US3923174A - Non-stop refuse collection container - Google Patents

Abstract

A device designed to be mounted on the side of a garbage pick-up vehicle and adapted to engage and invert refuse containers to transfer the contents thereof into the bed of said vehicle while the vehicle is in motion, allowing the vehicle to collect garbage placed along a roadway in a non-stop operation without manual handling.

Description

United States Patent Stragier 1 1 Dec. 2, 1975 15 1 NON-STOP REFUSE COLLECTION 3,016,157 I/1962 Brisson 214/302 CONTAINER 3,529,743 9/1970 Ehrbar ct a1 206/519 [76] Inventor: Marcel G. Stragier, 8201 Monterey Way, Scottsdale, Ariz. 85251 [22] Filed: July 22, 1974 [21] App]. No.: 490,515

Related U.S. Application Data [60] Division of Ser. No. 364,708, May 29, 1973, Pat. No. 3,878,953, which is a continuation of Ser. No. 199,813, Nov. 17, I971, abandoned, which is a division of Ser. No. 15,421, March 2, 1970, abandoned.

[52] US. Cl. 214/313; 206/519; 214/302; 220/264 [51] Int. Cl.B65F 3/02 [58] Field of Search 214/302, 303, 304, 313, 214/147 G; 294/69, 73; 220/263, 264; 206/519 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,412,325 12/1946 Devine ct a1 206/519 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,031,463 6/1953 France ..2I4/303 299,965 7/1954 Switzerland ..2I4/303 Primary ExaminerR0bert .I. Spar Assistant ExaminerLawrence J. Oresky [57] ABSTRACT A device designed to be mounted on the side of a garbage pick-up vehicle and adapted to engage and invert refuse containers to transfer the contents thereof into the bed of said vehicle while the vehicle is in motion, allowing the vehicle to collect garbage placed along a roadway in a non-stop operation without manual hand1ing 4 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures US. Patent Dec. '2, 1975. Sheet 1 of3 3,923,174

us. Patent Dec.2,1975 sheetzofs- 3,923,174

U.S. Patent Dec. 2, 1975Sheet 3 of3 3,923,174

NON-STOP REFUSE COLLECTION CONTAINER CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This is a division of co-pending application Ser. No. 364,708, filed May 29, 1973, now US. Pat. No. 3,878,953 issued Apr. 22, 1975 which in turn is a continuation of Ser. No. 199,813 filed Nov. 17, 1971, now abandoned, which is in turn a division of Ser. No. 15,421 f led Mar. 2, 1970, now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Refuse collection through industrial and residential areas has in the past been an extremely inefficient process requiring a substantial amount of manual handling of refuse containers. The most common method used in the prior art to transfer refuse into a refuse collection vehicle has been the manual lifting and inverting of the refuse containers above a bin or opening located on the vehicle. These vehicles often incorporate mechanisms for moving the refuse from this bin to theinterior of the body of the vehicle and tightly compacting the refuse within the vehicle. Various systems have also been developed for mechanically lifting therefuse containers and inverting them above the collection bin on the vehicle. Each of these prior art mechanisms, however, required stopping the vehicle and generally required the manual insertion of the portable refuse container onto the lifting mechanism of the vehicle and manual removal of the refuse containers from the vehicle after the refuse has been transferred. Therefore, even with these improvements, the prior art vehicles were limited to a slow progression along a roadway where the portable containers were located and often required personnel in addition to the vehicle driver for manually manipulating the portable containers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention, on the other hand, is directed toward an apparatus and process which totally automates the transfer of refuse from refuse containers to a refuse collection vehicle, eliminating all manual manipulation of the containers. The equipment requires no personnel escept a vehicle driver who directs the vehicle along the roadway adjacent to the refuse containers. The equipment, which is designed to be attached to common side-loading refuse collection vehicles, automatically engages the containers and, by circulating these containers around a track on the side of the vehicle, inverts the containers above the refuse collection bin on the vehicle and then replaces the containers along side the roadway, all of these operations occurring while the vehicle is in motion.

