BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Businesses and government organisations, whether large or small, generally consumes a large volume of materials such as paper and packaging containers.

People working in these organisations also consume food that come in paper or plastic containers and beverages from plastic bottles or metal cans. The above materials are normally disposed off in bins which must be take away for emptying.

As these materials are voluminous the bins are filled up quickly. They therefore need to be taken away for emptying regularly.

In organisations where there are sensitive information, the papers on which the sensitive information are printed are normally shredded before disposing off in bins. It is noted that the volume of papers increases considerably when shredded. Shredding therefore increases the frequency required for emptying of the bins.

The costs for disposing the above materials are accordingly high.

In an effort to reduce the volume of these materials compaction apparatuses have been proposed. But these apparatuses are generally large and costly to purchase. Their size renders them unsuitable for offices. Accordingly, people in these organisations continue to dispose off papers and containers in bins which frequently need to be taken away for emptying.

Many industries and farming bodies compact their products in a baled form in order to reduce bulk and transportation costs. The apparatus used for compacting the products such as hay, sugar cane mulch, etc, are generally large and are not fully automated from compaction to securing the compacted products to form bales.

OBIECT OF THE PRESENT INVENTION An object of the present invention is to alleviate or to reduce to a certain level one or more of the above shortcomings.

OUTLINE OF THE PRESENT INVENTION In one aspect therefore the present invention resides in an apparatus for materials reduction. The apparatus comprises compaction means for compacting the materials into a compacted form, securing arrangement for securing the materials while in said compacted form, and sensing means for sensing one or more parameters relating to the compacted materials, wherein the securing arrangement automatically proceeds with the securing operation when said sensing means senses the one or more parameters.

It is preferred that the apparatus further comprises a housing having a chamber therein, an opening arranged in the housing and through which the materials for compaction can be fed into the chamber and a gate arranged normally in a closed position and movable to an open position for the secured and compacted materials to move therethrough for ejection.

Typically the compaction means includes a platen movably arranged in the chamber for compacting the materials therein.

Preferably a controllable driving means is fixed to the platen for controllably moving the platen between an extended position and a retracted position. The driving means can be a hydraulic or pneumatic ram.

The platen may include a compaction plate having a shape compatible with the cross sectional shape of the chamber. It may also include a cover plate for covering the opening for at least part of the time while compacting. Typically the platen is substantially L or box shaped.

Said one or more parameters may be in relation to a dimension of and/or compaction pressure exerted on the materials. For paper materials the compaction pressure can be between 400 and 700 p. s. i., but preferably 500 p. s. i.

The parameters may relate to a dimension at which the securing operation is to commence and/or a dimension at which ejection of the secured and compacted materials is to take palce.

The sensing means typically includes a position sensor for sensing the

dimension of the compacted materials and/or a pressure sensor for sensing said compaction pressure.

Typically the position sensor is an encoder arranged for sensing the position of the platen in relation to the dimension of the compacted material, and the pressure sensor is arranged to sense pressure in the driving means in relation to the compaction pressure.

The securing arrangement may include means for looping at least one length of a binding material around the compacted material, securing means for securing the looped binding material and severing means for severing the at least one length of the binding material.

The looping means may have a system for feeding the at least one length of binding material across the chamber at a position in front of the compaction means, and lifting means for lifting the or each length of binding material to form a loop around the compacted materials.

Conveniently the feeding system has at least one pair of reels comprising a first reel of the binding material and a second reel of the binding material joined to the binding material of first reel to form the or each length thereof.

In one form the or each lifting means is in the form of a hook shaped member for the or each length of the binding material. In another form the or each lifting means is in the form of a needle with a slot shaped to catch the binding material while lifting.

Desirably the securing arrangement is arranged so that for the or each length of the binding material two separate joints are formed in a single operation. One of the joints is for securing the compacted materials and the other joint is for joining the materials from the first and second reels to form said the or each length for subsequent materials for compaction.

Advantageously the securing arrangement includes a guiding system for guiding the or each lifting means into or through the compaction chamber to a position for lifting the or each length of the binding material and to a position for the securing operation. More advantageously the platen includes an alignment aperture for the or each lifting means. For the securing operation the platen is positioned so that the or each alignment aperture is aligned with the

corresponding lifting means and thereby allowing lifting of the binding material from within the compaction chamber to the securing position.

