Abstract:
Apparatus provided for reducing the volume of trash generated from plastic bottles and containers whether destined for landfill or not. The apparatus includes a shredder mounted within an aesthetically pleasing and functionally suggestive beverage bottle shaped housing. A chute with a plunger is provided which forces the plastic bottles against blades rotated on a substantially horizontally mounted disk with a fan for directing the shredded particles into a duct for transport to a bin within the bottle shaped housing. A pan structure is provided to collect any fluid remaining in the bottles being shredded and directed via a duct to the bin.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a bottle shredder having a bottle shaped housing. More particularly, the present invention relates to a bottle shredder for use by consumers of bottles in the home, office and other similar locations where bottles used by consumers and now empty may be shredded to reduce the volume that needs to be transported and stored for recycling purposes. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Plastic bottles are today widely used for the transportation and sale of products to consumers including, but not limited to bottled water, soda, juices, fruits, ketchup and numerous other products. 
     The disposal of these bottles has become a national and international problem. The transportation and disposal of empty plastic bottles has become a major problem for landfills. In many areas, recycling of plastic bottles has been made mandatory. Nevertheless, there is a continuing problem with used, empty bottles taking up large amounts of space in storage and in transporting the empty bottles to landfills or recycling plants. There is an even worse problem where the bottles are disposed of in a landfill requiring large amounts of volume in the landfill. 
     There is a continuing problem even where the used and emptied bottles are transported to a recycling facility as the empty used bottles require much space for storage in the home, office or business for storage of these empty bottles until they are picked up for recycling by a recycling truck, and usually large trucks are required because of the volume generated by the empty used bottles. 
     Efforts have been made in the past at reducing the volume of trash materials such as plastic bottles, glass bottles and other trash. These have included various structures large and small which include compaction, grinding and housing of various shapes. For example, see U.S. Pat. No. 6,520,435 B1—Robinson; U.S. Pat. No. 4,669,673—Lodovico et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 7,546,965 B1—Parkin; U.S. Pat. No. 3,946,662—Ross, Jr., et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,242,126—Bomze and U.S. Pat. No. 5,106,026—Baron. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention significantly reduces the amount of volume required to store in a home, office, business or other location where the products are consumed from a plastic bottle and reduce the volume of material to be transmitted to a recycling plant or other location such a landfill. 
     An advantage of the present invention is that it shreds plastic bottles in a consumer setting such as a home, office, business or other location where products are consumed from plastic bottles. 
     Another advantage of the present invention is that it produces a pleasing and aesthetic appearance. 
     Another advantage of the present invention is that it aesthetically suggests its function. 
     Another advantage of the present invention is that it completes one of the steps typically required in the recycling process, that is the shredding of the bottles. 
     Another advantage of the present invention is that it may be economically produced such that one may be utilized in every residential setting. 
     Another advantage of the present invention is that it may be used by governments and other organizations which pick up recycling materials such as plastic bottles for transport to recycling plants. 
     Briefly and basically, in accordance with the present invention an apparatus is provided in the form of a decorative housing shaped in the form of a bottle, particularly a beverage bottle, having an opening in an upper portion for receiving plastic bottles and a bin in a lower portion for receiving shredded plastic. The bin is slidably removable or at least extendable out from the bottle shaped decorative housing. A shredder having a rotating disk with blades thereon spaced from said disk is mounted within the readily recognizable bottle decorative housing for shredding plastic bottles into shredded plastic which is collected by the shredder into the bin. The decorative housing suggests immediately that the apparatus is for the disposal of plastic bottles and the design generates interest in the shredding of the plastic bottles. No compaction is required. The apparatus is light weight, requires minimal space and is economical due at least in part to the fact that no hydraulic or other compaction equipment is required. In this manner used plastic bottles may be conveniently shredded by a consumer of the contents of the bottles for reduction in volume for storage and/or transportation for emptied bottles. 
     In a presently preferred embodiment, the shredder is in the form of a disk having blades mounted thereon and separated from the disk by a spacer. The disk is rotated by an electric motor. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there are shown in the drawings forms which are presently preferred; it being understood, however, that this invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown. 
         FIG. 1  is a view in perspective of a bottle shredder having a bottle shaped housing in accordance with the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a cross sectional view taken along line  2 - 2  of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 2A  is a broken away cross section of the region in dotted lines in  FIG. 2 , labeled  FIG. 2A  showing an alternate embodiment of the invention illustrated in  FIGS. 1 and 2  wherein the bottle shaped housing is comprised of a unitary structure. 
