Machine for processing goods, especially refuse, for sorting it

In an apparatus for processing and sorting goods in which the apparatus includes at least one rotatable, horizontal drum having an inlet, a spaced apart outlet and at least two successive processing stations between said inlet and said outlet and wherein each of said processing stations includes at least one rotatable shaft means having a circumferential surface provided with projecting processing means for processing said goods, said shaft means having centre axes located outside said drum, said drum having a plurality of openings, said openings having edge portions, said processing means being mounted adjacent said openings and projecting into said drum through said openings whereby said processing means cooperates with said edge portions for exerting an action selected from cutting, shearing and clipping on goods fed through the drum from said inlet towards said outlet, the improvement wherein said drum includes means for rotating said drum, each shaft means being rotatably mounted relative to said drum by mounting means therefor, said mounting means comprising a first toothed wheel non-rotatably connected to a journal on said shaft, a ring gear, a pair of annular gear means associated with said ring gear, said shaft meshing with one of said annular gear means, said ring gear mounted in a bearing relative to said drum, a drive unit having break means associated therewith such that when operated in a normal state, said ring gear is stationary while permitting each of said shafts to rotate at a given speed exceeding the speed at which the drum is rotated, a second toothed wheel, the other of said pair of gear means meshing with said second toothed wheel of said drive unit, and said processing means of a first of said stations located closest to said inlet of said drum is dimensionally smaller relative to the dimensions of successive processing means associated with a succeeding station located in a downstream direction in the direction of the feed of the goods towards said outlet, to thereby facilitate removal of finely-sized goods at said first station while permitting coarser-sized goods to be removed at succeeding stations.