Abstract:
An apparatus comprises a cylindrical rotary piercing and screen assembly including surface openings, rows of first needles, and rows of blades, and a channel-shaped washing and dispersion mechanism. Garbage bags are pierced by the first needles and the blades as the piercing and screen assembly is rotating, and the pierced garbage bags discharged from the piercing and screen assembly to the washing and dispersion mechanism are pushed forward by water sprayed from the first injection nozzles, scattered by water sprayed from the second injection nozzles, and further pierced by the second needles so as to facilitate a subsequent garbage classification. The invention can effectively recycle garbage for future use, resulting in a significant reduction of garbage and an improvement of environment.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    The present invention relates to garbage disposal and more particularly to an apparatus of piercing garbage bags and classifying garbage contained therein.  
           [0003]    2. Description of Related Art  
           [0004]    Plastic products are widely used in our daily life. They can bring convenience. However, plastic garbage is difficult of degrading within, for example, 100 years. As such, plastic garbage is a major pollution source of environment as viewed by many people. It is often seen that plastic bags and food containers made of plastic foam are littered. As to garbage disposal, typically there are techniques widely used throughout the world. Namely, landfill occupies a lot of precious lands. Further, a reuse of the land is made impossible even after the land is no longer used for garbage landfill in the future. This is because the buried plastic bags and food containers made of plastic foam can block water permeation. The other technique is burning which can cause severe air pollution if smoke generated during burning is not well processed prior to discharge.  
           [0005]    Thus, it is important to appropriately dispose garbage containing plastic bags and food containers made of plastic foam in order to recycle and reuse materials therein. Garbage classification is encouraged by many governments. But its effect is not satisfactory at least right now. In another aspect, resources on earth begin to deplete in recent years. Hence, more and more people are aware of the importance of resource recycling by actively cooperating with the resource recycling policy. It is desired that amount of garbage can be reduced significantly in a near future by successfully recycling resources in order to prolong a useful time of land for burying garbage and preserve limited resources on earth.  
           [0006]    However, the predominant resource recycling (i.e., garbage recycling) techniques are not satisfactory now. It is often that materials capable of recycling are mixed with rubbish in a garbage bag. Hence, a cleaning employee has to open the garbage bag for picking materials capable of recycling therefrom. Unfortunately, materials capable of recycling in the garbage bag are often dirty, oily, or polluted by contaminants or toxic materials. Hence, this is a tedious and dangerous job since the cleaning employees are susceptible of contracting diseases or being poisoned.  
           [0007]    Thus, it is desirable to provide a novel apparatus capable of automatically, safely disposing garbage. Further, the apparatus is able to open garbage bags and wash garbage as an initial cleaning step. Furthermore, the apparatus is able to classify garbage.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0008]    It is an object of the present invention to provide a garbage disposal apparatus comprising a cylindrical rotary piercing and screen assembly including a plurality of rows of blades and first needles for piercing garbage bags and classifying garbage. By utilizing this apparatus, garbage can be effectively recycled for future use, resulting in a significant reduction of garbage and an improvement of environment.  
           [0009]    It is another object of the present invention to provide a garbage disposal apparatus capable of piercing and opening garbage bags in order to wash and disperse garbage thereafter.  
           [0010]    It is still another object of the present invention to provide a garbage disposal apparatus in which a garbage washing as an initial cleaning step and a garbage dispersion are performed after garbage bags have been pierced and opened.  
           [0011]    It is a further object of the present invention to provide an apparatus of piercing garbage bags and classifying garbage. The apparatus has the advantages of simple construction, inexpensiveness, and easy maintenance.  
           [0012]    To attain the above objects and functions, the apparatus of piercing garbage bags and classifying garbage of the present invention comprising:  
           [0013]    a frame;  
           [0014]    drive means disposed on the frame;  
           [0015]    a cylindrical rotary piercing and screen assembly driven by the drive means, the piercing and screen assembly comprising a first rotary piercing and screen chamber including a plurality of circumferentially disposed first openings and a second rotary piercing and screen chamber including at least one large meshed section, at least one intermediate meshed section, at least one small meshed section, each meshed section having a plurality of second openings larger than the first openings, a plurality of rows of first needles, and a plurality of rows of blades.  