The securing means may include an automatic tying device, a stapler, a gluing device or where the binding material is fusible a fusion device. An example of the fusion device is a welder.

The securing means may include a cutting device positioned adjacent to the securing means and movably arranged for moving into the binding material for cutting the same. The cutting device may have a blade for cutting the binding material or a wire which can be heated to a temperature for melting the binding material.

The apparatus may have a door arranged for closing the gate opening during the compaction operation and is automatically opened for rejecting the secured and compacted materials.

It is preferred that the apparatus of the present invention includes a shredding means arranged for shredding materials before compaction. A chute may be provided between the housing opening and the shredding means so that shredded materials can pass through the chute and into the compaction chamber through the opening. The chute can have a diverged section at or adjacent to said opening so that the shredded materials can enter the opening without or with little hindrance.

The apparatus may have a by-pass opening so that materials can be compacted without being subjected to the shredding operation.

Desirably the apparatus has a casing. The shredding means and/or the by- pass opening may be arranged in a top cover of the casing. A safety switch may be arranged so that the apparatus can not operate while the cover is open.

A keyed switch can be arranged for overriding the safety switch for maintenance by an authorised person.

A control panel can be positioned on the casing. The control panel typically includes a power switch for switching the apparatus On and OFF and indication means for indicating operations of the apparatus. Conveniently the indication means is in the form of LEDs.

The apparatus may also be provided with an audio and/or visual

indications when opening and/or closing the door for the gate opening. It may also have an indication for prompting an operator to perform a required action before returning to a subsequent automatic operation.

In preference, the apparatus according to the present invention includes a controller means for controlling operations of the apparatus. More preferably the controller means is programmable so that an operator may set the parameter (s) or values of any other characteristics for respective operations of the apparatus.

The controller may be programmed in situ or by a computer or other programming means connected directly to the controller or over a communications link.

In another aspect therefore the present invention resides in a shredder and baler apparatus including shredding means for shredding a substantially flat material to a shredded material; compaction means for compacting some of the shredded material received from said shredding means into compacted material; accumulation means interposed between said shredding means and said compaction means, said accumulation means being for accumulating said shredded material during compaction of said compacted material.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In order that the present invention can be more readily understood and be put into practical effect reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate non-limiting embodiments of the present invention and wherein:- Figure 1 is an angled perspective view of an apparatus according to the present invention; Figure 2 shows the apparatus shown in Figure 1 with cutouts in the front and side panels for revealing the internal components of the apparatus; Figure 3 is a rear perspective view of the apparatus shown in Figure 1 with the shredder and the casing removed; Figure 4 is an another angled perspective view of the apparatus shown in Figure 1 with a cutout to reveal the encoder and limit switches shown in phantom; Figures 5 to 8 show various operations stages for the compaction

operation; Figures 9 to 12 show various operational stages for securing the binding material around compacted materials; Figure 13 shows in detail the jointing operation for forming two separate joints in a single operation; Figure 14 shows the components for the securing operation.

Figure 15 to 16 show details of the welder and the wire cutter and the needles; Figure 17 shows an insulation plate for fixing to each weld head; Figure 18 shows a form for connecting the ram to the platen; Figure 19 shows details of a needle guide arrangement; Figure 20 shows an alternative string cutter; and Figures 21 and 22 are flow diagrams showing programmed operational stages for the apparatus of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring initially to Figure 1 there is shown an apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The apparatus 10 has a casing 12 with a top panel 14, front panel 16, side panels 18,20 and back panel 22. The front panel has a door 17 which can be opened for ejecting compacted materials.

A shredder 24 and a shredder by-pass inlet 26 are provided in the top panel 14 so that an operator 100 may choose to use the shredder 24 for shredding materials before compaction or insert the materials through the by-pass inlet 26 directly into the apparatus for compaction.

The apparatus 10 is mounted on wheels 28 so that it can be easily manoeuvred for relocation.

