US3353756A

US3353756A - Bottle breaker

Info

Publication number: US3353756A
Authority: US
Inventors: Donald J Morgenson
Original assignee: SHATTER KING Mfg CO Inc
Current assignee: SHATTER KING Mfg CO Inc
Priority date: 1965-10-23
Filing date: 1965-10-23
Publication date: 1967-11-21
Anticipated expiration: 1984-11-21

Description

Nov. 21, 1967 D. J. MORGENSON' 3,353,756

BOTTLE BREAKER Fil ed Oct. 25, 1965 w W 2 4 W 6 M. I W 1 W W1 ,A r TORNE) United States Patent 3,353,756 BOTTLE BREAKER Donald J. Morgenson, Racine, Wis., assignor to Shatter King Mfg. Co. Inc., Racine, Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin Filed Oct. 23, 1965, Ser. No. 502,975 5 Claims. (Cl. 241-99) This invention relates to a bottle breaker.

It is a general object of this invention to provide a bottle breaker which is simple and sturdy in its construction, is reliable in its function, is safe in its use in that the operator and the mechanism are not likely to be injured, is readily and easily manufactured and maintained, and which is compact in its construction and suitable for use in conjunction with a trash container for the broken glass.

A more specific object of this invention is to provide a bottle breaker which has provision for protecting itself against damage in the event that an unbreakable item, such as one which is not made of glass, is fed into the unit. Still another object of this invention is to provide a bottle breaker which thoroughly breaks and shatters a bottle or other glass item in a matter of only a very short time such as only a fraction of a second.

Still a further object of this invention is to provide a bottle breaker which is designed to be readily and easily adapted to any desired capacity of accommodating the broken glass as well as handling the glass item in various sizes prior. to being broken.

Other objects and advantages become apparent upon reading the following description in light of. the accompanying. drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is an elevational sectional view showing a fragment of a preferred embodiment of this bottle breaker, and with the view taken along the line 1-1 of FIG. ,2.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1 showing a fragment of the latter.

The bottle breakeris shown to include a lower housing which is preferably circular and extending below a line'll designating the top of the lower housing 10. The housing 10 is shown broken away at its lower end, and it may of course be supported on a pedestal, legs, or the like, and legs 13 are shown in FIG. lonly and a fragment of the leg 13 is shown. It would of course be obvious to one skilled in the art that the leg 13, along with similar legs, support the housing 10 in any desired position about a floor or the like.

The housing 10 is a complete enclosure with respect to its upright walls, but of course the top 11 and the bottom (not fully shown but indicated at 14) are both open so that a bottle or other glass item designated 16 and shown in dotted lines may be inserted through the top 11 and will be ejected out the bottom 14. The housing is also shown to include the top section 17 which is suitably assembled with the bottom section 10 and is also enclosed around its sides. The section 17 also suitably carries a shelf or chute 18 which forms a passageway from an opening 19 down to a cylinder 21 secured in the lower section 10. There may also be swinging doors 22 which are suitably mounted and hinged in any common manner on the upper section 17 so that one can insert the bottle 16 into the upper section 17 and the chute 18.

The actual breaker mechanism itself is shown to include a rotatable member generally designated 23 and two arms 24 which are pivotally connected to the member 23. An electric motor 26 is shown mounted by means of a bracket 27 and the frame or support 28 which is disposed within the housing lower portion 10. A circular top wall 29 is also attached to the frame 28, as is a circular bottom wall 31. The

walls

29 and 31 have suitable openings for respectively accommodating the top opening and bottom 7, 3,353,756 Patented Nov. 21, 1967 opening of the tube 21, and such wall openings are designated 32 in FIG. 2. Of course most of the

walls

29 and 31 are removed in FIG. 2 except for the fragment of the top wall 29 shown encompassing the tube 21. Also, the frame or support member 28 is shown to be Y-shaped to extend in the three branches shown and to provide adequate support for the breaker mechanism.