           [0016]    Preferably, the apparatus further comprising a washing and dispersion mechanism disposed beneath the second rotary piercing and screen chamber, the washing and dispersion mechanism comprising an elongate, channel-shaped, and slanted flushing container including an inlet opening proximate a discharge opening of the second rotary piercing and screen chamber, an outlet opening at a position lower than the inlet opening, a plurality of transverse rows of a plurality of second needles between the inlet and outlet openings and on an inner surface of a roof thereof, a plurality of first injection nozzles at a wall of the inlet opening, and a row of a plurality of second injection nozzles at either side thereof;  
           [0017]    Preferably, the apparatus further comprising a plurality of garbage bags pierced by the first needles and the blades as the rotary piercing and screen assembly driven to rotate, and the pierced garbage bags discharged from the rotary piercing and screen assembly to the washing and dispersion mechanism pushed forward by water sprayed from the first injection nozzles, scattered by water sprayed from the second injection nozzles, and further pierced by the second needles so as to facilitate a subsequent garbage classification.  
           [0018]    Preferably, the apparatus further comprising:  
           [0019]    a first conveyor beneath the first rotary piercing and screen chamber, the first conveyor being operative to convey fine sand or particles sieved by the first openings of the first rotary piercing and screen chamber;  
           [0020]    a second conveyor beneath the second rotary piercing and screen chamber, the second conveyor being operative to convey medium garbage sieved by the second openings of the meshed sections; and  
           [0021]    a third conveyor flush with a lowest point of the discharge opening of the second rotary piercing and screen chamber, the third conveyor being operative to convey large garbage sieved by the first and the second rotary piercing and screen chambers and discharged from the discharge opening of the second rotary piercing and screen chamber to the washing and dispersion mechanism.  
           [0022]    The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken with the accompanying drawings. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0023]    [0023]FIG. 1 is a perspective view in part section of a preferred embodiment of a garbage disposal apparatus according to the invention;  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 2 is a side view of the apparatus;  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 3 is a front view of the apparatus;  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of rotary piercing and screen assembly showing an arrangement of piercing mechanism and first needles;  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 5 is another cross-sectional view of the rotary piercing and screen assembly showing an arrangement of blades and blade supports;  
         [0028]    [0028]FIG. 6 is a further cross-sectional view of the rotary piercing and screen assembly showing an arrangement of first needles on the piercing mechanism;  
         [0029]    [0029]FIG. 7 is a perspective view in part section of washing and dispersion mechanism;  
         [0030]    [0030]FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 2 showing the apparatus in the process of piercing and opening garbage bags-and conveying, washing, and dispersing garbage;  
         [0031]    [0031]FIGS. 9A, 9B,  9 C,  9 D and  9 E are plan views showing the process of piercing garbage bags and classifying garbage respectively; and  
         [0032]    [0032]FIGS. 10A, 10B,  10 C and  10 D are cross-sectional views showing the process of washing, dispersing garbage respectively in response to the process of FIGS. 9A to  9 E. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0033]    The invention is directed to a garbage disposal apparatus. The apparatus is essential in the process of classifying or recycling garbage. The piercing of garbage bags and an initial garbage classification play a critical role in the success of a subsequent garbage disposal process because a wide variety of different materials are contained in garbage. Moreover, the apparatus of the invention is closely related to the number of classes of the garbage classification and an increase of garbage disposal speed.  
         [0034]    As to garbage disposal implemented throughout the world, in addition to the above landfill and burning techniques many advanced garbage disposal techniques have been developed or are being developed. Such many garbage disposal techniques basically involving an initial step of piercing garbage bags prior to performing any of other subsequent steps. The apparatus of the invention is novel in classifying garbage in addition to the garbage bag piercing capability. Thus, the apparatus can satisfy future garbage disposal requirements.  