These and other advantages of the present invention are best described in reference to the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an overall side elevation view of the refuse collection vehicle operating on a roadway along the side of which portable refuse containers are placed.

FIG. 2 is a detailed perspective view of the apparatus which is attached to the side of the vehicle shown in FIG. 1 and designed for manipulating the portable refuse containers.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 2 taken along the lines of 33, but with the refuse receiving arm rotated inward to face the vehicle, for ease of illustration.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the arm rotating mechanism shown in FIG. 3 taken along theline 44.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the cart which supports the container engaging arm situated in the supporting track shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is a prospective view of this cart within the track to further detail the structure thereof.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the means for coupling the container engaging arm to the cart shown in FIG. 5 and is taken along lines 77 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 8 is an elevation view of the container designed to be engaged by the apparatus shown in FIG. 1, and showing the position of one of the arms of the apparatus shown in FIG. 2 as it engages the container.

FIG. 9 is an elevation view of a container after engagement by the arm of FIG. 2 and showing the apparatus by which said container is inverted. The inverted container is shown in dashed lines in this figure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring to FIG. 1, the preferred embodiment of the present invention is designed to be mounted in a vertical plane at the side of arefuse collection vehicle 10 which is adapted to receiving refuse in a receiving bin 12 which is located between the cab 14 and the truck body 16. The receiving bin 12 is adapted to receiving refuse which is dumped therein from containers such as theportable containers 18. Advantageously, a transfer means such as theblade 20 shown in dashed lines in FIG. 1 activated by ahydraulic cylinder 22, may be utilized to transfer refuse from the receiving bin 12 to the interior of the body 16 of thevehicle 10. A driver operates the vehicle from the cab 14 and therefore the apparatus is advantageously mounted so that the forward portions thereof are adjacent the cab 14 and may be visually monitored by the driver.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, the major subassemblies of the apparatus will be described. Atrack 24 is situated in a vertical plane along the side of thevehicle 10 and is formed generally in the shape of a trapezoid having a forward inclined leg 24a, an upper horizontal leg 24b, a rear inclined leg 24c, and a lower horizontal leg 24d, each of these legs being connected to the adjacent legs by curved corner sections. Four container engaging means 26a, 26b, 26c and 26d are attached to thetrack 24 and designed to be driven around thetrapezoidal track 24 in unison. These container engaging means 26a through 26d are spaced equidistant along thetrack 24 and are shown in FIG. 2 inpositions 27a through 27d respectively along that path of the track. Each of the container engaging means 26 includes a U-shapedarm 28a through 28d which is designed to receive aportable container 18 as thevehicle 10 is driven adjacent to thecontainer 18.

The structure of each of the container engaging means 26a through 26d is identical and therefore the following discussion of thecontainer engaging means 260 in reference to FIGS. 3 through 6 is representative of each of the container engaging means 26a through 26d. The container engaging means 26b includes a U- shaped arm 28b which is identical with the U-shapedarms 28a, 0 and d, although only a portion of this U- shaped arm 28b is shown for convenience of illustration. The container engaging means 26c includes acart 30 which comprises abed 32 on which are rotatably mounted a pair ofaxles 34 and 35, said axles carrying at their extremities a pair of truncatedconical wheels 36 through 39 which are designed to run within thetrack 24, which track includes two V-shaped sections 40 and 42, one leg of which is connected to across member 44. Thecart 30 will therefore run within thetrack 24 and the motion of thecart 30 will be defined by the path of thetrack 24. Thecart 30 is additionally connected to achain 46 which is utilized to drive thecart 30 around thetrack 24. Supported from thecart 30 is aclevice 48 which extends perpendicular to the plane of thecart 30. This clevice is drilled to support apin 50 on which is rotatably mounted a bushing 52 in which a supportingarm 54 is in turn rotatably mounted. Thearm 54 can therefore rotate about one axis within the bushing 52 and about a perpendicular axis about thepin 50. The latter motion, i.e. the motion about thepin 50, is limited by astop 56 which is mounted on thecart 30 and which abuts the outside of thebushing 52.

