Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 12
Claim 1
Independent Claim
221 words
Apparatus for stripping damp paper fibres from portions of polyethylene film characterised by a shredding device (10) for converting said polyethylene sheet/paper fibre to substantially uniform balls of paper fibre and small portions of polyethylene film, the uniform balls of paper fibre having an average diameter of about 2 mm; an air blower (15) for entraining said balls and film portions in a stream of air and projecting them along a predetermined pathway (16); a plurality of impact surfaces (19 to 27) in said pathway to impact said paper fibre balls and polyethylene film to strip said paper fibres from said polyethylene film portions; a cascade of separators (29, 34) having alternate high velocity passages (30, 31) and low velocity chambers in series to provide air entrainment of said polyethylene film portions while allowing said paper balls to fall out in the low velocity chambers, a screen (32) defining a bottom wall for each separator (29); gravity collection chambers (33) beneath the screens (32) of each of said low velocity chambers to receive the denser, damp paper fibre balls that fall out through the screen (32) in said low velocity chamber; means for egress of paper fibre balls from the collection chambers; and means to collect the polyethylene portions at the downstream end (40) of the cascade of separators (29, 39).
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
221 words
Apparatus for stripping damp paper fibres from portions of polyethylene film characterised by a shredding device (10) for converting said polyethylene sheet/paper fibre to substantially uniform balls of paper fibre and small portions of polyethylene film, the uniform balls of paper fibre having an average diameter of about 2 mm; an air blower (15) for entraining said balls and film portions in a stream of air and projecting them along a predetermined pathway (16); a plurality of impact surfaces (19 to 27) in said pathway to impact said paper fibre balls and polyethylene film to strip said paper fibres from said polyethylene film portions; a cascade of separators (29, 34) having alternate high velocity passages (30, 31) and low velocity chambers in series to provide air entrainment of said polyethylene film portions while allowing said paper balls to fall out in the low velocity chambers, a screen (32) defining a bottom wall for each separator (29); gravity collection chambers (33) beneath the screens (32) of each of said low velocity chambers to receive the denser, damp paper fibre balls that fall out through the screen (32) in said low velocity chamber; means for egress of paper fibre balls from the collection chambers; and means to collect the polyethylene portions at the downstream end (40) of the cascade of separators (29, 39).
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
42 words
Apparatus according to claim 1, characterised in that the cascade of separators (29) begins immediately downstream of the first plurality of impact surfaces (19 to 27) and is divided into two sections by means' of a further plurality of impact surfaces (37).
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
28 words
Apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that there is a high velocity passage (30, 31) at the entry and exit of each low velocity chamber.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
41 words
Apparatus according to any preceding claim, characterised in that each low velocity chamber is provided with an access door (35) of a size sufficient to pormit the screen (32) associated with that low velocity chamber to be removed for cleaning purposes.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
60 words
Apparatus according to any preceding claim, characterised in that the means for egress of the paper fibres from the collection chamber (33) comprise means (36, 52 to 60) to intermittently open and close the lower portion of each collection chamber respectively so that the damp paper fibre balls fall, due to the influence of gravity, out of the collection chamber.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
36 words
Apparatus according to any preceding claim, characterised in that each of the first said plurality of impact surfaces (19 to 27) lies at an angle to the stream of air which angle is less than 90°.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
32 words
Apparatus according to claim 2, characterised in that each of the second plurality of impact surfaces lies at an angle to the stream of air which angle is less than 90 .
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
39 words
Apparatus according to any preceding claim, characterised in that each of the first said plurality of impact surfaces (19 to 27) slopes towards the high velocity passage (30) leading into the first of the cascade of separators (29, 39).
Claim 10
Independent Claim
101 words
A method of separating paper fibres from portions of polyethylene film, the method characterised by the steps of beating portions of polyethylene film contaminated with dampened paper fibres into a mixture of polyethylene film portions and balls of paper fibre, blowing the said mixture against a plurality of impact surfaces, and therefrom through an alternating series of high velocity passages and low velocity chambers such that the paper fibre balls fall out of the stream in the low velocity chambers, collecting the paper fibre balls below the low velocity chambers, and collecting the polyethylene film portions downstream of the said series.
Claim 11
Independent Claim
101 words
A method of separating paper fibres from portions of polyethylene film, the method characterised by the steps of beating portions of polyethylene film contaminated with dampened paper fibres into a mixture of polyethylene film portions and balls of paper fibre, blowing the said mixture against a plurality of impact surfaces, and therefrom through an alternating series of high velocity passages and low velocity chambers such that the paper fibre balls fall out of the stream in the low velocity chambers, collecting the paper fibre balls below the low velocity chambers, and collecting the polyethylene film portions downstream of the said series.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
65 words
A method according to claim 9, wherein, before beating the portions of polyethylene film contaminated with dampened paper fibres, portions of paper laminated with polyethylene film are treated in a hydro-pulper with water and the r P sulting portions of polyethylene film contaminated with paper fibre are further treated to remove water until what remains is portions of polyethylene film contamined with damp paper fibres.