Advanced fracture blade and method of operation for fluorescent tube digester
OwnerTimothy J. Perryinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The uniformity and suitability of fractural glass derived from breaking used fluorescent tubes for separation of the glass and potentially toxic powder adhered to the fractured glass prior to disposal and recovery of the components glass and powder is improved by use of a fracture blade having a sharp striking point extending forwardly from a base composed of a flat transversely oriented rotatable striking blade. The blade is preferably, for best results in later separation of the glass particulates and powder, operated at a striking blade speed of 1760 to 3700 feet per minute, providing a uniformity and size of fractured glass upon which a significantly more effective countercurrent air separation can be made.
Claims32
A method of digesting fluorescent light tubes including breaking such light bulbs into more uniform sized fractured glass particulates, comprising:
- (a) progressively feeding fluorescent light tubes into the striking arc of a rotating-fracture blade means,
- (b) striking the fluorescent light tubes rapidly with repeated blows from at least one moving fracture blade extending outwardly from a central supporting hub portion including:
- (i) striking the front and back of said fluorescent light tubes with a forwardly extending substantially sharpened contact point means, designed and constructed to strike a fluorescent tube consecutively upon the front and back of the tube, as the tube is fed into the path of the fracture blade,
- (ii) striking the sides of said fluorescent light tubes with a pair of substantially blunt blade means positioned on each side of the contact point means and designed and constructed to strike the sides of the fluorescent tube,
- (c) wherein the sharpened contact point means strikes the front of the fluorescent tube prior to the blunt blade means striking the sides of the tube and strikes the back of the tube subsequent to the blunt blade means striking the sides of the fluorescent tube with its surface.
A method of increasing the uniformity of sizing of fractured glass particulates derived from used fluorescent light tubes comprising:
- (a) striking the center of the tube with a sharp instrumentality,
- (b) striking the sides of the tube immediately after striking the center with a blunt instrumentality in the same direction as the striking movement of the sharp instrumentality, and
- (c) striking the rear of the tube with said sharp instrumentality immediately after striking the sides of the tube.
A fracture blade for fracturing fluorescent light tubes comprising:
- (a) a central fracture blade rotor means,
- (b) at least two flat blades secured to such rotor means in a generally radially and transversely extended orientation with respect to rotation of said fracture blade, each flat blade being designed and arranged to have a striking surface on its forwardly moving surface for striking a fluorescent light tube thrust within its arc of movement,
- (c) forwardly projecting pointed striking blades attached to a central upper portion of the striking surface of the radially and transversely oriented flat blades,
- (d) said forwardly projecting blades having bases attached to the transverse blades and tapering to an outer striking point.
A fracture blade apparatus for fracturing fluorescent light tubes into substantially similar sized glass fragments comprising:
- (a) a central rotatable hub,
- (b) a feeding means for feeding fluorescent light tubes into a position adjacent said hub,
- (c) at least one first striking blade having a generally pointed fluorescent tube impact surface, said striking blade being secured to said hub and arranged to describe an arc about the hub as the hub rotates with the direction in which the generally pointed fluorescent tube impact surface of the striking blade moves maintained substantially tangent to the arc described by the first striking blade about the hub, and
- (d) at least two second striking blades having substantially planar impact surfaces extending on either side of the first striking blade with their substantially planar impact surfaces oriented substantially at right angles to the tangent to the arc described by the first striking blade.
A rotatable fracture blade for fracturing tubular vitreous objects comprising,
- (a) a central rotatable supporting hub portion,
- (b) at least one striking blade assembly having three discrete striking surfaces extending outwardly from the hub portion for impacting discrete portions of tubular vitreous objects, said striking blade assembly being comprised of,
- (i) a first forwardly extending substantially sharpened contact point means forming a restricted diameter striking surface arranged and constructed to strike said tubular vitreous objects on the outer circumference of the tubular objects at the front and the back as said tubular object is fed lengthwise into the moving rotational circumference of the blade,
- (ii) a second pair of substantially blunt blade means incorporating laterally extended striking surfaces positioned on either side of said restricted diameter striking surface arranged and constructed to rotate in coordination with their striking surfaces facing in the same direction as said restricted diameter striking surface in order to strike the sides of a vitreous tubular object substantially transversely of said restricted diameter striking surface subsequent to impingement of the restricted diameter striking surface of the first contact point means with the front of said tubular vitreous object and prior to impingement of the restricted diameter striking surface of the first contact point means with the rear of said tubular vitreous object.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.