         FIG. 3  is a view in perspective of a plunger used in a bottle shredder as illustrated in  FIGS. 1 and 2 . 
         FIG. 4  is an exploded view of a rotatable disk having blades mounted to an upper portion of said disk and separated from said disk by spacer elements and also having a fan formed on its lower surface. 
         FIG. 5  is a cross sectional view taken along line  5 - 5  of  FIG. 2 . 
         FIG. 6  is a cross sectional view taken along line  6 - 6  of  FIG. 2 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring now to the drawings, wherein like numerals indicate like elements, there is shown in  FIGS. 1 ,  2  and  3  a bottle shredder  10  having a bottle shaped housing  12 . The bottle shaped housing  12  may be comprised of multiple sections and as illustrated in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , may be comprised of three sections  14 ,  16  and  18 . Any other suitable number of sections may be utilized instead of 3, such as 2, 4 or 5 or any other suitable number. The sections  14 ,  16  and  18  may be held together by friction fit or snap together structure as illustrated in  FIG. 2 , at  22  and  24 . Additionally, to insure against any possibility of the housing coming apart should the bottle shredder  10  be knocked over or the like, screws  26  and  28  may be placed in the snap or friction fit joints  22  and  24 , respectively. 
     Alternatively and presently preferred, the housing  12  would be comprised of a unitary structure as illustrated in  FIG. 2A , illustrating housing  20  without sections or joints. 
     As illustrated in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , bottle shredder  10  has a decorative housing  12  shaped in the form of a bottle having an opening  32  in its upper portion for receiving plastic bottles. The plastic bottle shaped housing  12  (and in the alternative embodiment  20 ) presents an aesthetically pleasing appearance and suggests the functionality of the shredder, that is the shredding of plastic bottles, particularly beverage bottles. Housings  12  and  20  are also provided with a receptacle or a bin  30  (as illustrated in  FIGS. 1 and 2  with respect to housing  12 ). Bin  30  is received into an opening  34  in bottom section  18  of housing  12 . Bin  30  in lower or bottom section  18  or portion of housing  12  for receiving shredded plastic from the shredder. Bin  30  is slidably removable or at least extendable out from bottle shaped decorative housing  12 , and particularly from section  18  of housing  12  in the embodiment of  FIGS. 1 and 2 . 
     A shredder  40  is mounted within housing  12  or housing  20 . In a presently preferred embodiment, shredder  40  may be comprised of a substantially horizontally disk  42  driven by a motor having one or more blades mounted to a upper surface of the disk and spaced from the upper surface of the disk as illustrated in  FIG. 4 . In a presently preferred embodiment, there would be two shredder blades  44  and  46  separated from disk  42  by spacers  48  and  52 . In a presently preferred embodiment, the blades and spacers may be held to the upper surface of disk  40  by means of threaded fasteners  54 . It is presently preferred to use threaded fastener so that blades may be removed and replaced as needed. The blades may be removed for sharpening or new blades may be installed. However, it is understood that other means of fastening blades  44  and  46  to the upper surface of disk  42  may be utilized. No crushing or compaction of the bottle is required prior to shredding or thereafter. 
     The lower surface of disk  40  is provided with fan blades or fins  56 . Fan fins  56  are useful in causing air movement to cause the shredded chips to be thrown to the outer periphery of the inner surface of housing  12 ,  20  and particularly to the periphery of the inner surface of section  16  allowing the chips to pass through duct  100  into bin  30 . Disk  42  is mounted on spindle or motor shaft  58  and driven by electric motor  60 . It is understood that blades  44  and  46  may be sharpened their entire length and with a spacer, provides a means to chip away at a plastic bottle or other plastic container being forced onto rotating disk  42 . It is also understood that a single blade may be used or more than two blades may be used. Preferably, blades would be in pairs so that they may be balanced on disk  42 . 
     The rotating disk with blade(s) horizontally mounted is light weight, economical and less space intensive than using a hydraulic compactor or the like and a grinder. 
     Bottles and other plastic containers such as plastic jars and the like may be fed into bottle shredder  10  through opening  32  in an upper portion of the housing  12  of bottle shredder  10 , and specifically in top section  14  of bottle shredder  10 . 
