AU605881B2

AU605881B2 - Non ferrous metal stripping from electric cable

Info

Publication number: AU605881B2
Application number: AU18200/88A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Guido Meynout Calkoen
Original assignee: Design Count Pty Ltd
Current assignee: Design Count Pty Ltd
Priority date: 1987-06-22
Filing date: 1988-06-21
Publication date: 1991-01-24
Anticipated expiration: 2008-06-21
Also published as: AU1820088A

Description

Farm COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA PATENTS ACT 1952-69 COMPL~ETE SPECIFICATION (ORIGINAL)th 1i iCUrflent 0 fltains lS m C f f~ ma, de un e 9, adiscret forCas Fs t ,I':cion49 nd mt.e Application Number: Lodged: PI 02604 22nd Juno, 1987 Complete Specification Lodged: Accer,W;d Published: Priority: t Related Art ,%,ame of Applicant EIN ON PTY. LTD.

fkddr-s of Applicant 25 Hinkler StreeL, Mordilloc, V4.ctoria, Australia.

Actual Inventor: GUIDO MEYNOLTT CALKOEN EDWD. WATERS SONS, 51? QUEEN STREET, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, 3000.

Address for Service: Complete Specification for the invention entitled: NO-N FERROUS METAL STRIPPING FROM ELECTRIC CABLE The following statlement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known t: 2 NON-FERROUS METAL STRIPPING FROM ELECTRIC CABLES The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for separating non-ferrous metal wire or wire strands in cable format from an outer protective casing of plastics material such as PVC. Most commonly the non-ferrous metal would be copper but the invention would be applicable to other metals, such as, aluminium. The term "wire" is used herein to define any elongated metal wire element whether of single or multi-strand configuration.

The invention as described hereinafter refers to copper as the metal retrieved, however, it will be understood that other metals could equally be obtained by the methods and apparatus of this invention.

Old or used electric wiring cable is often o0"" o 15 retrieved from building sites under demolition or restoration for the purpose of recycling the copper content of the wiring and to a lesser extent, recycling the plastics 'o material coverings. The reasons for this is that there are 00 large quantities of this material and the copper 20 particularly is valuable if there can be provided simple and cost effective machinery and methods for separating the copper from the plastics material. There are, however, 00. numerous difficulties with these procedures. Firstly, the o cable can be of many different types. It could include single core copper, double or tripple core copper, it may include single strand or multiple wound strand wire, and the copper content may be singly sheathed or sheathed in multiple layers of plastics material. Moreover, the cable itself could comprise short or long lengths without any 0o oo S 30 uniformity and certainly the cable is most unlikely to be o neatly wound on any storage drums or the like.

Conventionally, therefore, there have been graat difficulties in piovidin, any automatic means for separating such copper from the plastics material with reasonable volume rates and with satisfactory separation of plastics material, i.e. removal of sufficient quantities of the plastics material to satisfy environmental reqi..rements on reprocessing the copper. Machinery has been proposed -3- 3 whereby longitudinal cuts through the plastics material sheathing are made and the sheathing is bodily stripped from the copper core. This type of machinery has suffered simply from the fact that the coppeZ containing cable that can be supplied to such machinery is not in a form suitable for high volume throughputs or alternatively excessive sorting and other pre-stripping steps need to be taker making the process and machinery uneconomic. Other forms of machinery have been proposed whereby the electric cable has been transversely ch-.pped (both wire and plastics sheathing) into very small lc ,:itudinal lengths to dislodge copper from the plastics material. The copper then being separated from the plastics material by any suitable means. Machines using this process, however, provide very high and unacceptable 15 carry over of plastics material in the copper particles leaving the separation area and moreover incomplete i separation of copper from the plastics material to the S: extent that it is common for the plastics material to be recycled through the chopping machinery. These processes have therefore also resulted in relatively low volume 20 throughput with often an unacceptably high plastics material content in the copper particles leaving the separation apparatus.

