Patent Application
20180155122
This invention relates to waste collection containers and, more particularly, to a waste collection container that separates water and liquid contents from waste materials prior to transfer into a truck or other waste transportation vehicle.
Waste collection containers (often referred to as “dumpsters”) are used for collecting larger volumes of waste for periodic pickup by a waste collection service. Waste collection containers are usually placed at locations where waste management is necessary, such as at a construction site or a building having a large number of occupants. While it is normally intended to limit the type of collected waste to a specific class of materials, such as dry construction and demolition debris for example, the reality is that all types of waste items tend to get deposited in waste collection containers. Eventually, the containers are emptied by the collection service. In most instances, waste collection containers are lifted up and inverted over a collection truck causing the collected contents to be dumped into the truck for transport to a waste disposal facility.
Often, waste that is dumped into the waste collection container includes liquid or it is saturated with water. Moreover, when it rains, rain water begins to fill up in the waste collection container and the contents become saturated and heavy. When the collection truck comes to dump the contents of the container into the truck for transport to a landfill or other disposal facility, all of the rain water and other liquid is dumped into the truck, along with the collected waste. The liquid that is collected in the collection container, both from the dumped waste contents, as well as from rain water, adds significant weight to the load being transported by the collection truck. Naturally, the added weight of the load carried by the truck, as a result of the water contents dumped therein, significantly increases the fuel consumption of the truck, as well as the necessary weight capacity of the truck for carrying waste to be disposed of at the landfill or other disposal facility. In other words, bigger trucks that haul heavier loads and burn more fuel are needed to accommodate the extra weight created by unwanted water content in the waste load.
The typical waste collection container in the related art includes a drain opening near the bottom, usually at the back lower corner. This allows rain water and other liquid to drain from the container. However, because garbage and other debris are deposited into the container and initially fill the bottom of the container, next to the drain opening, this drain opening is usually either partially obstructed or completely blocked (i.e., clogged) by garbage or other debris that prevents rain water and other liquid from draining out from the container.
Accordingly, to increase the efficiency of waste collection services, and to maximize revenues, it is desirable to eliminate as much water and other liquid as possible from the collected waste contents of waste collection containers, prior to dumping the collected waste into a transportation truck or other vehicle.
The present invention is directed to a waste collection container that includes vertical walls extending up from a horizontal base and a raised floor supported on a ledge above the base to define a primary collection chamber above the raised floor and a liquid collection reservoir between the base and the raised floor and defining a liquid separation sump. The top surface of the raised floor is sloped downwardly from the outer periphery to a central elongate grate to direct rain water and other liquid in the primary collection chamber to the grate and into the lower liquid collection chamber. When the waste collection container is inverted to dump the collected waste into a truck, water and other liquid remains trapped in the lower reservoir, thereby reducing the load weight of the truck. One or more drain holes near the base of the container allow the liquid to be drained out of the liquid collection reservoir.
Considering the forgoing, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a waste collection container that separates rain water, water from waste contents dumped in the container, and other liquid contents in an isolated collection reservoir so that when the waste container is inverted and dumped into a waste collection service truck, the collected water and other liquid is not released into the truck, thereby minimizing the weight load carried by the waste collection truck.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a waste collection container that has a raised floor that is sloped downward to a centrally located drain grate for directing water and other liquids into a segregated liquid collection reservoir.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a system that can be retrofitted to existing waste collection containers with the addition of a simple ledge around the inner wall perimeter of the container and attachment of a raised floor to the ledge, to thereby support the raised floor in spaced relation above a bottom of the waste collection container, and wherein the raised floor is sloped downwardly to a centrally located drain grate for directing water and other liquids into a segregated liquid collection reservoir below the raised floor.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a waste collection container that has a pitched or sloped raised floor and a centrally located drain grate having a drain grate cover to prevent debris and other waste materials from being wedged or clogged in the drain grate.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a waste collection container having a raised floor that is sloped downwardly to a drain grate for allowing water and other liquid to be directed into a segregated liquid collection reservoir below the raised floor, and wherein the waste collection container further includes a drain hole communicating with the liquid collection reservoir for draining water and other liquids from the reservoir.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention are more readily apparent with reference to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
For a fuller understanding of the nature of the present invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
Like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views of the drawings.
Referring to the several views of the drawings, the waste collection container is shown and is generally indicated as 10. The waste collection container includes a container body 12 including a front wall 14, a rear wall 15, opposite side walls 16, 17 and a base 18. The top of the container body 12 is open and can be covered to prevent rain water and animals from entering into the container. As seen in
The raised floor 20 is sloped on all sides, including the front side, the rear side, and the opposite left and right sides downwardly to a centrally located elongate drain grate 30. The drain grate 30 includes arrangement of spaced, parallel open slots 32 communicating between the primary collection chamber 42 and the liquid collection chamber 40. The downwardly sloped floor 20 directs rain water and other liquid W from the primary collection chamber downwardly to the drain grate 30. The open slots 32 allow the water to run down into the lower liquid collection chamber 40 below the floor 20. The top surface of the sloped raised floor 20 may be flat, ridged or corrugated for optimal draining and direction of liquid to the drain grate 30.
While the present invention has been shown and described in accordance with several preferred and practical embodiments, it is recognized that departures from the instant disclosure are fully contemplated within the spirit and scope of the present invention which is not to be limited except as defined in the following claims as interpreted under the Doctrine of Equivalence.
