Apparatus for converting bales of insulation to loose fill

1. A machine for de-aggregating a bale of insulation and blowing de-aggregated insulation, the bale of insulation having a front, a rear, a first side, a second side, a first length extending in a forward/rearward direction, the machine having a height and a transversely extending length and comprising

a de-aggregation chamber having an inlet end positioned above an outlet end, the de-aggregation chamber having first and second opposed end walls and a height, a length and a width and comprising a single upper de-aggregation member and a single lower de-aggregation member, each de-aggregation member comprising a longitudinally extending rotary mounted shaft having a drive end provided on the first side of the machine and an opposed end on the second side of the machine, a length and a plurality of paddles angularly staggered around the shaft and extending along the length of the shaft, the paddles of the upper de-aggregation member comprising first and second paddles having differing lengths and both the first and second paddles are interleaved with the paddles of the lower de-aggregation member whereby the first and second paddles pass between the paddles of the lower de-aggregation member;

a feeder communicating with the inlet end of the de-aggregation chamber;

a discharge zone comprising a longitudinally extending rotary valve having a drive end provided on the second side of the machine and an opposed end, an upper insulation inlet and an outlet, the upper inlet positioned below the lower de-aggregation member whereby insulation travels downwardly from the de-aggregation member into the rotary valve; and,

a motor

wherein the motor is drivingly connected to the drive end of the shaft of one of the upper and lower de-aggregation members, the drive end of the shaft of one of the upper and lower de-aggregation members is drivenly connected to the drive end of the shaft of the other of the upper and lower de-aggregation members and the opposed end of the shaft of the other of the upper and lower de-aggregation members is drivingly connected to the drive end of the rotary valve whereby torque produced by the motor is applied on each of the first and second sides of the machine and is distributed more evenly.

2. The machine of claim 1 wherein each first paddle comprises a first blade portion and each second paddle comprises a second blade portion and the first blade portions have a longer length than the second blade portions and the first blade portions of the paddles of the upper de-aggregation member have an overlap with the first blade portions of the paddles of the lower de-aggregation member that is from 30-50% of a length of the first blade portions of the paddles of the lower de-aggregation member-and the second blade portions of the paddles of the upper de-aggregation member have an overlap with the second blade portions of the paddles of the lower de-aggregation member that is from 20-40% of the length of the second blade portions of the paddles of the lower de-aggregation member.

3. The machine of claim 1 wherein each paddle comprises a blade portion and the blade portions of the first paddles have a length that is from 60-90% of the length of the blade portions of the second paddles.

4. The machine of claim 1 wherein each paddle comprises a blade portion and the blade portions of the first and second paddles have a leading face and the leading face of the blade portions of the first paddles face one of the end walls and the leading face of the blade portions of the second paddles face the other of the end walls.

5. The machine of claim 4 wherein the blade portions of the first and second paddles are alternately staggered.

6. The machine of claim 1 wherein each of the upper and lower de-aggregation members has a drive linkage and the drive linkages are configured such that the upper de-aggregation member rotates at a slower rate than the lower de-aggregation member.

7. The machine of claim 1 further comprising a first drive member connecting the motor to the lower de-aggregation member on the first side of the machine, a second drive member connecting the lower de-aggregation member to the upper de-aggregation member on the first side of the machine and a third drive member positioned on the second side of the machine connecting the lower de-aggregation member to the rotary valve.

8. The machine of claim 1 wherein the shaft of the lower de-aggregation member is offset in the forward/rearward direction from the shaft of the upper de-aggregation member and below the shaft of the upper de-aggregation member.

9. The machine of claim 1 wherein the upper de-aggregation member has an odd number of paddles and the lower de-aggregation member has an even number of paddles wherein the paddles of the upper and lower de-aggregation members are configured such that a paddle of the upper de-aggregation member extends between adjacent paddles of the lower de-aggregation member.

10. The machine of claim 1 wherein the rotary valve has an inlet positioned directly below the lower de-aggregation member.

11. The machine of claim 10 further comprising a choke, wherein the choke is configured to redirect some de-aggregated insulation upwardly to the lower de-aggregation member.

12. The machine of claim 11 wherein the choke is a variable choke.

13. The machine of claim 1 wherein the paddles comprising a mounting hub having a radial inner engagement surface, the engagement and seating surface are configured to position the paddles at fixed angular orientations on one of the shafts.

14. The machine of claim 1 wherein the discharge zone includes the rotary valve having a plurality of vanes, each vane comprising a rigid backbone and a flexible material provided thereon.

15. The machine of claim 1 wherein paddles having a shorter length are interspersed between paddles having a longer length.

16. the machine of claim 1 wherein the shaft of the upper de-aggregation member is laterally offset from the shaft of the lower de-aggregation member in the first direction.