4 The object of the present invention is therefore to provide apparatus and methods for separating copper or other Snon-ferrous metal from material in the form of non-ferrous metal wire sheathed in plastics material such electric wires or cables with improved volume handling rates while still obtaining suitably high separation of plastics material from the non-ferrous metal. Accordingly, the present invention 1 30 comprises a method of separating non-ferrous metal frcn material in the form of non-ferrous metal wire s o-a-ted in plastics material, said method comprisin parating or dividing the material into shorti cisrete lengths, subjecting the short disce-te lengths to intensive mechanical agitatiorror beating whereby the non-ferrous metal is disdldged from surrounding plastics material in said short discrete lengths, and passing said non-ferrous -4 i Accordingly, the present invention provides a z.thod of separating copper or other non-ferrous metal from material in the form of non-ferrous metal wire sheathed in plastics material, said method comprising the steps of: dividing the material into short discrete lengths; providing a mechanical agitator including a beating chamber, a discharge outlet and an array of beating elements including pins arranged in concentr:ic circl-, about a central axis with the pins of each of the concentric circles extending transversely across the beating chamber, at least alternate concentric circles of the pins being movable about an axis of rotation parallel to or coincident with the central axis such that the pins in adjacent concentric circles move relative to one another about the central axis; delivering the short discrete lengths to the mechanical agitator, said delivering including delivering the short discrete len2 hs to an inlet space in the beating chamber within an innermost one of the concentric circles of the pins, such that the short discrete lengths pass outwardly therefrom through the array of beating elements and are discharged through the discharge outlet as a mixtu.re of plastics material, short lengths of non-ferrous metal wire and short discrete lengths of non-ferrous metal wire remaining sheathed by the plastics material; separating the material discharged from the discharge outlet into separated plastics material and separated short lengths of metal wire; and recycling the short discrete lengths of non-ferrof metal wire remaining sheathed by the plastics material to the inlet space.

In accordance with a further aspect, the present invention provides for an apparatus in separating non-ferrous metal from material in the form of non-ferrous metal wire sheathed in plastics material, said apparatus comprising: dividing means for dividing the material into short discrete lengths; -4aa mechanical agitator comprising a beating chamber, a discharge outlet and an array of beating elements, said array of beating elements including pins arranged in concentric circles about a central axis with the pins of each said concentric circle extending transversely across the said beating chamber, at least alternate concentric circles of said pins being movable about an axis of rotation parallel to or coincident with said central axis such that said pins in adjacent said concentric circles move relative to one another about said central axis; said mechanical agitator including inlet space within an innermost one of said concentric circles of the pins; conveying means for delivering the short discrete lengths to said inlet space such that the short discrete lengths pass outwardly therefrom through said array of beating elements and are discharged through said discharge outlet as a mixture of plastics material, short lengths of non-ferrous metal wire and short discrete lengths of non-ferrous metal wire remaining sheathed by the plastics material; separator means for receiving from said discharge outlet the mixture of plastics material, short discrete lengths of non-ferrous metal wire and short discrete lengths of non-ferrous metal wire remaining sheathed by the plastics material and for separating the received mixture into its components parts; and returning means for returning the short discrete lengths of non-ferrous metal wire remaining sheathed by the Dlastics material separated by said separator means to said inlet space.

5 In accordance with a still further aspect, the present invention provides an installation for separating non-ferrous wire from plastics materiaJ sheathed wire c le comprising in combination means for chopping or separ ing said cable into discrete short lengths, means for f eding said short lengths of cable to an agitation devic, said agitation device including mechanical agitating/or beating means arranged to subject said short lengtqhs f cable to mechanical stress to dislodge the non-ferr s metal wire from said plastics material sheathing, aad separation means arranged to receive the non-ferrous me al wire and plastics material sheathing dislodged by saidagitation means and to separate said plastics material s athing from said non-ferrous metal wire. Conveniently the separation means 15 separate the material leaving/he agitation means into o non-ferrous metal, plastics/material and a mixture of non-ferrous metal and pl tics material, tle non-ferrous metal beAng delivered a first collectioi point, the 0° plastics material befhg delivered to a second collection 20 point and the mixtu're of non-ferrous metal and plastics material being delivered to an input of the agitation means to be recycle therethrough. The separation means may Soo conveniently be a vibrating screen separator. Preferably the means for chopping or separating the cable 'ncludes a plurality of chopping or separating devices whereby the cable, is progressively decreased in length. Preferably, a storage bin is provided in the infeed line to the agitation pteans to ensure a constant supply thereto.

