Abstract:
A round baler with a comminution device for waste materials which is carried on a truck bed or bed of tractor that picks up, comminutes and bales waste materials at various places and carries the waste material in the form of rolls therefrom without intermediate storage to a further place where the waste materials are stored, reprocessed or destroyed.

Description:
FIELD OF INVENTION  
         [0001]    The invention relates to a mobile round baler with comminution device for shredding, baling into rolls and removing waste materials such as paper or cardboard.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    The above-described round baler is described in Offenlegungsschrift DE 197 12 793 A1 published Dec. 11, 1997 of Tamamori et al, in which comminution of paper or documents is initially performed using a cutting means arranged above the feed slot of a cylindrical baling chamber. The cut-up material from the cutting means is fed through the feed slot into the baling chamber and is there compacted into a round bale by drivable baling rollers arranged at the circumference, said round bale being easy in transport and economical with regard to storage space. The prior art round baler operates in stationary manner at its place of use and comprises wheels on which said round baler may be moved out of corners or recesses for maintenance and replacements of parts and is easily accessible for both purposes. After intermediate storage of these bales, they are then loaded onto a vehicle and conveyed to, for example, a recycling plant, where the bales are unloaded and introduced int this plant for processing. The baling components are provided are rollers, which have the disadvantage that a large quality of comminuted material falls downwardly out of the baling chamber onto the floor during the baling process.  
           [0003]    When disposing of documents and files, in particular of relatively large quantities thereof, it is desirable to comminute the waste material at its place of origin and to compress it into bales to reduce its volume, these bales then being conveyed without intermediate storage and as directly as possible to the disposal site such as a recycling plant.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0004]    The object of the invention is to provide a device with which waste materials may be comminuted and baled as cost-effectively as possible at various places of origin and carried away without intermediate storage.  
           [0005]    The object of the invention is achieved in that the round baler may be carried and operated on a vehicle such as a trailer or a truck bed.  
           [0006]    The basic concept of the invention is to use a round baler which previously operated only stationarily as a mobile round baler which is operated for example by a service provider. As soon as the round baler has completed its operations in one place, it may be driven on to the next place of use which is usually the next company where waste is produced which needs to be comminuted, baled and carried away for disposal. Thus, not only is it possible to dispense with investment in machinery, personnel and storage space at the point of origin of the waste, but it is also possible to comminute, bale and immediately remove confidential file material, for example, to the disposal site. A round baler is particularly suitable for use on a vehicle, because round balers exhibit relatively low intrinsic weight, are of compact structure, are economical, and in particular, due to the exclusively rotary nature of their baling components, do not subject the vehicle to any impacts, vibrations or relatively large loads during baling, while exhibiting relatively low energy requirements and a simple binding system.  
           [0007]    The round baler may advantageously be operated on a mobile carrier. Here, recourse may be had to the commercially available roll compactors, types RV 641/642, made by the assignee, which may be mounted to a vehicle&#39;s loading area for example directly or by means of a simple auxiliary frame without technical alteration. Power is supplied from a conventional electric outlet via an extension cable. Charging of the compactor with paper or cardboard or both is effected manually. The costs involved in providing a device according to the invention are minimal. In addition the remaining available loading areas on the trailer or truck bed may also serve to carry away the compressed bales. The roll compactor is installed in the rear of the trailer or truck bed with its input openings facing to the rear. The operator may stand on the ground and easily feed in the waste material manually via a charging table and place the finished bales (approximate fifteen or twenty-five kilograms weight per bale) on the loading area. Also the roller baler may be mounted on a low-loader, such as a forklift vehicle.  
           [0008]    To enable coupling to waste feed systems or delivery systems for the finished bales or both, the baler housing is preferably mounted horizontally on the vehicle so that of the input/operating side and output side are disposed opposite one another. In a further version of this embodiment, the round baler comprises a charging hopper for receiving the waste material.  
           [0009]    Inasmuch as a round baler which is being used on a mobile basis calls at various points at which waste originates, it is important for the round baler to comprise a binder device with a means of storing one or more binding materials, in order to bind different types of baled materials in a segregated manner with corresponding binders.  
           [0010]    A particular advantageous embodiment is achieved when the round baler comprises, as a baling component, one or more continuous conveyor belts extending over the entire width of the baling chamber. In this way, virtually no material falls through openings during the baling process.  
