CA1127118A

CA1127118A - Refuse compaction apparatus

Info

Publication number: CA1127118A
Application number: CA319,954A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Fred T. Smith
Original assignee: Sargent Industries Inc
Current assignee: Sargent Industries Inc
Priority date: 1978-02-10
Filing date: 1979-01-19
Publication date: 1982-07-06
Also published as: AR225890A1; DE2954626C2; IT1116847B; GB2017043B; GB2017043A; PH18983A; FR2424861B1; NL8300222A; GB2074537B; JPS638001B2; NL7901034A; FR2424861A1; DE2954625C2; AR229263A1; GB2071604B; ZA79585B; BR7900789A; AU4386279A; SE7901154L; IT7947955A0

Abstract

Abstract of the Disclosure A refuse compacting apparatus having a container for storing refuse under pressure, a loading hopper, and a passage leading from the hopper into the container. A narrowed throat in the passage is positioned at a point intermediate that of enlarged openings from the passage into the hopper and the storage container. Refuse compacting means are positioned to sweep through the hopper to compact refuse and move the refuse from the hopper through the passage into the container. As the refuse moves through the passage, the refuse is squeezed and is subjected to high localized pressures as the refuse passes through the narrowed throat.
A refuse compacting apparatus having a container or storage body for storing refuse under pressure, an ejection panel movable in the storage body, a loading hopper, a passage with a narrowed throat and packing panels movable in the hopper on a cyclic basis. Refuse is stuffed at high pressures into the narrowed throat in successive cycles of movement of the packing panels and is churned, fragmented and compacted during such stuffing operation. The refuse is then directed through the passage into the storage body where it is stored at reduced pressures. A servo operation is then provided to control optimally the compacting action on the refuse in the passage by controlling the pressure exerted by the refuse in the storage body. Thus, when the pressure exerted by the refuse against the ejection panel reaches a first particular value, the ejection panel is moved in a direction to relieve such pressure.

Description

~27~8 1 The movement of the ejection panel occurs on an incremental

2 basis until the pressure of the refuse against the ejection

3 panel decreases to a second particular value lower than the

4 first particular value.
A refuse compacting apparatus having a storage ]~
6 for refuse and a movable panel positioned within the storage 7 body. A support member is provided for the movable panel, 8 which member has a movable end and a fixed end with -the fixed 9 end pivotally connected to the storage body. A link connects the movable end to the movable panel such that the movement li of the panel causes pivotal movement of the support member.
12 Means are provided to transmit a force to the movable panel~
13 from a point on the support member which is intermediate the 1~ fixed end and movable end. Thus, as the panel undergoes move-ment within the storage body, the support member undergoes 16 rotational movement with the intermediate point on the support 17 member moving in an arcuate path in the direction of movement 18 of the movable panel.
19 A refuse compacting apparatus having a container for storing refuse under pressure and a loading hopper in communica-21 tion with the storage container. Refuse compacting means are~
22 positioned to sweep through the hopper to compact refuse and 23 to move the refuse fxom the loading hopper into the storage 24 con-tainer. A retainer panel is positioned to move between an opened and a closed position. With the retainer panel in its 26 closed position, the retainer panel impedes the flow of refuse 27 from the container into the hopper. In its opened position, 28 the retainer panel permits the flow of refuse from the hopper 29 into the storage container. Control means are provided to move the retainer panel to an opened position, while moving 31 the refuse compac-ting means through the hopper to move refuse 32 into the storage container and to move the retainer panel to llZ71~8 1 a closed position, while returning the refuse compacting means 2 to a position to begin sweeping through the hopper.
3 A refuse compacting apparatus having a container for 4 storing refuse under pressure, a loading hopper in co~munica-tion with the storage container and a packing panel mounted 6 to sweep through the hopper to compact refuse therein and to 7 move the refuse from the loading hopper and into the storage 8 contalner. The loading hopper includes a curved inner surface g and a sill over which refuse is inserted into the hopper. An edge on the pac]cing panel is positioned adjacent to the curved 11 inner surface as the packing panel sweeps through the loading 12 hopper. Means are provided to maintain a minimum distance 13 between an edge on the packiny panel and the curved inner 1~ surface at a point adjacent to the sill, which distance is slightly greater than the depth of the human finger. The 16 distance between the edge on the packing panel and the curved 17 inner surface is then increased slightly after the packing 18 panel moves past the sill in sweeping through the hopper.
19 The minimum spacing between the edge of the packing panel and the inner surface at the sill reduces the level of forces 21~ applied to the sill area during packing of refuse while also 22 protecting the worker's fingers. The increases spacing 23 between the edge on the packing panel and the curved inner 24 surface as the panel sweeps through the loading hopper provides a gripping force to refuse caught between the 26 edge and the inner surface such that refuse is pulled over 27 the sill and into the hopper as the panel sweeps through 28 the hopper.
29 A refuse compacting apparatus having a panel positioned for working movement in a first direction, a ~j " ~
~ , :

~ D-1101 ,_~
l~Z71~B

1 relatively large first hydraulic motor for driving t]le ~ -2 panel in the first direction, and the panel undergoing 3 return movement in a second direction with a relatively 4 small hydraulic motor driving the panel in the second direction. Means provide pressurized hydraulic fluid 6 for driving the first and second hydraulic motors with the first and second hydraulic motors being mechanically 8 interconnected such that movement of the first motor to 9 drive the panel in said first direction causes movement of the second motor in a direction opposite to its r~ e-11 ment in driving the panel in said second direction.
12 Similarly, movement of the second motor to drive the panel 13 in said second direction causes movement of the first 14 motor in a direction opposite to its movement to drive 15 the panel insaid first direction. - ~
lG The first motor has a first opening and a 17 second opening and the second motor has a first opening 18 and a second opening. Means are provided to connect the 19 second opening of the first motor with the second open-ing of the second motorj and means are provided to connect 21 the second opening of the first motor and the second 22 opening of the second motor to sump means. Valve means 23 are positioned between the first and second motors and 24 the means to supply pressurized hydraulic fluid with the valve means having a first operative position to direct 26 hydraulic fluid to the first opening of the first motor 27 to cause movement of the first motor to drive the panel D-llOl - - -7~

1 in the said first direction. The valve means in its firs-t 2 operative position also transmits hydraulic fluid from the 3 first opening in the second motor to the sump means as the second motor moves in a direction opposite to its movement ~ to drive the panel in said second direction. Hydraulic 6 fluid flowing from the second opening of the first motor q may flow into the second opening of the second motor and 8 may also flow into the sump as the first motor moves to 9 drive the panel in said first direction.
The valve means has a second operative position 11 to direct hydraulic fluid to the first opening of the 12 second motor to cause movement of the second motor to drive 13 the panel in said second direction while also causing 14 movement of the first motor in a direction opposite to its movement in driving the panel in said first direction.
16 The valve means in its second operative position transmits 17 hydraulic fluid from the first opening of the first motor 18 to the sump and means interconnect the first and second 19 openings of the first motor which means are actuated when the pressure of hydraulic fluid supplied -to the first 21 opening of the second motor reaches a predetermined pres-22 sure level to permit hydraulic fluid to flow from the 23 first opening of the first motor into the second opening 24 Of the first motor. The second motor, therefore, a~c~ as an accumulator for hydraulic fluid from the first motor 26 as the first motor is driving the panel in its first 27 direction, and the second motor is moving in a direction ~ D-llOl , ~

opposite to its movement to drive the panel in said second 2 direction. Also, the first motor acts as its own accumu-3 lator when the second motor is driving the panel in said 4 second direction and the first motor is moving in a direction opposite to its movement in driving the panel 6 in its first direction with hydraulic fluid being trans-mitted from the first opening in the first motor to the second opening of the first motor.
9 A refuse compaction apparatus having a refuse container, a loading hopper and a passage from the hopper into the refuse container. A packing panel is positioned 12 within the loading hopper for rotational movement from a 13 rest position in a working direction in sweeping through the 1~ hopper to compact refuse and to move the refuse through the passage into the refuse container. Means for driving 16 the panel include a drive shaft rotatabl~ supporting the 17 panel and a drive member connected to the panel with the 18 drive member having a drive surface. A drive lever is 19 connected to the drive member and a flexible drive member having a drive end and a fixed end has its fixed end 21 connected to the drive lever. A motor is connected to the 22 driving end of the flexible drive member with the flexible 23 drive member being positioned to contact the drive surface 2~ in driving the panel during movement of the panel in a working direction from its rest position during the initial 26 portion of its movement through the hopper. The flexible 27 drive member then moves out of contact with the drive O-LiOl ~2~

1 surface to drive the packing panel through the connec-2 tiOll between the fixed end of the drive membex and the 3 drive lever during the latter portion of the movemen-t 4 of the packing panel in a working direction through the hopper.
6 A refuse compaction apparatus including a 7 hopper and a panel rotatably positioned for movement 8 through the hopper. The panel has a body with a gcnerally 9 elliptical cross-sectional configuration and a high torque-transmitting capability. Drive means are conn-cL~
11 only one end of the panel with the drive means imparting 12 a rotational force to the panel at said one end, which 13 force is transmitted throughout the panel by the generally 14 elliptically-shaped body.
A refuse compaction apparatus having a container 16 for storing refuse under pressure and means for pressurizing 17 refuse within the container. The container includes a first 18 rigid frame positioned at one end and a second rigid frame 19 positioned at the other end of the container. A plurality 20 of longitudinal members interconnect the first and second 21 frames and a plurality of flexible metal sheet members~
22 enclose the cnntainer with the sheet members being supported 23 by the first and second frames and by the longitudinal 24 members. The flexible sheet members are bowed outwardly 25 from their points of support, such that the sheet members 26 are placed in tension in resisting pressure within the 27 storage container.

1101.

`~18 1 A refuse compactioll apparatus including a con-2 tainer for storing refuse under pressure, a tailgate 3 rotatably mounted on the container for movement ~etween an opened and a closed position. The tailgate in its opened pOSitiOIl permits refuse to be discharged from the 6 container and the tailgate in its closed position forms 7 a closure with the storage container. In maintaining the tailgate in its closed position, a latch member is 9 engageahle with a keeper member with means to provide rotational movement of the latch member into a position 11 to make contact with the keeper member. After rotational ~2 movement of the latch member, means are provided to cause 13 translational movement of the latch member into contact la with the keeper member to maintain the tailgate in a closed position.
16 A refuse compaction apparatus including a con-17 tainer for storing refuse under pressure, a tailgate 18 rotatably mounted on the container for movement between 19 an opened and a closed position with the tailgate in-cluding a loading hopper to receive refuse and packing 21 means within the hopper to move refuse rom the hopper ~2 into the storage container. Drive means are provided 23 within the hopper to drive the packing means in moving 2a refuse from the loading hopper into the storage container when the tailgate is in its closed position in abutting 26 relation with the storage body. The tailgate in its 27 opened position is rotated upwardly to expose the 28 storage body for the discharge of refuse.