Preferred embodiments in accordance with the S 30 present invention will herejiafter be described with S' reference to the accomparying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a first preferred embodiment of apparatus for dislodging copper wire from short lengths of sheathed copper wire caule taken along line B-B of Figure 2; Figure 2 is a transverse cross-sectional view taken along line A-A of Figure 1; 6 Figure 3 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view similar to Figure 1 showing a second preferred embodiment; Figure 4 is a schematic layout drawing illustrating one preferred installation for separating copper wire from sheathed copper wire cable utilising apparatus according to Figures 1 to 3; and Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view of a granulating machine used in the installation of Figure 4.

The accompanying drawings illustrate apparatus in 10 accordance with the present invention where short discrete lengths of electric cable including copper wire or the like and surrounding plastics material sheathing are fed thereto and subjected to mechanical agitation and/or beating. The electric cable being subjected previously to a cutting or O 15guillotining operation to produce the short lengths 15 generally of about 15 mm or less in length, preferably in o4 the range of 3 mm to 6 mm. As shown in Figure i, the apparatus 10 comprises a stationary housing 11 defining a o° generally cylindrical treatment zone 12. The stationary S housing is formed by a cylindrical wall 13, rigid end plates 20 14 and 15, a base plate 16 and stabilising supports 17. A plurality of fastening bolts 28 are provided around the a periphery of the wal 13 to hold the assembly of the wall 13 and end plates 14, 15 together. Spacer tubes 29 around each bolt 28 maintain the correct spacing between the plates 14 i: and 15. An infeed chute 18 is provided to deliver the small discrete lengths of electric cable to a central region 19 of the housing treatment zone 12. Attached to the stationary wall 15 are a plurality of stationary pins 20 extending generally perpendicular to the wall 15 or axially through the treatment zone 12. The pins, moreciver, are arranged in rings of increasing diameter around the central infeed Z region 19.

A rotor construction 21 is also provided generally within the housing 11. The rotor construction 21 includes a drive shaft 22 extending through the wall 14 opposite the infeed chute 18, the shaft 22 being mounted in externally located bearings and driven by suitable drive means (not i -7shown). Within the housing 11, the rotor construction 21 includes a plate 23 and a plurality of pins 24 extending through the treatment zone 12 generally at right angles to the plate 23. The pins 24 are also generally arranged in rings of increasing diameter such that the rings of pins 24 are alternately located between the stationary pins Thus upon rotation of the drive shaft 22, the plate 23 and pins 24 are adapted to also rotate whereby the pins 24 rotate between rows of the stationary pins 20. The shaft 22 may conveniently be rotated at a speed of about 1400 rpm.

The pins 20,24 as shown in the drawings are circular in cross-sectional shape, however pins with polygonal cross-section may also be used. By rotation of the drive shaft, the short lengths of electric cable fed to the zone 15 19 are given a centrifugal force whereby they are moved 0000 outwardly while undergoing severe agitation or beating by the co-operating pins 20,24. The stationary plate 15 has an o inwardly directed surface 25 while the rotor plate 23 has an OO inwardly directed surface 26 which are ground flat and 20 positioned accurately whereby the pins 20 and 24 have ends positioned very close to the respective surfaces 26 and In this manner, the passage of cable lengths outwardly is o0o 0 prevented without undergoing the beating action of the pins and Any other means to effect this action might o 25 equally b, employed.

As is best seen in Figure 2, an exit passage 27 is provided leading tangentially from a region outwardly of the pins 20,24. The plastics material and copper after being dislodged by the mechanical beating action of the pins 20,24 S30 travel out the exit passage 27 to a suitable separator s o30 mechanism shown in Fiqure 4. The separator mechanism might comprise vibrating screens but any other mechanism could equally be employed.

Referring to Figure 3, there is shown an 35 alternative embodiment to the arrangement shown in Figure 1.