         [0035]    The apparatus of the invention capable of piercing garbage bags, washing garbage, and classifying garbage is particularly applicable in garbage disposal. The apparatus has advantages of, for example, (1) precisely piercing garbage bags, (2) collecting sand and dust prior to piercing garbage bags, (3) separating fine particles of garbage having a size less than 5 mm from coarse ones for collection, (4) classifying large materials in garbage into two categories in which one category contains heavy materials such as articles of luggage, clothes, detachable articles, large containers, boards, etc. and the other category contains light materials such as large plastic bags, papers, containers made of plastic foam, etc., (5) separating fine particles of garbage having a size less than 220 mm and larger than 5 mm from coarse ones for collection such as organic matters, plastic bottles, etc., and (6) activating a washing and dispersion mechanism to spray strong water to wash and disperse garbage and further piercing garbage by means of a plurality of rows of second needles in order to successful classify garbage.  
         [0036]    Referring to FIGS.  1  to  8 , there is shown a garbage disposal apparatus constructed in accordance with the invention. The apparatus comprises a cylindrical rotary piercing and screen assembly  10  including a first rotary piercing and screen chamber  11  having a plurality of circumferentially disposed openings  110  having a diameter about 8 mm to about 10 mm and a second rotary piercing and screen chamber  12  having a large meshed section  121 , an intermediate meshed section  122 , and two small meshed section  123  (see FIG. 1). Note that the number of each meshed section  121 ,  122 , or  123  may be varied in any of other embodiments. The apparatus further comprises a frame  20  for supporting the rotary piercing and screen assembly  10 ; an elongate piercing mechanism  30  mounted on an inner surface of the rotary piercing and screen assembly  10  and including a bracket  32  and a plurality of first needles  31  threadedly secured to the bracket  32 ; a blade unit  40  mounted on the inner surface of the rotary piercing and screen assembly  10  opposite to the piercing mechanism  30  and including a plurality of blade supports  42  and two rows of blades  41  threadedly secured to the blade supports  42 ; a drive unit  50  for rotating the rotary piercing and screen assembly  10  and including an annular toothed section  57  at the junction of the first and the second rotary piercing and screen chambers  11  and  12  and a drive source consisting of a motor  51 , a pulley  52  rotatably attached to the shaft of the motor  51 , a pinion  55  rotatably attached to a shaft  56 , a pulley  54  also rotatably attached to the shaft  56 , and a belt  53  attached to both pulleys  52  and  54 ; a first conveyor  60  beneath the first rotary piercing and screen chamber  11  and perpendicular to a lengthwise direction of the first rotary piercing and screen chamber  11 , the first conveyor  60  being adapted to convey fine sand or particles sieved by the openings  110  of the first rotary piercing and screen chamber  11 ; a second conveyor  70  beneath the second rotary piercing and screen chamber  12  and parallel to a lengthwise direction of the second rotary piercing and screen chamber  12 , the second conveyor  70  being adapted to convey medium garbage sieved by the openings of the meshed sections  121 ,  122 , and  123  of the second rotary piercing and screen chamber  12  and a number of not pierced small garbage bags to a next stage; a washing and dispersion mechanism  13  as the next stage of the second conveyor  70  disposed beneath a discharge opening  125  of the second rotary piercing and screen chamber  12 , the washing and dispersion mechanism  13  being implemented as an elongate channel-shaped flushing container and including an inlet opening  131 , an outlet opening  138  at a position lower than the inlet opening  131  (i.e., the washing and dispersion mechanism  13  being slanted), a plurality of transverse rows of a plurality of second needles  133  between the inlet and outlet openings  131  and  138  and on the inner surface of the roof, a plurality of first injection nozzles  134  at the wall of the inlet opening  131 , and two rows of a plurality of second injection nozzles  135  at both sides; a third conveyor  80  flush with a lowest point of the discharge opening  125  of the second rotary piercing and screen chamber  12  and perpendicular to the lengthwise direction of the second rotary piercing and screen chamber  12 , the third conveyor  80  being adapted to convey large garbage sieved by the first and the second rotary piercing and screen chambers  11  and  12  to a next stage for further disposal; a first annular flange  111  at the feed opening  112  of the first rotary piercing and screen chamber  11 ; a second annular flange  124  at the discharge opening  125  of the second rotary piercing and screen chamber  12 ; and two pairs of rollers  58 , each pair being adapted to rotatably support the first annular flange  111  or the second annular flange  124 .  
