Refuse collection vehicles
AssigneeCarrier Corporation
InventorHouston Ratledge
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A refuse collection vehicle has a rear hopper, an inlet for introducing refuse into the hopper, an outlet for discharging refuse from the hopper, and a refuse compacting assembly. A manual actuable power system is provided for displacing the compacting assembly through a loading cycle wherein refuse in the hopper is compacted and discharged from the hopper. Mechanism is provided for automatically deactivating the power system in response to the compacting assembly reaching a predetermined point in the cycle, to interrupt the cycle. A manually actuable handle is provided for activating the power system to initiate the loading cycle, and for reactivating the power system to continue the loading cycle subsequent to interruption thereof by the automatic deactivating mechanism.
Claims13
A refuse collection vehicle comprising:
- a rear hopper having an inlet into which refuse is dumped by an operator,
- a packer plate for compacting refuse in said hopper,
- power means connected to said packer plate for displacing said packer plate through a loading cycle wherein refuse in said hopper is compacted within the hopper, and
- cycle interrupt means automatically responsive to the arrival of said packer plate at a predetermined location in said cycle relative to said hopper prior to full compaction of the refuse for deactivating said power means, and
- manually actuable means for reactivating said power means to continue said loading cycle subsequent to such deactivation.
A refuse collection vehicle comprising:
- a refuse storage compartment;
- a tail section including:
- a refuse receiving hopper having a transverse rear edge,
- a rear inlet above said edge for introduction of refuse into said hopper, and
- a front outlet communicating said hopper with said storage compartment.
- refuse loading means displaceably mounted in said tail section, said loading means including a packer plate;
- power means operably connected to said loading means for displacing said loading means through a refuse loading cycle in which said packer plate compacts refuse within said hopper and expels such refuse through said outlet and into said storage compartment;
- said power means including manually actuable cycle activating means;
- and
- cycle interrupt means automatically responsive to the arrival of said packer plate at a predetermined position in said loading cycle for deactivating said power means to discontinue said loading cycle before said packer plate transverses said transverse hopper edge, and maintain said power means deactivated in the absence of manual reactivation.
In rear loader vehicle apparatus of the type comprising:
- a housing having a compartment;
- a hopper with a refuse support surface, a refuse receiving opening disposed above a rear edge of the hopper, and a refuse discharge opening at a front end of the hopper for transferring refuse from the hopper into the compartment;
- a refuse loading mechanism including a shield plate pivotally mounted to said housing for rotation about a first axis, and a packer plate movable with said shield plate about said first axis and pivotable relative to said shield plate about a second axis;
- and cycle activating means for displacing said loading mechanism through a refuse loading cycle, the improvement wherein said cycle activating means comprises:
- first fluid powered ram means operably connected to said loading mechanism for pivoting said shield plate and said packer plate about said first axis;
- second fluid powered ram means operably connected to said packer plate for pivoting said packer plate about said second axis;
- ram actuating means for directing pressurized fluid to said first and second ram means to automatically and sequentially:
- actuate said second ram means to retract said packer plate about said second axis away from said compartment;
- actuate said first ram means to pivot said shield plate and said packer plate rearwardly and downwardly about said first axis to compact refuse in said hopper against said support surface,
- subsequently reactuate said second ram means to pivot said packer plate forwardly about said second axis and again compact the refuse against said support surface, and
- subsequently reactuate said first ram means to pivot said shield plate and said packer plate upwardly and forwardly about said first axis to expel the compacted refuse through said discharge opening and into said compartment;
- control means operably connected to said ram actuating means and including a manually actuable handle on said vehicle body for activating said cycle, and
- cycle interrupt means mechanically connected to said refuse loading mechanism for operating said control means during said loading cycle prior to said reactuation of said first ram means to halt said cycle prior to said packer plate traversing said hopper rear edge and maintain said cycle halted in the absence of manual actuation of said handle.
In a method of loading refuse into a rear end loader vehicle in which an operator dumps refuse over a rear transverse edge of said vehicle and into a hopper portion of the vehicle and subsequently manually activates a power system on the vehicle which displaces a packer plate through a loading cycle within the hopper in which the packer plate travels downwardly past said transverse edge, compacts the refuse in the hopper, and transfers the refuse from the hopper to a storage portion of the vehicle, the improvement comprising the steps of:
- causing said power system to be automatically deactivated solely in response to the arrival of said packer plate at a predetermined position above said transverse edge and independently of manual activation of said power system, and
- maintaining said power system deactivated in the absence of manual reactivation by an operator.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.