The present invention relates to a device for disintegrating food waste comprising bones. In catering kitchens and restau- rants, large amounts of food waste are produced. These are usually separated during washing up. It is advantageous to disintegrate the leftovers and to feed these to a collecting tank. An advantageous way of transporting away the leftovers is to suck them up from out of the collecting tank and into a truck for removal .

An increasingly more common way to take care of food lefto ^¬ vers is to transport these to a biogas plant, where the left ^¬ overs are transformed into biogas for use as vehicle propel- lant.

In order to transport the food leftovers to the collecting tank, the leftovers must be disintegrated so that they can be transported in pipes without stoppage. This is particularly true as regards bones from birds, fish and also other types of bones, such as bones from meat chops. Moreover, it is advantageous for the biogas plant that the food leftovers are disintegrated . In order to disintegrate bones, mill grinders are known wherein two parts with projections exist, where each part has a projection with a space between two adjacent projections and where the parts are mutually displaced so that the pro ^¬ jections on a first side pass between the spaces on a second side. Such mill grinders have strong motors, requiring elec ^¬ trical connection to three phases. However, such mill grinders are so costly so that an invest ^¬ ment cannot be motivated when it comes to smaller catering kitchens, such as school kitchens and smaller restaurants. Hence, there is a need for a simpler and cheaper device for disintegrating food residuals.

It is known to disintegrate raw food ingredients using kitch ^¬ en appliances comprising a rotating cutting disc. These oper- ate on the principle that the cutting disc is provided with an opening, by which a knife is mounted on the cutting disc. When the cutting disc rotates, the knife of the cutting disc cuts off a part of the raw ingredient, which thereafter pass ^¬ es down through the opening of the cutting disc down to a collecting vessel. Such a kitchen appliance normally requires only an electrical connection to one phase.

It has turned out that bones are not always cut by such a cutting disc. This is of course a problem. Also, it gives rise to another problem, in that bone residues aggregate on top of the cutting disc.

The present invention solves the problem of disintegrating food leftovers including bones with a rotating cutting disc. Thereby, a kitchen appliance of the above type can be used, which means a considerably lower cost as compared to using a grinding mill of the above mentioned type.

Hence, the present invention relates to a device for disinte- grating food waste, comprising bones, at a machine for cut ^¬ ting vegetables using a rotating disc provided with an opening in the disc and a knife arranged by and along the open ^¬ ing, which cutting disc is mounted on a driven vertical axis, and wherein the cutting disc is arranged in the lower part of a cylindrical housing into which food leftovers are arranged to be fed down from above the cutting disc, and is character ^¬ ised in that a stationary stopping means is mounted above the cutting disc and from the center of the cutting disc to the periphery of the cutting disc, in that the stopping means extends a certain distance upwards from the cutting disc, in that the stopping means has a stopping surface, facing in a direction opposite to the direction of motion of the cutting disc, in that the angle between the edge of the knife and the stopping surface in a rotational position of the cutting disc, in which they partly overlap as seen in a direction perpendicularly to the plane of the cutting disc, opens in ^¬ wards towards the center of the cutting disc, and in that the vertical distance between the edge of the knife and the un- derside of the stopping means allows cutting of bones, but is less than about 1 millimeters.

Below, the invention is described in closer detail, partly in connection to an embodiment of the invention shown in the enclosed drawing, wherein

- figure 1 shows a cutting disc from above

- figure 2 shows the cutting disc of figure 1 from below

- figure 3 shows the cutting disc from the side and a stop ^¬ ping means according to the invention

- figure 4 is a perspective view of the cutting disc and the stopping means

- figure 5 shows the cutting disc and the stopping means from above . Hence, the invention relates to a device for disintegrating food waste comprising bones using a rotating disc provided with an opening 2 in the disc and a knife 3 arranged by and along the opening 2. The edge of the knife is labeled 4. The cutting disc is mounted on a driven vertical axis 19, and the cutting disc is arranged in the lower part of a cylindrical housing in a conventional cutting machine for cutting vegeta ^¬ bles. In the figures, such a conventional cutting machine is not shown. The cylindrical housing 18 is suggested in figure 3. Food leftovers are intended to be fed down into the cylin ^¬ drical house from above the cutting disc 1. In figure 1, the cutting disc rotates clockwise. During operation, the knife cuts through the food leftovers, whereby cut-off parts pass down through the opening 2 to a trough or the corresponding for feeding out of the cut-off pieces.

