US3722803A - Combined pump and cutting apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

A combined pumping and cutting apparatus for a toilet system where sanitary napkins and other nondissolving materials are sheared as they pass through the apparatus. The apparatus includes two chambers separated by a tube which directs the material to and cooperates with a rotor to cause shredding by a scissor action; the scissor action being accomplished by the stationary tube and the rotating rotor.

Description

United States atent 11 1 Kemper 1 51 Mar. 27, 1973 1541 COMBINED PUMP AND CUTTING APPARATUS James M. Kemper, Los Angeles, Calif.

Monogram Industires, Inc., Los Angeles, Calif.

Filed: May 28, 1971 Appl. No.: 147,810

[75] Inventor:

Assignee:

US. Cl ..241/46.02, 241/4611 Int. (:1. ..B02b 1/00 I Field 0% Search...24l/46 R, 46.02, 46.06, 46.1 1,

[5 6] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Von Eiff et al. "241/4611 3,323,650 6/1967 Kilbane, Jr. ..24l/46.l7 X

3,361,369 l/l968 Ruble ..24l/46.l7 3,380,673 4/l9 68 Van Lenten et al ..24l/l 91 3,429,513 2/1969 Gribble ....24l/46 R 3,589,623 6/l97l- Belden ..24i/46.02

Primary ExaminerGranville Y. Custer, Jr.

Attorney-(30love,Kleinberg Morganstern 571 ABSTRACT A combined pumping and cutting apparatus for a toilet system where sanitary napkins and other nondissolving materials are sheared as they pass through the apparatus. The apparatus includes two chambers separated by a tube which directs the material to and cooperates with a rotor to cause shredding by a scissor action; the scissor action being accomplished by the stationary tube and the rotating rotor.

7 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures COMBINED PUMP AND CUTTING APPARATUS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a combination pump and cutting apparatus and, more particularly, to an apparatus for a toilet system which can pump waste products as well as cut or shred solid products such as sanitary napkins and certain types of toilet paper while still being economically manufactured and assembled for mass production.

2. Description of the Prior Art There is a continuing requirement for a small, lowcost pump to handle the waste disposal of a toilet system such as that installed in vehicles, i.e., campers, mobile'homes, boats, etc. and that installed at locations where it is uneconomical or unnecessary to provide permanent facilities such as in parks, camps, marinas, etc. Present portable or outdoor type toilet systems generally comprise a bowl assemblywhich is used to receive waste products from a user, a large tank and means for circulating the liquid contents of the tank to enable the flushing of the bowl assembly. These toilet systems are commonly referred to as recirculating toilets. Usually a chemical is added to the tank to improve sanitation and control odor. Another type of toilet system simply discharges. the waste products rather than recycle the liquid portion thereof. Because of the increased attention toward pollution control, it is becoming necessary that these types of toilet systems macerate the waste or other products normally disposed of in a toilet system, and properly mix the products with chemicals.

A problem with such a recirculating or nonrecirculating system is that of the disposed material interfering with the pumping action; that is, such material other than human waste products may clog the pump and thereby incapacitate the system. Efforts have been made to alleviate this problem as exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 3,380,673 which includes an impeller having knife-like edges for the purpose of cutting the disposal products as well as pumping the products from the bowl assembly. However, certain types of products such as sanitary napkins, which are made of gauze, are

not satisfactorily handled by the pump apparatus of the above-mentioned patent.

It is, of course, to be understood that any apparatus developed must be suffieiently economical in operation as well as in manufacture and assembly to allow production for mass marketing at a reasonable price.

SUMMARY OF THE'INVENTION The above-mentioned problems have been solved by the present invention which provides an apparatus for pumping a liquid and cutting solids carried thereby the cutting blade and an end of the tube and pumped to the outlet opening by the pumping blade. What occurs is a scissor action between the blade and the tube end so that a major drawback of the prior art is overcome. In addition, the invention includes the subcombination of the blade having two portions, one for cutting and the other for pumping. Another part of the invention is a subcombination of the tube having a sharpened end for use with a toiletsystem.

It is a general aim of the present invention to provide a combination pump and cutting apparatus which effectively and efficiently shreds solid type material and pumps this material and liquid.

Another aspect of the present invention is to provide a combined pump and cutting apparatus for a toilet system which will not become clogged with the products being passed through the apparatus.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus which cuts and pumps a solid carrying liquid and which is simply constructed, reliable and inexpensive to manufacture and assemble.

