Secure disposal system for articles
AssigneesSony Corporation, Digital Audio Disc Corporation
InventorsPhillip K. Neely, Dan Henderson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A secure disposal system for articles having a movable enclosure that is fully enclosed except for an opening to receive articles. The movable enclosure has a releasable lock for automatically locking a cover in a closed position on the movable enclosure. A transfer device automatically unlocks the cover of the movable enclosure in response to the transfer device mechanically engaging the movable enclosure. The transfer device transfers the enclosure to a position and orientation permitting the cover of the enclosure to fall open and the articles to drop from the enclosure. An article destroyer is located adjacent the transfer device, receives the articles dropping from the movable enclosure and destroys their functionality.
Claims23
A secure disposal system for articles comprising:
- a movable enclosure, the enclosure being fully enclosed except for an opening adapted to receive articles and a cover, the movable structure further comprising a releasable lock for automatically locking the cover in a closed position on the movable enclosure;
- a transfer device automatically unlocking the cover of the movable enclosure in response to the transfer device being mechanically engaged with the movable enclosure, the transfer device transferring the enclosure to a position and orientation permitting the cover of the enclosure to fall open and articles to drop from the enclosure;
- and
- an article destroyer located adjacent the transfer device, the article destroyer receiving the articles dropping from the movable enclosure and destroying a functionality of the articles.
A secure disposal system for optical discs comprising:
- a wheeled cart comprising
- an enclosure having a lockable cover and at least one opening adapted to receive optical discs,
- a pair of rails,
- a releasable locking element located adjacent at least one of the rails, the locking element securing the cover in a closed position;
- a transfer device comprising
- a pair of lift arms, each of the lift arms being receivable by a different one of the pair of rails, the locking element unlocking the cover from the wheeled cart in response to one of the lift arms being received by one of the rails, and
- a drive mechanism operably connected to the pair of lift arms to pivot the pair of lift arms between first and second positions, such that when the pair of lift arms is received by the pair of rails and the drive mechanism pivots the pair of lift arms and the cart to the second position, the cover falls opens and the optical discs drop from the enclosure of the cart;
- and
- an optical disc destroyer located adjacent the transfer device, the optical disc destroyer receiving optical discs from the enclosure of the wheeled cart and destroying a functionality of the optical discs.
A method of securely disposing of articles comprising:
- providing a movable enclosure, the movable enclosure being fully enclosed except for an opening adapted to receive articles and a lockable cover;
- automatically locking the cover of the movable enclosure upon the cover closing over the opening of the movable enclosure;
- inserting articles into the opening;
- moving the movable enclosure onto a transfer device;
- automatically unlocking the cover in response to the movable enclosure being moved onto the transfer device;
- and
- operating the transfer device to automatically transfer the articles from the movable enclosure into an article destroyer, the articles being locked in the movable enclosure until the movable enclosure is moved onto the transfer device, and the articles being disposed into the article destroyer after the cover of the movable enclosure is automatically unlocked.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.