Thus the motor 26 has its drive shaft 33 extending therebelow to be in driving relation with a belt 34 which rotates a shaft 36 on the rotatable member 23.

Bearings

37 and 38 support the shaft 36 and a shaft 39 which is coaxial with the shaft 36 and is actually in the nature of an extension or a part of the shaft 36 in that it is coaxial. Connecting members 41 and 42 are afiixed to the shafts 36 and 39respectively and thus the members 41 and 42 rotate with the

shafts

36 and 39 through the drive of the motor 26.

The members 41 and 42 in turn carry rotatable shafts or

trunnions

43 and 44, there being two of each on the opposite ends of the member 41 and likewise on the member 42. The arms 24 are then secured on the

trunnions

43 and 44 to be pivotally secured with respect to the rotatable member 23 and particularly with respect to these members 41 and 42.

Thus the arms 24 can pivot radially outwardly, to the positions which they are shown, and they can pivot radially inwardly, both positions being with respect to their mounting pins or

shafts

43, 44.

It will of course also be noted that the breaker tube 21 has an opening 46 through which the arms 24 can move as the member 23 rotates and brings the arms 24 across the tube 21 in shattering a bottle against the inner walls of the tube 21 or simply under the impact of the arms 24. It will be further noted that the arms 24 are provided with openings 47, at the inner ends thereof, and these openings receive the thinner outer ends 48 of the arms 24 when and if the arms 24 pivot radially inwardly, as shown in the dotted lines representing the arm 24 as viewed on the right in FIG. 1. This pivotal position would occur when an unbreakable item might be dropped into the tube 21 and the high speed rotation of the arms 24 would cause them to bounce back or actually pivot inwardly with respect to their support members 41 and 42. In this manner, the mechanism would not in any way be damaged as it automatically provides for the retraction or inward pivot of the arms 24 when they meet an unbreakable object as mentioned.

Under high speed rotation, the arms 24 will normally be extended radially outwardly in the solid line position shown. Also, the arms 24 are held radially outwardly by means of two

tension springs

49 and 51 which are connected between the pins 52 aflixed to the

shafts

43 and 44. Thus the springs pull the pins 52 radially inwardly, since the

springs

49 and 51 are located eccentrically with respect to the

shafts

43 and 44, and this in turn causes the arms 24 to be extended radially outwardly to the positions shown in solid lines.

It will therefore be understood that with the motor 26 operating at a customary speed of say 1725 rpm, and with the provision of two arms 24, each bottle would be hit as much as sixty times for each second that the bottle is in the tube 21. Thus the unit is required to be run only a very short time, possibly less than one second actual time, for complete shattering of a bottle, such as a normal size quart or fifth liquor bottle. Of course there would also be a trash container (not shown) placed below the bottom opening 14 for catching the shattered glass so that the glass can be disposed of. The entire idea of course is to reduce the volume required for storing the bottle 16 when it is to be disposed of.

The tube 21 is thus a breaker tube and an abutment and its interior provides an abutment surface against which the bottles can be thrown by the arms 24. The tube confines the bottle and, subsequently, the broken glass, as desired. The tube opening 46 is only slightly larger than the height of the arms 24 so the latter fit closely with the tube 21. The height of the opening 46 is shown to be less than twice the height of the arm 24, in FIG. 1.

While a specific embodiment of this invention has been shown and described, it should be obvious that certain changes could be made therein, and the scope of this invention should be determined only by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A bottle breaker comprising a rotatably mounted member, an arm pivotally carried by said member and with said arm extending to a radially outward position beyond the extent of said member and being fully retractable to a radially inward position in response to striking an unbreakable object, an enclosure disposed adjacent said arm and having an opening for receiving said arm when the latter is in the radially outward position and with said arm being clear of said enclosure and rotatable therepast with the rotation of said member when said arm is in theradially inward position, rotation mechanism connected to said member for rotating the latter, and a chute in registry with said enclosure for guiding into said enclosure bottles dropped into said chute.