Still another aim of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for a toilet system which directs a flow of liquid and solids against a cutting blade and which cooperates with the cutting blade to effect a scissor action upon the solid type material.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for a toilet system which includes a simply constructed device for cutting as well as pumpingwaste products and other material.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent .by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. I is a perspective view, partially broken away, of a combined pump and cutting apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional plan view of a portion of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a shearing tube of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a rotor having. a cutting portion and a pumping portion.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT While the present invention is susceptible of various modifications and alternative constructions, an illustrative embodiment is shown in the drawing and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that it is not the intention to limit the invention to the particular form disclosed; but, on the contrary, the intention .is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternative constructions falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is generally illustrated a combined pumping and cutting apparatus 10 having a housing 12 divided into two portions, an inlet portion 14 and an outlet portion 16. Connected to the apparatus is a housing 18 enclosing a motor (not shown) which is connected to two electrical wires 20 to allow the motor to be connected to a power source. Protruding from the other end of the motor housing 18 is a shaft 23 which terminates with a rotor 22. Immediately adjacent the rotor is a shearing tube 24 of suitable hardness, which is connected to the inlet and outlet portions of the housing 12 and positioned through a wall 25 of the housing.

Briefly in operation, waste products as well as other materials commonly flushed through a toilet system is received from a bowl assembly 30 whereupon these products enter a chamber portion 32 of the inlet portion 14 of the housing. The products are then directed through the tube, and through the rotational path of the rotor 22 which occurs in a chamber portion 34 of the outlet portion 16 of the housing. The shredded solid and liquid material is then passed through an outlet tube 36 to a collection tank 38 if the system is a recirculating one; if the system is not recirculating, then the waste products are disposed as indicated by the dotted arrow 40 to appropriate waste receiving facilities, such as conventional sewage systems. Upon the next operation of a flushing device (not shown), a pump 42 is activated to start the flushing cycle anew with a predetermined quantity of filtered liquid pumped from the collectiontank 38 to the bowl assembly 30.

It is an important object of the present invention to efficiently and effectively pump the liquid portion of v the waste products and shred any solid type material which may be flushed through the toilet system. All of this is to ensure that the rotor 22 does not become disabled or clogged by material which does not ordinarily easily dissolve in a liquid. Further, an important object of this invention is to achieve the pumping and cutting with a simply constructed, reliable mechanism which can be inexpensively manufactured and assembled. As mentioned, a major drawback in the prior art as exemplified by the above-mentioned United States Patent is the handling of the more difficultly cut material such as sanitary napkins. The reason a sanitary napkin is hard to cut, for example, is that it is made of a gauze material as opposed to certain types of toilet tissue which are designed to partially or fully dissolve or macerate by the wetting action of a liquid. Of course, other types of toilet tissue or paper is of sufficient coarseness as to be almost as difficult to cut or shred as gauze.

In the prior art, an attempt wasmade to cut this material by placing a rotatable impeller within a chamber through which the waste product was required to pass. However, this construction is analogous to an individual attempting to cut a floating piece of material simply by swinging a knife at the material. Without anchoring or backing the material in some fashion, such a cutting action is highly inefficient and ineffective. In addition, because the impeller of the abovementioned patent was designed primarily for cutting, it did not provide an effective pump. Referring to FIG. 2, it is clear that the apparatus of the present invention solves this major problem by locating the tube 24 so that an end 50 is positioned immediately adjacent the rotor 22. (The gap between the tube and the rotor is exaggerated in FIG. 2 to more clearly illustrate the apparatus.) Since all of the products which are flushed through the toilet system must pass through the tube in a direction from an end 52 toward the end 50, any product which is emitted from the end 50 is subjected to a scissor action by the cooperation of the end of the tube and the rotor.

The first portion 14 of the housing 12 is generally cylindrical forming the cup-like chamber 32 with an.

inlet opening 53. The outlet portion 16 which forms the chamber 34 is a cavity in communication with the outlet sleeve 36. The outlet portion includes an outlet opening 56.

The two housing portions 14 and 16 are made of any suitable material such as a synthetic resin with each having a mating flange such as the flange 62 of the portion 14 and the flange 64 of the portion 16 which are abuttable and connected by suitable fasteners such as a threaded bolt. It is noted that. in this arrangement, waste products enter the housing chamber 32 in a first direction which would be into the plane of the drawing as viewed in FIG. 2; this direction is then changed so that the wasteproducts move through the tube 24, pass the rotor whereupon the direction is changed once again so as to move through the outlet sleeve 36. The direction of movement through the tube 24 is perpendicular to the direction of movement of the material through the inlet opening while the direction of movement through the outlet opening 56 is again perpendicular to each of the directions through the tube and the inlet opening. Viewed in another way, if the movement through the inlet opening 53 is considered parallel to the Z axis, movement through the tube 24 would be parallel to the X axis while movement through the outlet sleeve 36 would be parallel to the Y axis, each of the axes, X, Y and 2, being perpendicular to each of the other axes.

