Embodiments described herein relate to a receptacles for receiving and storing waste and, more particularly, to a gate latching mechanism for a waste storage receptacle including a container having an open end and a gate operably connected to the container so as to be movable to open and close the container open end for removal of the waste from the container.
Large receptacles may be configured for receiving and storing various types of solid waste (such as scrap lumber, garbage, etc.) for later disposal. One use of such a receptacle may be, for example, as a “dumpster” which may be positioned at a construction site and used for depositing scrap construction materials therein.
A wall of the receptacle may be structured to be opened and closed to facilitate removal of waste therefrom. The wall may be hinged or otherwise rotatably connected to another portion of the receptacle. The receptacle may be provided with one or more latches structured to maintain the rotatable wall in a closed condition against the forces exerted by the contents of the receptacle until it is desired to rotate the wall open for waste removal.
Some problems exist with current receptacle designs. In general, the latches may be difficult to release under load when the receptacle is full of waste. Also, sudden release of the latches and the resulting loss of support forces holding the wall closed may cause the wall to swing open rapidly and uncontrollably while under load.
In one aspect of the embodiments described herein, a receptacle is provided for holding a quantity of solid material. The receptacle includes a container having an open end, and a gate operably connected to the container so as to be rotatable to a closed position structured to prevent solid material from exiting the container through the open end. The gate includes a locking arm mounted thereon. A latching mechanism is operably connected to the container and includes a latch rotatable to a latched orientation structured to contact the locking arm to prevent the gate from being rotated out of the closed position. The gate is structured and operably connected to the container so that the locking arm moves rearwardly and upwardly during rotation of the gate in order to rotate the gate out of the closed position. The latch is structured so that contact between the latch and the locking arm when the latch is in the latched orientation prevents rearward and upward movement of the locking arm.
In another aspect of the embodiments described herein, a method of releasably securing a gate of a receptacle in a closed position is provided. The receptacle is structured for holding a quantity of solid material therein, and includes a container having an open end and a gate operably connected to the container so as to be rotatable to a closed position structured to prevent solid material from exiting the container through the open end. The gate is structured and operably connected to the container so that a portion of the gate moves rearwardly and upwardly during rotation of the gate in order to rotate the gate out of the closed position. The method includes steps of attaching a locking arm to the portion of the gate and operably connecting a latch to the container so as to be rotatable with respect to the container to a latched orientation and an unlatched orientation. The latch is structured to contact the locking arm when the latch is in the latched orientation so as to prevent rearward and upward motion of the locking arm during attempted rotation of the gate out of the closed position. The method also includes a step of rotating the latch into the latched orientation.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate various systems, methods, and other embodiments of the disclosure. It will be appreciated that the illustrated element boundaries (e.g., boxes, groups of boxes, or other shapes) in the figures represent one embodiment of the boundaries. In some embodiments, one element may be designed as multiple elements or multiple elements may be designed as one element. In some embodiments, an element shown as an internal component of another element may be implemented as an external component and vice versa. Furthermore, elements may not be drawn to scale.
A receptacle is provided for holding a quantity of solid material. The receptacle includes a container having an open end, and a gate operably connected to the container so as to be rotatable to a closed position structured to prevent solid material from exiting the container through the open end. The gate includes a locking arm mounted thereon. A latching mechanism is operably connected to the container and includes a latch rotatable to a latched orientation structured to contact the locking arm to prevent the gate from being rotated out of the closed position. The locking arm is structured to move rearwardly and upwardly during rotation of the gate out of the closed position. The latch is structured so that contact between the latch and the locking arm when the latch is in the latched orientation prevents rearward and upward movement of the locking arm. When rotated to an unlatched orientation, the latch still provides resistance against loads exerted by the material residing inside the receptacle. However, as the gate is rotated upwardly, the locking arm may be gradually lifted so as to slide along a surface of the latch, then out of contact with the latch.
Referring to the drawings, and particularly to
A gate 34 may be operably connected to the container 32 so as to be rotatable to (and between) an open position and a closed position.
As seen in
Referring to
Referring to
The latching mechanism 50 may include a latch support member 52 fixedly attached to the container sidewall 32a. The latch support member 52 may be structured to rotatably support one or more associated latches between the container sidewall 32a and the latch support member 52. The embodiment described includes a pair of latches 54, 56 mounted along container sidewall 32a. However, fewer than two latches or more than two latches may be mounted along a given sidewall depending on the requirements of a particular application. An additional pair of latches 154, 156 may be similarly mounted along the container second sidewall 32b.
