Bottle crusher

Claim 2

A breaker for glass articles, such as bottles and the like, comprising: a downwardly directed chute having an upper end into which glass bottles and the like may be inserted, and an open lower end; a horizontally arranged, vertically axised, rotatable plate arranged at and approximately coaxial with said chute lower end, so that the plate at all times closes said lower end; narrow vanes formed on the upper surface of said plate, with said vanes extending radially of the plate and having small area high points formed upon their upper edges for breaking the glass articles dropped upon them, wherein glass articles dropped into the upper end of the chute land upon the plate and vanes so that said high points initially break the articles and thereafter said vanes repeatedly impact the glass articles and fragments of glass therefrom, to break them into desired small size particles which fall off the peripheral edge of the plate; and means located below the plate for collecting the broken particles.

Claim 3

A construction as defined in claim 1, and with the upper edges of said vanes being sloped upwardly from the center of the plate radially outwardly, for thereby throwing fragments upwardly of the plate.

Claim 4

A construction as defined in claim 1, and at least one of said vanes extending to close to the peripheral edge of the plate and at least another of said vanes extending to a point considerably inwardly of the peripheral edge of the plate, which point is higher, i.e., above the plate surface, than the high point on said one vane.

Claim 5

A construction as defined in claim 1, and said chute being in the form of a tube having a closure for its upper end, with said closure formed of a pair of sheets of a relatively stiff, but resilient material arranged in substantial face to face contact and secured at their edges to each other and around the tube upper end; with said sheets having a number of equally spaced apart radially directed slits extending from its center towards its outer edge to form flexible segments, but with the slits of one sheet being offset relative to the slits of the other sheet so that the segments of one sheet overlap the slits of the other sheet, whereby bottles and the like may be pushed through the sheets due to the spreading apart of the segments thereof at the slits, but the sheets normally remain flat and seal against glass fragments returning from the plate out towards the upper end of the chute.

Claim 6

A construction as defined in claim 1, and said chute being in the form of a relatively large diameter, curved tube whose upper end opens in a vertical plane and whose lower end opens in a horizontal plane above the plate, for thereby enclosing glass fragments within the tube.

Claim 7

A glass article breaker comprising: a rotatable flat disk-like plate having a short and a long narrow radially directed vane formed upon its upper surface; with the upper edge of each vane being sloped upwardly from the center of the plate towards the plate outer edge, and terminating in a small area high point, but with the slope of the short vane being greater than and its high point being higher than that of the long vane; a chute arranged above the plate for directing glass articles, such as bottles and the like for gravity dropping upon the plate and vane high points for initially breaking the glass; and means for rotating the plate, wherein said vanes repeatedly impact the glass and the sloped upper edges of the vanes throw the glass upwardly for gravity dropping back down upon the plate and vanes.

Claim 8

A glass article breaker comprising: a rotatable flat disk-like plate having a short and a long narrow radially directed vane formed upon its upper surface; with the upper edge of each vane being sloped upwardly from the center of the plate towards the plate outer edge, and terminating in a small area high point, but with the slope of the short vane being greater than and its high point being higher than that of the long vane; a chute arranged above the plate for directing glass articles, such as bottles and the like for gravity dropping upon the plate and vane high points for initially breaking the glass; and means for rotating the plate, wherein said vanes repeatedly impact the glass and the sloped upper edges of the vanes throw the glass upwardly for gravity dropping back down upon the plate and vanes.

Claim 9

A construction as defined in claim 6, and said chute being in the form of a tube whose open low end is arranged in a horizontal plane above and around the plate, and with the tube being bent along its length so that its upper end is formed with an opening arranged in a vertical plane.

Claim 10

A construction as defined in claim 6 and said means for rotating the plate comprising a vertically axised motor located below the plate and supported upon brackets which extend upwardly along the peripheral edge of the plate, with the motor having a drive shaft connected to the plate for rotation of the plate, and with said brackets cooperating with the outer edges of the long vanes for breaking glass fragments.

Claim 11

A breaker for glass articles, such as bottles and the like, comprising: a downwardly directed chute having an upper end into which glass bottles and the like may be inserted, and an open lower end; a horizontally arranged, vertically axised, rotatable plate arranged at said chute lower end; narrow vanes formed on the upper surface of said plate, with said vanes extending radially of the plate and having small area high points formed upon their upper edges for breaking the glass articles dropped upon them, wherein said vanes repeatedly impact the glass articles and fragments of glass therefrom, to break them into desired small size particles which fall off the peripheral edge of the plate; with the upper edges of said vanes being sloped upwardly from the center of the plate radially outwardly, for thereby throwing fragments upwardly of the plate; and means located below the plate for collecting the broken particles.

