Patent ID: 6581858
Filing Date: 2003-06-24
Classification: B02C,B03B,B07B,H01J,Y02W

Abstract:
A method of crushing fluorescent lamps and separating the components thereof, comprisingfeeding fluorescent lamps successively through the inlet of a crusher housing to be shattered therein into components including glass particles, dust, vapors and end caps, applying a vacuum to an outlet of said housing to cause air to flow through the housing from said inlet to said outlet and to cause said components to be discharged from said housing through said outlet, mechanically sweeping said components in said crusher housing toward said outlet thereof, pneumatically conveying the discharged components from said crusher housing tangentially into a cyclonic hopper adjacent the upper end thereof, allowing glass particles and end caps to drop by gravity in said cyclonic hopper and through an opening in the bottom thereof into a separator housing, and separating end caps from glass particles in said separator housing and discharging the separated caps and particles into different storage containers.