Method and apparatus for removing wires from bales of compressible material

Abstract: A method and apparatus for removing wires (W) from a bale (B) of waste cardboard and paper material that is compacted in vertical layers (L) with wires running at right angles to the layers and in vertical planes, sawing downwardly through the wires and bale to separate a forward portion (SE) of the bale from the remainder of the bale and from the cut wires, gathering the cut wires ahead of and beneath the bale into a bundle with opposed pairs of hook blades (32,34) moved toward one another to interdigitate in overlapping relation, grasping the bundle in a wire-receiving recess (40) with a rotating fork (42) to coil the cut wires and pull them free from the bale, and clearing the recess by withdrawing the fork and pushing the coiled wire with a pushing finger (54) clear of the recess.

Description: Technical Field This invention relates to apparatus and methods for removing the wires around bales of compressible material, particularly compacted waste cardboard and paper to be used for recycling. Such an apparatus and method is known from US-A-5,303,460. This bale dewiring device comprises a bale splitter to sever the strapping of the bale atop the bale and a moveable hook to engage the strapping beneath the bale for retraction thereof to one side of the bale where the strapping is removed from the hook. Background of the Invention Bales of waste cardboard, or other paper waste products, are often formed by discarding the waste material into a compactor bin. At various time periods the material is compacted into a vertical layer. This process is repeated until the bin is full and the compacted bale is to be removed from the bin. At this time wires are tightly wrapped around the bale so that the bale remains in a compressed condition for subsequent shipment. The wires that hold the waste material bale together are under considerable tension since the waste material after compaction has considerable resiliency trying to expand against the wires. Often the wires cut through the waste material so that the wires adhere tightly to the bale creating considerable friction between the wires and the bale even after the wires are cut. This friction or adhesion between the wires and the bale creates difficulties when the wires are removed under a mechanical or automated wiring removing system. If the cut wires are simply pulled along the surfaces of the bale to a central gathering point or pulling location, the adhesion between the wires and bale is often so great that the wires will break rather than pull free of the bale. This condition makes the removal of the wires from the bale using automated equipment less cost-effective. Summary of the Invention This invention is directed to a unique apparatus and method as defined in appended claims 1 and 13 for removing the wires from a compressed bale of waste material, such as paper and cardboard waste, by separating a portion of the bale from the remainder of the bale during the cutting of the wires so that the separated portion of the bale falls free of the remainder of the bale and disconnects from the wires. This leaves less surface area of the bale in contact with the wires reducing the area for adhesion between the wires and the bale. As a result, the wires will more consistently be pulled free of the remainder of the bale with significantly less chance of breakage of the wire. In one form of the invention the bales are cut and a forward portion of the bale is separated by using a reciprocating saw blade. In another form the blade is a rotary saw blade. In the preferred form the cut wires are gathered into a bundle by a pair of gathering hooks. If waste material is still clinging to the wires and impeding the formation of the bundle of wires, the hooks can be repeatedly reciprocated until the waste material is cleared from the bundle of wires. The wires are preferably gathered in a rotating fork device and formed into a coil which is subsequently discharged to a collection bin. The method preferably simultaneously cuts through the wires and separates a forward portion of the bale from the remainder of the bale and free of the baling wires. The wires are then pulled from the remainder of the bale to a central gathering location where they are removed. The advantages of the method and apparatus result in having less wire breakage and more consistent removing of the wires from the bale. Brief Description of the Drawings Figure 1 is an isometric illustrating a compressed bale with wires holding the bale tightly compressed at a wire removing station. Figure 2 illustrates the wires being cut and the forward portion of the bale being separated from the bale. Figure 3 illustrates the gathering of the cut wires. Figures 4A and 4B illustrate the gathering technique which uses the hooks to free the waste material that may be clinging to the wires. Figure 4C illustrates