///

,.~ '~--1101 -l~Z7118 ~- The drive means within the tailgate is 2 positioned at one side of the tailgate to drive the 3 packing means from said one side with the weight of said one side of the tailgate being greater than the ~ weight of the other side of the tailgate. An upper 6 beam is provided within the tailgate with the tailgate q being rotatably connected to the storage container 8 through the upper beam. A stiffener assembly in the 9 upper beam is positioned adjacent to the rotatable connection of the heavier side of the tailgate to the 11 storage container with the stiffener assembly having a 12 configuration which provides a high resistance to 13 torque. A lifting force applied to the tailgate for la raising the tailgate to its opened position is, there-fore, transmitted through the upper beam with the 16 twisting forces applied to the upper beam by the weight 17 of the heavier one side being resisted by the stiffener 18 assembly.

* * * * *

2~

_g_ ~ - D-]101 i~27118 1 Background of the Invention 3 There is a direct correlation between the 4 affluence and industrialization of a society and the ~ quantity of refuse which is generated by that society.
6 Thus, in the industrialized nations, the quantity of q refuse which is generated may be many times that 8 generated in a more primitive society.
9 In modern refuse collection apparatus, the refuse is compacted within a pressurized storage con-~1 tainer. The storage container may, for example, be 12` mounted on the frame of a truck with the tailgate ro-13 tatably secured to the rear of the container. Within 14 the tailgate, there is generally a packing mechanism, with refuse being placed in a loading hopper in the 16 tailgate and the packing mechanism forcing the refuse ~7 under high pressures into the storage container. By 18 forcing the refuse into the storage container under high pressures, the refuse is compacted so that a rela-tively large quantity of refuse may be carried within 21 the storage container. This permits the refuse collec-22 tion apparatus to function for a long period of time 23 before it becomes necessary to empty the storage con-2~ tainer. The time spent in driving to a landfill or refuse transfer point to empty the storage container 26 is time lost from the primary function of the apparatus 27 in picking up the refuse at a home or a business and . ~ , , .

D-llOl 1~27118 1 placing the refuse in a compacted form which is convenient 2 for :its disposal. Accordingly, it is essential to the 3 function of a refuse collection apparatus that the quanti-ty of refuse carried within the refuse container be maximized.
6 To maximize the quantity of refuse which may be 7 packed under pressure within the refuse storage container, 8 it has previously been necessary to construct the apparatus 9 of heavy structural members to provide great strength.
This has resulted in the refuse compaction apparatus being 11 relatively large and heavy. These requirements have in-12 creased the costs of refuse compaction apparatus and have 13 made the apparatus a high consumer of energy for operation.
14 Additionally, the weight of previous refuse collection apparatus may be injurious to street surfaces over which 16 the apparatus is driven.
17 In addition to being relatively heavy and ex-18 pensive, previous refuse collection apparatus has been 19 relatively complicated. In previous apparatus, it has generally been necessary to place hydraulic cylinders on 21 either side of the tailgate to drive the packing mechanism 22 in forcing the refuse from the loading hopper into the 23 refuse storage container. The weight and expense of the 2~ hydraulic cylinders have, thus, contributed to the overall weight and expense of the refuse collection apparatus.
26 Additionally, to control a plurality of hydraulic cylin-27 ders to insure that the driving forces applied to each D-llO]

l~Z7il8 1 end of the packing mechanism are synchronized has re-2 quired the use of complex hydraulic circuitry. This 3 may reduce the reliability of the refuse collection 4 apparatus, since the reliability of a complex mechanism is generallyinversely proportional to the complexity 6 of the mechanism.
7 In view of the above problems, it would be 8 desirable if a refuse compaction apparatus could be 9 provided which would be lighter than previous apparatus and which would consume a smaller quantity of energy 11 for operation. Such an apparatus would also be cheaper 12 because of the use of lighter and less expensive struc-13 tural members used in its construction. These would 14 be considerable advantages in view of the ever-increasing cost of energy in the form of oil, gasoline and other 16 fossil fuels for operation of industrial equipment.
17 Additionally, by being lighter than previous collection 18 apparatus, such an apparatus would be less injurious to 19 the public streets in its operation.
In addition to providing a refuse compaction 21 apparatus which would be cheaper and lighter, it would be 22 desirable to provide an apparatus which would be simpler 23 in its construction, and, therefore, more reliable and 24 less likely to break down. Desirably, such an apparatus would provide a mechanical interconnection between the 26 hydraulic motors used to drive the packing mechanism.
27 This would serve to eliminate the previous problems of " ~ .

D-llOl 1 synchronizing the movement of hydraulic cylinders to 2 drive the packing mechanism by means of a complex 3 hydraulic circuit. Also, it would be desirable if such 4 a refuse compaction apparatus could function by driving ~ the packing mechanism from only one end, since this 6 would tend to avoid the many problems which may result 7 from the use of duplicate drive cylinders positioned 8 at either end of the packing mechanism, which cylinders 9 must be synchronized in their movement~s.
In addition, it would be desirable if a re 11 fuse compaction apparatus could be provided in which the 12 refuse could be suhjected to very high pressures before 13 being placed within the refuse storage container. This 1~ would permit the retention of highly compacted refuse within the storage container at reduced pressures. The 16 storage container could then be made lighter while still 17 performing its function of containing a maximum quantity 18 of refuse to reduce the amount of lost time required to 19 periodically empty the container.

r)-l~ o 1 Summary of the Invention 3 In providing a solution to the aforementioned problems, the present invention provides a refuse com-paction apparatus which is relatively light in weight, is 6 relatively inexpensive, and is also less complex than q previous refuse compaction apparatus. Accordingly, the refuse compaction apparatus of the invention is admirably 9 suited for meeting the complex problems posed by the con-tradictory demands of providing efficient and uniform 11 compaction of refuse at high pressures, while reducing 12 the weight and complexity of the apparatus and the energy 13 required for its operation.
14 One aspect of the invention concerns a refuse compacting apparatus in which a passage having a narrowed 16 throat is positioned between a container for storing re-17 fuse under pressure and a loading hopper. Refuse compac-18 ting means may be positioned to sweep through the hopper 19 to compact refuse and to move the refuse from the loading hopper into the storage container. As the refuse is moved 21 through the passage by the refuse compacting means, the 22 refuse may be squeezed and subjected to very high localized 23 pressures within the narrowed throat as the refuse passes 2~ through the narrowed throat.
A movable ejection panel may be positioned with-26 in the storage container, with the panel being movable from 27 a position adjacent the passage when the container is empty - `1101 1 to a position displaced from the passage when the con-2 tainer is full. Means may be provided to control the 3 movement of the ejection panel away from the passage in response to the pressure of refuse which is exerted against the panel. Thus, as refuse is moved into the 6 container from the passage, the refuse may he packed 7 àgainst the panel until the pressure of refuse against 8 the ejection panel exceeds a predetermined level with 9 the panel then being moved an incremental distance to ~ a new position to reduce the pressure of refuse against 11 the panel. Additional refuse may then be packed against 12 the ejection panel in its new position until the pressure 13 against the panel exceeds the predetermined level with 14 the panel being again moved an incremental distance to a new position, etc., such that the alternate packing of 16 refuse and moving of the ejection panel is continued until 17 the storage container is uniformly filled with refuse.
18 The passage leading from the loading hopper 19 into the refuse container may include a surface at the enlarged opening from the passage into the storage con-21 tainer which surface imparts movement of the refuse that 22 is directed toward the panel. Additionally, the pressure 23 exerted on the re~use passing through the narrowed throat 2~ within the passage may greatly exceed the pressure which is exerted by refuse against the ejection panel and the 26 interior of the refuse storage container. Accordingly, 27 the high localized pressures which may be exerted on 11271~8 l refuse as it passes through the narrowed throat wi-thin 2 the passage need not be transmitted to the interior of 3 the storage container.
It is desirable that the pressures of the refuse directed through the narrowed throat of the passage be 6 regulated. If the pressures exerted on the refuse in the 7 narrowed throat are excessive, the movement of the refuse 8 through the narrowed throat of the passage tends to become g blocked. On the other hand, if the pressures exerted on -the refuse in the narrowed throat are not sufficient, a relatively 1l little amount of compaction or fragmentation is produced on 12 the refuse in the narrowed throat. The regulatior of the 13 pressures on the refuse in the narrowed throat is pro~lded la by controlling the pressure of the refuse in the storage body. When the pressure of the refuse on the ejection panel 16 in the storage body reaches a first particular value, the 17 ejection panel is moved in a direction to relieve such 18 pressure. Such movement of the ejection panel occurs on l9 an incremental basis until the pressure of the refuse against the ejection panel decreases to a second particular value 21 lower than the first particular value.
22 The ability to regulate the pressure of -the refuse 23 in the narrowed throat of the passage by regulating the 24 pressure exerted by the refuse against the ejection panel can be seen from the following. For example, the pressure 26 f the refuse against the ejection panel corresponds to the 27 pressure of the refuse in the enlarged opening in the passage 28 at a position adjacent to the storage body. Furthermore, ~0 ///

~1271~8 1 the pressure in the enlarged opening causes a back pressure 2 to be exerted against the refuse in the narrowed throat to 3 control the pressure of the refuse in the narrowed throat.
4 As a result, the pressure of the refuse in the narrowed

5 throat of the passage is directly related to the pressure

6 of the refuse against the ejection panel. In this way, a

7 servo action is obtained for providing an optimal churning,

8 fragmentation and compaction of the refuse as the refuse g is directed through the narrowed throat.
In moving refuse from the loading hopper through li the passage into the refuse storage container, a movable 12 retainer panel may be positioned for movement between a ~irst 13 position in which the retainer panel is positioned away from 14 the passage and a second position in which the retainer panel 15 at least partially blocks the passage. When the refuse 16 compacting means is moved away from the passage, the retainer 17 panel may be moved to its second position to impede the move-18 ment of the refuse from the passage back into the loading 19 hopper. Additionally, as the retainer panel moves from its 20 first position to its second position, the retainer panel may 21 be shaped and positioned to sweep refuse from the refuse 22 compacting means during this movement with the refuse swept 23 from the refuse compacting means being moved into the passage 24 by the retainer panel.
With the retainer panel in its first position which 26 does not impede the movement of refuse from the loading hopper 27 through the passage into the storage container, the retainer 28 panel may include a surface which merges into and forms an 29 extension of the surface of the passage. The configuration 30 of the retainer panel may, thereby, assist the movement of 31 the refuse into the passage from the loading hopper.