Each of latches 54, 56 may be connected to the latch support member 52 so as to be rotatable about an associated fixed rotational axis (axis X4 for latch 54 and axis X5 for latch 56) between a first, latched orientation (shown in
Each latch of the receptacle 30 may be structured so that an associated first bearing surface of the latch always makes direct physical contact with an associated locking arm received in the latch cavity when the gate is in its closed position and the latch is in its latched orientation. In addition, referring to latch 54 in
The latching mechanism 50 may include a latch link 58 operably connecting the first and second latches 54, 56. Each of the first and second latches 54, 56 may be connected to the latch link 58 so as to be rotatable between the respective latched orientation (
Referring to
The latching mechanism 50 may also include a latch control linkage actuation mechanism 62 operably connected to the latch control linkage 60 and structured to control operation of the latch control linkage 60. In one or more arrangements, the latch control linkage actuation mechanism 62 may include a suitable pneumatic or hydraulic cylinder or ram. Other types of mechanisms may also be used for the gate actuation mechanism.
A human user may remotely control operation of the latch control linkage actuation mechanism 62 and gate actuation mechanism 40 to open the gate 34. This obviates the need for the human user to be in close proximity to the receptacle during opening or to manually attempt to open the gate 34 when the gate is under a load exerted by contents of the container, thereby reducing the risk of injury to the user.
To open the gate 34, the user may first control operation of the latch control linkage actuation mechanism/cylinder 62 to rotate the latch 54 to its unlatched orientation. In the embodiment shown, the latch control linkage actuation mechanism may be controlled to retract a piston shaft 62a of the cylinder 62 in direction D9 (
As seen in
The angle of the bearing surface 54b with respect to the arc of travel A1 of the locking arm 34a in the latched and unlatched orientations of the latch 54 may be adjusted to achieve the effects just described by adjusting the amount the latch 54 will rotate for a given stroke length or movement of the latch link 58. The amount of rotation of each latch for a given stroke length of the latch link can be individually controlled by adjusting such parameters as the dimensions of the latch and the location of the rotational connection between the latch link and the latch with respect to the rotational axis of the respective latch. Values of optimum design parameters (such as the angle of the latch bearing surface with respect to a projected arc of travel of an associated locking arm, the required amount of rotation of the latch to enable the locking arm to exit the associated latch cavity, the location of the rotational axis of the latch, and other parameters) for each latch and component spatial arrangements for a given application may be determined analytically and/or iteratively by experimentation.
To close the gate 34 and operate the latching mechanism 50 to lock the gate in the closed position, the process just described may be reversed. The gate actuation mechanism 40 may be operated to rotate the gate 34 back to the closed position shown in
In one or more particular arrangements, the gate rear portion 134c may be sloped so as to “lean” toward the container interior space 32e a horizontal distance of about 2 inches for every 60 inches that the rear portion 134c extends vertically upwardly from the container floor 32f. This degree of slope may provide a receptacle in which the gate rear portion is sloped at an angle θ in a range of 2°-3° inclusive with respect to the plane P2 extending perpendicular to the floor 32f of the container. In other particular arrangements, the gate rear portion 134c may be structured to be sloped at an angle θ in a range of 2°-10° inclusive with respect to the plane P2 extending perpendicular to the floor 32f of the container, depending on the requirements of a particular application.
To provide latching and release of the gate 134 in the manner previously described herein with regard to gate 34, the receptacle 130 may include a latch support member 152 fixedly attached to the container sidewall 32a in a manner similar to that of latch support member 52 previously described. The latch support member 152 may be structured to rotatably support one or more associated latches (such as latches 54 and 56) between the container sidewall 32a and the latch support member 152. However, the latch support member 152 may be attached to the container sidewall 32a so as to be sloped at the same angle that the gate rear portion 134c slopes when the gate 134 is in the closed position. This sloping of the latch support member 152 may cause the lower latch 56 to be spaced relatively farther in a rearward direction of the container than the upper latch 54. This sloping of the latch support member 152 adjusts the positions of the latches 54 and 56 and the relative locations at which the latches 54 and 56 are rotatably supported by the latch support member 152, to accommodate the positions of the associated locking arms 34a, 34b along the sloped rear portion 134c of the gate 134.
Another sloped latch support member (not shown) may be attached to the opposite container sidewall 32b in the manner described herein, for supporting latches 154 and 156. Operation of the latches 54, 56, 154, 156 and the other elements and mechanisms of the receptacle are as previously described with respect to
Sloping of the gate rear portion 134c (and the support to the gate latches provided by a similar sloping of the latch support member 152) may facilitate opening of the gate 134 from a closed positon and emptying of the container contents when a large load is acting on the rear portion from the container interior space 32e, by reducing the load component acting parallel to the container floor 32f and on the gate rear portion 134c.