The corner between the top panels 14 and front panel 16 is chamfered.

A power switch 30, operation control switches 32 and indications 34 are provided on the chamfered corner.

In Figure 2 parts of the front panel 16 and the side panel 18 are illustrated in a cut-out fashion in order to reveal the components in the apparatus 10. As can be seen, the apparatus 10 has a guide chute 30 positioned beneath the shredder 24 and the inlet 26 for receiving shredder materials and materials fed

through the inlet 26. The chute 30 has a widened mouth and the walls at the mouth are shaped to guide the materials into the chute 30. The lower part (see Figures 5 to 8) of the chute 30 has a divergent wall so that materials for compaction can fall into a compaction chamber 32 in a housing 34 without hindrance.

Within the compaction chamber 32 is arranged a substantially box shaped platen 36 which is fixed to the piston 38 of a hydraulic ram 40. The ram 40 is controlled by a motor-driven pump 42 to reciprocate within the chamber 32 between an extended position (see Figure 6) and a retracted position (see Figure 5). The ram 40 can also be controlled for positioning at an over extended position (see Figure 8) for ejecting compacted materials.

The housing 34 has a gate opening 44 (see Figures 8 and 12) which is normally closed by a gate 46. The gate 46 is controlled to open automatically when a bale of the compacted materials is to be ejected. The ejection process will be described in detail later in this specification. In this embodiment a chain drive 47 is employed for operating the gate 46.

The housing 34 has an opening 48 (see Figure 14) in communication with the chute 30 so that materials for compaction can enter the compaction chamber 32. The opening 48 is normally open while the chute 39 is being filled and is closed off by the platen 36 when the ram 40 is in an extended position (also see Figures 6 to 8). When a compaction operation is about to proceed reciprocating between the extended position and the retracted position, for each cycle the platen 36 extends (see Figure 5) to close the opening 48 and reopen the opening 48 for the materials in the chute 30 to enter the chamber 32 when returning to the retracted position.

The platen 36 has alignment apertures 50 for respective needles 52 for lifting a binding material when baling.

As can be seen in Figure 3 the binding material in this case is fed from two pairs of reels 54A, 56A, 54B, 56B of polypropylene strings. The strings 54A, 56A, 54B and 56B are guided by tube sections 58 to positions as shown in Figures 9 to 12. A tensioner 60 is attached to each of the strings 54A, 56A, 54B and 56B to ensure that they are sufficiently taut.

The apparatus 10 has a pressure sensor 62 for sensing fluid pressure in the hydraulic ram 40 and an encoder 64 (see Figure 4) for sensing position of the platen 36. It also has a number of limit switches for limiting movements of certain components. For example, a limit switch 66 is positioned for defining the fully retracted position of the platen 36. Limit switches 68 and 70 are for defining respective upper and lower positions of the needles 52, and limit switches 72 and 74 are for defining respective opened and closed positions of the gate 46.

The apparatus 10 also has a microswitch 76 (see Figures 2 and 3) for switching off the shredder 24 when the chute 30 is full. Microswitches (not shown) are also provided in the chute 30 to sense when the chute is at about 25% of capacity and is used to indicate that the shredder 24 can be used again.

Figures 5 to 8 show the positions of the platen 36 during the compaction operation and the ejection operation. The microswitch 76 closes when the materials in the chute 30 is full and a programmable controller (not shown) on detecting closing of the microswitch 76 starts the pump 42 and controls the ram 40 to move the platen 36 from the fully retracted position which is the parking position shown in Figure 2. The opening 48 is now being closed and the materials in the chute 30 continue to fall into the chamber 32 until fully closed.

The ram 40 then extends to push the materials in the chamber 32 towards the gate 46 as shown in Figure 6. In this embodiment the piston 36 is controlled to reciprocate for four cycles between the extended position and the parked position (see Figure 2) for ensuring thorough compaction and then return to the parked position. When the chute 30 is again full of materials the compaction operation is repeated.

While reciprocating the controller controllably monitors the signals from encoder 64 and the signals from the pressure sensor 52. When the pressure reaches a predetermined value which is preprogrammed into the controller and the platen 35 is between the predetermined positions the controller stops the compaction operation and initiates the bale securing operation as shown in Figures 9 to 12. In this embodiment the predetermined pressure is 500 p. s. i.