Attached to the outer extremity of thearm 54 are threeradius arms 58, 60 and 62. Each of these arms carries a perpendicular axle not shown in FIG. 3 on which is rotatably mounted awheel 64, 66 and 68.

These wheels are adapted to rotate about an axle which v is attached to thearms 58 through 62 about an axis parallel to the axis of thebushing 52. Each of thesewheels 64 through 68 has anarcuate groove 70 in its outer surface. This groove designed to engage guides as described below. Rigidly attached to thearm 54 and extending at an angle therefrom is anarm 72 which carries at its outer extremity a bearing 74 in which is rotatably mounted avertical drop arm 76, thisarm 76 being therefore rotatable in an axis which is perpendicular to both the axis of thebushing 52 and the axis of thepin 50. Rigidly mounted to thedrop arm 76 is a U- shapedcontainer receiving member 78 which is shown in FIG. 3 in section through a line separating the arms of the U. Attached to one of the arms of theU-shaped member 78 is avertical extension member 80 which carries at its upper extremity a containertop engaging means 82 and at its lower extremity a containerside engaging means 84.

In order to control the rotation of thedrop arm 76 within the bearing 74, aratchet mechanism 86 and adrive mechanism 88 is utilized. The ratchet mechanism, as best seen in FIG. 4, includes a ratchet 90 and a spring drivenPawl 92. The ratchet 90 has a circular surface except for two detent positions, one of which serves to maintain theU-shaped arm 78 so that the opening of the U is in the direction of travel of thevehicle 10. The second detent position holds theU-shaped arm 78 in a position rotated 180 so that thearm 78 has its opening facing the rear of thevehicle 10. The driving means 88 includes agear 94 which is driven by two rack gears 96 and 98 as shown in FIG. 2. Each of thesegears 96 and 98 is designed to rotate thepinion gear 94 to drive achain 100 which in turn drives asprocket 102 through 180. Thissprocket 102 is rigidly attached to thedrop arm 76 and therefore rotates thedrop arm 76 through 180 between successive detent positions of theratchet mechanism 86 each time one of theracks 96 and 98 is adjacent thepinion gear 94.

