The present application relates to waste disposal apparatus adapted to crush articles, such as cans or bottles and the like, for disposal or recycling. In particular, but not exclusively, the present application relates to apparatus which is relatively small andportable and which is suitable for use in the disposal of waste in Hie home or in small business premises such as restaurants, public houses and the like.

Traditionally, waste has been disposed of by dumping in landfill sites or at sea. However, with increasing awareness of the environmental effect of such dumping and areductioninthe amount of available land suitable for use as land fill sites, ways of reducing the amount of waste for disposal have been developed.

Recently there has been an increased awareness of the benefits of recycling, in particular of aluminium cans and glass containers such as bottles and jars etc. To encourage recycling activities it is known to provide receptacles in public places in which people can deposit empty glass containers or aluminium cans for recycling. However many people are reluctant to make the effort required to use these collection facilities.

Some local authorities provide householders with special containers in which to collect articles for recycling at home for subsequent collection by the authority. However, there is problem for some householders in storing these containers, which in any case may not be large enough to hold all the bottles or other containers used by the householder between authority collections.

There are also problems associated with the volume of waste for disposal. Householders and business are often provided with special bins in which their waste must be placed for collection. Some local authorities will refuse to collect waste that cannot be accommodated in the bins provided, meaning that special arrangements must be made to dispose of any excess waste. Empty

containers such as cans, plastic bottles and the like take up a large amount of the available space in the bins provided. Reducing the volume of such containers by crushing them can help to reduce the overall volume of waste for disposal.

Machines for crushing waste to reduce its volume and for breaking up glass containers have been proposed in the past. However most of these have been developed for large scale industrial applications and are not suitable for use in the home or in small business premises. Those machines that have been proposed for use in the home have not proved to be very efficient, clean or safe.

There is a need, therefore, for an improved apparatus capable of crushing empty containers and of breaking glass containers.

There is also a need for improved apparatus which is small, clean and safe enough.to be used in a home or small business premises.

hi accordance with the invention there is provided an apparatus for crushing articles as defined in claim 1.

Other advantageous features of the invention can be found in the dependent claims.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an apparatus in accordance with the invention;

Figure 2 is aperspective view of the apparatus of Figure 1 taken from a different angle and shown a lid open giving access to a crushing chamber;

Figure 3 is aperspective view of the apparatus of Figure 1 from yet another angle, showing the lid open and a waste collecting cassette being inserted;

Figure 4 is a perspective view of the cassette shown in Figure 3, showing the cassette being emptied;

Figure 5 is a further perspective view of the apparatus of Figure 1 taken from the side and the rear, with the outer casing in wire frame to show some of the internal components;

Figure 6 is a cross sectional view taken through the centre of the apparatus of Figure 1;

Figure 7 is aperspective view from the rear and slightly below of the apparatus of Figure 1, with the housing and cassette omitted;

Figure 8, is a view similar to that of Figure 7 but take from the front; and

Figure 9 is aperspective view of one of the jaws of the apparatus of Figure 1.

With reference to the Figures, an apparatus for crashing articles for disposal is indicated generally at 10. The articles to be crushedmay be glass containers such as bottles, jars and the like which are broken into pieces when crushed by the apparatus. Alternatively, the articles may be plastic containers, cardboard cartons or the like, or cans, and in particular aluminium cans, which are simply compacted to reduce their volume.

The apparatus 10 has an outer housing 12, whichmaybe constructed from sheetmetal, plastics or any other suitable material. A frame 14 is rigidly mounted to the housing 12 by means not shown. The frame 14 supports a pair of crashing jaws 16, 18, which together form a crashing chamber for receiving an article to be crushed. Access to the chamber is provided by means of hinged lid 20 in an upper surface of the housing.

The frame 14 is generally rectangular in plan view having a front member 22 connected to a rear brace 24 by means of two side members 26, 28. The front member 22 includes a downwardly sloping apron 30, which acts as a chute to direct broken glass falling from b etween the j aws into a waste collection cassette 32 as will be described in more detail later.