Also disclosed herein is a method of releasably securing a gate of a receptacle in a closed position. The receptacle is structured for holding a quantity of solid material therein, and includes a container having an open end and a gate operably connected to the container so as to be rotatable to a closed position structured to prevent solid material from exiting the container through the open end. The gate is structured and operably connected to the container so that a portion of the gate moves rearwardly and upwardly during rotation of the gate in order to rotate the gate out of the closed position. The method includes steps of attaching a locking arm to the portion of the gate and operably connecting a latch to the container so as to be rotatable with respect to the container to a latched orientation and an unlatched orientation. The latch is structured to contact the locking arm when the latch is in the latched orientation so as to prevent rearward and upward motion of the locking arm during attempted rotation of the gate out of the closed position. The method also includes a step of rotating the latch into the latched orientation.
The latch may also be structured to enable rearward and upward motion of the locking arm during attempted rotation of the gate out of the closed position when the latch is in the unlatched orientation. The method may then further include a step of rotating the latch into the unlatched orientation to enable rearward and upward motion of the locking arm and the portion of the gate attached to the locking arm.
In one or more arrangements, the step of attaching a locking arm to the portion of the gate includes a step of attaching a pair of locking arms to the portion of the gate, and the step of operably connecting a latch to the container includes a step of operably connecting a pair of latches to the container, each latch being connected to the container so as to be rotatable with respect to the container to a respective latched orientation and a respective unlatched orientation, each latch being structured to contact an associated one of the locking arms when the latch is in the respective latched orientation so as to prevent rearward and upward motion of the locking arm during attempted rotation of the gate out of the closed position. In addition, the method may further include steps of operably connecting a latch link to the latches such that movement of the latch link causes the latches to rotate simultaneously, and controlling a movement of the latch link so that each of the latches rotates in a direction toward its respective latched orientation.
In one or more arrangements, the movement of the latch link in a first direction causes a simultaneous rotation of the latches toward the respective latched orientations of the latches, and movement of the latch link in a second direction opposite the first direction causes a simultaneous rotation of the latches toward the respective unlatched orientations of the latches.
In one or more arrangements, the method may further include a step of operably connecting a latch control linkage to the latch link, the latch control linkage including, and a first link rotatably connected to the container along a fixed rotational axis, and a second link rotatably connected to the first link at a link junction and rotatably connected to the latch link, such that movement of the link junction in a direction away from the latch link produces a movement of the latch link in the second direction, and movement of the link junction in a direction toward the latch link produces a movement of the latch link in the first direction. The method may further include a step of controlling operation of the latch control linkage to move the link junction in the direction toward the latch link.
Detailed embodiments are disclosed herein. However, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are intended only as examples. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the aspects herein in virtually any appropriately detailed structure. Further, the terms and phrases used herein are not intended to be limiting but rather to provide an understandable description of possible implementations. Various embodiments are shown in
The terms “a” and “an,” as used herein, are defined as one or more than one. The term “plurality,” as used herein, is defined as two or more than two. The term “another,” as used herein, is defined as at least a second or more. The terms “including” and/or “having,” as used herein, are defined as comprising (i.e. open language). The phrase “at least one of . . . and . . . ” as used herein refers to and encompasses any and all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. As an example, the phrase “at least one of A, B and C” includes A only, B only, C only, or any combination thereof (e.g. AB, AC, BC or ABC).
Aspects herein can be embodied in other forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof. Accordingly, reference should be made to the following claims, rather than to the foregoing specification, as indicating the scope of the invention.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/187,096, filed on May 11, 2021, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
3077841 | Lunde | Feb 1963 | A |
3152824 | Bolling | Oct 1964 | A |
4142751 | Varda | Mar 1979 | A |
4291631 | Knippel | Sep 1981 | A |
4547099 | Alexandrov | Oct 1985 | A |
4945949 | Carpentier | Aug 1990 | A |
5639129 | Lindley | Jun 1997 | A |
6808080 | Spiers | Oct 2004 | B2 |
6929146 | Galbreath | Aug 2005 | B1 |
10252855 | Melancon, Jr. | Apr 2019 | B1 |
20050023839 | Franich | Feb 2005 | A1 |
20110289851 | de Zwart | Dec 2011 | A1 |
20200284073 | Thomas, II | Sep 2020 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
3010988 | Mar 2015 | FR |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20220363471 A1 | Nov 2022 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
63187096 | May 2021 | US |