Office equipment for paper recycling

Abstract

An office paper recycling apparatus makes new office paper from used paper directly in an office building. The apparatus (1) comprises a used paper-feeding portion (58); a paper-shredding portion (57); a pulping portion (51); a paper-forming portion (52); a paper-press portion (53); a paper-drying portion (54); a paper-sizing portion (55); a paper-finishing portion (56) and a final paper-collecting portion (59), where the new sheets are collected and stacked, ready to be used in office equipment.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is derived from, and claims the benefit of, Italian patent application MI2005A 001307, filed on Jul. 11, 2005, which is hereby incorporated by reference. FIELD OF INVENTION [0002] In the field of paper recycling, self-contained office equipment that recycles discarded paper to make new paper. DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART [0003] Paper recycling is becoming increasingly important in worldwide conservation efforts. [0004] In Europe, the Confederation of European Paper Industries together with European Recovered Paper Association and the European Federation of Corrugated Board Manufacturers signed a declaration in 2000 committing the signatories to achieving a recycling rate of 56% by 2005. These parties agreed to strive for further improvements in the environmental performance of the industry through measures such as improved use of material and optimising collection systems. [0005] The American Forest and Paper Association ha...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0013] An office paper recycling apparatus makes new office paper from used paper directly in an office building. The preferred embodiment of the apparatus is compact for use in an office and performs all the required process steps to convert a used sheet of paper to a new, ready to use sheet of paper. Portions of the preferred embodiment of the apparatus feed a single sheet of used paper, automatically into the apparatus; shred the paper; pulp the shredded paper by mixing with water and subjecting to it to mechanical action to become a slurry; form new paper from the slurry by spreading the paper fibers consolidating them into a thin mat for sheet formation; press the mat into a sheet by squeezing it between a series of rollers and continuous felts to remove the most of the water from the web; dry the sheet by passing it between a series of heated cylinders to take up final drying; size the sheet by passing it between rolls of polished metal to provide surface strength and smoothness; finish the paper sheet to obtain the desired dimensions; collect and stack the paper sheet for new uses.

Problems solved by technology

In fact, during the last few years and despite the boom of paperless technology, office paper consumption has increased.

A significant drawback to the Yokozuka invention is that it does not provide all required steps for paper manufacturing.

Furthermore, to save space in office buildings, it is not enough to miniaturize each step of paper making process, but a process should also simplify operations to make them easy to implement by unskilled labor.

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