Abstract:
An apparatus for loading, breaking, size reducing, sieving, separating and/or mixing, wherein the apparatus is designed as an attachment for excavators or loaders. The apparatus is provided with only a single rotor as well as a breaker or impact rail or edge opposite the rotor.

Description:
BACKGROUND  
         [0001]    The invention relates to an apparatus for the sieving, separating, breaking, size reducing and/or mixing of various materials such as rocks, construction debris, glass, bark mulch, old asphalt or the like.  
           [0002]    During a waste disposal process very large quantities of secondary raw materials are encountered. These materials are typically categorized as waste and assigned to dumps for ultimate storage, due to the fact that suitable equipment that can reconvert the material into useful form is not available on site. Usually preparatory work must be performed prior to reconversion. According to the requirements of the Recycling Management Act and due to the ever-shrinking dumping space, these raw materials should be subjected to sensible conversion to useful form. Raw materials can be reused for the most part, but in order to reconvert them to useful form they must be treated through sieving, size reduction and mixing with other materials. Enormous costs can be saved when these treatments are performed directly on site.  
           [0003]    German Utility Model 29808802 U1 shows a mobile apparatus for size reduction of rocks. This apparatus has a vessel similar to a loader bucket or excavator shovel. A plurality of shafts rotate in the vessel. Each shaft is equipped with various bits, similar to a star sieve. This apparatus is subject to extremely rapid wear. Furthermore, mixing or breaking is not possible.  
           [0004]    German Patent 19852583 A1 shows an apparatus that has two shafts in one vessel. These shafts rotate in opposite directions and are equipped with flails designed to shatter the input materials. This apparatus makes it very difficult to introduce material, and a very long time is needed to achieve a breaking operation. Mixing and sieving with this apparatus is not provided in the description and is not possible.  
           [0005]    Also known from the prior art are breaking installations with attached sieving units. Transportation and construction of these installations are expensive and time-consuming. Furthermore, an official permit is usually required for operation of these installations. The material to be treated must be hauled to and from these installations over long transportation distances.  
           [0006]    The present invention seeks to provide an apparatus which is suitable for on-site sieving, separating, breaking, size reducing and/or mixing of various materials such as rocks, construction debris, excavated earth, glass, bark mulch, old asphalt and the like.  
         SUMMARY  
         [0007]    Since the invention is designed as an attachment for excavators and loaders, the various materials can be size-reduced on site with the machine.  
           [0008]    The apparatus is provided with a single rotor as well as a breaker or impact rail or edge. The rotor hurls the material with great kinetic energy against the breaker rail, thus reducing its size. The apparatus acts like a masticator, breaking up the material before discharging it.  
           [0009]    The inventive apparatus has the form of an excavator bucket, provided with a hopper at the top for material. At the lower part of the excavator bucket there is a hatch from which the size-reduced material falls. The rotor is disposed above this hatch. The rotor can be centered or off-centered above the hatch. The breaker or impact rail or edge is disposed opposite the rotor.  
           [0010]    The rotor is equipped with exchangeable bits, preferably carbide bits. The carbide bits advantageously have tapered shape or are equipped with points, so that the material is picked up by the rotor with the bits and hurled with great kinetic energy against the breaker or impact rail or edge.  
           [0011]    The gap between the rotor and the breaker or impact rail or edge can be varied in size resulting in a variable particle size. Infinitely variable adjustment is preferable. In a preferred embodiment, the adjustment is performed directly by the carrier vehicle.  
           [0012]    The particle size can also be determined by the number and arrangement of bits on the rotor. The bits on the rotor are advantageously disposed apart from a generating line of the rotor, for example on lines oriented at an angle to the generating lines or on sinusoidal lines or the like.  
           [0013]    The rotor is advantageously driven by a hydraulic motor. This is advantageous, since the carrier vehicle is also equipped with hydraulic drives in most cases. To increase the torque, a planetary gear system can be placed upstream from the hydraulic motor. The rotor is equipped with two oil motors and gear systems. The rotor can rotate in both directions.  
           [0014]    According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, a cover is provided on the apparatus in the region of the hopper for the material. This cover is maintained in closed position when the apparatus is set up to size-reduce the material. The cover is opened to admit new material for size reduction. This function can be achieved by a cable or chain provided between the cover and the arm of the carrier vehicle. In the size-reduction position, the hopper is at the top of the apparatus, while at the bottom is the hatch from which the size-reduced material falls. In this position the cover is closed.  
           [0015]    If the apparatus is slued to admit new material, the chain or cable holds the cover in horizontal position. The hopper of the apparatus, now in inclined position, can admit material without hindrance. For size reduction, the apparatus is returned to horizontal position, so that the cover rests on the hopper. Thus no material can be hurled out of the apparatus during the size-reduction process.  
           [0016]    The most diverse materials can be size-reduced on site by the apparatus.  
           [0017]    The inventive apparatus can be used for glass recycling. Thermopane windows contained in building wastes can be reduced to relatively small pieces, while the plastic parts remain as larger pieces. The size-reduced construction wastes are then sieved, whereupon the smaller glass pieces fall through the sieve and can be completely recycled.  
           [0018]    Plasterboard panels, bark mulch, bricks, construction debris, old asphalt, roofing tiles, tree limbs, brush, hollow lava blocks and the like can also be size-reduced with the inventive apparatus.  
           [0019]    Size reduction on site is practical in particular for bulky wastes such as hollow lava blocks. In the prior art, such hollow lava blocks are hauled away whole. As an example, eight cubic meters of waste contain six cubic meters of air, and so a large transportation volume is needed for a relatively small quantity of waste. After size reduction with the inventive apparatus, considerably more waste can be conveyed in one transportation operation.  