gathering the wires with the waste material free of the wires. Figure 4D illustrates gathering the wires and placing them into a position where a coiling fork can grasp the wires. Figure 5 illustrates the wires being gathered by the coiling fork. Figure 6 illustrates the wires being coiled and pulled from the bale with the remainder of the bale being advanced along the conveyor to help in the removal of the wires from the bale. Figures 7 and 8 illustrate removal of the coiled wire from the apparatus. Figure 9 is a side view showing more details of the mechanisms for moving the wire gathering hooks and moving a finger for clearing the coiled wire from the machine. Figure 10 illustrates the mechanism for reciprocating the wire gathering hooks. Figure 11 illustrates the mechanism for reciprocating the wire cutting and bale sawing apparatus. Figure 12 is a schematic illustration showing an alternative form of wire cutting and sawing apparatus. Detailed Description of the Invention As best illustrated in Figure 1, a wire removing station is provided with a main conveyor MC and a pair of spaced support stands 12 and 13. A bale B formed of highly compressed waste material is formed into a plurality of generally vertical layers L and held in place by a plurality of wires W wrapped around the bale at right angles to the layers. The bale is delivered to the wire removing stand on the conveyor MC and positioned beneath a wire and bale cutting mechanism 14. As best shown in Figures 2 and 11, the wire and bale cutting mechanism 14 includes a fixed blade 16 and a moveable blade 18 . The movable blade has a pair of slots 20 which receive stops 22 fixed to the rear fixed blade. A hydraulic ram 23 reciprocates the movable blade relative to the fixed blade so that the teeth 24 on the two blades provide a sawing action. As the blades are then lowered, the sawing action not only cuts through the wires W but also cuts a portion or end SE of the layers of the bale free from the remainder of the bale. The forward portion falls free of the bale onto a take-away conveyor TC and is thus cleared from the wires which remain hanging over the end of the discharge end of the main conveyor MC. As best shown in Figure 11, the blades 16 and 18 are mounted on a crossbeam 26 which is movable up and down vertically by a pair of sprockets 27 which engage fixed vertical chains 28. The sprockets are powered in a conventional manner such that they rotate simultaneously and in the same direction to move the beam, and thus the blades, vertically up and down to cut through the wires and the bale and then be retracted for removal from the remainder of the bale. The blades normally are moved down into the bale beyond the depth of the wires in the bale to the extent necessary to free the forward separated end of the bale. The blades may also be drawn down further than normal if the material of the bale is such that the forward end is difficult to separate. Figure 12 illustrates an alternative form of cutter in which a rotary cutting blade is suitably mounted on the crossbeam 26 and can be rotated and simultaneously moved across the bale to cut the wires and cut a forward portion of the bale free of the bale. As best shown in Figures 4A-4D, 5 and 6, the wires which have been cut at the top of the bale fall free over the discharge end of the main conveyor MC with the collapse of the separated end SE. The wires lay over the end of the conveyor and are generally spaced from one another. At this point a right-hand pair of gathering hooks 32 and a left-hand pair of gathering hooks 34 are provided to reciprocate toward one another to gather the cut wires into the intersection between the pairs of hooks. The hooks are reciprocated by separate cylinders 35 and occasionally will gather residual waste material, that is still adhering to the wires, as shown in Figure 4A. It is desirable to clear this waste material from the wires before the wires can be coiled and removed from the bale. For this purpose, the gathering hooks can be reciprocated away from one another and again toward one another repeatedly until the waste material falls free of the wires. This usually happens after one or two extra reciprocating movements of the gathering hooks. After the waste material, if any, is cleared from the wires, the gathering hooks gather the wires into a bundle as shown in Figure 4C. At this point the gathering hooks are rotated further by the ram 38 (Figure 9) drawing the bundle of wires downwardly into a wire gathering recess 40. Mounted within the wire gathering recess 40 is a rotatable fork 42 that is received in an opening 44, (Figure 8) at the opposite side of the wire gathering recess so that the fork extends the full distance across the recess. The slot in the fork is vertically positioned so that it slides over the gathered bundle of wires as shown in Figure 4D. The gathering hooks are then moved clear of the recess and to the open position such