Claims
- 1. A packer system for a refuse collection vehicle, comprising:
- a hollow refuse storage body having a longitudinal axis and configured for mounting on a truck chassis, the body having a fixedly mounted forward hopper section and a rear section with an open rear end;
- means mounted to the rear section of the refuse storage body for sealing and unsealing the open rear end of the rear section of the refuse storage body;
- a load eject blade mounted within the refuse storage body for reciprocating movement along the longitudinal axis adjacent a bottom floor of the refuse storage body;
- a packer blade mounted within the refuse storage body adjacent the load eject blade for reciprocating movement along the longitudinal axis above an upper surface of the eject blade, a pair of opposite side walls of the packer blade being slidingly connected to and supported by a pair of opposite sidewalls of the refuse storage body;
- a first actuator coupled between the refuse storage body and the packer blade for moving the packer blade over a first range of travel in a rearward direction along the longitudinal axis and then in a forward direction along the longitudinal axis to repetitively push refuse periodically dumped into the hopper section of the refuse storage body and compact the refuse into the rear section of the refuse storage body; and
- a second actuator coupled between the refuse storage body and the eject blade for moving the eject blade over a second range of travel in a rearward direction along the longitudinal axis and in a forward direction along the longitudinal axis to push refuse that has been compacted in the rear section of the refuse storage body by the packer blade out the open rear end of the rear section of the refuse storage body when the means mounted to the rear section of the refuse storage body unseals the open rear end.
- 2. The packer system of claim 1 wherein each blade comprises a generally box-like hollow member with substantially flat upper and lower surfaces.
- 3. The packer system of claim 1 wherein the first actuator includes at least one hydraulic cylinder.
- 4. The packer system of claim 1 wherein the second actuator a hydraulic cylinder.
- 5. The packer system of claim 1 wherein the first actuator includes a pair of single stage hydraulic cylinders mounted in criss-cross overlapping relationship.
- 6. The packer system of claim 1 wherein the second actuator includes a multi-stage hydraulic cylinder.
- 7. The packer system of claim 1 wherein the refuse storage body includes a divider wall that separates the hopper section of the refuse body from the rear section of the refuse body and an upper surface of the packer blade travels beneath a lower edge of the divider wall.
- 8. The packer system of claim 1 wherein the second range of travel is substantially greater than the first range of travel.
- 9. A packer system for a refuse collection vehicle, comprising:
- a hollow refuse storage body having a longitudinal axis and configured for mounting on a truck chassis, the body having a fixedly mounted outwardly opening forward hopper section and a rear section with an openable rear end;
- overlapping upper and lower packer and load eject blades mounted within the storage body for independent reciprocation along the longitudinal axis, the load eject blade being movable in a generally horizontal direction adjacent a bottom floor of the storage body and the packer blade being movable in a generally horizontal direction over an upper surface of the eject blade, the packer blade and the eject blade each being formed of box-like members, each box-like member having a width that spans a substantial portion of a width of the storage body and a height that is substantially less than the width of the box-like member;
- means connected to the storage body for supporting and guiding the movement of the eject blade adjacent the bottom floor of the storage body;
- means connected to the storage body for supporting and guiding the movement of the packer blade at a level above the eject blade;
- a first actuator coupled between the packer blade and the storage body for repetitively moving the packer blade in route over a first limited range of travel to allow the packer blade to push refuse dumped into the hopper section rearwardly for compacting the refuse into the rear section of the storage body; and
- a second actuator coupled between the eject blade and the storage body for sparingly moving the eject blade over a second extended range of travel having a length longer than a length of the first limited range of travel of the packer blade so that the eject blade can push a collected load of refuse compacted in the rear section of the storage body out the rear end of the storage body when the rear end of the storage body is opened at a dump site.
- 10. The packer system of claim 9 wherein the means for supporting and guiding the movement of the eject blade over the bottom floor of the storage body includes a pair of parallel tracks.
- 11. The packer system of claim 9 wherein the means for supporting and guiding the movement of the packer blade at a level above the eject blade includes a pair of rails attached to corresponding ones of a pair of opposite side walls of the storage body.
- 12. The packer system of claim 9 wherein the means for supporting and guiding the movement of the eject blade over the bottom floor of the storage body includes a pair of parallel tracks and the means for supporting and guiding the movement of the packer blade at a level above the eject blade includes a pair of rails attached to corresponding ones of a pair of opposite side walls of the storage body and a pair of tracks in the upper surface of the eject blade.