2. A bottle breaker comprising a rotatably mounted member, a pair of arms pivotally carried by said member on diametrically opposite sides thereof and with said arms extending to a radially outward position beyond the extent of said member and being fully retractable to a radially inward position in response to striking an unbreakable object, rotation mechanism connected to said member for rotating the latter, said arms being arranged with the extending ends thereof disposed clear of the other of said arms and said member when one of said arms is retracted to said radially inward position, an abutment disposed adjacent the circular path of the radially extended position of said arms and providing a passage for said arms when the latter is in the radially outward position and providing an abutment surface against which bottles are thrown upon being struck by the rotation of said arms.

3. A bottle breaker comprising a rotatably mounted member, an arm pivotally carried by said member and with said arm extending to a radially outward position beyond the extent of said member and being fully retractable to a radially inward position in response to striking an unbreakable object, yieldable means connected to said arm to releasably retain the latter in the radially outward position and freeing said arm for pivoting to said radially inward position when said arm strikes an unbreakable object, rotation mechanismconnected to said member for rotating the latter, an enclosure disposed adjacent the circular path of rotation of said arm and having an opening for receiving said arm when the latter is in the radially outward position and with said arm being clear of said enclosure and rotatable therepast With the rotation of said member when said arm is in the radially inward position, and a chute in registry with said enclosure for guiding into said enclosure bottles dropped into said chute.

4. A bottle breaker comprising a rotatably mounted member including an arm extending to a radially outward position on said member, rotation mechanism connected to said member for rotating the latter, an enclosure disposed adjacent the circular path of rotation of said arm and having an opening for receiving said arm when the latter is rotated therepast with the rotation of said memher, and a chute in registry with said enclosure for guiding into said enclosure bottles dropped into said chute.

5. A bottle breaker comprising a rotatably mounted member, an arm pivotally carried by said member and with said arm extending to a radially outward position beyond the extent of said member and being fully retractable to a radially inward position in response to striking an unbreakable object, a tension spring connected to said arm to releasably retain the latter in the radially outward position and permit said arm to pivot radially to said inward position when said arm strikes an unbreakable object, rotation mechanism connected to said member for rotating the latter, an abutment disposed adjacent the circular path of rotation of said arm in a position to have said arm throw a bottle thereagainst and providing a passage for said arm when the latter is in the radially outward position and with said arm being clear of said abutment and rotatable therepast with the rotation of said member when said arm is in the radially inward position.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,509,242 5/1950 Miller et a1. 241194 X 2,558,255 6/1951 Johnson et al. 24199 2,828,086 3/1958 Macernon 241194 X WILLIAM W. DYER, JR., Primary Examiner.

JAMES M. MEISTER, Examiner.

Claims

1. A BOTTL BREAKER COMPRISING A ROTATABLY MOUNTED MEMBER, AN ARM PIVOTALLY CARRIED BY SAID MEMBER AND WITH SAID ARM EXTENDING TO A RADIALLY OUTWARD POSITION BEYOND THE EXTENT OF SAID MEMBER AND BEING FULLY RETRACTABLE TO A RADIALLY INWARD POSITION IN RESPONSE TO STRIKING AN UNBREAKABLE OBJECT, AN ENCLOSURE DISPOSED ADJACENT SAID ARM AND HAVING AN OPENING FOR RECEIVING SAID ARM WHEN THE LATTER IS IN THE RADIALLY OUTWARD POSITION AND WITH SAID ARM BEING CLEAR OF SAID ENCLOSURE AND ROTATABLE THEREPAST WITH THE ROTATION OF SAID MEMBER WHEN SAID ARM IS IN THE RADIALLY INWARD POSITION, ROTATION MECHANISM CONNECTED TO SAID MEMBER FOR ROTATING THE LATTER, AND A CHUTE IN REGISTRY WITH SAID ENCLOSURE FOR GUIDING INTO SAID ENCLOSURE BOTTLES DROPPED INTO SAID CHUTE.