Abstract: Process and apparatus for the recovery of both cellulosic fibers and plastic material from plastic-coated papers and boards.This material is wet-pulped in water suspension, and the suspension is then discharged into dilution tanks for floating most of the plastic material at the upper region of the suspension, wherefrom the plastic material is mechanically separated by wire-mesh conveyors, and washed in a rotating screen.The fibrous suspension is screened in a rotating screen to eliminate the residual plastic material.

Abstract: A moist pulp fiberization device wherein picked moist pulp enters a tubular chamber behind a fiberizing blade mounted coaxially within the chamber, the fiberizing blade being configured to produce a turbulent vortex with little, if any, pressure differential within the chamber, the flow of pulp through the chamber being induced and controlled by drawing a vacuum on the trailing end of the chamber and providing an adjustable orifice plate intermediate the fiberizing blade and the trailing end of the chamber; if required, the fibers withdrawn from the chamber may be successively introduced into one or more additional chambers of like configuration to effect substantially complete fiber separation, whereupon the separated fibers are discharged for subsequent processing and use.

Abstract: A method for segregating bark and/or foliage from wood chips and/or twigs in a mixture of such components is provided. The method includes three essential steps. The first step comprises conditioning a pile of such mixture by periodically sprinkling the pile with water during storage. The second step comprises vigorously agitating the conditioned mixture with sufficient water, and for sufficient time to break bonded bark from the wood chips and the twigs and to comminute the bark. The third step comprises wet screening the agitated mixture thereby separating effluent bark and foliage from the wood chips and/or twigs in the mixture. An additional step includes dewatering the effluent bark and foliage, thereby to recover screened out solids materials. This method can be operated successfully on either a batch or a continuous basis without any serious effect on the reduction of pulp quality.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for producing defibrated cellulose fluff from bales of stacked compacted wood pulp sheets. A face of such a bale or stack is advanced against a milling cutter. The milling cutter and bale are moved relative to one another in the plane of said face to sweep the cutter across all portions of the face and disintegrate the sheets. Fluff thus produced is drawn through a foraminous screen for further disintegration and defibration of the fluff particles. In preferred embodiments, the baled stack is rotated on a vertical axis over a milling cutter which rotates on a horizontal axis. The milling cutter is mounted beneath a bed having a port through which the periphery of the mill is exposed to the face of the bale.

Abstract: This invention is directed to an apparatus and method for reducing the size of a material so as to make it possible to more readily and easily handle said material and, concurrently, to make said material into a useful product.An example of this is a treatment of wood remaining in a cutover forest. The wood may be in the form of stumps, broken logs, branches, limbs and the like. This wood may be processed so as to reduce the size of the wood. The wood which has been reduced in size is left on the ground to rot. An alternative to this is to reduce the size of the wood so as to make it more easily and readily handled and then to haul this reduced size wood to a processing area or processing plant for further processing.

Abstract: Refining machine for chippings, shavings, paper pulp and the like comprising two grinding discs rotatable relative to one another and each provided with grinding bodies, forming between them a narrow slot-shaped grinding chamber. The grinding discs are so arranged that they can be displaced relative to one another for the adjustment of the size of the slot-shaped grinding chamber in order to compensate for the wear of the grinding bodies. Means is provided to cause the grinding discs to approach one another continuously at a predetermined rate during the period the machine is in operation.

Abstract: A method of whole tree chipping and whole tree chipper with a funnel-shaped receiving structure for receiving the butt end of a tree while the top of the tree is supported by the ground, and for bending limbs thereof, and a pair of free-floating feed rollers for engaging the periphery of the tree and feeding the tree to a chipper. The funnel may have teeth disposed along the interior surface thereof and be rotatable automatically in response to hang-ups within the funnel to eliminate the hang-ups by twisting and cutting of the tree limbs. Hydraulic rams preferably bias the feed rollers toward each other, and bias them to a particular orientation with respect to the opening in the funnel. The centerline of the entrance to the chipper is located in line with or slightly above the centerline of the opening in the funnel, and preferably the funnel opening is slightly smaller than the chipper entrance.

Abstract: The invention relates to the production of a wholly mechanical pulp of improved strength properties. The lignocellulosic material is fed into a substantially closed chamber where it is mechanically abraded under a power input of fifteen or more horsepower days per ton. During the abrading step, the material is maintained in an inert gaseous atmosphere of a pressure of ten to eighty psig, preferably twenty to forty psig.

Abstract: A vortical circulation type pulper has a bladed rotor and stator with a fixed clearance and operates at conventional horsepower to defibre conventional pulp, capable of being defibered, until the fibres are separated. With unconventional pulp, hemp, flax, rags, leather, and certain rejects, which cannot be so defibered, the rotor of the pulper of this invention is advanced to zero clearance and the horsepower increased about fifty percent, the resultant thrust grinding the mass of pulp, and then fibrillating the fibres in the pulper to a desired degree of refining. The rotor then backs off and the refined pulp is dumped from the pulper. An automatic freeness tester senses the condition of the pulp and actuates the electric control circuit.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for controlling pulp refiners where a feed forward algorithm compensates for the time delay in the effective action of the base refiners which are coupled to a high frequency compensating tickler refiner by a machine chest which has a significant time lag. In addition, efficiency of the control system is enhanced by providing a simple control method for a complex series parallel matrix of base refiners where the change of specific energy is easily accomplished by a distribution algorithm.