Grinding container for the selective collection of solid urban waste and special different adaptations for each one of the different waste types, including the domestic grinding container.
This invention is meant to contribute to the current waste recycling systems through the incorporation of a mechanical system in the current public waste containers that allows for the reduction in volume of the different types of urban solid waste that come from daily human consumption. In this way, this tries to avoid the transformation of more natural resources and thus alleviate the irresponsible and abusive consumption of raw materials that every day are more and more scarce.
This system is based on a simple manual mechanism that consists of a gearwheel system, in which the simple movement of the lid runner on the top of the container is transformed into a rotational movement of blade shafts which reduces the volume of the different urban solid waste types, whether they are packages, paper cans, organic materials, rejects and even glass, through a varied blade system adapted to each one of the different waste types and that in the case of glass is replaced by a disk hammer system, sufficing to move it with simple wish of wanting to do so, helped by a pedal which needs our body weight to give more force to these grinding-reducing blades (a pedal which is essential in the case of metal cans, because of their hardness).
This invention, in its manual version, is completely ecological in its usage given that it does not consume any type of energy, due to its mechanical-manual form. Trying to collaborate with the different European powers (autonomous and regional state administrations) in the fulfillment of the 2004/12/CE Directive that imposes on the member states of the European Union the obligation of adopting the means to attain, in the current second phase of its transpositions, the following objectives: d) by Dec. 31, 2008 at the latest between a minimum of 55% and a maximum of 80% of the packaging waste weight will be recycled, e) by Dec. 31, 2008 the following minimum recycling objectives of the materials contained in packaging waste will be reached: i) 60% of glass weight, u) 60% of paper and cardboard weight. Hi) 50% of metal weight. Iv) 22.5% of plastic weight, counting only the material that is transformed again into plastic and v) 15% of wood weight.
Facing the current selective collection of solid urban waste throughout Europe, which is based on the introduction on the streets of similar waste containers differing only in their color or form, the current system intends a complete innovation in so much that it introduces a system that reduces the volume of this waste achieving a reduction of between five and ten times the volume of the current waste collection systems. Thus, it decreases the expensive transport of so much “space” or “air” caused by the great mass of waste, by its grinding or compacting through an innovative piercing, cutting and crushing blade system and even through glass breaking hammers. Once the different competent Public Administrations demand from the local public services for selective waste collection that the receipt of solid urban waste be mono-material through the introduction of a specialized container types for the collection of each one of the different waste types, to be introduced progressively, in such a way that they demand the existence of at least the following container types.
Afterwards, this variety could be increased to other specialized containers such as those that could be introduced in the current public Green Areas especially created by each council for an even more specialized selective collection like the collection of: —batteries, white goods, wooden furniture or boards and other large waste, and even textiles or other potentially environmentally contaminating domestic waste like, used oil or non-degradable chemical products like cleaners, varnishes, paints, detergents, medicine, etc.
Entering into the technical side of the invention, the first phase of the mechanical grinding is based on the transformation of the mechanical motion produced by the horizontal movement of the curved running lid on the upper part of the container towards its rear. It transforms this opening movement into the circular motion of the two cylinders of the gearwheels located on the side walls of the container (on the top parts of both the left and right side) thanks to a system of symmetrical teeth that, acting through a running rack, make each cylinder raise like an eyebrow (curved lid) that turns over its eye (or cylinder), given that, finding each cylinder on the top part of the left and right side of the container, the movement of the running lid through its own turning shaft makes the toothed sides located on the lower face of the left and right sides of this lid move the teeth of the upper face or “wearing side” of the each lateral cylinder that is supported on an independent frame, in this way making a circular movement of the side cylinders, as is explained in
This frame, found on the upper fringe of the inside of the container as internal layering, will be made of a material that is sufficiently resistant to be able to bear the foreseen twisting that the diverse blade shafts that it supports are going to generate, which in the example shown in
This is because in the third mechanical phase, although synchronized with the first two, the simultaneous movement of both lateral cylinders caused by the lid produces the following induced and synchronic rotation of each group of the four smaller gearwheels locked between themselves, that are found in each one of the two lateral cylinders in such a way that on one side they are found supporting the four internal gearwheels found with the left cylinder, on the respective left edges of each one of the four blades shafts, and are found on the other side supporting each one of the four internal gearwheel located in the right cylinder on the respective right edges of these same blade shafts; this setup of the gearwheels, located inside each cylinder, causes that the simultaneous turn of each cylinder (caused by the running action of the lid) starts the synchronic turn of each one of the smaller gearwheels located within each one of the cylinders, starting by this the rotation of each one of the blade shafts, whose wheels within each cylinder (R-1, R-2, R-3 and R4), each one with 30 teeth, make a 360° turn of each one of the four blade shafts, in spite that these shafts are really supported over the frame, making this frame, as a result, the real support both for the four blade shafts and the two lateral cylinders, given that all of these are found embedded transversally by bushings in this frame (see