Referring now to FIG. 3, the end 50 of the tube 24 is shown in more detail and has an interior sharp corner 66, and an exterior sharp corner 68. The corner 66 is formed by the intersection of the interior wall of the tube and the end 50 while the exterior corner 68 is formed by the intersection of the end 50 and the exterior wall of the tube. The interior sharp corner acts'as a scissor blade when used in cooperation with the rotor.

Another important aspect of the present invention'is to provide a simple device which can act to cut as well as to pump material. Referring now to FIG. 4, the rotor 22 is illustrated in more detail having a firstportion 70 which-has a sharp end 72 for cutting and a second portion 74 with an end portion or paddle 76 that is bent at a right angle for the purpose of pumping. The impeller or paddle blade is formed by bending the edge of the rotor second portion 74 in a right angle parallel to the radial axis of the rotor and into a plane parallel to that p of the sharp end 72, as in the patent noted above.

A central opening 78 is provided to allow attachment of the rotor to the shaft 23, FIG. 2. As mentioned, the cutting portion 70 acts as a scissor when cooperating with the tube end 50; the cutting portion is balanced about an axis of rotation by the pumping portion which functions strictly as a pump and thereby increases the efficiency and effectiveness of each of the functions of the rotor. p

It is important to note the closeness of the tube end 50 and the position of the rotor. The plane of rotation or rotational path established by the rotor is 'immediately adjacent the tube end to an extent feasible by manufacturing tolerances. Thus, it has been found that a tolerance of 0.06 to0.l2 inches is easily achieved by known manufacturing and assembly techniques and yet provides the required scissor action on the part of the tube and the rotor.

and cutting a housing having an interior divided chamber,.an.

inlet opening and an outlet opening;

a rotor positioned within said chamber connected to a power source, said rotor having at least two blades, a first blade having a sharp edge for cutting and a second blade for pumping; and

a. tube operatively positioned adjacent said first blade, within said chamber for directing said liquid and solids from said inlet opening through the rotational path of said rotor and for shearing solids between said first blade and an end of said tube the mixture being pumped to the outlet opening by said second blade.

2. An apparatus as claimed in Claim 1, wherein said housing is divided into two chamber portions by a wall, one of said portions having saidrotor therein,'said tube extending through said wall.

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said inlet and outlet openings are positioned to direct said liquid through said inlet opening perpendicular to the direction through said outlet opening.

4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein said tube is positioned to direct said liquid perpendicular. to each of the directions taken through said inlet and outlet openings.

5. A shearing tube for a pumping and cutting apparatus having inlet and outlet openings, a chamber and a rotatable cutting blade, comprising a tube located within the chamber having two ends, one of said ends being positioned immediately adjacent said cutting blade whereby'material moving through said tube is sheared between said tube end and said cutting blade.

6. A shearing tube as claimed in claim 5, wherein said one end includes a sharp corner.

7. A rotor for a pumping and cutting apparatus having inlet and outlet openings and a chamber, said rotor comprising a cutting portion balanced by a pumping portion, said cutting portion including a sharpened blade extending in the axial direction and said pumping portion including a blade having a right angle bend along the length, thereof and extending in a direction opposite to that of said sharpened blade, said sharpened blade and said pumping portion blade being substantially parallel.

Claims (7)

1. An apparatus for pumping a liquid and cutting solids carried thereby comprising: a housing having an interior divided chamber, an inlet opening and an outlet opening; a rotor positioned within said chamber connected to a power source, said rotor having at least two blades, a first blade having a sharp edge for cutting and a second blade for pumping; and a tube operatively positioned adjacent said first blade, within said chamber for directing said liquid and solids from said inlet opening through the rotational path of said rotor and for shearing solids between said first blade and an end of said tube the mixture being pumped to the outlet opening by said second blade.

2. An apparatus as claimed in Claim 1, wherein said housing is divided into two chamber portions by a wall, one of said portions having said rotor therein, said tube extending through said wall.

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said inlet and outlet openings are positioned to direct said liquid through said inlet opening perpendicular to the direction through said outlet opening.

4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein said tube is positioned to direct said liquid perpendicular to each of the directions taken through said inlet and outlet openings.

5. A shearing tube for a pumping and cutting apparatus having inlet and outlet openings, a chamber and a rotatable cutting blade, comprising a tube located within the chamber having two ends, one of said ends being positioned immediately adjacent said cutting blade whereby material moving through said tube is sheared between said tube end and said cutting blade.

6. A shearing tube as claimed in claim 5, wherein said one end includes a sharp corner.

7. A rotor for a pumping and cutting apparatus having inlet and outlet openings and a chamber, said rotor comprising a cutting portion balanced by a pumping portion, said cutting portion including a sharpened blade extending in the axial direction and said pumping portion including a blade having a right angle bend along the length, thereof and extending in a direction opposite to that of said sharpened blade, said sharpened blade and said pumping portion blade being substantially parallel.

Images