- 13. The packer system of claim 9 wherein the first actuator includes at least one single stage hydraulic cylinder and the second actuator includes a multi-stage hydraulic cylinder.
- 14. The packer system of claim 9 wherein the refuse storage body includes a divider wall separating the hopper section from the rear section and defining an opening through which the packer blade pushes refuse into the rear section.
- 15. The packer system of claim 9 and further comprising a multi-section articulating follower plate connected to the packer blade for covering the first actuator and preventing refuse from falling onto the first actuator when the packer blade moves rearwardly.
- 16. The packer system of claim 15 wherein the refuse storage body further has a hollow canopy section extending forwardly of the hopper section for receiving the follower plate when the packer blade movers forwardly.
- 17. The packer system of claim 9 wherein the means for supporting and guiding the movement of the packer blade at a level above the eject blade supports the packer blade when the eject blade is moved rearwardly a sufficient distance by the second actuator so that it is no longer beneath the packer blade.
- 18. A packer system for a refuse collection vehicle, comprising:
- a hollow refuse storage body having a longitudinal axis and configured for mounting on a truck chassis, the body having a fixedly mounted outwardly opening forward hopper section and a rear section with an openable rear end;
- overlapping upper and lower packer and load eject blades mounted within the storage body for independent reciprocation along the longitudinal axis, the load eject blade being movable in a generally horizontal direction adjacent a bottom floor of the storage body and the packer blade being movable in a generally horizontal direction at an elevated level above a lower level of the eject blade;
- means connected to the storage body for supporting and guiding the movement of the eject blade adjacent the bottom floor of the storage body;
- means connected to the storage body for supporting and guiding the movement of the packer blade at a level above the eject blade;
- a first actuator coupled between the packer blade and the storage body for repetitively moving the packer blade over a first limited range of travel to allow the packer blade to push refuse dumped into the hopper section on top of the upper surface of the eject blade rearwardly for compacting the refuse into the rear section of the storage body; and
- a second actuator coupled between the eject blade and the storage body for moving the eject blade over a second extended range of travel having a length longer than a length of the first limited range of travel of the packer blade so that the eject blade is reciprocable from a forwardmost position in which an upper surface of the eject blade functions as a bottom floor of the hopper section to a rearwardmost position adjacent the openable rear end of the refuse storage body;
- whereby the eject blade can push a collected load of refuse compacted in the rear section of the storage body out the rear end of the storage body when the rear end of the storage body is opened at a dump site.
- 19. The packer system of claim 18 wherein the means for supporting and guiding the movement of the eject blade over the bottom floor of the storage body includes a pair of parallel tracks.
- 20. The packer system of claim 18 wherein the means for supporting and guiding the movement of the packer blade at a level above the eject blade includes a pair of rails attached to corresponding ones of a pair of opposite side walls of the storage body.
- 21. The packer system of claim 18 wherein the means for supporting and guiding the movement of the eject blade over the bottom floor of the storage body includes a pair of parallel tracks and the means for supporting and guiding the movement of the packer blade at a level above the eject blade includes a pair of rails attached to corresponding ones of a pair of opposite side walls of the storage body and a pair of tracks in the upper surface of the eject blade.
- 22. The packer system of claim 18 wherein the first actuator includes at least one single stage hydraulic cylinder and the second actuator includes a multi-stage hydraulic cylinder.
- 23. The packer system of claim 18 wherein the refuse storage body includes a divider wall separating the hopper section from the rear section and defining an opening through which the packer blade pushes refuse into the rear section.
- 24. The packer system of claim 18 and further comprising a multi-section articulating follower plate connected to the packer blade for covering the first actuator and preventing refuse from falling onto the first actuator when the packer blade moves rearwardly.
- 25. The packer system of claim 24 wherein the refuse storage body further has a hollow canopy section extending forwardly of the hopper section for receiving the follower plate when the packer blade movers forwardly.
- 26. The packer system of claim 18 wherein the means for supporting and guiding the movement of the packer blade at a level above the eject blade supports the packer blade when the eject blade is moved rearwardly a sufficient distance by the second actuator so that it is no longer beneath the packer blade.