According to the invention, a stationary stopping means 5 is mounted above the cutting disc 1, which extends from the center 6 of the cutting disc to the periphery 7 of the cutting disc. The stopping means 5 extends a certain distance upwards from the cutting disc 1, see figures 3 and 4. The height of the stopping means may be 2 - 10 centimeters.

The stopping means 5 has a stopping surface 8, which faces in a direction opposite to the rotational direction 9 of the cutting disc.

An essential feature is that an angle VI between the edge 4 of the knife 3 and the lower edge of the stopping surface 8 in a rotational position of the cutting disc, in which the edge 4 of the knife and the lower edge 12 of the stopping surface partly overlap, as seen in a direction perpendicularly to the plane of the cutting disc 1, opens inwards towards the center of the cutting disc 1.

This is essential since the space between the edge of the knife and the said stopping surface will strive to displace bones inwards towards the center of the cutting disc, where the force for cutting through a bone increases the closer the bone is to the center of the cutting disc. That the knife edge is bent inwards towards the center of the cutting disc also contributes to that bones are more easily cut off. The cutting disc 1 is suitably made from stainless steel or aluminum. The knife 2 is made from steel. The stopping means may be made in a suitable known material, such as Teflon or another plastic material or a metal. The stopping means 5 may abut against the upper side of the cutting disc 1, but there may also be a certain distance between the underside of the stopping means and the upper side of the cutting disc. Such a distance should be smaller than the larges cross-sectional measure of said bone.

According to a preferred embodiment, the knife is curved with its inner 13 and outer 14 ends arranged further forward in the direction of motion of the cutting disc than the section 15 located between the ends.

According to another preferred embodiment, the knife 3 ex ^¬ tends from a central sleeve 16 belonging to the cutting disc to a peripheral edge 17 of the cutting disc. It is preferred that the said stopping surface 8 is planar or essentially planar, and that it is radially or essentially radially positioned in relation to the cutting disc 1.

Furthermore, it is preferred that the said stopping surface 8 slants, so that it forms an acute angle V2 in relation to the cutting disc 1 in a direction opposite to the direction 9 of motion of the cutting disc 1.

It is preferred that the angle is 30 - 60 degrees. There is a vertical distance between the edge 4 of the knife and the underside 10 of the stopping means of 0.5 - 1 milli ^¬ meters .

It is preferred that the vertical distance between the edge 4 of the knife and the upper surface of the cutting disc imme ^¬ diately in front of the knife is 2 - 4 millimeters, prefera ^¬ bly 3 millimeters.

The said opening 2 between the edge 4 of the knife and the edge 15 of the cutting disc at the opening is 2 - 4 millime ^¬ ters, preferably 3 millimeters. It is preferred that the stopping means 5 is fastened to the said cylindrical housing 18.

The cutting disc 1 and the stopping means 5 are arranged to be mounted in a vegetable cutting machine of the mentioned type.

The slanting stopping surface 8 of the stopping means, in combination with the angle formed between the edge of the knife and the lower edge of the stopping means, results in that bones will not accumulate on top of the cutting disc, but will gradually be cut off and transported down through the opening of the cutting disc.

Hereby, the initially mentioned problem is solved.

Above, a number of embodiments have been described. It is apparent that the stopping means can be given another de ^¬ tailed design while maintaining its function. Therefore, the present invention shall not be considered to be limited to the above given embodiments, but may be varied within the scope of the enclosed claims.