Abstrict The invention relates to a device for loading a fragmenting machine,
such as a hammer crusher, including a front and rear upper drive
roller which are equipped, independently of each other, with a drive
mechanism and arranged above the feed plane of a feed chute. The
drive rollers are mounted on a displaceable and pressure exerting
system of levers, such that a continuous, pre-pressed and controlled
feed of recyclable material for fragmenting is guaranteed.
Claims What is claimed is:
1. A device for loading a fragmenting machine, comprising a plurality
of rollers supported in a frame of the device for feeding recyclable
materials, wherein at least an upper drive roller is supported in
a moveable lever system, and comprising a) at least one front upper
drive roller and one rear upper drive roller (2.0 2.1) which independently
from each other are provided with corresponding drives, are arranged
above a feed plane of a feed chute (1.0), b) wherein the support
of the front drive roller (2.0) is a single-arm lever system, is
coupled to the frame and c) wherein the support of the rear drive
roller (2.1) is a dual-arm lever system and coupled to the frame
at a knee of the dual-arm lever system, d) positions of the drive
rollers (2.0 2.1) are capable of being adjusted relative to a feed
plane and are operated by the lever systems, and e) drive elements
are connected with the lever systems and supported on the frame
for producing both the different relative positions of the drive
rollers (2.0 2.1) relative to the feed plane and for exerting the
pressing forces applied by the drive rollers to the recyclable materials.
2. The device according to claim 1 wherein the drive rollers (2.0
2.1) are uniformly driven.
3. The device according to claim 1 wherein the drive rollers (2.0
2.1) are driven with mutually different peripheral velocities.
4. The device according to claim 3 wherein the recyclable material
comprises vehicle bodies.
5. The device according to claim 3 wherein the recyclable material
comprises bundled scrap metal.
6. The device according to claim 1 wherein the drive rollers (2.0
2.1) are driven so as to rotate forward and backward, i.e. reversibly.
7. The device according to claim 1 wherein the drive elements
for the lever systems that are supported on the frame are hydraulic
cylinders (4.0).
8. The device according to claim 1 wherein means for a manual control
of the process flow via a control center (2.2) are utilized.
9. The device according to claim 1 wherein means for an automatic
control of the process flow via a control center (2.2) are utilized.
10. The device according to claim 1 wherein the fragmenting machine
is a hammer crusher.
11. The device according to claim 1 wherein the recyclable material
is metallic scrap material.
Description BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device for loading a fragmenting machine,
for example, a hammer crusher, which includes several rollers supported
in a frame of the machine for feeding recyclable, preferably different
types of metallic scrap material, such as bodies of discarded passenger
vehicles and/or bundled scrap metal.
2. Description of the Related Art
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Such devices are known from DE 197 08 185 A1 and include an upper
drive roller and a lower roller. A press cover is connected to the
upper drive roller which pre-presses the metallic scrap material
before the pre-pressed scrap material is captured by the lower drive
roller. This operative connection between the press cover and the
top or drive roller has disadvantages. On one hand, the upper drive
roller is difficult to handle and, on the other hand, is lifted
during the pressing process as a result of the established connection
with the press cover. As a result, the scrap material passing over
the upper drive roller can reach the fragmenting machine in an uncontrolled
manner. It is therefore difficult to meter the quantities loaded
into the fragmenting machine.
Although other conventional systems, such as draw-in chains, press
the material better than a single upper drive roller, they hold
the material along their entire length. Disadvantageously, an arrangement
with dual upper rollers with a common drive located in a frame has
not only an increased mass compared to a single roller, but the
dual upper rollers, once they are lifted, immediately release the
scrap material, which defeats their intended function.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the invention to obviate these disadvantages
so as to feed the scrap material in a continuous, pre-pressed and
controllable manner, which can be easily managed. The present invention
proposes to provide both a front upper drive roller and a rear upper
drive roller, which have independent drives adapted to drive the
drive rollers with identical or with only slightly different peripheral
velocities. The drive rollers can rotate both forward and backward.
The rear drive roller can be moved in an upward and downward direction
over a certain range independent of the front drive roller. After
the rear drive roller has been raised by a certain distance, the
front drive roller is automatically raised and thereby "dances"
on the material. The height of the front and rear drive rollers
can be independently adjusted. The front drive roller can optionally
be held in any suitable position. The front drive roller has a predetermined
unobstructed passage relative to the feed plane. The rear drive
roller then drops into a lower position. The downward motion of
the front drive roller is interrupted when a minimum distance to
the rear drive is reached. The rear drive roller can initiate additional
pressing operations induced by hydraulic cylinders. The front drive
roller is constructed so that it can also induce a pressing operation.