-16a-~ D,~101 l~Z'7118 1 In another aspect of the invention, a refuse 2 compacting apparatus may be provided in which a movable 3 panel is positioned within a storage body for refuse. A
support member for the movable panel may have a movable end and a fixed end with the fixed end pivotally con-6 nected to the storage body. A link may connect the q movable end of the support member to the movable panel 8 such that movement of the panel causes pivotal movement

9 of the support member. Means may be provided to transmit a force to the movable panel from a point on the support 11 member which is positioned intermediate the fixed end and 12 the movable end. As the panel undergoes movement within 13 the support body to cause rotational movement of the 1~ support member, the intermediate point on the support 15 member may then move in an arcuate path in the direction 16 of movement of the panel. The means to transmit a force ~17 from the support member to the movable panel may comprise 18 a hydraulic cylinder having one end connected to the inter-19 mediate point Oll the support member and the other end con-~20 nected to the movable panel. The expansion of the hydrau-21 lic cylinder may, thus, cause movement of the panel away 22 from the fixed end of the support member while contraction 23 of the hydraulic cylinder may cause movement of the panel 24 toward the fixed end of the support member.
The intermediate point on the support member may 26 be positioned out of alignment with the fixed and movable 27 ends of the support member with the fixed and movable ends 1.,1~) 1.

l~Z7~8 1 lying on a straight line and the movable panel being 2 positioned transverse to the straight line. The inter-3 mediate point on the support member may then be positioned transversely with respect to the straight line but in a direction opposite to the position of the panel wi-th 6 respect to the straight line. The support member may q have a generally triangular configuration with the fixed 8 end and the movable end of the support member lying at 9 two of the apices of a triangle. The intermediate point on the support member may then lie at the other apex 11 of the triangle. The panel may be positioned transversely 12 to a line through the fixed and movable ends with the ~3 intermediate point being positioned transversely to the 14 line but in a direction opposite to the position of the panel with respect to the line.
16 The refuse storage body may have an open end and 17 a closed end with the movable panel forming a closure for 18 the open end. The generally triangular support n!~rlher may 19 then be positioned adjacent to the open end with the intermediate-point apex of the support member extenc~;ng 21 outside of the storage body through said open end. In this 22 manner, the movable panel may be positioned more closely 23 adjacent to the open end with less interference from the 2~ position of the means to transmit force from the support member to the panel.
26 As a further aspect of the invention, a refuse 27 compacting apparatus may be provided in which a loading ~ D-llOl 1 hopper is in communication wlth a container for storing 2 refuse under pressure. A refuse compacting means may be 3 positioned to sweep through the loading ho~er to co~pact refuse therein and to move the refuse from the loading hopper into the storage container. A retainer panel 6 may be positioned to move between an opened and a closed q position with the retainer panel impeding the flow of 8 refuse from the s-torage container into the hopper with 9 the retainer panel in its closed position and permitting the flow of refuse from the hopper into the storage con-11 tainer by the refuse compacting means with the retainer 12 panel in its opened position. Control means may be 13 provided to move the retainer panel to an opened position 1~ while moving the refuse compacting means through the hop-per to move refuse from the hopper into the storage con-16 tainer. The control means may also function to move the 17 retainer panel to a closed position while returning the 18 refuse compacting means to a return position to begin 19 sweeping through the loading hopper.
In providing control of the movement of the 21 retainer panel and the refuse compacting means, a source 22 of pressurized hydraulic fluid may be used to drive a 23 first hydraulic ~otor means that is operatively connected 2~ to the retainer panel and a second hydraulic motor means which is operatively connected to the refuse compacting 26 means. A first valve means may control the flow of hy-27 draulic fluid to the first motor means in moving the ~- 1 1 0 1 1 retainer panel between an opened and a closed position.
2 A second valve means may control the flow of hydraulic 3 fluid to the second motor means in moving the refuse compacting means through the loadiny hopper to sweep re-fuse from the hopper and to then return to a return 6 position to begin sweeping through the hopper. Means may 7 be provided to move the first and second valves in unison 8 to first direct hydraulic fluid to the first motor means 9 before directing hydraulic fluid to the second motor means.
In this manner, the retainer panel may undergo movement 11 before movement of the refuse compacting means.
12 Coupled with the movement of the refuse compac-ting means and the retainer panel, an e~ection panel may 1~ be positioned within the storage container. Means may be ~5 provided to move the ejection panel in small increments 16 within the storage container in response to the pressure 17 of refuse against the ejection panel. Thus, as refuse 18 is moved into the storage container and packed against the ~19 ~ejection panel, the ejection panel may be incrementally 20 moved to enlarge the available volume for storing refuse 21 within the storage container. A third hydraulic motor 22 means may be connected to the ejection panel and means may 23 be provided to sense the pressure of hydraulic fluid 24 within the second motor means as the refuse compacting 25 means sweeps through the loading hopper. Means may be 26 provided to momentarily dump hydraulic fluid from the third 27 motor means when the sensed pressure within the second ., _.

"~ r.llol 1~2711~

1 motor means exceeds a predetermined pressure level to 2 move the ejection panel a small incremental distance 3 and, thereby, to reduce the pressure of refuse against the ejection panel.
The first valve means and second valve means 6 may be positioned in a series relation with respect to q the source of pressurized hydraulic fluid. Further, 8 the first valve means may be positioned between the 9 second valve means and the ~source of pressuriæed hydraulic

10 fluid with the first valve means returning to its neutral -~

11 position after movement of the first and second valve

12 means in unison. The second valve means may then receive ~3 hydraulic fluid from the source of pressurized hydraulic 1 fluid such that movement of the retainer panel may pre-cede movement of the packing means within the loading 16 hopper.
17 In a further aspect of the invention, there is 18 provided a refuse compacting apparatus for storing refuse 19 under pressure, a loading hopper in communication with the storage contalner and a packing panel mounted for 21~ movement through the loading hopper to sweep through the 22 hopper in compacting refuse therein and in moving refuse 23 ~rom the loading hopper into the storage container. The 24 loading hopper may include a curved inner surface with a sill on the loading hopper over which refuse may be in-26 serted into the hopper. The packing panel may have an 27 edge which is positioned adjacent to the curved surface D-llOl , ~_ llZ7118 1 with:in the loading hopper as the packing panel sweeps 2 through the loading hopper. Means may be provided to 3 maintain a minimum distance between the edge on the 4 pack:ing panel and the curved surface on the hopper at a point which is adjacent to the sill, which minimum 6 distance may be slightly greater than the depth of a q human finger.
8 Additionally, the means to maintain a minimum 9 dis`tance between the edge of the packing panel and the inner curved surface of the hopper may increase the 11 minimum distance slightly as the packing panel sweeps 12 past the sill and through the hopper. The minimum

13 spacing between the edge of the packing panel and the .~ curved inner surface of the loading hopper of the sill may reduce forces applied to the sill during downward 16 movement of the packing panel while also protecting the 17 worker's fingers. The increased minimum spacing be-18 tween the edge of the packing panel and the curved inner 19 surface of the hopper as the panel sweeps through the loading hopper may provide a gripping force on refuse 21 caught between the edge of the packing panel and the 22 curved inner surface of the hopper which force may pull 23 refuse over the sill and into the hopper as the panel 24 sweeps through the hopper.
A further aspect of the invention concerns a 26 refuse compacting apparatus having a panel positioned for 27 working movement in a ~irst direction/ and a relatively r~-llol ~Z7118 1 large first hydraulic motor for driving the panel in khe 2 first direction. The panel may undergo return movement 3 in a second direction and a relatively small second hy-4 draulic motor may drive the panel in said second direc-tion. A source of pressurized hydraulic fluid may drive 6 the first and second hydraulic motors with means mechani-7 cally interconnecting the first and second motors such 8 that movement of the first motor to drive the panel in 9 said first direction causes movement of the second motor in a direction opposite to its movement to drive the 11 panel in the second direction. Similarly, movement of 12 the second motor to drive the panel in said second direc-13 tion may cause movement of the first motor in a direction 1~ opposite to its movement in driving the panel in said first direction.
16 The first motor may have a first opening and a 17 second opening with the second motor also having a first opening 18 and~a second opening. Means may be provided for connecting 19 the second opening of the first motor with the second opening of the second motor, sump means to receive hydraulic 21 fluid and means connecting the second opening of the first 22 motor and the second opening of the second motor to the 23 sump means. Valve means may be positioned between the 24 first and second motors and the means to supply pressurized hydraulic fluid with the valve means having a first opera-26 tive position to direct pressurized hydraulic fluid to the llZ71~8 1 first opening of the first motor to cause movement of the 2 first motor to drive the panel in said first direction.
3 l~ith the valve means in its first operative position, hy-4 draulic fluid may also be transmitted from the first opening of the second motor to the sump as the second n~otor 6 is moved in a direction opposite to its movement when q driving the panel in said second direction. Hydraulic fluid 8 may also flow from the second opening of the first motor 9 into the second opening of the second motor and may also flow into the sump as the first motor moves to drive the 11 panel in said first direction.
12 The valve means may also have a second operative 13 position to direct hydraulic f]uid to the first opening of 1~ the second motor to cause movement of the second motor to drive the panel in said second direction and to cause move-16 ment of the first motor in a direction opposite to its 17 movement when driving the panel in said first direction.
18 The valve means in its second operative position may trans-19 mit hydraulic fluid from the first opening of the first motor to the sump. Means may also be provided to inter-~1 connect the first and second openings of the first motor 22 when the pressure of hydraulic fluid supplied to the first 23 opening of the second motor reaches a predetermined pressure 2~ level to permit hydraulic fluid to flow from the first open-ing of the first motor into the second opening of the first 26 motor. In this manner, the second motor may act as an 27 accumulator for hydraulic fluid from the first motor when ~. :

,l 0 1 .--1~27118 1 the first motor is driving the panel in its irst direc-2 tion and the second motor is moving in a direction oppo-3 site to its movement when driving the panel in said 4 second direction.
Additionally, the first motor may act as its 6 own accumulator of hydraulic fluid when the second motor 7 is driving the panel in said second direction and the first motor is moving in a direction opposite to its 9 movement when driving the panel in its first direction.
The first motor, i~ acting as its own accumulator, may 11 discharge hydraulic fluid through the first opening 12 which may be conveyed back into the second opening in 13 the first motor. In the refuse compacting apparatus, a the first motor may be a relatively large hydraulic cylin-der having a first piston which separates the first and 16 second openings within the first motor. The second motor 17 may be a relatively small hydraulic cylinder which includes 18 a second piston that separates the first and second open-19 ings in the second motor.
i ~
A further aspect of the invention concerns a 21 refuse compaction apparatus having a xefuse container, a 22 loading hopper and a passage from the loading hopper into 23 the refuse container. A packing panel may be positioned 2~ within the loading hopper for rotational movement from a rest position in a working direction in sweeping through 26 the loading hopper to compact refuse therein and to move 27 the refuse through the passage into the refuse container.