In this same mechanical phase it must be said that the strange set up of the four smaller gearwheels placed in the lower part of each lateral cylinder (as is shown in
its left cylinder in an anticlockwise direction (seen from outside the container) and the right cylinder in a clockwise direction (seen in the same way from outside the container), producing by this the synchronic movement of the four gearwheels located within each cylinder with the following effects. Firstly (see
By this and as a way of explaining it, as a fourth effect of the initial mechanical movement, the rotation of the grinding shafts, it must be specified that, in the case of the 1 and 2 shafts (e-1 and e-2) their rotation is going to be, within the left cylinder, in a clockwise direction if we look from the inside of the container, at the same time that these same shafts e-1 and e-2 rotate within the right cylinder in an anticlockwise direction if we look from inside the container, while in the case of the shafts 3 and 4 it is going to be the opposite of the rotation of the shafts 1 and 2 both in the left cylinder and the right one, which is why it is going to produce a synchronic movement and at the same time in the opposite sense both between the superior two blade shafts between themselves (e-1 and e-3) as in between the two lower shafts (e-2 and e-4) between themselves, given that the first ones have as a role to bring the deposited waste nearer to the central part of the container for its grinding, rotating both superior shafts e-1 and e-3 in opposite directions, as they push and initially crush this waste, while they bring them closer to the lower e-2 and e-4 shafts, which through their grinding role ends up drawing them in, as they rotate in opposite directions while they are grinding the waste that they have brought closer to the upper blade shafts, until these fall already ground to the bottom of the container basin.
Even if the compression system for crushing the waste through the locked or partially crossed intersection between the blades of their shafts is the same for all waste types, except glass (which as shown shortly is done by a hammer system), however, the form of the disc blades varies depending on the type or waste to be ground, although in all of these, this new blade system is characterized because the grip of these blades to their shafts is not fixed, as some electric grinders incorporate, but mobile, in two directions:
A) First, it is mobile in its rotational grip, which allows the blade to stop or brake even though its shaft continues rotating, while it allows its resistant internal spring, found in the axial grip zone of the blade around the shaft, allowing in this way that the blade gets the necessary tolerance that the grinding of the strongest ill-suited materials that are inevitably in nearly all waste require, and even though the spring progressively allows this through, it ends on reaching the maximum contraction of the spring (located around the shaft), whose internal lifting of the shaft will not continue given the initial braking of its blade (see
B) Secondly, this blade system with rotational tolerance (through the independent mobility of its shaft) sets a second anti-blocking system that allows the slanted-sideways movement of the blade over the perpendicular surface of the shaft where the blade is, abandoning its initial parallelism with the rest of the blades, by which its occasional slanted unhinging allows that the non-grindable waste, due to their excessive hardness or size, which would block the working of the grinding shafts, can pass as is explained in FIGS. 10,11 and 12.
In terms of the design of each blade type, it is proposed that in the case of the metal cans, the blades should be blunt and strong (as drawn in
But what makes this mechanical grinding system even more interesting is the role of the ratchet that each bushing located in the shafts of blades embedded in the frames has, given that just like what happens in the rear gearwheel of a bicycle, this allows a random or undefined rotation of the blade shafts in a unique direction: that of the continuous entry of waste, taking complete advantage of the container's capacity, with the gearwheel of the ratchet not allowing the opposite rotation of the blade shafts when they pull back the lateral cylinders in opposite directions, even though the gearwheel allows their rotation in the initial direction indefinitely, impeding in this way the exit of waste in the opposite direction from its prior entry (which is what happens with the rear gearwheel of the bicycle that continues rotating even though one is not pedaling) allowing it to be filled to its maximum limit (this is always subject to the circumstances of each type of waste and the specific composition of each case) slowly and progressively compacting its content through the simple continuous drawing in that its ratchet allows. Therefore, if the one off sliding of the lid is not enough to grind and draw all of the waste in, it will be enough by moving the lid opening again and repeating the action until all has been drawn in. The only limit will be the blocking foreseen that is caused by the rotation of the lateral cylinders through the rise of the frame as a result of rising lift caused by the excessive filling of waste in the upper part of the basin, that starts the leaving of the frame from its initial position, elevating its front flap by moving the fixed hinges located on the side of the bottom of the frame, and by which the frame is going to impede the passing of the running lid, the origin of the movement of all the mechanical system. Another of the characteristics of the grinding system is that the transmission of the sliding movement of the top running lid, that which produces the rotation of the container's two lateral cylinders, is produced not by the sliding of the mentioned container top lid, when it is manually moved to the bottom of the wall for opening, but, on the contrary, the rotational movement of the mentioned cylinders is produced