Claim 12

A breaker for glass articles, such as bottles and the like, comprising: a downwardly directed chute having an upper end into which glass bottles and the like may be inserted, and an open lower end; a horizontally arranged, vertically axised, rotatable plate arranged at said chute lower end; narrow vanes formed on the upper surface of said plate, with said vanes extending radially of the plate and having small area high points formed upon their upper edges for breaking the glass articles dropped upon them, wherein said vanes repeatedly impact the glass articles and fragments of glass therefrom, to break them into desired small size particles which fall off the peripheral edge of the plate; with the upper edges of said vanes being sloped upwardly from the center of the plate radially outwardly, for thereby throwing fragments upwardly of the plate; and means located below the plate for collecting the broken particles.

Claim 13

A breaker for glass articles, such as bottles and the like, comprising: a downwardly directed chute having an upper end into which glass bottles and the like may be inserted, and an open lower end; a horizontally arranged, vertically axised, rotatable plate arranged at said chute lower end; narrow vanes formed on the upper surface of said plate, with said vanes extending radially of the plate and having small area high points formed upon their upper edges for breaking the glass articles dropped upon them, wherein said vanes repeatedly impact the glass articles and fragments of glass thereform, to break them into desired small size particles which fall off the peripheral edge of the plate; at least one of said vanes extending to close the peripheral edge of the plate and at least another of said vanes extending to a point considerably inwardly of the peripheral edge of the plate, which point is higher, i.e., above the plate surface, than the high point on said one vane, and; means located below the plate for collecting the broken particles.

Claim 14

A breaker for glass articles, such as bottles and the like, comprising: a downwardly directed chute having an upper end into which glass bottles and the like may be inserted, and an open lower end; a horizontally arranged, vertically axised, rotatable plate arranged at said chute lower end; narrow vanes formed on the upper surface of said plate, with said vanes extending radially of the plate and having small area high points formed upon their upper edges for breaking the glass articles dropped upon them, wherein said vanes repeatedly impact the glass articles and fragments of glass thereform, to break them into desired small size particles which fall off the peripheral edge of the plate; at least one of said vanes extending to close the peripheral edge of the plate and at least another of said vanes extending to a point considerably inwardly of the peripheral edge of the plate, which point is higher, i.e., above the plate surface, than the high point on said one vane, and; means located below the plate for collecting the broken particles.

Claim 15

A breaker for glass articles, such as bottles and the like, comprising: a downwardly directed chute having an upper end into which glass bottles and the like may be inserted, and an open lower end; a horizontally arranged, vertically axised, rotatable plate arranged at said chute lower end; narrow vanes formed on the upper surface of said plate, with said vanes extending radially of the plate and having small area high points formed upon their upper edges for breaking the glass articles dropped upon them, wherein said vanes repeatedly impact the glass articles and fragments of glass therefrom, to break them into desired small size particles which fall off the peripheral edge of the plate; means located below the plate for collecting the broken particles; a vertically axised motor arranged below the plate, with the motor having an upwardly extending drive shaft connected to the center of the plate for rotation thereof; vertically arranged support brackets arranged at spaced points around the spaced closely to the periphery of the plate, with said motor being secured to and supported by said support brackets; and wherein the support brackets cooperate with the plate vanes for breaking glass fragments therebetween.

Claim 16

A breaker for glass articles, such as bottles and the like, comprising: a downwardly directed chute having an upper end into which glass bottles and the like may be inserted, and an open lower end; a horizontally arranged, vertically axised, rotatable plate arranged at said chute lower end; narrow vanes formed on the upper surface of said plate, with said vanes extending radially of the plate and having small area high points formed upon their upper edges for breaking the glass articles dropped upon them, wherein said vanes repeatedly impact the glass articles and fragments of glass therefrom, to break them into desired small size particles which fall off the peripheral edge of the plate; means located below the plate for collecting the broken particles; a vertically axised motor arranged below the plate, with the motor having an upwardly extending drive shaft connected to the center of the plate for rotation thereof; vertically arranged support brackets arranged at spaced points around the spaced closely to the periphery of the plate, with said motor being secured to and supported by said support brackets; and wherein the support brackets cooperate with the plate vanes for breaking glass fragments therebetween.

Claim 17

A construction as defined in claim 11, and including at least one vane terminating roughly midway of the radius of the plate and having its upper edge sloping upwardly from the center of the plate to a higher point located considerably above the height of the high point of another vane which extends close to and whose high point is adjacent the peripheral edge of the plate.