Both pressing operations can be induced independent of each other.
With this arrangement, even bulky scrap material can be controllably
fed through manual or automatic control.
The invention can also be employed with systems that lack a lower
roller in the feed device. The invention will now be described with
reference to an embodiment illustrated in the drawings.
Other objects and features of the present invention will become
apparent from the following detailed description considered in conjunction
with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however,
that the drawings are intended solely for purposes of illustration
and not as a definition of the limits of the invention, for which
reference should be made to the appended claims.
The schematic drawings show in
FIG. 1 a side view of the device of the invention at the start
of the operative engagement of the front drive roller; and
FIG. 2 the device of FIG. 1 in operative engagement between front
and rear drive roller while drawing in metallic scrap material.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENTLY PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
FIGS. 1 and 2 show a device for loading a fragmenting machine,
such as a hammer crusher, which device is placed in front of the
fragmenting machine (not shown).
The device includes essentially a feed chute 1.0 disposed on a
frame (no reference numeral), with the feed chute being implemented
as an inclined feed plane for the metallic scrap material, such
as the body of a discarded passenger car. A front upper drive roller
2.0 is supported above the feed plane in a single-arm lever system
(no reference numeral), with the drive roller 2.0 having its own
drive (not shown). A rear upper drive roller 2.1 which is supported
above the feed plane in a dual-arm articulated lever system and
has its own drive (not shown), is arranged following the feed device
for the scrap material. A lower roller 3.0 which breaks through
the feed plane and operates as a sliding roller, is located in the
feed plane below the rear upper drive roller 2.1 and is also supported
in the frame.
The lever systems, which do not have reference numerals, are pivotally
supported in the frame of the feed device at their respective pivot
points and are connected to hydraulic cylinders 4.0 which are also
supported on the frame. The hydraulic cylinders 4.0 initially operate
independently, but can also cooperate so that the lever systems
can be pivoted and also displaced relative to the feed plane, thereby
causing the drive rollers 2.0 2.1 to apply pressure to the scrap
material.
The independent drives for the drive rollers 2.0 and 2.1 are controlled
so that the drive rollers 2.0 2.1 can rotate both forward and backward
either with identical or with different peripheral velocities.
According to FIG. 1 metallic scrap material in the form of a body
of a discarded passenger car is placed on the feed chute 1.0 the
upper drive roller 2.0 is held in a position which allows the scrap
material to pass unhindered to the feed plane. The upper drive roller
2.0 captures the scrap material and draws the scrap material in.
The rear drive roller 2.1 assumes a comparable position so as to
transport the scrap material onward on the feed plane by sliding
it across the roller 3.0 as shown in FIG. 2. The lever systems
that are operated by the hydraulic cylinders 4.0 can adjust the
position of the drive rollers 2.0 2.1 relative to the feed plane
and move the drive rollers 2.0 2.1 to apply pressure, so that the
scrap material is continuously compacted to a desired or optimum
thickness and loaded into the fragmenting machine in a controlled
manner.
The downward motion of the front drive roller 2.0 is interrupted
when the front drive roller 2.0 reaches a minimum distance with
respect to the lower a drive roller 2.1 which guarantees that the
scrap material is uniformly compacted. The rear and front drive
rollers 2.0 2.1 also initiate additional pressing operations for
the scrap material, whereby the pressing operations can be carried
out independently of one another. In all, the lever systems and
the kinematically controllable drive rollers 2.0 2.1 operate on
the scrap material in a flexible, variable and/or optimum manner,
so that the scrap material can be controllably and continuously
loaded into the fragmenting machine as desired.
A control center 2.2 adapted to control the aforedescribed process
flow either manually or automatically is provided to support the
entire operation.
INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY
For continuously and controllably loading pre-pressed scrap materials
of the above-defined type into a fragmenting machine, the conventional
loading devices are improved so that the connected fragmenting machine
can operate with optimum efficiency.
Thus, while there have been shown and described and pointed out
fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a preferred
embodiment thereof, it will be understood that various omissions
and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the devices
illustrated, and in their operation, may be made by those skilled
in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. For
example, it is expressly intended that all combinations of those
elements and/or method steps which perform substantially the same
function in substantially the same way to achieve the same results
are within the scope of the invention. Substitutions of elements
from one described embodiment to another are also fully intended
and contemplated. It is also to be understood that the drawings
are not necessarily drawn to scale but that they are merely conceptual
in nature. It is the intention, therefore, to be limited only as
indicated by the scope of the claims appended hereto.
LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS 1.0=feed chute 2.0=front upper drive
roller 2.1=rear upper drive roller 2.2=control center 3.0=lower
roller 4.0=hydraulic cylinder |