In this embodiment, a stationary housing is provided made up by spaced plate walls 78,79 and a circumferential wall A plurality of bolts 81 with spacer sleeves 82 are provided

I

8 to hold the plate walls 78,79 together at the desired spacing. Within the stationary housing there is provided a pair of rotatable plates 83,84, each with an array of pins 85,86 extending across the housing to a position adjacent the other rotatable plate. As with the embodiment shown in Figure i, the pins 85,86 are arranged in concentric circles of increasing diameter such that the pins 85 of the plate 83 alternate with the pins 86 of the plate 84 when moving through the pin array in an outward direction. In this embodiment each pin 85,86 has a hexagonal cross-section.

The plate 83 is mounted to a shaft 87 supported in suitable bearing means 88 and diven by any suitable drive means (not shown) to rotate the pins 85 in a first direction through the housing. An annular shaft 89 is provided connected to the second rotatable plate 84 and is mounted in bearings 90,91. A drive pulley 92 may be connected to the shaft and driven by drive means (not shown) for driving the shaft 89 and thereby the pins 86 in a second direction opposite to the direction of rotation of the pins 85. Conveniently the shafts 87 and 89 are each rotated at a speed of about 700 rpm to give an effective relative rotation of the pins and 86 of about 1400 rpm similar to that described in the foregoing with reference to Figure 1.

The annular shaft 89 serves the additional purpose of providing an inlet passage to the inner zone 93 of the stationary housing. An auger feed device 94 with an inlet chute 95 may be provided to feed short discrete lengths of cut or chopped electric cable to the inner zone 93. As with the embodiment of Figure i, a tangential exit or discharge chute may be provided leading from the outer zone 96 of the housing.

Referring now to Figure 4, there is shown schematically a complete installation for handling treatment of wtaste wire cable or the like to separately recover the non-ferrous metal (usually copper) and the plastics material sheathing. Normally waste wire cable or the like is recovered from buildings under demolition. The cable is often tangled and may comprise different sizes (thicknesses -9and lengths) of cable, multi-strand cable, single wire cable and braided wire cable. The waste cable received may of course also include other undesirable elements such as ferrous metal fastening elements, and other debris picked up from the building demolition site. In the installation shown in Figure 4, the arrangement comprises a precutting zone 30, a shredding zone 31, a first granulation stage 32, a bulk storage bin zone 33, a second granulation stage 34, an agitation apparatus 10 (as previously described with reference to Fi3ures 1 to 3) and a separation stage 35. In the precutting zone 30 there is provided a guillotine 36 and an infeed conveyor 37 for feeding essentially non sorted electric cable to the guillotine 36. The waste cable to be treated may be delivered from a building demolition site or the like to a nearby bulk storage zone and from there could be delivered by a forklift grab truck to the start of the °i conveyor 37. The only preliminary pre-sorting needed is to remove from the tangled cable any unwanted heavy debris that would be likely to damage the guillotine and any of the 20 subsequent shredding/granulating machinery.

The guillotine 36 is arranged to chop the cable into lengths of about 300 to 600 mm and deliver such cut lengths of cable to an infeed storage bin 3b for a conveyor 39. The conveyor 39 includes a magnetic roller separator arrangement 40 adapted to pick up any ferrous metal elements that pass the guillotine and deliver same to a waste storage bin 41. The remainder of the cut cable travels from the conveyor 39 into a shredder 42 which shreds thle cable lengths to lengths of about 50 mm. From the shredder 42 a further conveyor 43 delivers the cable lengths to an infeed 30 chute of a first granulator 44. A magnetic drum separator unit 45 is also provided adjacent the outfeed end of the conveyor 43 to separate any further ferrous elements that might have passed through the shredder 42 and deliver same to a second waste storage bin 46. Each of the granulators 44 and 47 in the first and sec. 1, tranulator zones are essentially constructed as shown in Figure 10 As illustrated in Figure 5, each of the granulators 44,47 comprise an infeed chute 48, a cutter rotor 49 with a plurality of cutting blades 50. The rotor 49 is driven by a motor 51. The rotor cutting blades 50 co operate with stationary cutting blades 52 cut the cable lengths into shorter lengths. The cutting action occurs against each set of stationary blades 52. A part cylindrical screen 53 is arranged below the rotor 49 with perforations of a size to permit predetermined lengths of cut cable to pass .0 therethrough. The cutting action is substantially continuous and continues until, the cable lengths are cut to a size sufficient to pass through the perforated screen 53.

