Method and apparatus for sorting wood chips

An apparatus for sorting particle matter such as wood chips, said apparatus comprising:

• a frame;
• a shell configured to at least partially define a substantially cylindrical volume having a horizontal central axis, said shell being mounted with respect to said frame to revolve about said central axis;
• a plurality of shafts rotatably mounted with respect to said shell, said shafts having respective axes of elongation which are parallel to said central axis, said axes of elongation being equidistant in a vertical plane from said central axis in a vertical plane, said shafts having a plurality of discs mounted at intervals along at least a portion of an axial length of said shafts in a manner whereby discs of adjacent shafts intermesh radially to define axial spaces therebetween;
• means for revolving said shell about said central axis;
• means for rotating said rotatable shafts about their respective axes;
• and,
• inlet means for introducing and infeed of particle matter into the volume defined by said shell so that particle matter having a thickness in a desired thickness range has opportunity to pass through axial spaces existing between intermeshing discs of adjacent shafts and thereby be sorted.

A method of sorting particle matter such as wood chips, said method comprising the steps of:

• introducing an infeed of particle matter into a sorting chamber, said sorting chamber having a horizontal axis;
• depositing said introduced infeed of particle matter onto a screen comprising said sorting chamber, said screen being comprised of a plurality of discs, a plurality of such discs being mounted at intervals along at least a portion of an axial length of each of a plurality of rotatable shafts, said discs of adjacent shafts intermeshing radially to define axial spaces therebetween, said axial spacing being chosen to permit only particle matter having thickness in a desired thickness range to fall therethrough;
• rotating said shafts about their respective axes;
• and, revolving said rotatable shafts about a horizontal axis of said sorting chamber.