The present invention refers to an apparatus for grinding vessels made of plastics, cardboard, aluminium, glass, aluminium, glass and the like.

Currently, apparatuses are marketed which are adapted to grind small vessels made of plastics, cardboard, aluminium, glass and the like, such as for example small coffee glasses. Such apparatuses, however, do not allow performing the same operations on vessels with bigger sizes, encumbrance, strength and resistance, such as, for example, bottles made of plastics or of glass.

Object of the present invention is solving the above prior art problems by providing an apparatus of the above mentioned type, which has a simple structure and a reliable operation, and which further has reduced overall sizes, to be able to be comfortably used in a house.

A further object is providing an apparatus of the above mentioned type, which is able to grind both big-sized plastic wastes (for example, water bottles, containers for detergents, etc.), and cardboard wastes (for example, milk cartons, cartons for packaging foodstuff, etc.), and wastes or containers made of other materials (aluminium, glass, etc.) in order to facilitate the disposal of part of domestic wastes for a correct management of the differential collection of wastes.

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention, as will result from the following description, are obtained with an apparatus for grinding vessels made of plastics, cardboard, aluminium, glass and the like as claimed in claim 1.

Preferred embodiments and non-trivial variations of the present invention are the subject matter of the dependent claims.

It is intended that all enclosed claims are an integral part of the present description.

It will be immediately obvious that numerous variations and modifications (for example related to shape, sizes, arrangements and parts with equivalent functionality) could be made to what is described without departing from the scope of the invention as appears from the enclosed claims. The present invention will be better described by some preferred embodiments thereof, provided as a non-limiting example, with reference to the enclosed drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a cross sectional view, along line

A-A of Figure 2, of a preferred embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention;

Figure 2 is an external front view of the apparatus of Figure 1;

Figures 3 and 4 respectively are a side sectional view and a top sectional view of the operating part of the apparatus of Figures 1 and 2 in its rest configuration; and

Figures 5 and 6 are respectively a side sectional view and a top sectional view of the operating part of the apparatus of Figures 1 and 2 in its operating configuration.

According to a preferred, but not limiting, embodiment, schematically shown in Figures 1 to 6, the apparatus 1 for grinding vessels made of plastics, cardboard, aluminium, glass and the like of the present invention substantially comprises: a supporting structure 3 equipped with at least one opening 5 for inserting the vessels (not shown) ; grinding means 7 for the vessels, connected to the opening 5 through a duct 6, wherein the grinding means 7 are adapted to perform the grinding operation through an operating and offset coupling of a group of rotary blades 11 and a group of fixed blades 13, such operating coupling being performed through a progressive approach of the group of fixed blades 13 to the group of rotary blades 11 along a horizontal and perpendicular direction to the advancement of the vessels; and

means 9 for collecting and disposing of the ground vessels, operatively connected to the grinding means 7.

According to a possible variation, not shown, wherein the groups of blades are operatively reversed, it is possible to provide for an apparatus for grinding vessels made of plastics, cardboard, aluminium, glass and the like substantially comprising:

a supporting structure equipped with at least one opening for inserting the vessels;

grinding means for the vessels, connected to the opening through a duct, wherein the grinding means are adapted to perform the grinding operation through an operating and offset coupling of a group of fixed blades and a group of vertically translating blades, such operating coupling being performed through a progressive approach of the group of vertically translating blades to the group of fixed blades along a horizontal and perpendicular direction to the advancement of the vessels; and

means for collecting and disposing of the ground vessels, operatively connected to the grinding means .

The above described variation demonstrates the versatility of the apparatus of the present invention, which, by exploiting its basic idea, allows grinding any type of vessel through a mutual approach of two groups of blades, wherein at least one of the groups has blades which rotate and the other one has fixed blades, offset with respect to the blades which rotate and operatively placed in such a coupling operation as to perform a double cutting operation on the vessel.

Preferably, the group of fixed blades 13 or the group of vertically translating blades are actuated along a horizontal translation by at least one small actuating motor 14 each.

The apparatus 1 of the present invention, as can be well seen in Figures 3 to 6 which respectively show its rest position (Figures 3 and 4) and its operating position (Figures 5 and 6), therefore allows grinding any type of containers, and especially whole bottles made of plastics, which so far could not be ground by marketed apparatuses, by making the bottle pass above the group of rotary blades 11 and therefore putting it in contact with the group of fixed blades 13 pushed against the bottle itself along a direction which is horizontal and transverse thereto: since the blades 11 and 13 are mutually offset, they perform a double cutting action on the bottle, thereby allowing its deep and efficient grinding, through a series of passes of the vessel itself onto the cutting blades.