The difference between the granulators 44 and 47 is essentially the size of the perforations of the screens 53.

15 The screen 53 of granulator 44 includes pe. forations to °oooo 15 ooea allow cable lengths of about 15 to 25 mm to pass 000o therathrough. The screen 53 of the second granulator 4) So° includes perforations that will allow cable lengths of about O00oo So3 to 6 mm to pass therethrough. The cable lengths passing qo 20 through the perforated screen 53 passes into a chute 54 and from there onto a conveyor (Figure 4) for subsequent treatment, o.a The first granulator 44 delivers cut cable lengths o00" onto a conveyor 55 which in turn delivers the cable lengths to a bulk storage bin 56. The purpose of the bulk storage

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bin 56 is to ensure a continuous even supply of cut cable a oo lengths to the subsequent processing stages. The efficient operation of these stages is to some extent dependent upon the ability to maintain a uniform continuous supply of cut 0,n 30 cable lengths. A screw conveyor 57 leads fEom tihe base of o the bin 56 to an infeed conveyor 58 for I he final or second granulator- 4'7. A magnetic separating contoyor 59 extends transversely across the infeed conveyor S8 to finally pick up any forrous elements that have escaped hlo ealicler sepai tion devices and deposit same into a waste st orage bin The cut cable lengths leaving the second granulator 47 are delivered by a conveyor 61 to the infoed means of the mechanical agitatot 10. The discharged sep)atate plastics 11 material particles and metallic particles are delivered to t;he infeed zone of a vibrating screer <ator 62 that has a plurality of outlets 63. The part n the separator are separated such that the metal particles move to one end 64 and the plastics material particles move to the other end In between these ends there may be a mixture of plastics material and metal which is removed and delivered along line 66 to the agitator infeed conveyor 61. The plastics material is delivered by conveyor 67 to a storage bin 76 so that it may be reprocessed into plastics articles as desired. The copper (or other non-ferrous metal) may be collected in a storage container 68 or undergo a further ferrous metal separation stage by being delivered onto a conveyor 69 with a magnetic separation roller 70, the ferrous metal being deliviered to a waste bin (not shown) with the non-ferrous metal being delivered into bin 71.

As illustrated in Figure 4, a dust separation or extraction system might be employed including an extraction fan 72 with ducts 73 leading from the first and second granulators 44,47, the storage bin 56, the agitator 10 and the separator 62. The extraction fan 72 may deliver the extracted air and dust to a cyclone separator 77. As an aliernative to the precutting guillotine 36, it is also proposed to use a heavy duty shredder 74 with any suitable feed means such as grab buckets or the like 75 for delivering waste cable thereto.

By the use of apparatus in accordance with the present invention, it has been found possible to maii?.,;1 high volume flow rates while also obtaining very high separation rates of copper (or other non-ferrous metals) from the plastics material sheathing.

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Claims

1. A method of separating copper or other non-ferrous metal from material in the form of non-ferrous metal wire sheathed in plastics material, said method comprising the steps of: dividing the material into short discrete lengths; providing a mechanical agitator including a beating chamber, a discharge outlet and an array of beating elements including pins arranged in concentric circles about a central axis with the pins of each of the concentric circles extending transversely across Lhe beating chamber, at least alternate concentric circles of the pins being movable about an axis of rotation parallel to or coincident with the central axis such that the pins in adjacent concentric circles move relative to one another about the central axis; delivering the short discrete lengths to the mechanical agitator, said delivering including delivering the short discrete lengths to an inlet space in the beating chamber within an innermost one of the concentric circles of the pins, such that the short discrete lengths pass outwardly therefrom through the array of beating elements and are discharged through the discharge outlet as a mixture of plastics material, short lengths of non-ferrous metal wire and short discrete lengths of non-ferrous metal wire remaining sheathed by the plastics material; separating the material discharged from the discharge outlet into separated plastics material and separated short lengths of metal wire; and recycling the short discrete lengths of non-ferrous metal wire remaining sheathed by the plastics material to the inlet space.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said central axis is horizontally disposed.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising, prior to said delivering step, storing the short discrete lengths in I adu ,Di ooo eU u u U oO;u 09 (I 1)001 nJ;. 1 co 0090 t002 o o 2 0 0D 002'0 r' I ouo 0"0 0 0 0 40 u 0 o o 00 4 Sr 4 I r 18 200/88 1 13 a bulk hopper to provde a uniform supply of the short discrete lengths to the mechanical agitator.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising holding alternating concentric circle, of the pins stationary. The method of claim 1 further comprising moving alternate concentric circles of the pins in opposite directions about the central axis.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein said delivering includes the short discrete lengths entering said inlet space having a length of about three to six millimeters.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the relative speed of rotation of the alternate concentric circles of the pins is about 1400 rpm.