           [0020]    The inventive apparatus also has the advantage that it achieves breaking, size reduction, mixing, etc. of the materials very rapidly. It has been shown that a volume of 1.6 cubic meters can be size-reduced, broken, mixed, etc. within at most ten seconds.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0021]    Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in connection with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are designed as an illustration only and not as a definition of the limits of the invention.  
         [0022]    In the drawings, wherein similar reference characters denote similar elements throughout the several views:  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 1 shows a partly cutaway side view of an inventive apparatus;  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 2 shows the side view according to FIG. 1 with altered gap width;  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 3 shows a rotor in longitudinal section;  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 4 shows an overhead view of a rotor;  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 5 shows an apparatus with a cover in side view;  
         [0028]    [0028]FIG. 6 shows the apparatus according to FIG. 5 in a different working position in side view;  
         [0029]    [0029]FIG. 7 shows a longitudinal section of a rotor with a motor arranged within the rotor; and  
         [0030]    [0030]FIG. 8 shows a section from line VIII-VIII in FIG. 7. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0031]    [0031]FIG. 1 shows an inventive apparatus  1 , which has the form of an excavator shovel  2 . Excavator shovel  2  has mounting holes  3  for connection with an arm  13  of an excavator or loader. A hydraulic cylinder  16  as well as a reversing lever  15  are disposed on arm  13 .  
         [0032]    A rotor  4  equipped with carbide bits  5  is disposed in apparatus  1 . An impact or breaker rail  6  is disposed opposite rotor  4 .  
         [0033]    The carbide bits are advantageously designed as pointed bits. Impact or breaker rail  6  also has a pointed end.  
         [0034]    In the position in which a carbide bit  5  is disposed directly opposite impact or breaker rail  6 , the longitudinal axis of carbide bit  5  is disposed approximately parallel to the longitudinal axis of impact or breaker rail  6 . A very high impact force is achieved, and so even extremely hard materials can be size-reduced without problem.  
         [0035]    Apparatus  1  has a hopper  7  for admission of the material to be size-reduced, as well as a discharge outlet  8 , through which the size-reduced material exits apparatus  1  in the direction of arrow A.  
         [0036]    Between impact or breaker rail  6  there is provided a gap B of variable size.  
         [0037]    As shown in FIG. 2, gap B has been enlarged. Both adjustment of gap B and control of the rotary motion of rotor  4  are achieved from the vehicle cab. The particle size can be dictated as desired by adjustment of the gap. When gap B between rotor  4  and impact and breaker rail  6  is quite small, as in the setting according to FIG. 1, the material is finer. In the case of a larger gap B, as is illustrated in FIG. 2, the material is coarser. Impact and breaker rail  6  can be adjusted such that the material is not broken but is merely sieved.  
         [0038]    Rotor  4 , which is equipped with the attached, readily exchangeable carbide bits  5 , turns with adjustable speed in front of impact or breaker rail  6 . The material to be broken is hurled at high velocity against impact or breaker rail  6  and thus shattered without problem.  
         [0039]    Rotor  4  is driven by the hydraulic system of the carrier vehicle (not illustrated).  
         [0040]    As shown in FIG. 3, rotor  4  is provided over its periphery with exchangeable carbide bits  5  having tapered points  9 . Rotor  4  is driven by oil motors  10  disposed inside rotor  4 . In order to generate optimal torque, oil motors  10  are equipped with planetary gear systems  17 . Oil motors  10  and the planetary gear systems  17  can be chosen such that their takeoff shafts are simultaneously used as the drive shafts for rotor  4 .  
         [0041]    The sieving and breaking process can also be influenced through the circumferential velocity of the rotor  4 , under control of the hydraulic volume flow of the carrier vehicle. If the material is admitted and processed several times with apparatus  1 , additives such as binders can be optimally mixed therein. By virtue of its described characteristics, apparatus  1  is suitable for breaking, size reducing, sieving, separating, loading, scattering and mixing of construction material, construction wastes, excavated earth, wood, roots, humus soil, rocks, glass, foundry sand, domestic refuse, special refuse, industrial refuse, waste paper and so on.  
         [0042]    As shown in FIG. 4, carbide bits  5  are disposed on rotor  4  on lines oriented at an angle to the generating line, or lines parallel with the axis of rotor  4 . Of course, it is also conceivable to select a different arrangement.  
         [0043]    [0043]FIG. 5 shows apparatus  1  with excavator shovel  2  provided with a hinged cover  11 , which is connected via a chain  12  to arm  13  of a carrier vehicle. Hinged cover  11  can be pivoted around a hinge point  14  on excavator shovel  2 . According to FIG. 5, the shovel is shown in working position for admission of material.  
         [0044]    According to FIG. 6, excavator shovel  2  is shown in working position for size reduction of the material. Hinged cover  11  rests on excavator shovel  2 , so that no material is hurled out during the size-reduction process.  
         [0045]    [0045]FIG. 7 shows the invention with rotor  4  having carbide bits  5 . Oil motor  18  is disposed within rotor  4 . Oil motor  18  drives rotor  4  via planetary gear  19 . Oil Motor  18  is driven via oil supply lines  20 .  
         [0046]    [0046]FIG. 8 shows planetary gear  19 . A sun wheel  21  drives rotor  4  by means of planetary wheels  22 . Rotor  4  has inner toothing  23 .  
         [0047]    Accordingly, while only a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it is obvious that many changes and modifications may be made thereunto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.