when closing the container lid, the top lid is brought forward for closing which guarantees in this way that the pretty dangerous grinding operations of the waste are going to take place when the lid is completely closed or almost closed, in this way avoiding any possible risks, such as the possible trapping of a tie, that could be produced with the rotation of the blade rollers with the lid open, given that with this configuration, these risks can be avoided, thanks to this inverse roles of attack of the ratchet, which at the same time is helped by the use of a visor type lid, that attached to the running lid through, a 360° hinge, falls vertically from the lid as a front panel when the lid is closed, at the same time as the safety lid cover does, from the height of the grinding chute, when the running lid is found closed at the end of the route of its opening, enough for the tipping of the waste with the lifting of the cover lid, letting this cover lid fall back over the grinding zone over the tipping of this waste, with the grinding not able to begin until the upper running lid of the container begins to be closed, guaranteeing the safety of the grinding operations with the mouth or chute for waste entry already covered. Finally, in terms of the problems that could occur due to the clogging of the grinding shafts as a result of the entry of waste that is broader than the space between the lower grinders, as well as the tolerance that the other spring systems already incorporated in the blades allow, and the slanted twists that can bear these blades between themselves and over their shaft; a final “slack” system has been considered (shown in
It has also been planned that, optionally, a simple domestic scale with an electronic indicator that has a weighing tray, can be placed on the bottom of the container's basin, between the bottom of the basin and the bottom of the container. Given its low costs, its electrical feed can be done well by a simple battery or through a self-recharging dynamo (of those sold on the market like flashlights recharged by dynamo) with this dynamo placed in any of the ends of the blades shafts. The possibility of even placing other complementary dynamos on the shafts of both lateral cylinders while being able to place its electronic weight indicator on the upper part of the front face of the container so that by its traditional weight memory systems it can indicate to us among other things, about the quantity of kilograms of waste that have been introduced each time that we use this grinder-container, or by the forwarding to a hypothetical council operational control center for data collection, the real weight of its waste or a warning to this center for when the container is full. It is enough for this to add to this circuit an SMS messaging system through a simple mobile phone (whose charging can be done in the same way by battery or through a self-recharging dynamo) in such a way that when the frame over-lifts on the front side as a consequence of being overloaded, it produces a permanent “short-circuit” signal which together with the data on the number of kilos introduced, guarantees that this signal corresponds to a real overloading, with the added advantages that this information can be managed in real time, one can know at all times the containers that are full, and in this way prepare a system to design the routes through a simple GPS navigating system that can organize the most economical routes for their collection given that some search programs exist on the Internet.
Electrical Alternative: (
There is also a domestic variant of the grinder-container although with smaller dimensions but with identical grinding motor alternative, namely manual or electric. However, it also has its mixed system, characterizing the type of domestic grinder-container because although the alternative mobile grinder-container fits or better said has a much reduced wheel than the one meant for use on the streets, it also consider a “fixed” variant of the grinder container with equally reduced dimensions to be located within a closet, to be placed for example on the bench-top in the kitchen, or in the gallery etc. This considers all blade types studied in the basic blades system (although the most suitable system seems to be the reject mixed blade system) adding to this domestic container alternative all the options defined above in the basic or general model; at the same time all these domestic grinder-container variables are characterized by that their safety lid allows the grinder system to start when there is a guarantee that its operation is going to be safe, be it because that when the blades are moving the entry lid is closed (whether its force is mechanical or electrical) or because when the lid is open there is a safety grate located between the lid and the blades that only allows small waste to pass, thus avoiding the entry of parts of the users body; this is aided by the consideration of a switch on the outside on the top next to the grinder container mouth that allows the user to stop the motor and reverse it to unclog, in the case of the electric alternative. Or in the manual system, it has a manual brake lever that stops the rotational action of the blade shafts by triggering the brake rivet located beneath the r-2 wheel in front of the motor contact zone of the cylinder internal tread, which gives movement to the two lower blade shafts.
Double design variety of the grinding blades: If it is considered that every mechanical opening operation of the lid is not enough for the grinding of some specific waste type and it is considered suitable that each shaft of the grinding blades make more than one turn for each lid opening, it will be enough to intermediate a gearwheel with double design between the side tread that touch the lower right and left sides of the lid and the treads of the left and right cylinders, in such a way that the gearwheel that makes drive contact with the lid moves the other gearwheel concentric to it but with double the number of teeth (or triple, quadruple, etc) simultaneously which will be in charge of moving the tread of each lateral cylinder.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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P200701259 | Apr 2007 | ES | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/ES07/70171 | 4/27/2007 | WO | 00 | 3/26/2010 |