         [0037]    The apparatus is adapted to pierce garbage bags by means of the blades  41  and the first needles  31  mounted on the inner surface of the rotary piercing and screen assembly  10  as garbage is revolving in the rotary piercing and screen assembly  10  being rotated. Further, the pierced garbage is sieved by the openings  110  and the openings of the meshed sections  121 ,  122 , and  123  of the second rotary piercing and screen chamber  12  prior to an initial classification.  
         [0038]    Referring to FIG. 10 in conjunction with FIGS. 1, 7 and  8 , the washing and dispersion mechanism  13  as stated above is implemented as an elongate, channel-shaped, and slanted flushing container  13  and including a topmost inlet opening  131  and a plurality of transverse rows of a plurality of second needles  133  between the inlet and outlet openings  131  and  138  and on the inner surface of the roof, the length of each second needle  133  is about half the height of the flushing container  13  (see FIGS. 7 and 10). Further, the second needles  133  are alternate in two adjacent rows (see FIGS. 1 and 7). As such, a number of small garbage bags not pierced by the second rotary piercing and screen chamber  12  will be completely pierced as they pass through the washing and dispersion mechanism  13 .  
         [0039]    In detail, the first injection nozzles  134  are adapted to spray water toward the second needles  133  in the flushing container  13  (see FIGS. 1, 7 and  10 ). An angle of each first injection nozzle  134  with respect to a horizontal line is slightly toward the inclined bottom of the flushing container  13  so that water sprayed from the first injection nozzles  134  first washes the bottom of the flushing container  13  to form a wavy flow for flushing garbage. Each row of the second needles  133  is between two adjacent second injection nozzles  135  in either side. An angle of each second injection nozzle  135  with respect to a horizontal line is about 2 to 3 degrees toward the outlet opening  138 . A center of the second injection nozzle  135  is about flush with the end of the second needle  133 . Water flow of the injection nozzles  134  and  135  is well controlled to cause a surface of water in the flushing container  13  at about half the height of the flushing container  13 , i.e., at about the center of the second injection nozzle  135 . Hence, about one half water sprayed from the second injection nozzle  135  is above the surface of water in the flushing container  13  for pushing garbage and about the other half water is sprayed below the surface of water in the flushing container  13  for dispersing garbage respectively.  
         [0040]    Referring to FIGS. 9A to  9 E in conjunction with FIG. 8, the piercing process and classifying process of the invention will now be described below. First activate (i.e., clockwise rotate) the rotary piercing and screen assembly  10 . Next, feed garbage bags into the first rotary piercing and screen chamber  11  of the rotary piercing and screen assembly  10  from the feed opening  112 . Sand and dust S are continuously falling from the openings  110  while the rotary piercing and screen assembly  10  is rotating (FIG. 9A). Garbage bags W, clothes T, and other large articles having a diameter larger than 8 mm will be pushed up by the piercing mechanism  30  (FIG. 9B). Next, the garbage bags W and dispersed materials will drop from the piercing mechanism  30  and the clothes T and similar nonrigid articles are still hooked by the first needles  31  when the piercing mechanism  30  is rotated to an upper portion of the rotary piercing and screen assembly  10  (FIG. 9C). The garbage bags W will be scraped by the first needles  31  on the piercing mechanism  30  during dropping. And in turn the garbage bags W are pierced by the blades  41  on the blade supports  42  while dropping. The garbage bags W will be completely pierced to disperse garbage therein by the continuing rotation of the rotary piercing and screen assembly  10 . There are many different sized openings having a diameter from 135 mm to 220 mm arranged at sides of the blade supports  42  in addition to the openings of the meshed sections  121 ,  122 , and  123  of the second rotary piercing and screen chamber  12  (see FIGS. 1 and 5). The area of the meshed sections  121 ,  122 , and  123  is about one fifth that of the outer surface of the second rotary piercing and screen chamber  12 . In other words, there is no provision of opening in other portions of the outer surface of the second rotary piercing and screen chamber  12 . The clothes T will drop from the piercing mechanism  30  and the dispersed materials continue to fall through the openings of the meshed sections  121 ,  122 , and  123  when the piercing mechanism  30  is rotated to a lower portion of the rotary piercing and screen assembly  10  (FIG. 9D). The clothes T are dropped at the portions of the outer surface of the second rotary piercing and screen chamber  12  with no opening. Finally, large articles F having a diameter larger than 220 mm and the clothes T are transported to the discharge opening  125  of the rotary piercing and screen assembly  10  via a guide  15  (FIG. 1) prior to conveying to the third conveyor  80  for a further disposal (FIG. 9E).  
