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US 5,211,109 AGranted
Beverage can crusher
OwnerJerome A. Determaninventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A beverage can crusher has a pair of rollers which rotate toward one another to crush a can between them. The crusher has a deposit window and chute which place the cans above the rollers and ensure that the cans are flattened from the sides rather than smashed from the top. This provides for a repeatable, baleable crushed can. An actuator placed less than one can length above the rollers in the chute energizes the drive motor to rotate the rollers and continues to have the rollers rotating as long as there is a can engaging the actuator The rollers have a special receiving surface and engaging surfaces which grip the sides of the can to minimize slipping so that the can will be pulled down between the rollers. In addition, pins extend radially outward from the outer surface of the rollers to further grip the can.
Claims12
A beverage can crusher, comprising:
- (a) a frame;
- (b) a pair of spaced, generally cylindrical rollers rotatably mounted in said frame on parallel horizontal shafts;
- (c) each said roller having a pair of oppositely disposed axially extending can engaging surfaces lying in a plane extending through a longitudinal axis of each roller, wherein a first can engaging surface on each roller comprises a first set of can engaging surfaces and a second can engaging surface on each roller comprises a second set of can engaging surfaces, said rollers being disposed on said shafts so that said first set of said can engaging surfaces face each other in a first can accepting position at the top of the rollers once per revolution and said second set thereof face each other at said can accepting position when said first set is disposed at the bottom of said rollers;
- (d) each of said rollers having a pair of oppositely disposed flat surfaces extending perpendicular to corresponding ones of said can engaging surfaces, wherein a first flat surface on each roller comprises a set of flat surfaces and a second flat surface on each roller comprises a set of flat surfaces, so that in said can accepting positions one set of said flat surfaces are co-planar to support and accept a beverage can placed thereon, each of said rollers having can crushing surfaces between said other surfaces;
- (e) means for rotating said rollers in opposite directions to draw the can down between said rollers with said can engaging surfaces engaging and compressing the sides of the can above its bottom end to assist in pulling the can down between said can crushing surfaces of said rollers;
- and
- (f) a plurality of pins extending from said can crushing surfaces of each of said rollers generally mid-way between said can engaging surfaces to assist in pulling the can down between said rollers wherein said pins of a first said roller are spaced in a complementary intermeshing arrangement with said pins of a second said roller.
4 more elements
A beverage can crusher, comprising:
- (a) a frame;
- (b) a pair of rollers rotatably mounted in said frame on parallel shafts, said rollers being spaced apart a distance less than the dimension of a can to be crushed;
- (c) each said roller having a pair of oppositely disposed generally longitudinally extending can engaging surfaces wherein a first can engaging surface on each said roller comprises a first set of can engaging surfaces and a second can engaging surface on each said roller comprises a second set of can engaging surfaces, said rollers being disposed on said shafts so that a first set of said can engaging surfaces face each other in a first can accepting position twice per revolution and a second set thereof face each other at said can accepting position when the first set is oppositely disposed;
- (d) each of said rollers having a pair of oppositely disposed surfaces intersecting corresponding ones of said can engaging surfaces, wherein a first oppositely disposed surface on each said roller comprise a set of said surfaces, and a second oppositely disposed surface on each said roller comprise a set of said surfaces so that in said can accepting positions, a set of said surfaces are positioned to support an accept a beverage can placed thereon;
- each of said rollers having can crushing surfaces between said other surfaces;
- (e) means for rotating said rollers in opposite directions to draw the can between said rollers with said can engaging surfaces engaging and compressing the can to assist in pulling the can between said can crushing surfaces of said rollers;
- and
- (f) means extending from said can crushing surfaces of said rollers generally mid-way between said can engaging surfaces to assist in moving the can between said rollers wherein said can assist moving means comprise pins, and wherein said pins of each said roller are spaced in a complementary intermeshing arrangement with said pins of the other said roller.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.