The bale operation commences when the pressure of 500 p. s. i. is sensed when the platen 36 is between points (a) and (b). After the baling operation the

platen recriprocates between points (a) and (e) until the pressure reaches 500 p. s. i. for the ejection operation.

Figure 9 shows that the polypropylene string of the reel 54A is guided to extend along at or adjacent to the bottom of the chamber 36. The polypropylene string of the reel 56A is guided partly along the top or adjacent to the top of the chamber 36 for joining to the string of the reel 54A at a position in front of the platen 36.

Figure 10 shows that the needle 52 has moved down to pick up the string of the reel 54A and is being moved up to pick up the string of the reel 56A.

Figures 11 and 13 show that the strings of 54A and 56A are being fused together at two separate points by a welder 78 and thereby forming two joints, one for baling the compacted materials and the other for subsequent materials to be compacted. A heated wire 80 is controlled to move and melt the strings at a position above the joints in order to separate them. The compaction operation continuous until the platen 36 is at another predetermined position and the pressure sensor 62 signals that the predetermined pressure is reached. The controller then controls the ram 40 to overextend the position 38 and at the same time switches the chain drive 47 to open the gate for ejecting the baled materials.

In order to alert the operator 100, the controller flashes a LED and activates an audio alarm when opening and closing the gate 44.

As soon as the overextended position is reached the controller retracts the piston 38 to reduce pressure on the materials in the chamber. In this way little or no subsequent materials in the chamber 32 escape through the gate when the bale is removed.

As can be seen in Figure 8 the ejected bale is pushed through the gate 44 to an extent that it overbalances and will topple over the bottom edge of the housing 34.

If desired the bottom edge can be chamfered to allow the bale for ejection to slide out of the gate 44.

Turning to Figures 14 to 16, there are shown two spaced apertures 82 in the top of the housing 34 for the needles 52 to enter the chamber 32. The welder 78 for fusing the strings has two pairs of welding heads 78A, 78B

provided with grooves for accommodating the strings. During the baling operation the needles 52 are lowered through the apertures 82, into the alignment apertures 50 in the platen 36 and to bottom of the housing 34. The bottom and top strings are positioned so that they get caught in the slots 84 of the needles 52 when moving upwardly.

The controller signals the preheated welding heads 78A and 78B for each pair of the welder to move towards each other to fuse the strings when the needles 52 return to the up position.

The cutting wire 80 is also preheated to a temperature sufficient for melting the strings. It is driven towards the strings for melting them on contact after the welding operation.

Figure 17 shows that ball bearings 84 arranged at each corner of an insulation plate 86 that is fixed to the bottom of each of the welding heads 78A, 78B. In this way very little heat transfer from the welding heads 78A, 78B to the housing 34 tubes place.

Figure 18 shows that the platen 36 has a recessed channel 88 into which the piston 38 is fixed to the platen 36 by means of a screw.

Figure 19 shows a guide frame 90 for guiding the needles 52. As can be seen a head beam 92 is guidingly slidable along spaced cylindrical tubes 96 positioned within a rectangular tube 96. This arrangement reduces frictional resistance on the head beam 92.

Figure 20 shows an alternative form of the severing device 80. In this alternative form cutting blades 98 driven by a solenoid 99 is employed to cut the strings.

The various operational stages for the apparatus 10 are shown in the flow diagrams in Figures 21 and 22. It should be noted that in this embodiment the palten 36 is driven to reciprocate in the chamber 32 for four cycles each time when the chute 30 is full. After that the platen 36 is parked in the position shown in Figure 5. It will be driven to perform the compaction operation again when the chute 30 is filled to full capacity once more. The shredder 24 is made operational when the volume of the materials falls to about 25% empty. In this way the shredder 24 is available most of the time exept for the short periods

when the chute is emptying materials into the chamber 32 from full capacity to about 25% empty.

Whilst the above has been given by way of illustrative example of the present invention many variations and modifications thereto will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the broad ambit and scope of the invention as herein set forth.