         [0041]    Note that the rotary piercing and screen assembly  10  is slightly inclined for facilitating a forward conveying of garbage from the feed opening  112  to the discharge opening  125  while the rotary piercing and screen assembly  10  is rotating.  
         [0042]    Referring to FIGS. 10A to  10 D in conjunction with FIGS. 7 and 8, the operation of the washing and dispersion mechanism  13  will now be described below. Water sprayed from the injection nozzles  134  and  135  forms a wavy flow and is controlled to cause a surface of water in the flushing container  13  at about the center of the second injection nozzle  135 . Further, garbage bags A dropped at the inlet opening  131  will be pushed forward by the flushing water in the flushing container  13  (FIG. 10A). The garbage bags A will be caught by the pointed ends of the second needles  133  (FIG. 10B). Water sprayed from the second injection nozzles  135  will form a whirl under the second needles  133  to rotate the garbage bags A fast. Hence, the garbage bags A are pierced by the second needles  133  so that garbage can be rapidly dispersed in the flow. Note that the above garbage dispersion is done in a very short time after piercing the garbage bags A. The dispersed garbage is floated on water while flowing toward the outlet opening  138 . The dispersed garbage is further scattered by continuously sprayed water from the second injection nozzles  135  (FIGS. 10C and 10D). Also, the dispersed garbage is washed as an initial cleaning step. Finally, the garbage is flowed to an inlet opening  91  of a next stage  90  through the outlet opening  138 . A manual or automatic garbage recycling is performed at the stage  90 .  
         [0043]    It is noted that the invention aims at providing a rotary piercing and screen assembly. Within the rotary piercing and screen assembly there are provided a plurality of first needles on an elongate piercing mechanism and a plurality of blades on a plurality of rows of a blade unit. Garbage bags are pierced by the first needles and the blades as the rotary piercing and screen assembly continues to rotate. Also, in a flushing container there are provided a plurality of transverse rows of a plurality of second needles between the inlet and outlet openings and on the inner surface of the roof, a plurality of first injection nozzles at the wall of the inlet opening, and two rows of a plurality of second injection nozzles at both sides both injection nozzles being adapted to spray strong water. Garbage bags are then floated on water in the flushing container and rotated by strong sprayed water from the injection nozzles. Hence, garbage bags will be pierced as they pass the second needles. Further, the pierced garbage bags are dispersed and washed by strong sprayed water for facilitating a subsequent garbage classification step. The above characteristics and construction are unique as contemplated by the invention.  
         [0044]    Further notes that the first rotary piercing and screen chamber having a plurality of openings and the second rotary piercing and screen chamber having a plurality of openings on its large, intermediate, and small meshed sections of the rotary piercing and screen assembly of the invention may be separately formed prior to connecting together depending on applications. Also, the plurality of first needles of the elongate piercing mechanism and the plurality of blades of the plurality of rows of the blade unit may be separately formed prior to mounting in the rotary piercing and screen assembly depending on applications. Thus, not all of the openings, the first needles, and the blades of the rotary piercing and screen assembly are required to form by the invention. That is, one (or two) of the openings, the first needles, and the blades are sufficient.  
         [0045]    It is also noted that not both the rotary piercing and screen assembly and the washing and dispersion mechanism are required to form by the invention if garbage classification has been followed by people. That is, one of the rotary piercing and screen assembly and the washing and dispersion mechanism is sufficient.  
         [0046]    While the invention herein disclosed has been described by means of specific embodiments, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention set forth in the claims.