           [0011]    According to a further feature of the invention, the round baler is driven by electrical energy, which is provided via a separate power unit or by a connection to a load electrical cable.  
           [0012]    It is also possible, however, for the round baler to be driven by hydraulic or mechanical energy or by a combination thereof which is generated directly or indirectly by the vehicle engine. Further advantages and advantageous embodiments will be understood from the following description. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0013]    The invention is described in detail with reference to two exemplary embodiments what are illustrated in the drawings, in which:  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 1 is a schematic side elevational view of a round baler mounted on a car trailer;  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 2 is a plan view of FIG. 1; and  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 3 shows a round baler arranged horizontally on a truck, with a conveyor device for charging the mechanism. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0017]    An operative round baler  4  is mounted on a loading area of trailer  2  supported by the trailer&#39;s axle  3 , so that a charging opening  5  for waste material to be baled is directed to the rear. Trailer  2  is attached to a motor vehicle comprising an automobile  6 , which may be station wagon or a SUV as seen in FIG. 1. The normal forward direction of travel of automobile  6  is indicated by arrow  7 . The rear tailboard  8  of the trailer  2 , which can be elevated to be closed is shown in the open position.  
         [0018]    For details of the structure and mode of operation of a known round baler  4  for cardboard waste or the like, reference is made by way of example to German published patent Application DE 28 09 887 A1.  
         [0019]    Such a round baler  4  consists substantially of a baler housing  9  with a baler charger  10  which is formed by two conveyor belt segments  11  and  12 , wherein a feed slot  13  is defined at the top between conveyor belt segment  11  and conveyor belt segment  12  for feeding therein material to be baled from a charging chamber  14  via a charging table  15 . The one conveyor belt segment  11  is mounted on deflection, drive rollers  17  in a fixed-frame baler housing part and extends upwards beyond feed slot  13 . The other conveyor belt segment  12  is arranged in a baler housing part  21  which may be opened about an upper pivot axis  18  into a discharge position  19 , shown by broken lines, for bales  20  formed between conveyor belt segments  11  and  12 . A comminution device  22  in the form of two cutting rollers  23  and  24  is installed in charging chamber  14  above feed slot  13 , which cutting rollers  23  and  24  are mounted laterally in baler housing  9  and may be driven in a revolving manner in the direction of arrows  25  to comminute the waste material loaded into charging chamber  14  to the desired size. Above cutting roller  23  and at right angles to charging table  15 , a sheet metal wall  26  is provided which extends vertically adjacent conveyor belt segment  11 , which sheet metal wall  26  forms a wall of charging chamber  14  and prevents unshredded waste material from being entrained by conveyor belt segment  11 . An obliquely positioned baffle forms the transition between cutting roller  24  and feed slot  13 .  
         [0020]    If waste material is to be introduced in an unshredded state directly to baler chamber  10 , upper cutting roller  23  and sheet metal wall  26  may easily be removed or optionally both cutting rollers  23  and  24  may be removed.  
         [0021]    Baler housing  9  is defined in the axial direction of baler chamber  10  by two side walls  27  arranged side by side at a distance corresponding to the width of baler chamber. It is additionally defined externally by a forward wall  28 , an upper cover  29  and a rear wall  30  to which there is hinged a bale removal flap  31  that extends approximately to the ground.  
         [0022]    A wrapper device as known in the prior art, is arranged in the upper area between conveyor belt segment  11  and sheet metal wall  26  which is provided with a plurality of storage rolls for different binding materials, such as film, sisal yarn and plastic yarn. Depending on the waste material, the bale may thus be bound in segregated manner with a corresponding binding material.  
         [0023]    As clear from FIG. 2, round baler  4  is arranged on the left-hand rear half of trailer  2 , when viewed in the direction of travel  7 . However, it may also be mounted centrally or offset to the left. A power unit  32  is fitted in the front area of trailer  2  and is connected to round baler  4  vis supply lines  33 . However, power may also be supplied from local electrical outlets by means of extension cables or derived hydraulically directly or indirectly from the motor vehicle engine.  