8. An apparatus for separating non-ferrous metal from material in the form of non-ferrous metal wire sheathed in plastics material, said apparatus comprising: dividing means for dividing the material into short discrete lengths; a mechanical agitator comprising a beating chamber, a discharge i ,:let and an array of,beating elements, said array of beating elements including pins arranged in concentric circles about a central axis with the pins of each said concentric circle extending transversely across the said beating chamber, at least alternate concentric circles of said pins being movable about an axis of rotation parallel to or coincident with said central axis such that said pins in adjacent said concentric circles move relative to one another about said central axis; said mechanical agitator including inlet space within an innermost one of said concentric circles of the pins; conveying means for delivering the short discrete lengths to said inlet space 0 0~ 0- u, 00 U 0 0 -14 such that the short discrete lengths pass outwardly therefrom through said array of beating elements and are dischar-ed through said discharge outlet as a mixture of plastics material, short lengths of non-ferrous metal wire and short discrete lengths of non-ferrous metal wire remaining sheathed by the plastics material; separator means for receiving from said discharge outlet the mixture of plastics material, short discrete -engths of non-ferrous metal wire and short discrete lengths of non-ferr-ous metal wire remaining sheathed by t.ne plastics material and for separating the received mix':ure into its components parts; and returning means for retuiirning the short discrete lengths of non-ferrous metal w~ire remaining sheathed by the plastics material separated by said separator means to said inlet space. .1 9. The apparatus of claim 0 wherein said central axis is horizontally disposed. t10. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein alternate said concentric circles of said pins are held stationary.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein alternate said concentric circles of said pins move in opposite directions about said central axis.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the relative speed of rotation of alternate said concentric circles of said i pins is about 1400 rpm.

13. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein said pins are of uniform length. t

14. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein said pins are of uniform cross-section. -I 15 The apparatus of claim 13 wherein each said pin has a circular cross-section.

16. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein each said pin has a polygonal cross-section.

17. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein said beating chamber has a uniform transverse width and said axis of rotation is horizontally disposed.

18. A mechanical agitator for us6 in a process of separating copper or other non-ferrous metal from material in the fori of non-ferrous metal sheathed in plastics material, said mechanical agitator comprising: a beating chamber, a central inlet to said beating chamber and a .'o00' discharge outlet leading from a peripheral region of said beating chamber, an array of beating elements in the form of pins arranged in concentric circles about a central axis with the pins of each of the concentric circles extending transversely across the beating chamber, at least alternate concentric circles of the pins being movable about a horizontally arranged axis of rotation parallel to or coincident with the central axis such that the pins in adjacent concentric circles move,relative to one another about the axis of rotation, said inlet leading to an inlet space located within an innermost one of the concentric circles of the pins whereby short discrete lengths of non-ferrous metal sheathed in plastics material entering said inlet space must pass through said array of beating elements to said discharge outlet, said beating chamber having a uniform width in the direction of said axis of Srotation across which said pins extend.

19. The mechanical agitator of claim 18 wherein said pins are polygonal in cross-section within said beating 0u 0100W1 C :0 0 0 o no 0 0q 16 charaber. The mechanical agitator of claim 18 wherein alternate said concentric circles of the pins are arranged to move in opposite directions about the axis of rotation.

