Material or article handling – Device for emptying portable receptacle – For emptying contents thereof into portable receiving means
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-22
2001-07-17
Werner, Frank E. (Department: 3652)
Material or article handling
Device for emptying portable receptacle
For emptying contents thereof into portable receiving means
C414S810000, C414S407000, C414S420000, C414S559000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06261046
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to vehicles for collecting refuse and, more particularly, to such vehicles having hoppers secured to the rear of the vehicles.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Various devices have been developed for use on refuse collection vehicles in order to aid in the collection of refuse from a plurality of refuse containers. Commonly, the vehicle designed to collect and store the refuse has a hopper secured to the rear of the vehicle. The purpose of the hopper is to collect the refuse from the refuse containers without the refuse spilling onto the street or ending up in other undesirable locations. Consequently, various devices have been developed for ensuring a smooth, efficient and safe transition of the refuse from the interior of a container into the hopper of the collection vehicle.
One of these devices which has been used for some time is a two-piece latch which is secured to the rear of the hopper. A pair of these two-piece latches are located on the hopper spaced from one another. Once the refuse collection vehicle is backed up to a position adjacent a refuse container, the refuse container is lifted upwardly using any of numerous devices. Each refuse container has a front pivot bar which is located inside the two-piece latches when the latches are closed. The pivot bar of the container engages a site on the vehicle to permit rotation of the container relative to the vehicle, thereby dumping the refuse from inside the container to the hopper. To ensure that the front pivot bar of the refuse container does not pull rearwardly away from the hopper, each of the two-piece latches must be closed by an operator before the refuse container is lifted. To close such a latch an operator must first lift the arm of the latch upwardly into engagement with an upper part of the two-piece latch, thus locking the two pieces together and forming a loop in which one end of the pivot bar resides. Then the operator must walk around the refuse container to the other side of the refuse container and latch together the two pieces of the other latch before the refuse container may be lifted in order to empty its contents. Thus, the use of a vehicle having such latches requires a great deal of time and effort on the part of the operator, who in the course of a day may empty hundreds of refuse containers.
In addition to preventing the refuse from spilling onto the ground, such latches are theoretically designed to prevent the pivot bars of the refuse container from moving rearwardly and creating a risk of striking the operator. However, such two-piece latches often become bent or worn from use and fail to perform satisfactorily. Additionally, the operator may accidentally kick or bump into the lower bar of the latch when the lower bar is down.
Thus, a need exists for a mechanism on the rear of a hopper which will enable a refuse container to be emptied safely and efficiently without the refuse container moving suddenly backwardly away from the hopper.
Therefore, it has been one objective of the present invention to provide a safety mechanism for the user on a hopper of a refuse collection vehicle which allows refuse containers to be emptied safely and efficiently.
It has been a further objective of the present invention to provide a hopper for use on a refuse collection vehicle having a pair of safety hooks to retain a pivot bar of a refuse container while the refuse container is being emptied.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention of this application which accomplishes these objectives comprises a refuse collection vehicle which is capable of receiving and storing refuse from multiple containers. The refuse collection vehicle has a vehicle body supported by wheels and a hopper connected to the vehicle body. The hopper is used to receive and retain a sufficient quantity of refuse before it is compacted and transferred to the vehicle body. The hopper has a pair of opposed side walls and an interior cavity between the side walls for receiving and storing the refuse. Behind the interior cavity a bumper lip of a fixed height extends between the side walls. The bumper lip has an upper edge which is horizontally oriented and about which the containers are pivoted when they are emptied.
Each of the refuse containers used in accordance with the present invention has a rear bracket and a horizontally oriented pivot bar located at the front of the container and a hinged lid on the top of the container.
Different devices may be used to lift the refuse containers. One such device is a cable system secured to the vehicle. The refuse collection vehicle has a winch secured to the top of the vehicle body which is adapted to store a cable. One end of the cable is secured to the rear bracket of each container to be emptied after passing through a cable guide secured to the hopper of the vehicle. Once the cable is secured to the rear of the refuse container, the winch is activated, causing the cable to tighten and the rear of the container to be pulled upwardly and forwardly, the container pivoting about a horizontal axis. As the cable is pulling the rear of the container forwardly, the pivot bar of the container moves forwardly until the ends of the pivot bar contact a pair of guide ramps which are part of the hopper. Each of the guide ramps extends downwardly and rearwardly until it intersects with the bumper lip at an intersection. As the cable continues to move the rear of the refuse container upwardly and forwardly, the guide ramps guide the ends of the pivot bar into the intersections. As the cable further raises the rear of the container, the pivot bar is prevented from moving rearwardly over the top of the bumper lip by at least two safety hooks which are secured to the bumper lip.
The safety hooks are adapted to receive and retain end portions of the pivot bar of the refuse container to ensure that the pivot bar of the refuse container does not raise over the bumper lip as the container is being emptied. As depicted in the figures herein, each of the safety hooks is fixedly secured to the bumper lip in an inverted, substantially upright, fixed orientation so that a catch of each hook extends downwardly from an apex. Thus, the safety hooks prevent the container from moving rearwardly which could cause the contents of the container to spill onto the ground and the pivot bar of the container to injure an operator.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention two safety hooks are welded to an inside surface of the bumper lip and are of a height less than the height of the bumper lip. However, different methods of attachment of the safety hooks to the bumper lip may be used, and any number of safety hooks may be utilized in accordance with the present invention.
Once the container is emptied the cable is slowly unwound from the winch and gravity forces the rear end of the container downwardly slowly, the pivot bar of the container rotating about a horizontal axis. Due to the orientation of the front of the container and the orientation of the bumper lip, the pivot bar of the container is disengaged from the safety hooks and allowed to move upwardly and rearwardly to its original position.
The safety hooks of the hopper of the present invention therefore allow the contents of a refuse container to be emptied safely and efficiently into the hopper of a refuse collection vehicle without spillage. These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following description of the drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3658199 (1972-04-01), Owen, Jr.
patent: 3702662 (1972-11-01), Davieau
patent: 3709389 (1973-01-01), Stelz
patent: 3765555 (1973-10-01), McKenzie et al.
patent: 5784947 (1998-07-01), Bayne et al.
Richard Scott Fryman,Declaration, Mar. 9, 2000.
Rumpke Consolidated Companies, Inc.
Werner Frank E.
Wood Herron & Evans L.L.P.
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