Conveyors – chutes – skids – guides – and ways – Chutes – Horizontal swing
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-02
2001-08-21
Bidwell, James R. (Department: 3651)
Conveyors, chutes, skids, guides, and ways
Chutes
Horizontal swing
C193S03100R, C193S021000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06276507
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a device at refuse chute comprising one shaft, provided with one or more inlet openings, which ends in a refuse chamber or the like, and at least two subchannels arranged in the shaft for transfer of the refuse, which are arranged to run into said refuse chamber.
The background of the invention and the problem
Source sorting household wastes is now being introduced in an increasing number of municipalities. The households should thereby sort their own household wastes in different groups of material, so called fractions, consisting of essentially compostable kitchen waste and residual waste. This requires an increased effort on the households, an effort that some people experience demanding.
Each fraction to be sorted are to be put in its special location and in its special container. This can be a problem, especially for those living in block of flats with refuse chute, since the present refuse chute can not be used for sorting. In many places the refuse chutes have been shut and instead have for instance recycling houses been built in the yards. The service provided by the refuse chutes is hereby taken away and the tenant would have to walk long distances in order to get rid of the sorted waste. This will lead to a negative effect on the quality of living as well as the quality of the sorting by source.
By FI-B-88065 a device is known for separation of waste in a vertical transfer channel, which in its lower part also is connected to a collecting device, where the separated waste falls into predetermined containers. The transfer channel, which consists of an outertube of a pliable, e.g. cloth-like material, is intended to be hung in a compartment, for instance a shaft, which is large enough to host the waste container, with all its separate compartments for different kinds of waste. The outer transfer channel—the tube—is divided into a number subchannels, corresponding to the number of separation compartments. The subchannels can be in the form of tubing. e.g.. of fabric armed plastic film, which are designed so that their circumference can be brought to fill a large part of the cross section surface of the tube. Instead of having many separate tubings, the subchannels can consist of partition walls sewed together along the inside of the tube, which forms the subchannels together with parts of the inside of the tube. To be able to use the main part of the cross section of the tube and to obtain an opening large enough to feed the waste into a subchannel the outer walls of the tube has been given the shape of a concertina. As an alternative to this, bendable partition walls has also been suggested, which are wide enough to be put up towards the inside of the tube and in that case take up a substantial part of the total cross section area of the tube.
The problem with this known device is, that it can not be applied on existing refuse chutes, particularly if these have a circular cross section, which is almost the only existing cross section shape, since the maximum available input opening to each subchannel is limited by the other displaced subchannels. Consequently, in the embodiment according to
FIG. 3
in the Finnish Patent, the passive subchannels on each side of an active subchannel will take up about 180° of the inner cross section of the tube, whereby no room is left for an input opening. In the embodiment according to
FIG. 5
the input opening can at most correspond to the distance between two longitudinal seams, i.e., in the case of five subchannels, a fifth of the available width of the rectangular tube is desired. Already half the input opening is unacceptable. Additionally, the openings must be laterally displaced and be arranged in alignment with each subchannel respectively. In
FIG. 4
the concertina variant is shown, in a passive condition retracted along its whole length, wherein there is a big risk that the waste instead of opening the subchannel, will get stuck in it.
It is desirable to maintain the high service level given by the refuse chutes and still be able to source sort the waste. However, there is today sorting devices for sorting of waste below the refuse chute, but these are very expensive to install and maintain.
The object of the invention and the solution of the problem
The object with the present invention is:
to provide a simple and cheap device, by means of which a separation of the waste can be performed at the input opening of the refuse chute, i.e. waste from a common starting point can be transported separately and in the lower outlet of the chute is collected in separate containers/collecting places.
that the inlet opening should essentially be as big as the cross section of the chute;
to be able to “re-use” present refuse chutes for source sorting of waste;
to be able to use present refuse chambers for mounting of containers for different kinds of waste;
to easily be able to adjust between different sorting alternatives at the inlet opening;
to provide a sanitary device, which is easy to clean, e.g., by flushing with water and which lacks dirt-collecting cavities;
that simultaneous throwing of refuse sacks from different floors not limits the transport to the selected container;
to provide a constructive simple device which is easy to assemble and dismantle and which requires practically no maintenance.
These objects have been solved by the characterising parts of the claims.
REFERENCES:
patent: 1287711 (1918-12-01), Lichtenberg
patent: 4697686 (1987-10-01), West
patent: 5228577 (1993-07-01), Wilson
patent: 88065 (1991-02-01), None
patent: 7317451 (1975-06-01), None
Bidwell James R.
Samuels , Gauthier & Stevens, LLP
Smedlund Miljosuste, AB
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