21. The mechanical agitator of claim 18 further comprising a rotating auger feed means for feeding the short discrete lengths of non-ferrous metal sheathed in plastics material into the inlet space.

22. The mechanical agitator of claim 21 wherein said beating chamber is defined by a pair of spaced parallel walls and a circumferential wall, said pins being secured to spaced parallel discs within said chamber with each of said discs being rotatable about said axis of rotation, said auger feed means extending into a tubular chute rotatable with one of said discs, and said tubular chute including drive means for enabling said chute and said one disc to be rotated.

23. A method of separating copper or other non-ferrous metal from material in the form of non-ferrous metal wire sheathed in plastics material, sqid method comprising the steps of: passing the material to shredder means and shredding the material into coarse discrete lengths; passing the material leaving said shredder means to dividing apparatus where the material is divided into short discrete lengths shorter than the coarse discrete lengths leaving said shredder means; passing said short discrete lengths leaving said dividing apparatus to a mechanical agitator, said agitator including a beating chamber, a discharge outlet and an array of beating elements including pins arranged in concentric circles about a central axis with the pins of each of the concentric circles extending 17 transversely across the beating chamber, at least alternate concentric circles of the pins being movable about an axis of rotation parallel to or coincident with the central axis such that the pins in adjacent concen'ric circles move relative to one another about the central axis, the short discrete lengths of said material being passed to said mechanical agitator being delivered to an inlet space in the beating chamber within an innermost one of the concentric circles of the pins, such that the short discrete lengths pass outwardly thereform through the array of beating elements and are discharged through the discharge outlet as a mixture of plastics material, short lengths of non-ferrous metal wire and short discrete lengths of non-ferrous metal wire remaining sheathed by the plastics material; separating the material discharged from the discharge outlet into separated plastics material, separated short lengths of metal wire, and short discrete lengths of non-ferrous metal wire remaining sheathed by the plastics material; and recycling the short discrete lengths of non-ferrous metal wire remaining sheathed by the plastics material directly to the inlet space of the mechanical agitator without passage through the shredding means or the dividing apparatus.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein said central axis of the mechanical agitator is horizontally disposed. o 25. The method of claim 23 further compris.ng, prior to S passing said short discrete lengths to the mechanical agitator, storing the short discrete lengths in a bulk hopper to provide a uniform supply of the short discrete lengths to the mechanical agitator.

26. The method of claim 23 wherein said dividing apparatus comprises two granulators with said bulk hopper J7 18 located between said granulators in the direction of flow of said material towards the mechanical agitator.

27. An apparatus for separating non-ferrous metal from material in the form of non-ferrous metal wire sheathed in plastics material, said apparatus comprising: shredder means for shredding the material into coarse discrete lengths; dividing apparatus arranged to receive the coarse discrete lengths from said shredder meanslinto short discrete lengths having a length shorter than that of said coarse discrete lengths; a mechanical agitator comprising a beating chamber, a discharge outlet, and an array of beating elements, said array of beating elements including pins arranged in concentric circles about a central axis with said pins of each said concentric circle extending transversley across said beating chamber, at least alternate said concentric circles of said pins being movable about an axis of rotation parallel to or coincident with said central axis such that said pins in adjacent said concentric circles move relative to one another about said central axis, said mechanical agitator including an inlet space within an innermost one of said concentric circles of said pins; conveying means for delivering said material to the shredder means, between said shredder means and the dividing apparatus and for delivering the short discrete lengths to said inlet space such that the short discrete lengths pass outwardly therefrom through said array of beating elements and are discharged through said discharge outlet as a mixture of plastics material, short lengths of non-ferrous metal wire and short discrete lengths of non-ferrous metal D wire remaining sheathed by the plastics material; separator S; means for receiving from said discharge outlet the mixture of plastics material, short discrete lengths of non-ferrous tal wire and short discrete lengths of non-ferrous metal wire remaining sheathed by the plastics material and for 191 19 separating the received mixture into its component parts; and returning means for returning the short discrete lengths of non-ferrous metal wire remaining sheathed by the plastics material separated by said separator means directly to said inlet space of the mechanical agitator without passing through said shredder means or said dividing apparatus.