-- D-l10]
1~27118 1 Means may be provided for driving the packing panel which 2 include a drive shaft rotatably supporting the packing panel and a drive member connected to the panel. The drive member may include a drive surface with a drive ~ lever connected to the drive member.
6 A flexible dri~ve member having a driving end and q a fixed end may be connected to the drive lever through 8 said fixed end while a motor is connected to the driving 9 end. The flexible drive member may be positioned to con-tact the drive surface in driving the packing panel during 11 movement of the packing panel in a working direction from 12 its rest position during the initial portion of its move-13 ment through the hopper. The flexible drive member may 1~ then move out of contact with the drive surface to drive the packing panel through the connection between the fixed 1~ end of the flexible drive member and the drive lever during 17 the latter portion of the movement of the packing panel in 18 a working direction through said hopper.
19 The drive surface may have a constant radius such that contact of the flexible drive member with the drive 21 surace drives the packing panel with a force which is 22 applied through a constant moment arm whose distance is 23 determined by the radius. During movement of the packing 24 panel through the loading hopper, the flexible drive mem-ber may contact the drive surface during rotation of the 26 drive member through an angle of about 158 with the 27 flexible drive member then moving out of contact with the ~ - D-llOl 1~271~8 1 drive surface to drive the panel directly through the 2 drive lever and to apply a progressive force to the 3 panel during rotation of the drive lever through an 4 angle of about 90.
The packing panel may be rotatable in a re-6 turn direction towards its rest position after swee~ing q through the hopper in a working direction. A second 8 flexible drive mebmer having a driving end and a fixed ~ end may havc its fixed end connected to the drive sur-13 face and its driven end connected to a second motor.
11 The second flexible drive member may, thereby, impart 12 rotational movement of the packing panel in moving the 13 panel in a return direction to said rest position. In 1~ driving the packing panel in a working direction and in a return direction with the flexible drive member and 16 the second flexible drive member, the connection of the 17 fixed end of the flexible drive member to the drive 18 lever and connection of the fixed end of the second 19 flexible drive member to a point on the drive sur-face with the connections of the fixed ends of the 21 flexible drive member and the second flexible drive 22 member being displaced a sufficient distance relative 23 to the drive surface to concurrently permit unwinding 2~ of the flexible drive member from the drive surface and winding of the second flexible drive member onto 26 the drive surface as the packing panel is moved in 27 a working direction. Also, the said displacement 2~ may concurrently permit unwinding of the second flex-29 ible driv~ ~ember from the drive surface and winding ///

D-ll 01 llZ71~8 -1 of the flexible drive member onto the drive surface as 2 the packing panel is moved in a return direction toward 3 its rest position.
A further aspect of the invention concerns a refuse compaction apparatus which includes a hopper and 6 a panel which is rotatably positioned for movement q through the hopper. The panel may have a body with a 8 generally elliptical configuration, and a high torque-9 transmitting capability. Drive means for the panel may be connected to only one end of the panel such that a 11 rotational force may be applied to the panel at said one 12 end with the rotational force being transmitted through-13 out the panel by the elliptical body.

14 A further aspect of the invention concerns a refuse container for storing refuse under pressure, a 16 loading hopper, a passage leading from the loading hopper 17 into the container, and a packing panel rotatably posi-18 tioned within the hopper to move from a rest position in 19 a working direction to sweep through the hopper to com-pact refuse within the hopper and to move the refuse from 21 the hopper through the passage and into the container.
22 The packing panel may be movable in a return direction 23 to return the panel to its rest position with motor means 2~ connected to the panel for providing movement thereof.
Control means may be operatively connected to the motor 26 means to provide movement of the panel in a working direc-27 tion and movement of the panel in a return direction.

2g ///

,~ D~
1~27~18 1 The control means may have a neutral position 2 in which the motor means is inactivated with the control 3 means being movable to a first position in which the 4 motor means is activated to move the packing panel in a working direction. The control means may also be movable 6 to a second position in which the motor means is activated 7 to move the packing panel in a return direction. Actuating 8 means may be provided to return the control means from 9 its first position or its second position to its neutral position with the actuating means being operably connected 11 to the packing panel. The actuating means may have a third 12 position when the panel is in its rest position and a 13 fourth position when the panel has moved completely through ~4 the hopper in a working direction. The panel may occupy a pinch-point position with respect to the hopper with the 16 panel moved into close proximity with the hopper during 17 movement of the hopper in a working direction.
la The actuating means may have a fifth position 19 when the panel is in its pinch-point position with the con-trol means having a manually actuable override to disengage 21 the control means and actuating means when the actuating means 22 is in its fifth position. The actuating means may move the con-23 trol means from its first position to its neutral position to ~4 stop the panel at its pinc~-point position when the actuating means is in its fifth position and the override is unac-26 tuated. Additionally, the actuating means may move the 27 control means from its first position to its neutral position ll.Ol 1 when the actuating means is in its fourth position and the 2 packing panel has completed its movement in a working 3 direction. Also, the actuating means may move the control 4 means from its second position to its neutral position when the actuating means is in its third position and the 6 panel has completed its movement in a return direction.
q A further aspect of the invention concerns a 8 refuse compaction apparatus having a container for storing 9 refuse under pressure and means for pressurizing refuse within the container. A first rigid frame may be posi-11 tioned at one end of the container with a second rigid 12 frame positioned at the other end of the container. A
13 plurality of longitudinal rigid members may interconnect 14 the first and second frames. A plurality of flexible metal sheet members may enclose the container with the 16 sheet members being supported by the first and second ; 17 frames and the longitudinal rigid members. The flexible 18 sheet members may each be bowed outwardly at their points j~ 19~ Of support. In this manner, the sheet members may be placed in tension in resisting pressures within the 21 Container-, .
; 22 A further aspect of the invention concerns a j 23 reuse compaction apparatus which may include a container '~4 for storing refuse under pressure and a tailgate rotatably mounted on the container for movement between an opened ;~ 26 and a closed position. With the tailgate in its opened 27 position, refuse may be discharged from -the container r 1 101 1 and with the tailgate in i-ts closed position, a closure 2 may be formed between the tailgate and the storage con-3 tainer. In fixing the position of the tailgate with respect to the refuse container with the tailgate in ~ its closed position, a latch member may engage a keeper 6 member. Means may be provided to impart rotational q movement to the latch member to position the latch member at a location where it may make contact with the keeper 9 member. Additionally, means may be provided to impart translational movement to the latch member after its 11 rotational movement to move the latch member into contact 12 with the keeper member and to maintain the tailgate in a 13 closed position.
14 A further aspect of the invention concerns a refuse compaction apparatus including a container for 16 storing refuse under pressure, a tailgate rotatably mounted 17 on the container for movement between an opened and a 18 closed position and the tailgate including a hopper to 19 receive refuse. A packing means may be positioned within the loading hopper to move the refuse from the hopper into 21 the storage container with the tailgate in its closed ~
22 position. Drive means may be provided to drive the packing 23 means in moving refuse from the hopper into the storage 2~ container. The tailgate in its closed position may be in abutting relation with the refuse storage container to form 26 a closure therewith and the tailgate in its opened posi-27 tion may be rotated upwardly to expose the storage container 28 for discharge of refuse therefrom.

~ 0 1 11~7118 1 The drive means may be positioned on one side 2 of the tailgate to drive the packing means from said one 3 side. The weight of said one side of the tailgate may then be greater than the weight of the other side of the tailgate. An upper beam may be provided within the 6 tailgate with the tailgate being rotatably connected to q the storage container through said upper beam. The upper 8 beam may include a stiffener assembly positioned adjacent 9 to the rotatable connection of the heavier one side of the tailgate to the storage container. The stiffener 11 assembly may have a configuration which provides a high 12 resistance to torque. Thus, when a lifting force is 13 applied to the tailgate for raising the tailgate to its 1~ opened position, the force may be transmitted through the upper beam with the twisting forces applied to the I6 upper beam by the weight of the heavier one side of the 17 tailgate being resisted by the stiffener assembly.

