye, England Filed May 20, 1965, Ser. No. 457,278 8 Claims. (Cl. 241--36) This invention concerns improvements relating to comminuting apparatus in Which waste material to be comminuted is fed downwardly into the apparatus from a hopper or the like. With large apparatus, such as used in catering establishments, hospitals and so on there is a risk that a careless operator will manually push the material from the hopper into the comminuting apparatus with the attendant risk that his hand may become entangled in the comminutor. This risk is substantially increased when the operator is incapable of appreciating the danger involved. Thus, it is a common practice to employ the patients in mental institutions to perform certain tasks, commonly of a menial nature such as the disposal of garbage and waste. Such persons may be incapable of appreciating the dangers involved even although they are properly instructed. An object of this invention is to provide a comminuting apparatus in which the risk of injury to a careless operator as indicated above is substantially reduced or eliminated.

According to this invention comminuting apparatus comprises a comminutor, a chute down which the material to be comminuted passes from a mouth of said chute to said comminutor, an electric motor to drive the comminutor, a cover mounted over said chute to close and open said mouth of the chute, and switch means to control said electric motor and actuatable by movement of said cover so that when the cover is opened to beyond a predetermined degree the motor is stopped, said chute and said cover being so constructed and arranged that the act of thrusting an arm or other elongate member into the chute to a certain extent, sufliciently short of the comminutor that no damage results, opens the cover to beyond said predetermined degree to stop the motor. The cover is preferably openable to a suflicient degree for waste material to be readily fed into said chute without the motor being stopped by said switch means.

Advantageously the chute is inclined downwards and to one side from its mouth and the cover is hingedly mounted to the opposite side of the mouth.

An embodiment of apparatus in accordance with the invention is hereinafter described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of the apparatus and FIG. 2 is a plan view of such apparatus.

The apparatus has a comminutor 1 comprising an impeller 2 rotatable within a ring of teeth 3, the material to be comminuted passing between the impeller and the ring of teeth and being pulverized or broken therebetween. Water may be supplied directly into the comminutor to pass therethrough to a drain pipe D together with the comminuted material. The waste material is placed in a hopper 4 having a dumping floor 5 including a sloping wall 6 down which a stream of water flows from sparge water supply piping 7, suitably controlled to Wash down the hopper when desired. The lower end of the sloping wall leads along the floor into the inlet or mouth 8' of the chute 8 which extends downwardly from the hopper to the comminutor, the sloping wall being entirely to one side of said mouth.

A flat, rectangular hinged cover 9 is provided to close the mouth of the chute. The cover is hinged at 10 to that side of the mouth remote from or opposite the floor of the hopper so that material placed on the hopper so that material placed on the hopper may be pushed into the chute, the cover when opened constituting a deflector which faces towards the sloping wall of the hopper and assists in directing the material into the chute. The cover has a handle 11 and its free edge seats on a ledge 12 bordering the mouth.

The chute is downwardly inclined to the horizontal in the opposite direction to that at which the sloping floor of the hopper is directed to the horizontal. Accordingly waste material is fed towards the mouth of the chute in one direction and thereafter downwardly through the chute in an opposite direction.

The hinged cover 9 actuates a switch means in the circuit of the electric motor 13 which drives the comminutor, e.g. by pulleys and belting 14 with a tensioning device 14', the arrangement being that when the cover is closed the motor is operative to drive the comminutor. The switch means maintains the motor operative until the cover has been opened to a predetermined degree, e.g. until the cover, which in its closed position is horizontal, has been raised to a predetermined angle A e.g. about 30. Beyond this position the cover actuates the switch means to stop the motor.

As illustrated the switch means may include a finger 15 extending rigidly from the cover beyond the hinge and co-acting with a switch mechanism 16 fixed to the framework 17 of the apparatus, so as to eflect the desired switch action.

Assume now that a careless operator introduces his arm into the chute 8. This can only be done from a side of the cover remote from its hinge and the act of thrusting an arm through the mouth of the chute requires, if the arm is to pass downwardly through the chute to any substantial extent, that the arm is brought generally into alignment with the axis of the chute. The cover when open to said predetermined degree (30 open) is substantially normal to the axis of the chute and effectively prevents ingress of the arm or other elongate member. Consequently if the arm is to be thrust down into the chute to any substantial extent it is necessary to move the cover further open so as to more fully expose the mouth and, as described above, when the cover is opened beyond said predetermined degree the switch means is actuated to stop the motor.

Similar consideration would apply if a careless operator endeavoured to ram the waste material down the chute with a stick or the like.

It will be appreciated, however, that access to the upper end of the chute is readily possible without stopping the motor since this may be done with the cover below said 30 position. This enables waste material to be cleared from around the mouth of the chute and from the hopper and directed down into the chute by the operator.

To further ensure that an operator cannot insert his arm beneath the cover and to a dangerous extent into the chute from the longitudinal sides of the apparatus, it is arranged that the hopper comprises a pair of parallel side Walls 18 between which the floor 5 extends. The side Walls are of a height above the mouth of the chute substantially the same as or slightly greater than the height of the free edge E of the cover above the mouth when the cover is opened to said predetermined extent and the side walls are closely adjacent the corresponding sides of the cover. Consequently such access to the mouth of the chute sideways of the cover is not possible without automatically stopping the motor.