Referring specifically to FIG. 2, a series of guides are shown which are intended to engage therollers 64 through 68 to maintain the proper rotary position of thearm 54 within thebushing 52. It will be noted from FIGS. 3, 5 and 6 that therollers 64 and 68 are in the same plane, while theroller 66 is in a parallel plane further removed from thebushing 52. The functioning of each of guides shown in FIG. 2 will therefore be explained. Beginning first with aguide 104 adjacent the rear trapezoidal leg 240, it can be seen that, as thecart 30 proceeds down this portion of thetrack 24, the weight of the U-shaped arm tends to rotate thearm 54 counterclockwise within thebushing 52. Theguide 104 is positioned in the plane such that it will engage therollers 66, and this engagement will limit counterclockwise rotation of thearm 54 so that the U-shaped arm 28b rests in a horizontal plane. As the cart supporting thearm 54 proceeds down the leg 240, a position will be reached at which therollers 64 and 68 will engage anotherguide 106 and theroller 66 will disengage theguide 104. The engagement of therollers 64 and 68 with theguide 106 will maintain the U-shaped arm in a horizontal plane. As thecart 30 proceeds along the lower horizontal leg 24d of thetrack 24, thepinion gear 94 proceeds past therack gear 98 to rotate the U- shaped arm to a position as shown at 28c with the opening of the U-shaped arm facing in the direction of progress of the vehicle. Thecart 30 will proceed along the leg 24d of thetrack 24 until it reaches the forward leg 24a at which point therollers 64 and 68 disengage from theguide 106 and theroller 66 becomes engaged with aguide 108. Since the weight of the U-shaped arm 28d is now ahead of thebushing 52, thearm 54 tends to rotate in a clockwise direction within thebushing 52. The engagement of theroller 66 with theguide 108 limits this clockwise rotation to maintain the U-shaped arm 28d in a horizontal plane. Thecart 30 proceeds along the leg 24a of thetrack 24 until it reaches the leg 24b of thetrack 24, at which time theroller 66 becomes disengaged from theguide 108 and therollers 64 and 68 become on two sides within atubular guide member 110. Thistubular guide member 110 serves not only to limit rotation of thearm 54 within thebushing 52, but also to raise thearm 54 about thepin 50, therefore controlling motion about this second axis. By so guiding thearm 28a about thepin 50, the guide 1 10 rotates theU-shaped arm 28a about the axis of the leg 24b of thetrack 24 so that theU-shaped arm 28 is inverted and positioned behind the plane of thetrack 24. This is the position at which thecontainer 18 which is maintained within theU-shaped arm 28a is inverted so that the refuse contained therein will drop into the receiving bin 12 of thevehicle 10. As thecart 30 proceeds further along the leg 24b, theguide 110 rotates thearm 54 about thepin 50 to return theU-shaped arm 28 to its normal position in front of the plane of thetrack 24. As the cart proceeds still further along the leg 24b, thepinion gear 94 engages with therack gear 96 to rotate theU-shaped arm 28 so that it opens toward the rear of thevehicle 10. As will be explained below, the rotation of thedrop arm 76 within the bearing 74 by the action of the rack gears 96 and 98 on thepinion gear 94, serves to allow the U-shaped arms such as the arm 28d of FIG. 2 which is at the forward leg 24a of thetrack 24 to engage and lift portable refuse containers, while the U-shaped arm which is at the rear leg 24c of thetrack 24 is rotated to allow disengagement of the arm, such as the arm 28b, from theportable refuse container 18 as thevehicle 10 proceeds along the roadway.

Motion of each of thearms 28a through 28d is intermittent and is controlled by a motor (not shown) which drives thechain 46 around thetrack 24. At each successive intermittent motion, each of theU-shaped arms 28a through 28d moves to the nextsuccessive position 27a through 27d along the track as shown in FIG. 2 and comes to rest in that position. However, as the arm which is in the position 27d engages a container, this containerwilloperate aleverarm 112 which will begin the intermittent operation of the motor to translate each of theU-shaped arms 28a through 28d one quarter of the way aroundthetrack 24 to the 'next position. This operation allows the vehicle to pick upportable refuse containers 18=which are not evenly spaced along the roadway, and also allows the arm which is inposition 27a to maintain the portable container 18in an inverted position over the refuse bin 12 for a period of time.

Since it is often necessary to jolt the container when it is in its inverted position within the U-shaped arm, such as thearm 28a in FIG. 2, theguide 110 is preferably formed so that it abruptly inverts theU-shaped arm 28a as thecart 30 is driven to its final intermittent position. This is accomplished by making the guiding surfaces of theguide 110 sufficiently abrupt to rapidly rotate thearm 54 about thepin 50, as shown in FIG. 3.

In order to maintain thearm 54 in a horizontal axis while thecart 30 is proceeding along the forward and rear trapezoidal legs 24a and 24c of thetrack 24, thestop 56 as shown in FIG. 3-5 is incorporated on thecart 30 so that thebushing 52 will abut thestop 56. As can be seen in FIG. 2, when the cart is inverted as it proceeds along the leg 24d of thetrack 24, both of therollers 64 and 68 are engaged with theguide 106, and this engagement alone serves to maintain thearm 54 along a horizontal axis.