as in Figure 5. A motor then rotates the fork in a conventional manner. The fork gathers the wires into a coil pulling the wires free from the remainder of the bundle. Since the forward part of the wires are no longer attached to any portion of the bundle, the only friction between the wires and the bale is the friction at the remainder of the bale. This is a considerably smaller area of contact between wires and the bale such that the wires will normally not have sufficient adhesion to the bale to resist being pulled from the bale to the extent that they would break. Thus, the wires are pulled free and wrapped into a tight coil as shown in Figure 6. To help clear the coil from the wire gathering recess a pushing finger 54 pivoted as at 55 is moved along a guide 56 by the motion of a ram 58 such that the finger 54 is moved from the retracted position shown in Figure 9 to an extended position shown in Figure 8 where it sweeps past the opening 44 pushing the coil out of the wire gathering recess on to a conveyor 50 where it can be removed. The conveyor moves the coil to a salvage box 52. The method and operation of the apparatus is best described by moving a compressed wired bale of layered waste material to the wire removing station 10. At that station lowering the wire cutting and bale cutting blades through the wires down deep enough into the bale such that a forward end of the bale is separated and falls onto a take-away conveyor. This leaves the wires at the forward end of the bundle free at which time they are gathered into a bundle by the gathering hooks which pulls the wires down into a wire gathering recess. The bundled wires are then coiled by the rotating fork received in the wire-receiving recess with the wires being pulled free from the remainder of the bale. The coiled wires are then removed from the wire-receiving recess and the method is ready to be repeated. During the coiling of the wire with the wire coiling fork the main conveyor MC is advanced as shown in Figure 6 so that the remainder of the bale begins to drop off the forward end of the main conveyor. This further helps to release the wires from their attachment to the remainder of the bale. While the embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described, it should be understood that further variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art. For example, the wire could be pulled by mechanisms other than a rotating fork. The cutting blade could be a sharp guillotine type blade. Accordingly, the invention is not to be limited to the specific embodiments illustrated in the drawing.

Claims: Apparatus for removing wires from bales of layered waste products comprising: main support or conveyor means (MC) for moving a wired bale (B) along a path; cutting means (14) at the support or conveyor means (MC) for cutting through the wires (W) in a generally vertical plane perpendicular to the path; and wire removing means (32,33,42) for pulling the wires (W) free of the bale (B), characterized in that the cutting means (14) and the removing means (32,33,42) are arranged at a discharge end of the support or conveyor mean (MC), such that, upon sufficient movement of the cutting means into the forward portion of the bale, a forward portion (SE) of layers of the compacted bale (B) having a plurality of vertical layers falls free from the discharge end of the main support or conveyor means (MC) and from the remainder of the bale (B) and the cut wires (W), which results in the forward ends of the wires (W) being left relatively free of waste material, so that the cut wires (W) are gatherable by the removing means (32,33,42) ahead of the remainder of the bale (B). The apparatus of claim 1, including a take-away conveyor (TC) downstream of the main conveyor (MC) along the path of movement of the bale (B) for removing the separated layers (SE) of the bale (B). The apparatus of claim 1, said wire removing means including opposed individual wire hooking plates (32,34), each movable along substantially half of the entire width of the main conveyor (MC) into the center of the width of the main conveyor (MC) for collecting and gathering the wires (W) into a wire-receiving recess (40), fork means (42) in said recess (40) for coiling the wire (W) into a coiled wire, and a coil removing apparatus (54) for clearing the coiled wire from the wire-receiving recess (40). The apparatus of claim 1, said cutting means (14) including a pair of adjacent blades (16,18) having lower saw-teeth (24), means (23) for moving one of the blades (18) relative to the other to saw through the wires (W) and then into the bale (B) to separate the portion of layers (SE) from the bale (B). The apparatus of claim 1, said cutting means (14) including an elongated blade moveable downwardly to slice through the wires (W) and the bale (B) to separate the portion of layers (SE) from the bale (B). The apparatus of claim 1, said cutting means (14) including