28. The apparatus of claim 27 wherein said central axis of the mechanical agitator is horizontally disposed.

29. The apparatus of claim 27 further comprising, prior to said mechanical agitator, a bulk hopper for the discrete lengths of said material to provide a uniform supply of said material to the mechanical agitator. o 30. The apparatus of claim 29 wherein said dividing apparatus comprises two granulators with said bulk hopper located between said granulators in the direction of flow of said material towards the mechanical agitator. 000 31. A method of separating copper or other non-ferrous metal from material in the form of non-ferrous metal wire sheathed in plastics material, said method comprising the steps of: dividing the material,into short discrete lengths; providing a mechanical agitator including a beating chamber, a discharge outlet and an array of beating elements including pins arranged in concentric circles about a central axis with the pins of each of the concentric circles extendiitg tranversely across the beating chamber, at least alternate concentric circles of the pins being movable about an axis of rotation parallel to or coincident with the central axis such that the pins in adjacent concentric circles move relative to one another about the central axis; delivering the short discrete lengths to the mechanical I agitator, said delivering including delivering the short discrete lengths to an inlet space in the beating chamber within an innermost one of the concentric circles of the pins, such that the short discrete lengths pass outwardly therefrom through the array of beating elements and are discharged through the discharge outlet as a mixture of plastics material, short lengths of non-ferrous metal wire and short discrete lengths of non-ferrous metal wire remaining sheathed by the plastics material; separating the material discharged from the discharge outlet of the agitator in separation apparatus into separated plastics material, separated short lengths of metal wire, and short discrete lengths of non-ferrous metal wire remaining sheathed by the plastic~s material, said separation apparatus comprising an angled vibrating air table where air isj forced throtd-hdthe material to be separated thereon, the short lengths of metal and plastics material being withdrawn from the table at opposed ends thereof and the short discrete lengths of non-ferrous metal wire remaining sheathed by the plastics material being withdrawn from a zone of said table intermediate to ends; and recycling the short discrete lengths of non-ferrous metal wire remaining sheathed by the plastics material to the inlet space.

32. An apparatus for separating non-ferrous metal from materials in the form of non-ferrous metal wire sheathed in plastics material, said apparatus comprising: dividing means for dividing the material into short discrete lengths; a mechanical agitator comprising a beating chamber, a discharge outlet, and an. array of beating elements, said array of beating elements including pins arranged in o' concentric circles about a central axis with said pins of r o each said concentric circle extending transversely across said beating chamber, at least alternate said concentric circles of said pins being movable about an axis of roaticn A U I.o 21 parallel to or coincident with said central axis such that said pins in adjacent said concentric circles move relative to one another about said central axis, said mechanical agitator including an inlet space within an innermost one of said concentric circles of said pins; conveying means for delivering the short discrete lengths to said inlet space such that the short discrete lengths pass outwardly therefrom through said array of beating elements and are discharged through said array of beating elements and are discharged through said discharge outlet as a mixture of plastics material, short lengths of non-ferrous metal wire and short discrete lengths of non-ferrous metal wire remaining sheathed by the plastics material; separator apparatus for receiving from said discharge outlet the mixture of plastics material, short discrete lengths of 0 non-ferrous metal wire and short discrete lengths of non-ferrous metal wire remaining sheathed by the plastics material and for separating the received mixture into its component parts and said separator apparatus comprising an angled vibrating r table where air islqrr-ced through- the material to be separated thereon, the short discrete lengths of metal and plastics material being withdrawn from the table at opposed ends thereof and the short discrete lengths of non-ferrous metal wire remaining sheathed by the plastics material being withdrawn from a zone of said table intermediate its ends; and returning means for returning the short discrete lengths of non-ferrous material wire remaining sheathed by the plastics material separated by said separator means to said inlet space. I i r i I I 4 4 ~rirr4 p 4'r o<M 22 DATED this 6th day of April, 1990 DESIGN COUNT PTY LTD WATERMARK PATENT TRADEMARK ATTORNEYS 2nd Floor "The Atrium" 290 Burwood Road HAWTHORN VICTORIA 3122 AUSTRALIA a 2.58:SC(SKP)