Referring specifically to FIG. 7, aU-shaped pin 114 is utilized to maintain the axial position of thearm 54 within thebushing 52. To facilitate this engatement, thearm 54 contains anannular groove 116 and thebushing 52 is drilled in two places so that thepin 114, when inserted through the drilled holes within thebushing 52, will engage thegroove 116 of thearm 54, allowing thearm 54 to rotate, but maintaining the axial position thereof. This connection allows easy removal of each of the U-shaped arms with its associated mechanism from thebushing 52 and thecart 30 by the simple removal of theU-shaped pin members 114, so that theU-shaped arms 28a through 28a may be removed from the vehicle while the vehicle is in transport to and from a dumping site.

Referring now to FIGS. 8 and 9, the structure of a specific portable refuse container adapted to be engaged by the mechanism described above will be explained. Therefuse container 18 has a truncatedconical base section 118 terminating in anannular ridge 120 at the base of an upper truncatedconical section 122. TheU-shaped arm 28 is intended to engage thebase section 118 as thevehicle 10 approaches the container. It should be understood that theengaging arm 28 is in the position of the arm 28d shown in FIG. 2, and that thearm 28 is below theridge 120 of thecontainer 18, so that minor variances in the relative height of thevehicle 10 and thecontainer 18 do not prevent engagement of thearm 28 with thebase portion 118 of thecontainer 18. Likewise, the vehiclelid engaging means 82, which is supported from thevertical arm 80, is positioned below alid 124 which is hinged at a point 126 from thecontainer 18. As theportable refuse container 18 enters theU-shaped arm 28, it also engages the lever l 12, as shown in FIG. 2, and thecart 30 which supports thearm 28 proceeds up the forward leg 24a of thetrack 24 raising theU-shaped arm 28 to a height which will raise thecontainer 18 from the roadway. In this position, thecontainer 18 is supported by the U- v 6 shapedarm 28 as shown in FIG. 9, and the lid engaging means 82 partially raises the lid 124' to assure that it is free to pivot about the point 126. As theU-shaped arm 28 proceeds along the upper guide 24b, as shown in FIG. 2, theguide 110, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 9, engages therollers 64 and 68 to rotate thearm 54 about thepin 50 so that the container l8 is inverted to the position shown indashed lines in FIG. 9.Whenthe container 18 is so inverted, the weight of thelid 124 causes this lid to pivot open about the point 126, and refuse within thecontainer 118 is therefore free to fall from thecontainer 18 into the receiving bin 12 of thevehicle 10. It should be understood, on viewing the dotted line drawing of FIG. 9, that thedrop arm 76 and thearm 72 are positioned behind thecontainer 18, and the refuse within thecontainer 18 will therefore not fall on this mechanism.

To operate this equipment, the driver directs the vehicle along the roadway, and, by watching the arm which is presently in position 27d (FIG. 2), steers the vehicle to engage acontainer 18 with the arm 28d. As the vehicle moves past the position at which thecontainer 18 was located, the apparatus, due to actuation of thelever 112 by thecontainer 18, moves this newly engaged container to an inverted position above the receiving bin 12 (position 27a, FIG. 2). The arm moves up the inclined portion 24a of the track at a rate such that its rearward component of velocity is about the same as the forward velocity of the vehicle and thus the arm moves vertically to engage the lifting offset of the container and the container is lifted without being dragged along the ground. Simultaneously, the arm 28b, which is engaged with an emptiedcontainer 18, is moved from theinverted position 27a (FIG. 2) to position 27b at the rear, disengaging itscontainer 18 in the process of moving down the leg 24c of thetrack 24. The arm moves down the inclined portion 24c of the track at a rate such that its rearward component of velocity is about the same as the forward velocity of the vehicle and thus the arm moves vertically down to release the container without dragging it along the ground. Thus, a full container is engaged at position 27d, and an empty container is disengaged at point 27 b. The speed of the arm movement along the track advantageously can be coordinated with the vehicle velocity so that thecontainer 18 which is lifted onto the mechanism is replaced with anempty container 18 at substantially the same spot. The only personnel required for this operation is thevehicle 10 driver, and the vehicle may proceed, without stopping, along the roadway, engaging and disengaging containers as it moves.