- 27. The packer system of claim 18 wherein a longitudinal dimension of the packer blade is less than a longitudinal dimension of the eject blade.
- 28. A dual blade packer system for refuse collection, comprising:
- a hollow refuse storage body having a longitudinal axis, a fixedly mounted forward upwardly opening hopper section and a rear section with an open rear end;
- means mounted to the rear section of the refuse storage body for sealing and unsealing the open rear end of the refuse storage body;
- a side loader for gripping a garbage can and dumping refuse from the garbage can into the hopper section;
- an eject blade mounted inside the refuse storage body for reciprocation over a long range of travel along the longitudinal axis adjacent a bottom floor of the refuse storage body from a forwardmost position in which a top surface of the eject blade serves as a bottom floor of the hopper section to a rearwardmost position adjacent the open end of the refuse storage body;
- a multi-stage hydraulic cylinder connected between a forward end of the refuse storage body and the eject blade for reciprocating the eject blade over the long range of travel upon full extension of the multi-stage hydraulic cylinder;
- a packer blade mounted inside the refuse storage body for reciprocation over a short range of travel along the longitudinal axis above the eject blade when the eject blade is in the forwardmost position for pushing refuse that has been dumped into the hopper section by the side loader rearwardly into the rear section of the refuse storage body; and
- at least one single stage hydraulic cylinder connected between a forward end of the refuse storage body and the packer blade for reciprocating the packer blade over the short range of travel;
- whereby once the rear section of the refuse storage body has been substantially filled with compacted refuse the open rear end of the refuse storage body can be unsealed and the multi-stage hydraulic cylinder can be fully extended to push the compacted refuse rearwardly out of the rear section of the refuse storage body onto a dump site.
- 29. The dual blade packer system of claim 28 wherein a pair of single stage hydraulic cylinders are pivotally coupled in criss-cross fashion between the refuse storage body and the packer blade for reciprocating the packer blade over the short range of travel for pushing refuse from the hopper section into the rear section.
- 30. The dual blade packer system of claim 28 wherein each of the blades is formed of a hollow box-like member with a longitudinal dimension substantially greater than a vertical dimension thereof.
- 31. The dual blade packer system of claim 30 wherein the eject blade has a longitudinal dimension that is substantially greater than a longitudinal dimension of the packer blade.
- 32. The dual blade packer system of claim 28 wherein the eject blade is supported and guided for reciprocation over the long range of travel by a pair of parallel tracks on the bottom floor of the refuse storage body.
- 33. The dual blade packer system of claim 28 wherein the packer blade is supported and guided for reciprocation over the short range of travel by a pair of rails attached to corresponding ones of a pair of opposite side walls of the storage body.
- 34. The dual blade packer system of claim 28 wherein the means for sealing and unsealing the open rear end of the refuse storage body includes a tailgate.
- 35. The dual blade packer system of claim 28 wherein a front end wall of the packer blade is vertically aligned with a front end wall of the eject blade when the packer blade is in a forwardmost position and the eject blade is in the forwardmost position.
- 36. The dual blade packer system of claim 28 wherein a rear end wall of the packer blade is vertically aligned with a rear end wall of the eject blade when the packer blade is in a rearwardmost position and the eject blade is in the forwardmost position.
- 37. The dual blade packer system of claim 28 wherein a front end wall of the packer blade is vertically aligned with a front end wall of the eject blade when the packer blade is in a forwardmost position and the eject blade is in the forwardmost position and further wherein a rear end wall of the packer blade is vertically aligned with a rear end wall of the eject blade when the packer blade is in a rearwardmost position and the eject blade is in the forwardmost position.
- 38. The dual blade packer system of claim 28 wherein the refuse storage body includes a divider wall separating the hopper section from the rear section and defining an opening through which the packer blade pushes refuse into the rear section, the divider wall extending vertically downwardly from a top wall of the refuse storage body and transversely across the storage body and including a flexible flap extending downwardly from a lower horizontal edge, the divider wall being dimensioned so that a top surface of the packer blade will engage the flexible flap and move longitudinally underneath the divider wall.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a continuation, under 35 U.S.C. Sec. 120, of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/953,891 filed Oct. 20, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,007,291.
US Referenced Citations (8)
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
2137955A |
Oct 1984 |
GBX |
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
953891 |
Oct 1997 |
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