A first jaw 16 is rigidly mounted to the frame in line with the rear brace 24. The first jaw 16 has a vertical and generally planar contact face 34 directed towards the front of the apparatus and is constructed of a relatively thin sheet material, which maybe a metal, such as aluminium or stainless steel, plastics or any other suitable material. The contact surface 34 is generally rectangular in shape, with longer edges extending horizontally across the width of the apparatus. To increase rigidity, the j aw has upper and lower flange portions, which extend horizontally towards the rear of the apparatus, so that the jaw has a shallow U-shaped profile in cross section.

A second opposing jaw 18 is slidably supported on the front and side members of the frame 14. The second j aw is constructed more or less as a mirror image of the first j aw 16 having a contact surface 36 that faces towards, and is parallel to, the contact surface 34 of the first j aw. The second j aw is arranged for linear movement towards and away from the first j aw so as to crush an article placed between the j aws. During this movement, the second j aw 18 slides along the side members 26, 28 of the frame 14.

The contact surface 36 of the second j aw is also substantially planar, however, as can be seen from Figure 9, three elongate stress concentrators 38 are spaced along the surface. The stress concentrators 38 can be made of a harder material than the j aw itself and extend vertically over the full height of the jaw. The stress concentrators have a sharp edge 40, which is designed to induce cracking in a glass container compressed between the jaws 16, 18. Although the stress concentrators are arranged vertically in the preferred embodiment, they could be horizontally or diagonally orientated or set in an arc formation across the contact surface 36 of the second jaw 18. It will be understood that the stress concentrators couldbe provided on the first jaw 16 rather than the second jaw 18, or indeed on both jaws.

Movement of the second j aw 18 is effected by means of an electric motor 42 that drives four drive units 44, 46, 48, 50. Each drive unit is positioned close to a corner of the jaws 16, 18 and movement of the drive units is synchronised to maintain the second j aw 18 parallel to the first j aw 16. The drive units each include a shaft 52 having apian shank 54 and a threaded portion 56. The shank 54 is rotatably supported in the first j aw 16 by means of a bearing 58, whilst the threaded portion engages a correspondingly threaded nut 59 mounted to the second j aw 18. A pulley 60 is mounted rotationally fast to an end of the shaft which proj ects rearwardly from the first j aw 16. The pulley also acts to prevent the shaft 52 from being withdrawn forwardly from the bearing 58.

The electric motor 42 is mounted to the rear face of the first jaw 16 and its output is directed through a gear box 62. A further pulley 64 is mounted to the output shaft of the gearbox and is drivingly coupled to one of the drive units 44 by means of a drive belt 66. A further drive belt 68 is arranged to drivingly interconnect the pulleys 60 of all four drive units 44, 46, 48, 50. As shown in Figure 7, the pulley 60 on the drive unit 44 maybe increased in width so that it can accommodate both drive belts 66, 68. Alternatively, as shown in Figure 6, a further separate pulley can be mounted to the shaft of the drive unit 44. An adjustable belt-tensioning roller 70 is provided so that the drive belt 68 can be maintained at an appropriate tension.

In the present embodiment, the drive belts 66, 68 and the drive pulleys 60, 64 are toothed. This is the preferred arrangement as it helps to ensure that all the drive units are actuated simultaneously whilst transmitting drive efficiently and quietly. However, any suitable means of transferring drive to the drive units can be used. For example, drive could be transferred from the gearbox to the drive units by means of a drive chain or by means of gears.

When the motor is operated, rotational movement of the output shaft of the gearbox is transferred to the shafts 52 of the drive units by means of the drive belts 66, 68. When the shafts are rotated in a first direction, the nuts 59 on the second j aw 18 are constrained to move linearly along the shafts towards the first j aw 16. Because the nuts 59 are securely fastened to the second jaw 18, the second j aw is also constrained to move with the nuts so that the j aws 16, 18 are closed. If the

motor is operated in the opposite direction so that the shafts 52 of the drive units are also rotated in the opposite direction, the nuts, and hence the second j aw, are constrained to move linearly away from the first jaw 16 so that the jaws are opened.