What is claimed is: 1. In combination, a refuse container and a refuse collection vehicle said refuse collection vehicle comprising:

an arm; means on said arm for engaging said container; means for moving said arm toward said container to engage said container when at a standing upright position on a roadway, without manual lifting or manual moving of said container;

means for moving said arm from a lowered position to a raised position for lifting the container from said standing upright position, and inverting the container to dump its contents into the vehicle without manual handling of said container; and said container comprising:

7 8 a lower body section of tapered configuration exstrengthening said container to withstand the tending for the major portion of the height of the forces of engagement with the arm; and container for storing refuse, and when in said a lid hinged to said upper body section and adapted standing upright position in a roadway having its to automatically open by the force of gravity when upper, larger end at a height above the height of said container is inverted. said arm on said refuse collection vehicle when said 2. In combination, a refuse container and a refuse vehicle is positioned adjacent said container on the collection vehicle as defined in claim 1, wherein said roadway and said arm is in its lowered position; container has wheels mounted thereon for rolling it on an upper body section above said lower body section, 10 the road surface to said upright standing position.

and having a substantial height, the cross-section of 3. The combination as described in claim 2 wherein said upper body section being at its lower end subsaid upper and lower body sections are of inverted stantially larger than the cross-section of the upper truncated conical configuration. end of the lower body section; 4. In combination, a refuse container and a refuse a generally horizontal shoulder integrally connecting l 5 collection vehicle as defined in claim 1, said cover exthe upper end of the lower body section to the tending substantially beyond said upper body section. lower end of the upper body section said shoulder UNITED :BTATES PA'IENI OFFICE CERTHFICA'WI OF CORRECTION PATENT NO. 3,923,174

DATED December 2, I975 INVENTOWS) Marcel G. Stragier it is certified that error van" :1 The ODOVB-U8IIlfiU patent and thni sa d Leiiers Patent are hereby coirecied as shown hehiw Change the title to REFUSE COLLECTION VEHICLE AND CONTAINER Col. 4, line 33, after "become" insert --engaged-- Signal and Salad this twenty-third of March 1976 [SEAL] O Arrest:

RUTH C. MASON C. MARSHALL DANN Arresting Officer Commissioner uj'ParenIs and Trademarks

Claims (4)

1. In combination, a refuse container and a refuse collection vehicle said refuse collection vehicle comprising: an arm; means on said arm for engaging said container; means for moving said arm toward said container to engage said container when at a standing upright position on a roadway, without manual lifting or manual moving of said container; means for moving said arm from a lowered position to a raised position for lifting the container from said standing upright position, and inverting the container to dump its contents into the vehicle without manual handling of said container; and said container comprising: a lower body section of tapered configuration extending for the major portion of the height of the container for storing refuse, and when in said standing upright position in a roadway having its upper, larger end at a height above the height of said arm on said refuse collection vehicle when said vehicle is positioned adjacent said container on the roadway and said arm is in its lowered position; an upper body section above said lower body section, and having a substantial height, the cross-section of said upper body section being at its lower end substantially larger than the cross-section of the upper end of the lower body section; a generally horizontal shoulder integrally connecting the upper end of the lower body section to the lower end of the upper body section said shoulder strengthening said container to withstand the forces of engagement with the arm; and a lid hinged to said upper body section and adapted to automatically open by the force of gravity when said container is inverted.

2. In combination, a refuse container and a refuse collection vehicle as defined in claim 1, wherein said container has wheels mounted thereon for rolling it on the road surface to said upright standing position.

3. The combination as described in claim 2 wherein said upper and lower body sections are of inverted truncated conical configuration.

4. In combination, a refuse container and a refuse collection vehicle as defined in claIm 1, said cover extending substantially beyond said upper body section.

Images