a rotary saw blade (30) to move across the bale (B) to cut the wires (W) and separate the portion (SE) of layers from the bale (B). The apparatus of claim 3, said wire hooking plates (32,34) being pivotal between an upper position to gather the wire (W) and a lower position to move the gathered wire (W) into the wire-receiving recess (40). The apparatus of claim 7, said wire hooking plates (32,34) being curved hooking plates, and including means for moving the spaced, curved hooking plates (32,34) into an interdigitating overlapping position relative to each other so as to gather all of the wires (W) in between. The apparatus of claim 7, said cut wires (W) having waste material occasionally attached thereto, including hook moving means (35) for moving the wire hooking plates (32,34) for gathering the wires (W), releasing the wires (W), and repeatedly regathering the wires (W) until the attached waste material is dislodged from the wires (W) and the gathered wires (W) are free of waste material so that the gathered wires (W) move into the wire-receiving recess (40) free from waste material. The apparatus of claim 3, said fork means (42) including a rotatable fork, reciprocable into said wire-receiving recess (40) for capturing the gathered wires (W), means for rotating the fork (42) for pulling the wires (W) from the bale (B) into a coil, and means for withdrawing the fork (42) to leave the coil in the recess (40) free of the fork (42), and a clearing finger (54) movable into said recess (40) for pushing the coil clear of the recess (40). The apparatus of one of claims 1 to 10, said support or conveyor means (MC) for moving the bale (B) being operated simultaneously with the wire pulling mechanism (42) for pulling wires from the bale (B) simultaneously as the bale (B) is moved toward the wire-pulling mechanism (42) to free the wire (W) from the bale (B) as the bale (B) is moving toward the wire pulling mechanism (42). The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said main conveyor (MC) is operable to advance to move the remainder of the bale (B) toward the wire removing means (32,34,42) while the wires (W) are pulled off the remainder of the bale (B). A method of removing wires from a compacted layered bale (B) of waste material having vertical layers (L) bound tightly together with wires (W) running around the bale (B) perpendicular to the layers (L) and in vertical planes, comprising: moving said bale (B) along a path; a cutting station (14) along the path, cutting through the wires (W) on the bale (B), separating a forward portion (SE) of layers of the bale (B) from the remainder of the bale (B) and the cut wires (W) leaving the forward ends of the wire (W) relatively free of waste material; gathering the cut wires (W) ahead of the bale (B) into a compact bundle; and removing the wires (W) from the remainder of the bale (B). The method of claim 13, said step of gathering the cut wires (W) including hooking the wires (W) from two opposite directions and moving them toward one another into a bundle. The method of claim 14 wherein waste material from the forward separated portion (SE) of the bale (B) is attached to the wires (W), said step of gathering the cut wires (W) including repeatedly moving the wires (W) into the bundle, releasing the wires (W) and regathering the wires (W) until the waste material from the separated forward portion of the bale (B) is dislodged from the cut wires (W) and then coiling the gathered wires (W). The method of claim 13, said step of cutting the wires (W) and separating the forward portion (SE) of the bale (B) including sawing through the wires (W) and bale (B) with a reciprocating saw-toothed cutter (14). The method of claim 13, said step of cutting the wires (W) including moving a sharp blade downwardly through the wires (W) and the bale (B) to separate the forward portion (SE) of the bale (B). The method of claim 13, said step of cutting the wires (W) including passing a rotary saw blade (30) across the bale (B) cutting the wires (W) and separating the forward portion (SE) of the bale (B) from the remainder of the bale (B). The method of claim 16, said step of cutting wires (W) and bale (B) including moving occasionally downwardly into the bale (B) an exaggerated amount to separate particularly difficult to separate bales (B). The method of claim 13, including removing the separated forward portion (SE) of the bale (B) away from the cutting station (14) while gathering the wires (W). The method of claim 13, moving said step of removing the wires (W) including coiling the cut wire (W) and moving the coiled wire (W) free of the cutting station (14) to make clearance for coiling wires (W) from the next bale (B).

Inventors: HAWLEY MIKE, HOOD STEPHEN, MERRILL STANLEY R, HAWLEY, MIKE, HOOD, STEPHEN, MERRILL, STANLEY R.
Applicants: LAMB GRAYS HARBOR CO, LAMB-GRAYS HARBOR CO.
Application year: 1996
Main classification: B65B69
IPC codes: B65B69