         [0024]    The mode of operation of the device is as follows:  
         [0025]    Round baler  4 , mounted on trailer  2  is driven to the place of origin of the waste material. The waste material may be provided on pallets, for example. Once power unit  32  is activated and round baler  4  switched on, waste material is delivered by hand into charging chamber  14 . Charging table  15  preferably comprises a conveyor belt which conveys the material towards cutting rollers  23  and  24 , which comminute it and convey it through feed slot  13  into baling chamber  10 . Conveyor belt segment  11  revolving in the direction of arrow  34  forces the cut up waste material into baling chamber  10 . As material is fed therein, a round baling chamber  20  as shown in baler  10  in FIG. 1 is produced, which is wrapped automatically or manually with binding material at a given bale diameter determined as a function of torque, power, pressure or weight of bale  20 . After opening of the baler housing part  21  into the discharge position shown in broken lines, round bale  20  is ejected, wherein bale flap  31  opens at the same time and bale  20  moves to the position indicated by bale  20   a , as is discharged through the opening. The bales thus produced which weigh approximately fifteen to twenty-five kilograms are then stacked manually on loading area  1  of trailer  2 . For a bale having a diameter of 0.4 meters and with a width of 0.6 meters, for example, three bales  20   b  (as the bales are designated at this location) may be stacked next to one another and two or three bales stacked on top of them, see FIG. 2. Once operations have been completed at one location, the combination motor vehicle/trailer/baler is driven to the next company which produces waste material. Instead of files, computer paper and documents, other wastes such as leaves for example may also be baled, these being tied up with compostable wrapping material.  
         [0026]    The round baler  35  illustrated in FIG. 3 corresponds in function to round baler  4  described in detail with reference to FIG. 1, except that round baler  35  may be designed for larger bale dimensions, such as up to 1.2 meters bale diameter and the same width, and round baler  35  may be mechanically charged.  
         [0027]    The operative round baler  34  is mounted horizontally on a loading area  37 , which comprises the bed of a truck  38 , over its rear axle  36 . A feed slot  39  leading into a baling charger  40  is directed obliquely and rearwardly. An outlet opening  41  for finished round bales  42  is disposed in the normal forward direction of travel of truck  38  indicated by arrow  43 . A charging hopper  44  is mounted above feed slot  39 . A comminution device  45  is installed in charging hopper  44 . Opening into charging hopper  44  from the rear is a conveyor belt  46 , illustrated only in part, which is directed forwardly and obliquely upwardly, with one end resting on the ground and is surrounded, for example, by a conveyor duct, not shown, so that waste material located on conveyor belt  46  does not fall to the sides or blow away. Conveyor belt  46  may be mounted on the back of truck  38  and adjusted so as to be in a transport position. At its top, charging hopper  44  comprises a sensor system  47  which acts as a safety device, which may include a light barrier or an infrared sensor. Round baler  35  or the comminution device  45  or both can only be switched on if the sensor system  47  indicates that the charging hopper  44  is empty. A similar safety device may also be located in the area of the operable baler housing part  48 , to prevent anyone from being put at risk during opening or closing of baler housing part  48 . A baler housing part  49  mounted fixedly on loading area  37  comprises an inclined plane as a chute device for receiving round bales  42   a . A power unit  52  is arranged in the front area of the bed of truck  38  and is connected to the round baler  35  via supply lines  53 .  
         [0028]    Round baler  35  operates as follows: waste material is supported on a pallet  54  either on the ground or on the loading area  37  or is transported thereto by a conveyor. The waste material is loaded onto conveyor belt  46  and conveyed into charging hopper  44 . Conveyor belt  46  may be switched on and off for example manually or by an upper and lower light barrier in charging hopper  44 . Comminution device  45  comminutes the waste material, which then drops onto a conveyor belt segment  56 , revolving in the direction of arrow  55  and is fed into baling chamber  40  where it is compressed into a round bale  42 . Once bale  42  has been bound with binding material, baler housing  48  is opened into its discharge position  51 , as shown by broken lines, and round bale  42  travels along chute device  50  onto loaded area  37 . In order also to be able to bale cardboard or other materials in an unshredded state, a bypass opening may be provided for this purpose on round baler  35 .  
         [0029]    Inasmuch as a round baler exhibits a low intrinsic weight relative to the total weight of a vehicle, a large part of the loading area may be used for bale transport. The bales are unloaded using loaders, such that the entire procedure extensively dispenses with a need for manual labor.  
         [0030]    Although I have disclosed the preferred embodiments of my inventions it is to be understood that it is capable of other adaptations and modifications within the scope of the following claims.