2g 2~

-D-ll01 1~27~18 1 The Drawings 3 To illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings in which:
6 Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a garbage 7 truck utilizing a refuse compacting apparatus of the in~
8 vention;
9 Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of a gar~age truck illustrating the movement of an ejection panel within 11 the storage container by a conventional hydraulic cylinder 12 that is supported by a pivotal mounting which imparts trans-13 lational movement to the cylinder that is in the same 14 direction as the movement of the ejection panel;
Fig. 3 is a side sectional view of the tailgate 16 structure positioned at the rear of the storage container 17 as shown in Fig. 1 with a side plate for the tailgate re-18 moved to illustrate the position of hydraulic cylinders 19 thereln for moving a packing panel through a loading hop-per;
21 Fig. 4 is an elevation detailed view of a packing 22 panel and a portion of the drive mechanism for the panel, 23 viewed from the rear of the tailgate as illustrated in 2~ Fig. l;
Fig. 5 is an end elevational view, partly in sec-26 tion, of the packing panel taken along line 5--5 of Fig. 4;

l~Z7118 1 Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken along line 2 6--6 of Fig. 4;
3 Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken along line 4 7--7 of Fig. 4;
~ Fig. 8 is a sectional view taken along line 6 8--8 of Fig. 4;
7 Fig. 9 is a side elevational view of a re-8 tainer panel and retainer panel cylinder illustrating 9 the movement of the retainer panel between an opened and a closed position;
11 Fig. 10 is a side elevational view of the tail-12 gate and drive mechanism, similar to Fig. 3, with the ~3 packing panel in a rest position and the retainer panel I4 in a closed position;
Fig. 11 is a side elevational view, similar to lG Fig. 10, illustrating the movement of the retainer panel 17 in a working direction through the loading hopper;
18 Fig. 12 is a side elevational view, similar to 19 ~Flgs. 10 and 11, illustrating the position of the pack-ing panel at its pinch-point location after movement of Zl~ the panel in a working direction until the lower edge of 2Z the packing panel is positioned closely adjacent to a 23 curved inner surface of the loading hopper at a point 24 adjacent to the sill of the loading hopper;
Fig. 13 is a side elevational view, similar to Z6 Figs. 10-12, illustrating the position of the packing 27 panel after movement of the packing panel in a working , 1) ' 101 1~27118 1 direction through the loading hopper to force refuse 2 through a passage having a narrowed throat and then into 3 the refuse storing container with very high pressures being exerted on the refuse as it passes through the throat;
6 Fig. 14 is an elevational view taken along line q 14--14 of Fig. 1 illustrating the appearance of the tail-8 gate as viewed from the rear;
9 Fig. 14a is a sectional view taken along line 14a--14a of Fig. 14;
11 Fig. 14b is a detailed sectional view taken along 12 line 14b--14b of Fig. 14;
13 Fig. 14c is a detailed view, partially in section, 14 of the top beam for the tailgate illustrating a stiffening

15 assembly incorporated into the beam for resisting twisting

16 forces imparted to the beam by the weight of the relatively

17 heavy driving mechanism for the packing panel illustrated 1~ at the left in Fig. 14;
19 Fig. 14d is a sectional view taken along line 14d--14d of Fig. 14c to illustrate the structure of the 21 stiffening assembly within the top beam;
22 Fig. 15 is a sectional view taken along line 15--15 23 of Fig. 1 to illustrate the structure of the refuse storage 24 container and the manner in which flexible plates may be utilized in forming walls of the container with the plates 26 being bowed outwardly to be placed in tension as pressures 27 are applied to the interior of the refuse container;

-~5-~27118 1 Fig. 16 is a view taken along line 16--16 of 2 Fig. 1 to illustrate the inner appearance of the tail-3 gate;
Fig. 16a is a sectional view taken along line 16a--16a of Fig. 16 to illustrate the configuration of 6 a seal utilized in sealing the tailgate to the refuse q storage container when the tailgate is lowered to a 8 closed position;
9 Fig. 17 is an elevational view of the refuse storage container as viewed from inside the storage 11 body;
12 Fig. 17a is a sectional view taken along line 13 17a--17a of Fig. 17;
14 Fig. 18 is a rear view of the refuse storage 15 body, as viewed from the right in Fig. 1, with the tailgate 16 removed for clarity of illustration;
17 Fig. 18a is a sectional view taken along line

18 18a~ a of Fig. 18;
~19 Fig. 19 is a partial elevational view of the tail-20 gate as viewed fxom the right side in Fig. 14 to illustrate 21 a control mechanism for causing movement of the packing 22 panel, coupled with a stop mechanism connected to the pack~
23 ing panel for returning the control mechanism to a neutral position;
Fig. l9a is a partial detailed view taken along 26 line l9a--19a of Fig. 19:
27 Fig. 20 is an elevation view taken along line 28 20--20 of Fig. 19;

;`l ~' : ' ,101 7~

1 Fig. 21 is an elevational view of control rods 2 positioned within the tailgate whose movement is con-3 trolled by movement of the control mechanism of Fig. l9;
4 Fig. 21a is a sectional view taken along line 21a--21a of Fig. 21;
6 Fig. 21b is an elevational view, similar to q Fig. 21a, illustrating the positioning of the control 8 rods after one of the control rods has returned to its 9 neutral position, with the other control rod remaining in an activated position;
ll Fig. 21c is a partial sectional view taken along 12 line 21c--21c of Fig. 21 illustrating the functioning of 13 a detent mechanism in holding one of the control rods in 14 an activated postiion while the other control rod may be returned to its neutral postiion;
16 Fig. 22 is a schematic hydraulic circuit diagram 17 illustrating one embodiment of a hydraulic circuit for con-18 trolling movement of the refuse compaction mechanism;
l9 Fig. 23 is a schematic hydraulic circuit diagram, similar to Fig. 22, illustrating a second embodiment of a 21 hydraulic circuit for controlling movement of the reuse 22 compaction mechanism, and, 23 Fig. 24 is an elevational view, similar to Fig. 21, 24 illustrating the use of a single control rod for actuating a portion of the elements in the hydraulic circuit illus-26 trated in Fig. 23.

~ ~1101 ` llZ71~8 1 Detailed Description 3 Figure 1 illustrates the invention embodied 4 in a garbage truck 2 having a cab 4 and a frame 6. A
5 storage body 8 for holding refuse under pressure is 6 positioned on the truck frame 6 with a tailgate 10 7 being rotatably supported at the rear of the storage ~ body. The tailgate in its closed position is indicated 9 in solid line drawing as 10 and is illustrated in 10 phantom line drawing in a raised position as 10'. During 11 the packing of storage body 8 with refuse under pressure, 12 the tailgate is maintained in its lowered position 10 13 and is fixedly positioned against the storage body.
14 ~owever, when the storage body 8 is filled with refuse, 15 the tailgate is then raised to its position 10' and 16 refuse within the storage body may be ejected through 17 the exposed opening at the rear of the storage body.
18 An ejection panel 12 may be slidably positioned

19 within the storage body 8 with movement of the ejection

20 panel serving to vary the volume within the storage body Zl which is available for storing refuse. To fill the 22 storage body 8 with the maximum amount of refuse, it is 23 important that refuse within the storage body be packed 24 at a relatively uniform pressure. To accomplish this 25 result, the ejection panel may be positioned as shown in 26 solid line drawing 12 at a point adjacent the rear of 27 the storage body 8 during the initial stage of packing 28 refuse within the storage body.

D-llOl l~Z'71~8 1 ~s refuse is introduced into the s-torage body 2 8 from tailgate 10, the refuse may exert pressure against 3 the ejection panel 12. When the pressure exerted by 4 refuse against ejection panel 12 exceeds a predetermined pressure level, the ejection panel may then be moved a 6 small incremental distance toward the front of the 7 storage body 8. This reduces the pressure exerted by 8 refuse against the ejection panel 12 and the packing of 9 refuse into the storage body 8 may then continue until the pressure exerted by refuse against the ejection 11 panel again exceeds the predetermined pressure level 12 with the ejection panel then being again moved a small 13 incremental distance, etc. Progressive filling of the 14 storage body 8 with refuse may then be aacomplished in a uniform manner with the refuse being packed within 16 the storage body at a relatively uniform pressure.
17 This results in filling the storage body 8 with the 18 maximum amount of refuse which is beneficial in reducing 19 the time which is lost in trips to a landfill or refuse 2~0 transfer center to discharge refuse.

21 When the storage body 8 is full of refuse, th,e ~2 ejection panel may occupy the position shown in phantom 23 line drawing as 12' adjacent to the forward end of the 24 storage body. To move the ejection panel 12 within the storage body 8, a telescopic cylinder 1~ may be connected 26 to a pivot 16 at the forward end of the storage body with 27 the other end of the cylinder connected to a pivot 18 on D - l l O I
liZ7118 1 the frame for the ejection panel. With the ejection 2 panel in its forward position 12', the telescopic 3 cylinder 14 may be completely contracted and with the ejection panel in its rearward position 12', the cylinder may be completely extended. Slide rails 20 6 may be positioned along either side of the storage body 7 8 with slots in the frame for the ejection panel 12 8 engaging the slide rails. The upright position of the 9 ejection panel 12 within the storage body 8 may, thus, be maintained during movement of the ejection panel.
11- As indicated, the storage body 8 may include 12 a front frame 22 positioned adjacent to the cab 4 and 13 a rear frame 24 which supports the tailgate 10 and 14 engages the tailgate in its closed position. The con-struction of the storage body 8, as will be described, 16 is strong and also surprisingly light as compared with 17 prior constructions. Thus, the storage body 8 does 18 not require support at points intermediate its ends.
19 Only the front and rear frames 22 and 24 may be con-nected to the truck frame 6 in providing a ligh-ter con-21 struction with savings in the energy required to power

22 the truck 2 and a reduction in the wear and tear on

23 the highways during usage of the truck.