In addition to the water supply piping 7, further piping 7 carried by the framework may extend within the chute beneath the cover hinge to spray clean the underside of the cover.

The water supply means may comprise a solenoid actuated valve or other suitable means controlled by the switch means so that the water supply, to beneath the cover at least, and the motor are stopped simultaneously.

The apparatus may include a time switch controlling the normal period during which the motor and the water supply to the cover remain operative after charging the chute and closing the cover, as predetermined for a full chute load of material. The apparatus is thus automatically' switched ofi at the end of such period.

Therhopper may present a weir ridge formation 19. ad-

jacent the mouth of the chute. A baflie curtain 20 of plastics or other suitable material may be suspended vertically in the chute to eliminate splash back and reduce grinding noise from the comminutor.

The comminutor may be .of any per se known or convenient construction.

Any other suitable form of coverand hinge assembly and switch means may be used to effect the desired switch action. For example, the switch means may include a cam located in a cover hinge assembly for rotary move ment with the cover about the hinge axis to actuate a switch mechanism.

I claim:

1. Comminnting apparatus comprising a comminutor, a chute down which the material to be comminuted passes from a mouth of said chute to said comminutor, an electric motor to drive the comminutor, a cover mounted over said chute to close and open said mouth of the chute, and switch means to control said electric motor and actuatable by movement of said cover so that when the cover is opened to beyond a predetermined degree the motor is stopped, said chute and said cover being so constructed and arranged that the act of thrusting an arm or other elongate member into the chute to a certain extent, sufficiently short of the comminutor that no damage results, opens the cover to beyond said predetermined degree to stop the motor.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said cover is openable to a sufficient degree for waste material' to be readily fed into said chute without the motor being stopped by said switch means.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the chute is inclined downwards and to one side from its mouth and the cover is hingedly mounted to the opposite side of the mouth.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3 including a hopper into which the waste material is placed, said hopper having a dumping floor which leads into the mouth of the chute and is located to said one side of the mouth.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4 wherein said floor of the hopper has a sloping wall portion and said cover in open position constitutes a deflector which faces said sloping wall portion and assists in directing the waste material into the chute.

6. Apparatus according to claim 4 wherein the hopper comprises side walls between which said floor extends and closely adjacent corresponding sides of said cover, and of a height above the mouth of the chute substantially the same as or greater than the height of the free edge of the cover above the mouth when the cover, is opened to said predetermined degree to stop the motor.

7. Apparatus according to claim 1 including sparge' water supply means comprising a solenoid-actuated valve controlled by said switch means so that such water supply and said motor are stopped simultaneously.

8. Comminuting apparatus comprising a frame, a comminutor mounted in said frame, a chute mounted above said comminutor and down which material to be comminuted passes from a mouth of said chute to said comminutor, said chute being inclined downwards and to one side from said mouth, an electric motor drivingly connected to said comminutor, a cover hingedly mounted over said chute and to the opposite side of said mouth from said one side so as to close and open said mouth of the chute, and switch means including a switch mechanism located on said frame and a switch actuating member movable with said cover to -co-act with said switch mecha-' nism so that when said cover is opened to beyond a pre? determined degree said motor is stopped, said chute and said cover being so constructed and arranged that the act of thrusting an arm or other elongate member into the chute to a certain extent, suffi-ciently short of the comminutor that no damage results, opens the cover -to beyond said predetermined degree to stop the motor.

, References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,615,626 10/1952 Powers 241 36 2,750,122 6/1956 Quast 241-36 X 2,813,569 11/1957 Nelson 153105 2,982,483

5/1961 Heinemans 241- WILLIAM w. 'DYER, JR., Primary Examiner.

H. F. PEPPER, JR., Assistant'Examine r.

Claims

1. COMMINUTING APPARATUS COMPRISING A COMMINUTOR, A CHUTE DOWN WHICH THE MATERIAL TO BE COMMINUTED PASSES FROM A MOUTH OF SAID CHUTE TO SAID COMMINUTOR, AN ELECTRIC MOTOR TO DRIVE THE COMMINUTOR, A COVER MOUNTED OVER SAID CHUTE TO CLOSE AND OPEN SAID MOUTH OF THE CHUTE, AND SWITCH MEANS TO CONTROL SAID ELECTRIC MOTOR AND ACTUATABLE BY MOVEMENT OF SAID COVER SO THAT WHEN THE COVER IS OPENED TO BEYOND A PREDETERMINED DEGREE THE MOTOR IS STOPPED, SAID CHUTE AND SAID COVER BEING SO CONSTRUCTED AND ARRANGED THAT THE ACT OF THRUSTING AN ARM OR OTHER ELONGATE MEMBER INTO THE CHUTE TO A CERTAIN EXTENT, SUFFICIENTLY SHORT OF THE COMMINUTOR THAT NO DAMAGE RESULTS, OPENS THE COVER TO BEYOND SAID PREDETERMINED DEGREE TO STOP THE MOTOR.