Machine for comminuting glassware and the like

Claim 1

A machine for rather uniformly comminuting frangible material such as bottles, glassware and plastic, having in combination, an upstanding, disintegrating chamber with a receiving opening in its upper portion and having a discharge area at its lower end for directing comminuted particles with the aid of gravity to a collecting medium, a high-speed rotary comminuting mechanism mounted transversely in the lower portion of said chamber above said discharge area and substantially traversing said discharge area and comprised solely of a multiplicity of generally radial rigid comminuting elements disposed in circumferentially and axially spaced relation on a common axis of revolution, said comminuting elements being of at least two different lengths and terminating in interspaced, individual ''''bite tips, '''' the tips of the shorter lengths being interspersed substantially uniformly with the tips of the longer elements to provide a generally cylindrical assembly for comminuting said materials, said tips being axially angled in succession at acute angles to the adjacent tips thereof, said chamber having a side declined from the vertical to form a chute for guiding frangible material downwardly, said chamber being completely unobstructed in the portion above said rotary mechanism, and means for revolving said comminuting mechanism at high speed in a direction where said elements move from the upper portion of their orbits towards and downwardly of said chute-forming side, thereby ''''biting out'''' substantially uniform particles without using shearing action or effect.