Commodity densification assembly having a multiple path distribution device

A commodity densification and distribution assembly, comprising:

• a housing, including an insert port for receiving a commodity;
• sensor means disposed in the housing adjacent the insert port for sensing a feature of the commodity, and for determining whether the commodity belongs to a first group of commodities or a second group of commodities according to the sensed feature of the commodity;
• a crusher disposed in the housing which crushes the first group of commodities into first densified material;
• a shredder disposed in the housing which shreds the second group of commodities into second densified material;
• a first distribution device mounted beneath the crusher for distributing the first densified material into one of a plurality of first paths;
• and
• a second distribution device mounted beneath the shredder for distributing the second densified material into one of a plurality of second paths.

A commodity collection, densification, and storage assembly, comprising:

• a housing having an insert port for receiving a commodity;
• sensor means disposed in housing for sensing a feature of the commodity, and for determining whether the commodity belongs to a first group of commodities or a second group of commodities according to the sensed feature of the commodity;
• densification means disposed in the housing downstream of the sensor means for densifying the commodity into densified material;
• a first storage container for storing densified material from the first group of commodities;
• a second storage container for storing densified material from the second group of commodities;
• and
• densified material distribution means disposed in the housing for distributing densified material from the first group of commodities into the first storage container, and for distributing densified material from the second group of commodities into the second storage container, the distribution means including a plate rotatably mounted in the housing beneath the densification means, a collection member secured to the plate, the collection member having an inlet for receiving the densified material and an outlet for distributing the densified material, and drive means, responsive to the sensor means, for driving the plate such that either the first storage container or the second storage container is in communication with the collection member outlet.

A material distribution device for distributing a plurality of different materials to a respective plurality of selected storage locations, comprising:

• a frame;
• a sensor means disposed in the frame for sensing a feature of the different materials;
• a movable member mounted on the frame;
• a collection member mounted to the movable member and having an inlet for collecting the different materials, and an outlet for distributing the different materials;
• drive means mounted to the frame and coupled to the movable member for driving the movable member to one of a plurality of predetermined positions in which the collection member outlet is in communication with a respective storage location for distributing the different materials from the collection member to the respective storage location;
• a position indicator mounted for movement with the movable member;
• and
• a plurality of position sensors for sensing the position indicator, each of the position sensors being mounted on the frame so that, when a given position sensor senses the position indicator, the movable member is positioned in a corresponding one of the predetermined positions, the drive means driving the movable member responsive to the feature sensed by the sensor means and positioning the movable member responsive to the sensing of the position indicator by the position sensors.

A commodity densification and distribution assembly, comprising:

• a housing having an insert port for receiving a commodity;
• sensor means disposed in the housing for sensing a feature of the commodity, and for determining whether the commodity belongs to a first group of commodities or a second group of commodities according to the sensed feature of the commodity;
• densification means disposed in the housing downstream of the sensor means for densifying the commodity into densified material;
• and
• densified material distribution means for distributing densified material from the first group of commodities into a first path, and for distributing densified material from the second group of commodities into a second path, the distribution means including:
• (a) a plate slidably mounted in the housing beneath the densification means;
• (b) a collection member mounted on the plate and having an inlet and an outlet, the collection member collecting the densified material from the densification means at the inlet and distributing the densified material at the outlet;
• (c) drive means, responsive to the sensor means, for driving the plate to a first predetermined position to distribute the densified material into the first path, and for driving the plate to a second predetermined position to distribute the densified material into the second path;
• (d) a position indicator mounted for movement with the plate;
• and
• (e) a plurality of position sensors for sensing the position indicator, each of the position sensors being mounted on the frame so that, when a given position sensor senses the position indicator, the plate is positioned in a corresponding one of the predetermined positions, the drive means driving the plate responsive to the feature sensed by the sensor means and positioning the plate responsive to the sensing of the position indicator by the position sensors.