Can crushing machine
OwnerRuben D. Morlockinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A can crushing apparatus has an outer, bottomless drum housing, which is tubular and mounted on rollers to be freely rotatable, and a central inner roller which is mounted on the interior of the tubular drum, is urged against one side wall of the drum, and is power driven. Cans to be crushed are guided on a suitable guide into a nip between the roller and the outer drum, and are crushed as they pass between the roller and drum under spring load. Crushed cans will drop through the open bottom of the drum into a collecting bin or sack.
Claims11
A machine for crushing cans comprising:
- a support;
- tubular drum means having an inner wall surface and being rotatably mounted on the support;
- roller means having an outer surface;
- means to mount the roller means on the interior of the tubular drum means with its outer surface in engagement with the inner wall surface of the drum means;
- said means to mount including a support arm pivotally mounted on said support at a first end and the roller being rotatably mounted on the second end of said arm about an axis parallel to the axis of the tubular drum;
- means for resiliently urging the outer surface of the roller means into engagement with the inner wall surface of the drum means without causing excessive wear on the outer surface of the roller means or the inner wall surface of the drum means and at an increased spring rate after the roller has moved away from the drum wall a selected distance;
- and
- a drive motor mounted to be movable with the support arm about the axis for driving said roller to crush cans introduced into the drum between the roller and inner wall surface of the drum.
A rotary drum can crusher for crushing cans and discharging such crushed cans comprising a tubular drum having open ends, and having an axial length not greater than its diameter, said drum having an inner wall surface;
- means to mount said drum for rotation about its axis;
- a roller member of substantially smaller diameter than said drum, positioned within said drum;
- a shaft mounted on said roller member and extending generally parallel to the axis of said drum, and upwardly above the upper edge of said drum;
- a hub for rotatably mounting said shaft, and a sprocket drivably mounted on said shaft at the upper end of said hub;
- said arm extending above the upper edges of said drum to outside of said drum;
- a second hub mounted on the opposite end of said arm from said first hub;
- a support shaft mounted on said frame and extending generally parallel to the axis of the drum, said second hub being pivotally mounted on said second shaft;
- a motor mount plate mounted on said second hub;
- a motor mounted on said motor mount plate, and having an output shaft drivably connected to said sprocket on said first mentioned shaft;
- a loading arm fixed to said second hub and extending laterally therefrom;
- means to exert a two stage spring load on said loading arm tending to rotate said second hub about said second shaft under a spring load;
- said two stage spring load urging said roller against the inner surface of said drum on one side thereof, and yielding to permit cans to pass between the outer surface of said roller and the inner surface of said drum when cans are introduced into the nip of the roller;
- and
- a can guide means within said drum, to guide cans toward the nip of said roller, the open bottom of said drum permitting cans passing between said roller and the inner surface of said drum to drop downwardly under gravity.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.