Apparatus and method for making fibre balls

Abstract

The present invention concerns an apparatus and a method for making fibre ball from a fibrous product, where the apparatus includes an inlet for fibrous products and an outlet for fibrous balls, where the apparatus includes a cylindric housing, where the apparatus includes a centrally disposed, through-going rotating shaft that is driven by a motor, where a number of radially outwards directed wings are secured to the shaft and are interacting with the internal wall of the cylindric housing. The purpose of the invention is to provide a simple and rapidly continually working machine for producing fibre balls from a fibrous product. This may be achieved with a machine as described in the introduction, if the cylindric housing at the inner wall includes at least one axially extending projection, where the projection of the inner wall interacts with the front edge of the outwards directed wings. Hereby may be achieved that fibre balls are formed in a very efficient way. Fibre products may continually be supplied to the inlet, and finished fibre balls may continually be delivered from the outlet of the machine. The machine is not critical with regard to the form of fibrous products with which it is supplied. Loose fibres may be used, but plates or lumps of cohering fibres may be supplied as the machine automatically performs a dividing.

1 . Apparatus for making fibre balls from a fibrous product, where the apparatus includes an inlet for fibrous products and an outlet for fibrous balls, where the apparatus includes a cylindric housing, where the apparatus includes a centrally disposed, through-going rotating shaft that is driven by a motor, where a number of radially outwards directed wings are secured to the shaft and are interacting with the internal wall of the cylindric housing, where the cylindric housing on the inner wall includes at least one axially extending projection, where the projection of the inner wall interacts with the front edge of the outwards projecting wings, where the axially extending projection is designed with radially and inwards directed teeth, and where the front edges of the outwards directed wings are designed with radially outwards directed teeth, wherein at least one of the radially outwards directed wings is angularly displaced relative to the longitudinal axis of the wing for achieving an air flow through the apparatus.  
     
     
         2 . Apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the front edge of the outwards directed wings are angularly displaced relative to the longitudinal axis of the wing, whereby the radially and outwards directed teeth interact with a plurality of the radially, inwards directed teeth of the projections.  
     
     
         3 . Apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the outwards directed wings are angularly displaced relative to the longitudinal axis of the wing with different angles.  
     
     
         4 . Apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the inner wall of the cylindric housing includes a number of axially extending projections that are provided with angular intervals on the cylindric inner wall.  
     
     
         5 . Method for making fibre balls from a fibrous product in a machine that include a cylinder containing a number of wings secured to a rotating shaft that is driven by a motor, where the inner wall of the cylinder includes radially inwards directed projections for forming a turbulent flow of fibres and air, where the front edges of the wings are compressing the fibres by close contact with the projections of the cylinder, where the compressed fibres form fibre balls by repeated contact with the rotating wings and the inner wall of the cylinder.