A control means (not shown), which may include a microprocessor (also not shown), controls the operation of the motor and hence the movement of the j aws. The speed of movement of the second j aw 18 can be selectively varied by the control means. This enables the second jaw 18 to be moved slowly when the jaws are closed to crush an article, such as abottle, for safety reasons. However, the second j aw 18 can be moved more quickly when opening the j aws to enable a minimum delay between crushing cycles.

A support plate 72 is movably mounted to the frame 14 beneath the jaws 16, 18. As shownmost clearly in Figure 7, the support plate extends thorough a gap between the rear brace 24 of the frame and a lower surface of the first j aw 16. The support plate is dimensioned so that when in its operative position, as shown in Figures 6 and 7, it extends at least partway across the gap between the first and second j aws 16, 18 when they are fully open. In this position the support plate 72 acts tosuppoitanarticleplacedinthecrushingchamberbetweenthejaws 16, 18, preventing the article from falling below the level of the jaws.

When the apparatus 10 is used to crush a can, plastics bottle or the like, the support plate 72 remains in its operative position throughout so that the crushed article is held in the crushing chamber between the jaws 16, 18. The article can then be simply removed by opening the lid. However, when the apparatus is used to break a glass container or the like, the support plate is arranged to be withdrawn from its operative position once the jaws 16, 18 have closed sufficiently to clamp the container. Once the supportplate has been withdrawn, the jaws canbe closed further to break the container and the pieces of the broken container are then able to fall through the gap between the jaws 16, 18 and into the cassette 32 as will be describe further below.

Movement of the support plate can be effected manually but preferable is effected automatically under the control of the control means. Any suitable mechanism for moving the support plate can be used.

Other means for supporting an article in the crushing chamber could be used. For example, a number of relatively thin wires could be positioned beneath the jaws so as to support an article in the chamber. The wires should be arranged so that they do not impede glass fragments from falling through the jaws when a glass container is crushed.

As already mentioned, the apparatus 10 includes a waste collection cassette 32. The cassette 32 is in the form of a hollow container, which is removably received in the housing 12 so as to be positioned below the jaws 16, 18. The upper surface ofthe cassette has an elongate opening 74, which is closed by a closure member 76. The closure member has an upstanding lip 78 that is arranged to engage with a lower surface ofthe apron 30 on the front member ofthe frame 14 when the cassette is inserted, to automatically open the closure member 76. Preferably, the closure member 76 is spring loaded to the closed position so that it is automatically closed when the cassette is removed from the housing 12.

The cassette has a handle 80 for ease of handling and has a further smaller opening 82 in one of its sides. The smaller opening 82 is closed bymeans of ahinged spout 84 through which the contents ofthe cassette can be emptied.

As shown best in Figure 7, when the cassette is located in the housing 12, the elongate opening 74 ispositionedbelowthejaws 16, 18 towards the rear ofthe gap between thejaws, with the lower end ofthe apron 30 aligned with the forward edge of me elongate opening. The arrangement is such that broken glass falling from between thejaws as a glass container is crushed will either fall directly into the cassette through the elongate opening 74 or will fall onto the apron 32 and then slide into the elongate opening 74.

Two screens 86, 88 are mounted to the first j aw 16 to protect the drive units 44, 46, 48, 50 from contamination and from damage, particularly when the apparatus is being used to break glass containers . The screens 86, 88 proj ect forwardly from the first j aw 16and are received in slots 90, 92 in the second j aw 18. The screens 86, 88 help to prevent debris, such as fragments of broken glass, from contacting the drive units where they might cause damage or become stuck.

Operation of the apparatus will now be described.