     By definition throughout, plastic bottles herein is defined herein throughout, including in the claims, to mean plastic bottles and any other type of plastic container including plastic jars and the like in which customers receive product and need to dispose of the container after it has been emptied. 
     In order to place the plastic bottle in opening  32 , cap  70  is removed. As illustrated in  FIG. 2 , cap  70  may be threadably mounted onto top section  14  of bottle shredder housing  12 . Cap  70  has a plunger rod  72  mounted through an opening in the center of cap  70 . The structure of cap  70  and plunger  80  including plunger rod  72  is best illustrated in  FIGS. 3 and 2 . Plunger rod  72  is slidably mounted in opening  74  of cap  70 . Plunger rod  72  is provided with a handle  76  and a flat bottle pushing structure  78  at its lower end. The flat pushing structure  78  of plunger  80  rides in chute  90 . 
     In placing bottles in chute  90 , cap  70  is threadably removed or unscrewed from top section  14  of housing  12  and removed along with plunger  80 . One or more bottles, including any other type of plastic container, may be placed into chute  90 , cap  70  replaced onto top section  14  of housing  12  and pushed down if necessary by applying pressure to handle  76  of plunger  80 . Cap  70 , where it is threadably mounted onto top section  14  may be provided with an interlock to prevent operation of shredder  40  when the cap is removed. In other words, this could be a micro switch mounted in the thread portion in the top of top section  14 . This would break the circuit to supply electric power to motor  60  when the cap is removed. Motor  60  may be a DC motor operated on batteries or provided with an electrical power cord for plugging into standard volt AC power or other suitable electrical power. 
     In  FIG. 2 , a bottle  62  is indicated in dotted lines as being shredded by rotating blades  44  and  46  mounted on disk  42  of shredder  40 . The shredded pieces are blown to the periphery of the interior of middle section  16  of housing  12 . These shredded pieces of plastic may be blown to the periphery by the fan fins  56  on the lower or bottom surface of disk  42 . The pieces of shredded plastic are dropped through duct  100  into bin  30 . Duct  100  is best illustrated in  FIG. 2  and is shown in cross section in  FIG. 6 . 
     A frustro-conical shaped pan  110  is mounted under shredder  40 . This is best seen in  FIGS. 2 and 5 . Frustro-conical shaped pan  110  has openings or apertures  112  formed in a lower area of the pan except for the area immediately around motor shaft  58 . Apertures  112  allow any water or any other fluid or liquid contained within any of the bottles or containers being shredded to drain through frusto-conical pan  100  and be caught by pan  120 . Pan  120  has a central area around shaft motor shaft  48  turned upwardly to prevent water or other fluids from going into motor  60 . Pan  120  is provided with a drain tube  122  which allows drainage of the fluid into duct  100  and from there into bin  30 . 
       FIG. 6  is a cross sectional view showing motor support arms  102 ,  104 ,  106  and  108  for supporting electric motor  60 . Duct  100  is also illustrated therein in cross section along with drain tube  122 . 
     In  FIG. 5 , handle  130  is a handle on an access door on the rear side of housing  12  which provides access to the interior of middle section  16  for servicing and/or repair or the like. 
     In operation, cap  70  may be removed along with plunger  80 . One or more plastic bottles or other plastic containers may be inserted into chute  90 . Electric motor  60  being operational rotates disk  42  of shredder  40  causing blades  44  and  46  to be rotated at a high rate of speed, up to 3600 RPM causing the bottles (includes other plastic containers by definition) to without prior crushing or compacting, quickly be shredded into small pieces which are blown by fan fins  56  to the periphery where they fall through duct  100  into bin  30 . In this manner, a large number of bottles may be shredded into a compact volume and retained in bin  30  until it is time for them to be picked up by the recycling transportation system. Bin  30  also receives any fluids that may be left in bottles which are being shredded. When it comes time for recycles to be picked up, bin  30  may be slidably removed from bottom section  18  of housing  12 . Preferably, the entire bin may be removed and transported to a container outside of the home or business setting. However, it is contemplated that bin  30  could also be partially removable wherein the shredded material would be scooped out of bin  40  into other containers. Bin  30  may be provided with a handle, such as a bar going across the center of it for carrying purposes. Another form of handle may be two diametrically opposed openings near the top of bin  30 . 
     The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof and, accordingly, reference should be made to the appended claims, rather than to the foregoing specification as indicating the scope of the invention.