Rear-load transfer system

Details Rear-load transfer system Rear-load transfer system

2002-05-11

2004-03-23

Bratlie, Steven A. (Department: 3652)

Material or article handling

Load-transporting type vehicle and external means...

Pushing or pulling device for loading a wheeled vehicle by...

C414S495000, C100S218000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06709219

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to generally to waste handling and specifically to a system by which roll-off containers may transfer wastes to a rear-load garbage truck.
REFERENCE TO DISCLOSURE DOCUMENT
The present invention is the same device taught in USPTO Disclosure Document 506804, dated Feb. 25, 2002 and date stamped by the OIPE Mar. 5, 2002, to the same inventor, Thomas Reed III, and entitled “Process and Apparatus for Transferring Solid Waste”.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
For large quantities of waste, the normal commercial trash container (usually called a “DUMPSTER”, this exact mark is registered to Dempster Systems Inc, Knoxville Tenn., having no relationship to the present applicant. Numerous other marks make use of the word “DUMPSTER”.) a metal box roughly two meters tall by three meters long by two meters from front to back is quite often inadequate. For example, construction sites often generate waste which is both of considerably greater volume and may be of a size such that one dimension or more will not fit into a standard trash bin.
For this purpose, a large standard size is commonly used, the “roll-off” container. The roll-off trash container may be the same size as a standard container with the roof and some of the upper walls removed, or may be other sizes normally several times larger than a normal commercial trash bin. The roll-off container is designed so that it may be rolled on and off the back of a specially equipped flat-bed truck. The normal manner of employment of a roll-on roll-off container may be understood by reference to FIG. 1 through FIG. 4 of U.S. Pat. No. 6,332,746, issued Dec. 25, 2001 to Lang et al, a convenient example of the use of a hoist truck. A large truck with a specially equipped hoist backs up to the trash container from one end. The hoist is raised and attached to the container and the container is slowly lifted until it is suspended along the length of the hoist. The hoist/container combination is then lowered back to the bed of the truck. It is significant that the container is thus left on the bed of the truck behind the cab, it is NOT emptied into the truck: the truck has no separate waste holding container. The truck driver drives the truck with the container on its bed to the appropriate sanitary landfill facility for disposal of the waste within the container. Then the driver returns to the work-site and repeats the same process in reverse as he returns the roll-off container to those who require it as a trash receptacle.
There are numerous complications and uncertainties in this process. First and foremost, the roll-off container may be attached at the front end to a building: such an arrangement is common behind supermarkets, department stores and other large establishments. In this case, the driver is forced to perform the following operations: back up to the accessible end of the container, disconnect the roll-off container from the building, hook the accessible back end of the container to the hoist, lift it up or pull it on its rollers, move the truck a short distance, unhook the container from the hoist, drive the truck around and back it up to the front end of the container, hook the front end of the container to the hoist, raise it onto the hoist, lower the hoist to the bed of the truck, and then begin driving the container to the landfill. The entire process must be reversed in order to put the container back in place when the driver returns.
The expensive hoist-equipped truck is not as flexible as the normal rear-load garbage truck: since it has no built in waste container, and compaction blades, it cannot be used in the residential setting; since it also lacks a mechanism for lifting of a conventional commercial waste bin, it cannot be used with such bins.
In addition, while the container is suspended on the hoist above the back of the truck, it is possible for the waste in the container to fall out of the container, resulting in man-hours of clean-up work. Worse, the waste may shift in the container and may conceivably be massive enough to upset the stability of the truck, though this is rare. More commonly, it is necessary to provide special devices on the roll-off hoist truck in order to cover the open container, without such devices the truck may be in violation of the law, may be charged a premium at the landfill facility, or may allow waste to blow out of the container during transit.
In addition, during the period of time when the driver is making the round trip with the container to the landfill and back, the container is unavailable to the end user. Thus the disposal contractor must add to the cost of the hoist truck by committing an empty container to each truck at the start of the day's route in order to allow “daisy-chaining” of the individual stops on the route. Even then, however, the truck and driver must after each stop on the route make a substantial trip to the landfill. In most major metropolitan areas, the landfills are located at some distance from the city center, thus making for a normally long round trip. Some major metropolitan areas suffer from 24 hour congestion, in which areas the number of runs a single driver can make in a single day may dwindle to a few, or even one.
In terms of energy usage, a large truck making multiple daily round-trips to the landfill represents a large use of petroleum products or other energy sources. In every metropolitan area, there are fleets of such trucks doing this. Thus, the present invention offers the ability to provide great energy savings. In addition to fuel, the environmental aspect of this is quite large. The emissions generated by a single truck may be greatly reduced by use of the present invention. Such airborne pollution is becoming a greater issue due to global warming, depletion of the ozone layer, metropolitan growth and an increased understanding of the health hazards of such air pollution.
By contrast, it should be noted that the smaller commercial waste bin (“DUMPSTER”) is simply lifted up by a garbage truck, the trash received, and the bin is put back down. Garbage trucks for handling of the two meter by three meter by two meter commercial waste bin may be either “front loading” in which the bin is lifted over the cab of the truck and inverted, or “rear-loading.” The rear-load garbage truck is the familiar type of garbage truck often used in residential settings. When modified to handle a commercial waste bin, the bin is lifted at the back of the truck and the trash is transferred to the compaction blades at the back of a normal read-load garbage truck, and the bin is put back down. In addition, such trucks are covered and thus may be advantageously equipped with compaction blades. Such compaction blades are invaluable in reducing trips to the landfill: the volume of the wastes handled may be reduced by a factor of 10 to 1 or more from the volume as it is left in the trash can by the residential or commercial customer. Such compaction is obviously impossible for a hoist truck which simply carries the large trash container as it was filled by the customer.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,296,132 issued Oct. 2, 2001 to Picker teaches a universal DUMPSTER which is usable in several different modes. It may be used as a roll-off, as a front load, carried on a trailer, etc. It teaches doors at one end and an open top. However it does not teach legs to lift the roll-off container, an internal blade to empty it, connection to a conventional rear-load truck, etc.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,607,277 issued Mar. 4, 1997 to Zopf teaches a garbage can which is picked up by the waste truck. The can in the '277 patent is emptied into an intermediate container. Again, most of the features taught by the present invention are missing from this item of prior art.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,427,497 issued Jun. 27, 1995 to Dillman teaches a horizontal surge/storage silo. The structure and concept are otherwise different from the present invention: there are no hydraulic legs on the container, there is no hydraulic connection to a truck, rear-load garbage trucks m

Affiliated with

Also associated with

Rating

Rear-load transfer system does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Rear-load transfer system, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Rear-load transfer system will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3193705