With j aws 16, 18 open and the support plate 72 in its operative position, a user opens the lid 20 and inserts an article to be crushed into the crushing chamber onto the support plate. Elongate articles, such as bottles, are placed with their longitudinal axis generally horizontal. Depending on their size, more than one article can be placed in the chamber. The lid is then closed. Once the lid has been closed, the user operates a suitable control, such as a switch (not shown), to activate the apparatus. The control means will then operate the motor 42 to close the jaws 16, 18 so that the article in the chamber is crushed. If the article is a glass container or the like, the support plate 72 is withdrawn from its operative position once the jaws have closed sufficiently to grip the article. S ensors maybe provided to detect when the article has been gripped. Further movement of the second j aw 18 towards the first j aw 16 will increase the compressive force on the article until the stress concentrators 38 induce cracking in the container which will shatter. The broken glass then falls into the cassette, where it is stored for later disposal. The j aws 16, 18 can then be moved back to the openposition and the support plate 72 moved back to its operative position for future use of the apparatus.

Where the article to be crushed is not to be shattered but simply crushed, the support plate 72 is retained in its operative position as shown inFigure 9. In this case, the second jaw 18 is moved towards the first jaw 16 until the article has been sufficiently crushed. The motor is then reversed to move the second j aw 18 away from the first j aw 16. Once the jaws are fully open, the lid 20 can be opened and the crushed article removed for disposal.

Various means for limiting or controlling movement of the second j aw 18 when crashing an article can be employed. For example, the control means maybe programmed to set various limits for the movement of the second j aw 18. The limits maybe set to determine a fully open and a fully closed position. Intermediate positions between these two extremes can also be set to correspond to the best crush dimensions for each container type. In this arrangement, the control means will include an input means enabling the user to select a particular crush programme for the type of container to be crushed (e.g. large glass bottle, small glass bottle, aluminium can or plastic container) and the control means will monitor the position of the j aws and limit movement accordingly. Any suitable means for detecting the various limits can be used. In a preferred embodiment, the fully open and fully closed positions are detected using limit switches, whilst intermediate limits are detected by means of a rotational sensor (not shown) on the gearbox output shaft. The rotational sensor being arranged to provide an input to the control means indicative of the position of the second j aw 18.

The control means may also include an overload limit to prevent the j aws from j amming, or the drive mechanism being damaged, by stopping and reversing the j aw movement when an overload is detected. The overload limit maybe detected by means of the rotational sensor on the gearbox output shaft. Alternatively, the current drawn by the motor can be measured and used to detect an overload condition. A further possible alternative is to provide force sensors to monitor the forces appliedbythejaws 16, 18 and the control means maybe programmed to ensure that the forces do not exceed a predetermined limit.

For safety reasons, the apparatus may include a locking mechanism for the lid 20 which prevents the lid being opened when the apparatus is in use. Furthermore, the control mechanism may be programmed so that the apparatus cannot be activated when the lid is opened.

As discussed previously, the speed of movement of the second j aw 18 canbe varied to enable the j aws 16, 18 to be closed slowly to ensure that articles in the chamber are crashed safely. However, the secondjaw 18 maybe movedmore quickly in the opening direction to increase the overall

speed of operation. It is also possible that the speed of movement of the second jaw 18 can be varied in the closing direction depending on the nature of the article being crushed.

When the cassette 32 is full, it can be removed from the apparatus and its contents emptied into a suitable container for recycling or other disposal. The apparatus maybe provided with a number of cassettes, each being intended for use with a different coloured glass. The cassettes 32, maybe colour coded or otherwise marked so that a user will know which cassette to use for any given glass bottle or container. The apparatus is preferable designed to ensure that glass containers are shattered into pieces having an optimum size for recycling.

It canbe seen from the above that apparatus in accordance with the invention provides a compact and efficient means of crushing articles and breaking glass containers. The drive means enables jaws of relatively lightweight construction to be employed, making it possible to provide the apparatus in a format that is suitable for use in the home or in small business premises. It is envisaged that in apreferred embodiment the apparatus will have overall dimensions in the range of 400 to 700mm in length, 250 to 330 mm in depth, and 250 to 35 Omm in height and that the crushing chamber will be dimensioned to accept a full sized wine bottle lying on its side. However, the apparatus could . be smaller or larger depending on the particular application.

Whereas the invention has been described in relation to what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed arrangements but rather is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent constructions included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the claims.