24 A tailgate cylinder 26 may be employed for raising and lowering of the tailgate 10. The tailgate 26 10 may be connected to the rear frame 24 through pivots 27 28 positioned on either side of the rear frame. The ~~ D '~' llZ7~8 1 tailgate cylinder 26 may be connected to the rear frame 2 24 through a pivot 30 with the otner end of the tailgate 3 cylinder being connected to the tailgate 10 through a 4 pivot 32. The cylinder is illustrated in solid line drawing in an extended condition as 26 with the tailgate 6 in its raised position 10'. With the tailgate in its 7 lowered position 10, the tailgate cylinder is shown in 8 phantom line drawing in its contracted condition as 26'.
9 A hopper generally indicated as 34 may be formed in the lower portion of the tailgate 10 with the hopper including 11 a curved bottom surface 36, a loading opening 38 to re-12 ceive refuse, and a loading sill 40 beneath the loading 13 opening. A passage shown in phantom line drawing as 42 14 may lead from the hopper 34 into the storage body 8 and 15 a packing panel, generally indicated as 44, may be ~.
16 positioned within the hopper to move refuse from the 17 hopper through the passage into the storage body.
18 The packing panel 44 may include a main panel 19 indicated in phantom line drawing as 46 and a foldable 2.0 panel in phantom line drawing as 48. As will be described, 21 the fo}dable panel 48 may undergo limited rotational 22 movement with respect to the main panel. 46 with the fold-23 able panel in an extended position adjacent the surface 24 36 as the packing panel 44 sweeps through the hopper 34 in a working direction to move refuse through the passage 26 42 into the storage body 8. However, when the packing 27 panel 44 then moves in a return direction to return to D-l101 ~1271~8 1 its rest position adjacent the rear of the hopper 34, 2 the foldable panel 48 may undergo rotational movement 3 with respect to the main panel 46 to pass over refuse within the hopper.
In discussing the various positions of the 6 packing panel 44, the packing panel will be referred to 7 in its extended condition when the foldahle panel 48 is 8 extended to a position adjacent the bottom surface 36 9 during movement of the packing panel in a working direction. The packing panel 44 will be referred to 11 in its collapsed or partially collapsed condition as 12 the packing panel moves in a return direction to its 13 rest position. To provide movèment of the foldable 14 panel 48 with respect to the main panel 46, friction pads indicated in phantom line drawing as 49 may be 16 provided in either end of the foldable panel. The 17 friction pads 49 may have an outer surface formed of 18 plastic with the friction pads being spring biased in 19 an outward direction into contact with the sidewalls of the hopper 34. The friction pads 49 may, thus, cause 21 rotational movement of the foldable panel 48 to an 22 extended condition as the panel sweeps through the 23 hopper 34 in a working direction. However, on movement 24 of the packing panel 44 in a return direction to its rest position, the frictional contact of the friction 26 pads 49 with the sidewalls of the hopper 34 may cause 27 rotational movement of the foldable panel 48 to a ~ D-llOl 1 collapsed or partially collapsed position such that the 2 foldable panel 48 may ride over refuse within the 3 hopper.
4 In providing movement of the packing panel 44 within the hopper 34, a relatively large hydraulic drive 6 cylinder 50 may be used to drive the packing panel in a 7 working direction while a smaller hydraulic return cylinder 8 52 may be used to move the packing panel in a return 9 direction to its rest position. As indicated, the drive cylinder 50 may transmit rotational movement to the 11 packing panel 44 through a drive plate 53 which is opera-12 tively connected to the packing panel and functions as 13 a lever in providing a mechanical advantage in transmitting 14 power to the packing panel.
A retainer panel indicated in phantom line 16 drawing as 54 may be rotatably positioned adjacent the 17 entrance into the passage 42 from the hopper 34. During 18 movement of the packing panel 44 in a working direction 19 through the hopper 34, the retainer panel 54 may positioned 2P in its opened position as indicated in Figure 1 to permit 21 movement of refuse from the hopper into the passage. I~ith 22 the retainer panel 54 in its opened position as indicated 23 in Figure 1, the lower surface of the retainer panel, in 24 effect, forms a continuation of the upper surface of the passage 42. This is advantageous in assisting the move-26 ment of refuse from the hopper 34 through the passage 42.
27 However, on movement of the packing panel 44 in a return 1~27~18 1 direction away from the passage 42, as will be described, 2 the retainer panel may be rotated to its closed position 3 to at least partially block the opening between the 4 passage and the hopper 34. With the retainer panel 54 in its closed position, the flow of refuse from the 6 passage 42 into the hopper 34 is impeded, which improves 7 the overall efficiency of the packing mechanism in 8 moving refuse from the loading hopper into the storage 9 body ~.
l~ith the packing panel 44 in its rest position 11 in a raised location at the rear of the hopper 34, the 12 packing panel may be in its collapsed condition. During 13 movement of the packing panel 34 from its rest position 14 in a working direction, contact of the friction pads 49 against the sidewalls of the hopper 34 cause the foldable 16 panel 48 to undergo rotational movement with respect to 17 the main panel 46. During this movement of the packing 18 panel 44 in a working direction, it is desirable that the 19 foldable panel 48 should not extend out of the hopper 34 through the loading opening 38 since this could present 21 a safety hazard. Guide rails shown in phantom line draw-22 ing as 56 may be formed on the side walls of the hopper 23 34. ~he guide rails 56 may extend inwardly to engage 2~ the foldable panel 48 and to maintain the foldable panel within the confines of the hopper as the packing panel 44 26 moves from its rest position to a position adjacent the 27 hopper sill 40.

~ 1, 1 1 112~118 1 As indicated in Figure 1, the telescopic cylin-2 der 14 may be used in moving the ejection panel 12 within 3 the storage body ~. A telescopic cylinder, such as 4 cylinder 14, is a relatively complex hydraulic device with internal passages within the cylinder to supply 6 hydraulic fluid to the various cylinder sections which 7 vary in size. Due to the difference in size between the 8 pressure areas within the telescopic cylinder, problems 9 may be encountered in its use. For example, when there is an increase in the ambient temperature and the tele-11 scopic cylinder is full of hydraulic fluid, the expansion ~2 of hydraulic fluid at the large area end of the cylinder 13 may produce undesirably high pressur,es at the small area 14 end of the cylinder. If the ratio between the areas at the large and small ends of the cylinder is, for example, 16 10 to 1, a one hundred pounds per square inch increase 17 due to expan~.ion of fluid at the large end may produce 18 a thousand pounds per square inch increase at the small 19 end. It would, thus, be desirable if some means could be provided for providing movement to the ejection panel 21 12 without requiring the use of a telescopic cylinder,~
22 such as cylinder 14. However, due to the large distance 23 through which a hydraulic cylinder must move in provid-24 ing movement to the ejection panel 12, there has pre-viously been no alternative except to use a telescopic 26 hydraulic cylinder.

~ ~ D-llOl ~:127118 1 ~igure 2 illustrates an embodiment of the in-2 vention in which a means is provided to produce movement 3 of the ejection panel 12 through use of a conventional 4 hyclraulic cylinder. For simplicity in illustration, like reference numerals have been used in referring to struc-6 tural elements in Figure 2 which are the same as those 7 described in Figure 1. As indicated, a pivot 58 may be 8 provided at the forward end of the storage body 8, with 9 a preferably triangular support member 60 rotatably supported by the pivot. A conventional hydraulic cylinder 11 62 may be rotatably secured to a pivot 64 on the support 12 member 60 positioned at a point intermediate its ends.
13 As indicated, with the ejection panel 12 at its forward 14 position within the storage body 8, the generally trian-gular configuration of support member 60 may be advan-16 tageous in permitting the hydraulic cylinder 62 to extend 17 in a forward direction beyond the front frame 22. This 18 permits the storage body 8 to be made shorter since there 19 does not need to be additional length provided simply to accommodate the hydraulic cylinder 62.
21 The ejection panel 12 may include a transverse 22 frame member 66 with a pivot 68 on the frame member rota-23 tably engaging the rod of the piston 62. A link member 24 72 may rotatably engage a pivot 70 on the support member 60 with the link member also engaging the pivot 68 on 26 transverse frame member 66. The link member 72, thus, 27 fixes the distance between the pivot 70 on support member ~-1101 ilZ7118 1 60 and the pivot 68 on the transverse frame member G6.
2 As will be described, this permits translation of the 3 hydraulic cylinder 62 during its expansion and contrac-tion which results from rotational movement of the sup-port member 60 with respect to the pivot 58.
6 On expansion of the hydraulic cylinder from 7 its position indicated as 62 to a new position indica-8 ted as 62a, the support member 60 undergoes rotational 9 movement to position 60a. This produces movement of the pivot 64 to a new position 64' such that the 11 hydraulic cylinder in position 62a has undergone trans-12 lational movement to follow the movement of the ejec-13 tion panel to its new position 12a.
14 On further expansion of the hydraulic cylin-der to position 62b, the ejection panel has been moved 16 to position 12b where it is positioned immediately adja-17 cent to the rear end of the storage body 8. Also, the 18 support member has undergone further rotational movement 19 to position 60b with further movement of the pivot 64 to position 64b. Thus, the translational movement pro-21 vided to hydraulic cylinder 62 has permitted the use o~
22 the cylinder in providing a movement of the ejection -23 panel 12 which is much greater than the total expansion 24 of the hydraulic cylinder. A conventional hydraulic cylinder 62 may, therefore, now function in a manner 26 which is the e~uivalent of the function of a more com-27 plex and more expensive telescopic hydraulic cylinder.

llZ7118 1 During contraction of the hydraulic cylinder 62, the 2 above sequence of movements is reversed, with the 3 cylinder moving from position 62b to position 62a and 4 then to position 62 as the support member moves from position 60b to position 60a and then to position 60.
6 Figure 3 is a side sectional view through the 7 tailgate 10 to illustrate the mechanism for packing 8 refuse and moving the refuse from the hopper 34 into 9 the storage body 8. The pivot 30 for the tailgate cylinder 26, as illustrated, may be formed within a 11 mounting ear 71 which is affixed to the rear frame 24.
12 The hopper 34, as viewed from the left in Figure 3, may 13 include a sidewall 73 which may be formed from several 14 plates connected together in any suitable fashion, such as by welding. The sidewall 73 may be positioned between 16 the packing panel 44 and the drive mechanism for the 17 packing panel itself such that the drive mechanism is 18 shielded from contact with refuse. The drive cylinder 19 50 may be rotatably connected at its upper end to a pivot 74 that is secured to the tailgate 10. Similarly, 21 the relatively srnall return cylinder 52 may be connected 22 at its upper end to a pivot 76 secured to the tailgate 23 10. The packing panel 44, as illustrated, has completed 24 its movement in a working direction through the hopper 34 to move refuse from the hopper into the passage 42.
26 At this point, the return cylinder 52 is completely 27 extended, as indicated by the position of the piston rod 1 78. Piston rod 78 may be connected to a drive chain 80 2 for transmitting movement to the packing panel ~ during 3 its movement in a return direction to its rest position.
4 With the packing panel 44 positioned as illus-trated, the drive cvlinder 50 is completely contracted 6 as indicated by the retracted position of piston rod 82.
The piston rod 82 may be connected to a drive chain 84 8 whose lower end is secured to a connection 86 on the 9 drive plate 53. As described, the drive cylinder 50 and the return cylinder 52 may work together in unison because 11 of their connection to the drive mechanism for the packing 12 panel 44. Thus, as the drive cylinder 50 contracts, the 13 return cylinder 52 expands during the movement of the 14 packing panel 44 in a working direction through the hop-per 34. Similarly, during movement of the packing panel 16 44 in a return direction to its rest position, the return 17 cylinder 52 contracts while the drive cylinder 50 expands.
18 The retainer panel 54 may be rotatably secured 19 to a pivot 88 for movement between its open and closed positions. The retainer panel 54 is illustrated in its 21 opened position in Figure 3 as the packing panel is moved 22 in a working direction through the hopper 34 to move refuse 23 from the hopper into passage 42 and into the storage 2~ body 8.
Wi-th the tailgate 10 in its lowered position, 2~ the tailgate may be fixed with respect to the storage 27 body 8 by a tailgate latch generally referred to as 90.

~127~8 1 The tailgate latch 90 may be rotatably connected to the 2 tailgate 10 through a pivot 92 while a support member 94 3 on the rear frame 24 supports a keeper 96 which is engaged 4 by the tailgate latch 90. The tailgate latch 90 may in-clude a threaded rod 98 with a correspondingly threaded 6 sleeve 100 being positioned about the rod. A handle 102 7 may be formed at the outer end of the sleeve 100 such 8 that turning of the handle either threads or unthreads 9 the sleeve with respect to the threaded rod 98. An en-largement 103 on the rod 98 may engage one side of the 11 keeper 96 while the other side of the keeper may be 12 engaged by the inner end of the sleeve 100 with the keeper, 13 thereby, being tightly gripped between the enlargement 14 and the end of the threaded sleeve. The tailgate 10 may then be securely latched to the storage body 8.
16 Turning to Figure 4, which is a sectional view 17 taken along line 4--4 of Figure 3, the packing panel 44 18 may be rota-tably mounted on a pair of shafts 104 and 106.
19 In driving the packing panel 44, a torque tube 108 may be secured to the shaft 104 with a drive plate 110 being 21 rigidly secured to the outer end of the torque tube. ~s 22 illustrated, the shaft 104, the torque tube 108, the 23 drive plate 110 and the drive plate 53 move together in 24 unison in imparting rotational movement to the pac]cing panel 44. Moving inwardly along the shaft 104, a separa-26 tor plate 112 is joined to the drive plate 53 and a stif-27 fening plate 114 is joined to the plate 112 and to the 3~

-~ ~D-llOl :~lZ7il:8 1 torque tube 103. A stiffening plate 116 may then be 2 joined to the inner end of the torque tube 108, to the 3 shaft 104 and to the main panel 46.
4 At its undriven end, the main panel 46 may be connected to the shaft 106 by a stiffening plate 118 6 which is joined to the shaft and also to the main panel.
7 A support member 120 may surround the shaft 106 and be 8 connected to the main panel 46 with a stiffening plate 9 122 being joined to the other end of the support member, to the shaft and also to the main panel. A collar 124 11 may be positioned about the shaft 104 with the collar en-12 gaging the exterior surface of the drive plate 110 and 13 a collar 126 may be positioned about the shaft 106 with 14 the collar engaging the exterior surface of stiffening plate 122.
16 To provide a strong and rigid connection between 17 the torque tube 108, the shaft 104 and the main panel 46, 18 a pair of side plates 128 may be secured to the torque 19 tube and also to the main panel. The side plates 128 with the stiffening plates 114 and 116, joined to the 21 end surfaces of the side plates, form a very rigid s-truc-2?~ ture through which torque is transmitted from the torque 23 tube 108 to the main panel 46.
24 As illustrated, the drive chains 80 and 84 may each be connected to the drive plates 53 and 110 through 26 which torque is imparted to the torque tube 108 and to 27 the packing panel 44. In connecting the drive chain 80 llZ~
1 to plates 53 and 110, a pin 130 may be secured to the 2 drive plates through apertures therein with a clevis 3 132 positioned on the pin and having secured thereto 4 the drive chain 80. A spacer element 134 may also be positioned on the pin 130 to maintain the position of the 6 clevis 132 relative to the pin 130.
7 In securing the drive chain 84 to the drive 8 plates 110 and 53, the pivot 86 may be secured to the 9 drive plates through apertures therein with a mounting plate 136 secured to pIate 110 to retain the outer end 11 of the pivot relative to the plate 110. A clevis 138 12 may be rotatably positioned on the pivot 86 with the 13 clevis secured to the drive chain 84~ As indicated, the 14 connection between the drive chain 84 and clevis 138 is positioned a greater distance from the axes of the shafts 104 and 106 than the connection between drive chain 80 17 and the clevis 130. Thus, forces transmitted to packing 18 panel 44 through the drive chain 84 may act through a 19 greater moment arm than the forces transmitted to the 2P packing panel by the drive chain 80. This is advanta-21 geous in providing a mechanical advantage during movement 22 of the packing panel 44 in a working direction by the 23 drive chain 34.
24 The side wall 73 of the hopper 34, as illus-trated in Figure 4, may extend into a space between the 26 plates 53 and 114 such that the drive mechanism for the 27 packing panel 44 is isolated from refuse within the --~-1101 ~iZ7i 18 l loading hopper 34. A second sidewall 140 of loading 2 hopper 34 may also be positioned in close proximity to 3 the other end of the packing panel 44. The foldable panel 4 48 may be rotatably mounted with respect to the main panel 5 46 within slots 142 formed in the main panel. Tongue 6 members 144 joined to the foldable panel 48 may be posi-7 tioned within the slots 142 with the tongue members each 8 being rotatably secured to pins 146 which extend between 9 the sidewalls of the slots to engage apertures formed in lO the tongue members. Stop members 148 may be secured to 11 the main panel 46 to permit limited rotational movement 12 of the foldable panel 48 with respect to the main panel 46.
13 The rotational movement of panel 48, as discussed 14 previously, may be provided by friction pads 49 positioned 15 at either end of the foldable panel 48 in contact with the 16 sidewa~ls 73 and 140. As the main panel 46 is moved, the 17 frictional engagement of pads 49 with the sidewalls 73 and 18 140 causes rotational movement of the foldable panel 43 l9 with respect to the main panel 46. Additionally, the 2,0 movement of the foldable panel 48 is controlled to some 21 extent by the guide rails 56 which may extend inwardly a 22 short distance from the sidewalls 73 and 140 to engage 23 guide members 150 on the foldable panel 48.
24 Figure 5 is a sectional view taken along line

25 5--5 of Figure 4 which illustrates the position of fold-

26 able panel 48 with respect to main panel 46 and the manner

27 in which rotational movement of the foldable panel is

28 ///

29 ///

_, 1101 lB

l limited with respect to the main panel. As indicated, 2- support brackets 147 secured within the foldable panel 3 48 by bolts 149 may rotatably engage the pins 146 mounted 4 to the main panel 46. The support brackets 147 may be secured to the foldable panel 48 by bolts 149. Stop 6 members 148 secured to the main panel 46 may each pro-7 vide stop surfaces 152 and 154 which are engagable by 8 a stop member 156 secured to the foldable panel 48 by a 9 support bracket 158. As indicated, contact between the stop member 156 and stop surfaces 152 and 154 effectively ll limits the rotational movement of the foldable panel 12 between the limiting positions provided by the stop 13 surfaces.
14 Figure 5 illustrates the foldable panel 48 in its extended condition after rotation of the foldable 16 panel in a clockwise direction with respect to the pin 17 146 to engage the stop member 156 with the stop surface 18 152. This is the position of the foldable panel 48 when l9 the packing panel 44 rotates in a counter-clockwise 2P direction from its direction shown in Figure 5 in moving 21 in a working direction through the hopper 34 as shown in 22 Figure 3. During rotational movement of the packing 23 panel 44 in a return direction, i.e., clockwise from its 24 position shown in Figure 5, the foldable panel 48 may undergo rotational movement in a counter-clockwise direc-26 tion until the stop member 156 contacts the stop surface 27 154. At this point, the packing panel 44 is in a collapsed ~12711S

1 position such that the foldable panel 48 may pass over 2 refuse within the hopper 34 during movement of the 3 packing panel in its return direction.
4 Figure 6 is a sectional view taken along the line 6--6 of Figure 4 to illustrate the construction of 6 the main panel 46 and that of the stop members 148 which 7 control the degree of rotational movement of the foldable 8 panel 4~. As indicated, the torque tube 108 may be 9 directly connected to the main panel 46 which may be dis-placed from the axis of the torque tube. Additionally, 11 the side plates 128 may extend from the exterior surface 12 of the torque tube 108 to the exterior surface of the 13 main panel 46 to provide a very strong and rigid connec-14 tion between the torque tube and main panel. In previous refuse compaction apparatus, it has been necessary to 16 drive the packing mechanism through hydraulic cylinders 17 positioned at either end of the packing panel. However, 18 in the present apparatus, the main panel 46 may be 19 driven from only one of its ends. This permits a great reduction in the weight of the drive mechanism and also 21 simplification of the drive mechanism. To achieve these 22 beneficial results, the main panel 46 has a generally 23 elliptical cross-sectional configuration which has great 24 strength in resisting twisting moments and in transmit-ting torque. The cross-sectional configuration of the 26 main panel 46 together with the strong and rigid connec-27 tion between the torque tube 108 and the main panel - -11.01 ~271~8 1 permits driving the main panel from only one of its ends 2 with the torque which is imparted to the main panel then 3 being transmitted throughout the main panel.
4 As indicated in Figure 6, an aperture 160 may be formed in each of the stop members 148 to rotatably 6 support the foldable panel 48 with respect to the main 7 panel 46. Addi-tionally, an aperture 162 may be formed 8 in the stiffening plate 114 to engage the support shaft 9 104 as shown in Figure 4.
Figure 7 is a sectional view taken along the 11 line 7--7 of Figure 4 which illustrates the internal con-12 struction of the main panel 46 through which the foldable 13 panel 48 is supported. To provide strength within the 14 main panel 46 to support the foldable panel 48, trans-verse baffle plates 164 may be positioned within the 16 interior of the main panel with the baffle plates being 17 secured to the inner surface of the main panel through 18 any suitable means such as welding. Additionally, the 19 baffle plates 164 may then extend through the exterior surface of the main panel 46 to be integrally connected 21 to the stop members 148. A channel 166 (shown in phantom 22 line drawing) may then be rigidly secured to the baffle 23 plate and an angle 168 may be connected to the stop mem-24 ber 148 in providing additional strength for the stop 25 memberS.
26 Figure 8 is a sectional view taken along the 27 line 8--8 of Figure 4 which illustrates the cross-sec-~ ,- ~01 ~Z'71~3 tional configuration of the main panel 46 at its undriven 2 end. In securing the main panel 46 to the shaft 106, an 3 aperture 170 may be formed in the stiffening plate 122 4 to engage the exterior surface of the shaft. During move-ment of refuse from the loading hopper 34 through the 6 passage 42 into the storage body 8, as discussed in regard 7 to Figures 1 and 3, the movement of the packing panel 44 8 and the retainer panel 54 may be precisely coordinated.
9 Thus, as the packing panel 44 is driven in a working lO direction through the hopper 34, the retainer panel 54 11 may he positioned in an opened position so that there is 12 unimpeded flow of refuse from the hopper 34 into the pas-13 sage 42 and then into the storage body 8. However, with 14 movement of the packing panel 44 in a return direction to 15 return the packing panel to its rest position, the retainer 16 panel 54 is moved to a closed position with the retainer 17 panel at least partially blocking the opening between the 18 loading hopper 34 and the passage 42. In its closed po-19 sition, the retainer panel 54, thus, functions to impede 2P the flow of refuse from the passage 42 into the hopper 34.
21 When the packing panel 44 has completed its 22 movement in a working direction with the retainer panel 23 54 in an opened position (see Figure 3), the retainer 24 panel is positioned closely adjacent to the exterior sur-25 face of the main panel 46. When the movement of the 26 packing panel 44 is then reversed in moving the packing 27 panel in a return direction, the retainer panel 54 may D-llOl llZ7118 1 then be immediately moved to its closed position. During 2 this movement of the retainer panel to a closed position, 3 the retainer panel may move very close to the surface of 4 the main panel to sweep refuse from the main panel which is forced into the passage 42 by the retainer panel 54.
6 Returning to Figure 8, the main panel 46 may include an 7 inwardly curved surface 172 which is expressly designed 8 to accommodate the movement of the retainer panel 54 rela-9 tive to the main panel 46 as the retainer panel is moved from its opened to its closed position. The retainer panel 11 54 may, thus, move along the inwardly curved surface 172 12 in sweeping refuse from the main panel 46 which is, there-13 by, forced from the main panel 46 into the passage 42.
14 Figure 9 is a detailed view of the retainer panel, as shown in Figures 1 and 3, with the panel in its 16 opened position indicated in solid line drawing as 54 and 17 the panel in its closed position indicated in phantom 18 line drawing as 54'. With the retainer panel in its opened 19 position 54, the lower panel surface 173, in effect, forms a continuation of the wall 174 of passage 42. Thus, 21 with the retainer panel in its opened position 54, the 22 configuration of the panel assists in the movement of re-23 fuse into the passage 42. A cross brace 176 provides 24 strengthening of the wall 174 adjacent to the retainer panel 54 with the retainer panel cylinder 55 having a piston 26 rod 180 which extends through an opening 182 formed in 27 the cross brace. A link 184 is joined at one end to the 2~ ///

D-llOl l~Z7118 1 piston rod 180 with the other end being rotatably connected 2 to a pin 186. An eccentric 188 has its upper end rotatably 3 connected to the pin 186 with the eccentric passing through 4 an opening 190 in the cross brace 176 to connect through S a pin 194 to the pivot 88 for the retainer panel 54. Sup-6 port members 196 and 198 may be joined to either end of 7 retainer panel 54 to provide additional strengthening 8 thereof.
9 During movement of the retainer panel to its closed position 54', the cylinder 55 undergoes extension to 11 cause a downward movement of the piston rod 180 and link 12 182 and rotational movement of the eccentric 188. This, in 13 turn, causes rotational movement of the retainer panel to 14 its closed position 54'. During this rotational movement, the retainer panel may sweep along the inwardly curved 16 surface 172 of the main panel 46 as illustrated in Figure 17 8. To assist in nolding refuse within the passage 42, the 18 retainer panel 54 may include a lip 200. With the retainer 19 panel in its closed position 54', the lip indicated as 200' opposes the movement of refuse along the curved sur-21 face 173 which is directed inwardly toward the passage 42, 22 to assist in preventing the flow of refuse from the pas-23 sage back into the loading hopper 34.
24 Figure 10 is the first in a series of figures which illustrate the movement of the main panel 46 and 26 the foldable panel 48 during their movements withinl the 27 loading hopper 34. As illustrated, the passage 42 '~' ,. ' 1 ~Z7118 1 includes an enlarged opening 202 which leads into the 2 storage body 3. The passage 42 also includes a narrowed 3 throat 20~ where the walls of the passage are converged.
4 The narrowed throat 204 serves a very unique and important function in compacting refuse in a new and improved manner 6 as compared with refuse compacting apparatus of the prior 7 art. In previous refuse compacting apparatus, the refuse 8 was compacted under high pressure by packing panels which 9 squeezed the refuse between the surfaces of the packing panels and the surface of an ejection panel such as the 11 panel 12 illustrated in Figures 1 and 2. With the ejec-12 tion panel being mounted within a refuse storage body, 13 such as storage body 8, high compaction pressures were 14 generated by squeezing the refuse between the packing panels and the ejection panel to create large internal 16 pressures which had to be absorbed by the structure of the 17 refuse storage body. This required that the refuse 18 storage body had to be formed of heavy structural members, 19 which resulted in increased weight of the refuse compac-tion apparatus. This was, of course, undesirable, since 21 the increased weiyht of the refuse compaction apparatus 2~ increased the energy requirements for movement of the 23 apparatus. Also, the increased weight of the refuse com-24 paction apparatus caused increased wear and tear to the road surfaces used by the apparatus and increased the cost 26 of the apparatus.
27 By using a passage 42 in the present apparatus 28 with a narrowed throat 204, extremely high pressures may ///

",~_, . l,.LQl l~Z71~8 1 be generated as the refuse passes through the converging 2 surfaces of the passage 42 within the narrowed throat 3 204. These locally high pressures result in squeezing 4 the refuse within the narrowed throat 204 at pressures which may far exceed the pressures within the refuse 6 storage body 8. For example, in the use of a refuse 7 compaction apparatus of the invention having a narrowed 8 throat 204, the ratio of the pressures exerted on the 9 refuse at the narrowed throat with respect to the pressures imposed by the refuse against the ejection panel 12 within 11 the storage body 8 (see Figures 1 and 2) may be in the 12 order of 35 to 7. That is to say, when the refuse is 13 subjected to a pressure of 35 psi in passing through 14 the narrowed throat 204, the pressure within the storage body 8 may only be in the order of 7 psi. This, 16 then, permits constructing the storage body 8 of rela-17 tively light materials while still uniformly packing the 18 refuse within the storage body at the very h,igh pressures 19 generated within the narrowed throat 204. In this manner, 2,0 the cost of the refuse compaction apparatus may be reduced 21 by the savings in the metal used for construction of the 22 storage body 8 and also the overall weight of the refuse 23 compaction apparauts may be greatly reduced.
24 In its position shown in Figure 10, the packing 25 panel 44 is in its collapsed rest position with the fold-26 able panel 48 folded with respect to the main panel 46 27 and the packing panel in an elevated location adjacent ~ J--~101 ~Z7~8 1 the rear of the hopper 34. Additionally, the retainer 2 pane:L 54 is in its closed position to impede the flow 3 of refuse from the passage 42 into the hopper 34. With 4 the packing panel 44 in its rest position, the drive cylinder 50 is completely extended and the return cylinder 6 52 is completely contracted. To begin the movement of 7 the packing panel 44 in a working direction from its rest 8 position, control rods indicated in phantom line draw-9 ing as 206 and 207 may then be moved to initiate the flow of hydraulic fluid for contraction of the drive cylinder 11 S0, extension of the return cylinder 52 and rotational ~2 movement of the retainer panel 54 from its closed posi-13 tion to its opened position.
14 Turning to Figure 11, with movement of the con-trol rods 206 and 207 to initiate movement of the packing 16 panel 44 in a working direction, the first event to take 17 place is the rotational movement of the retainer panel 54 18 from its closed position indicated in Figure 10 to its 19 opened position shown in Figure 11. This provides an enlarged opening 208 from the hopper 34 into the passage 21 42. Moreover, as illustrated, the lower surface o~ the 22 retainer panel 54 with the retainer panel in its opened 23 position forms an extension of the adjacent surface of 24 the passage 42 to cooperate in promoting the flow of refuse from the hopper 34 into the passage and in providing 26 high localized pressures within the passage at the narrowed 27 throat 204.

11~7~

l Proceeding to Figure 12, after movement of the 2 retainer panel 54 to its opened position shown in Figure 3 11, the packing panel 44 moves downwardly from its rest 4 position within the hopper 34. During downward movement of the packing panel 44, the foldable panel 48 undergoes 6 rotational movement with respect to the main panel 46 to 7 move the packing panel from its collapsed condition to 8 its extended condition. As previously described, this 9 takes place because of the frictional engagement of the friction pads 49 (see Figures 1, 3 and 4) with the side-ll walls of the hopper 34. During movement of the packing 12 panel from its collapsed to its extended position, the 13 lower edge of the foldable panel 48 is guided through 14 contact with the side rails 56 which may maintain the foldable panel 48 within the confines of the hopper 34.
16 With the packing panel 44 positioned as shown 17 in Figure 12, the lower edge of the foldable panel 48 is 18 brought into relatively close proximity with the curved 19 bottom 36 at a point adjacent to sill 40, which is termed the "pinch point" 210. At the pinch point 210, there is 21 a spacing between the lower edge of the foldable panel 22 48 and the inner surface 36 which is sufficiently large 23 to accommodate a worker's fingers. Thus, if the worker 24 were careless and placed his fingers at the pinch point 210 as the packing panel was descending, the spacing at 26 the pinch point would be sufficiently great to prevent 27 the loss of the worker's fingers. Also, as indicated, a --`~
D-llOl li~7118 1 considerable distance is provided between the outer end 2 of the sill 40 and the pinch point 210 lgenerally in 3 the order of a foot-and-a-half to two feet) which is a 4 safety feature, since this distance would make it dif-ficult for the worker to have his fingers at the pinch 6 point.
7 In addition to the safety reasons for main-8 taining the distance between the panel 4~ and the surface 9 36 at the pinch point 210, the distance at the pinch lO point reduces the impact forces exerted nn the metal at 11 the sill 40 by the descending force of the packing panel 12 against refuse at the pinch point. In previous refuse 13 compaction apparatus, the packing panel was brought ex-14 tremely close to the inner surface of the hopper at a 15 point adjacent to the hopper sill. The refuse was then 16 subjected to very high shearing forces exerted thereon by 17 the downward edge of the packing panel. To resist these 18 high shearing forces, it was generally necessary to pro-19 vide heavy reinforcement within the tailgate structure 20 at the sill at a point approximating the location of the 21 pinch point 210. This had the effect of increasing the 22 overall weight of the refuse compaction apparatus. How-23 ever, by providing the present distance between the 24 foldable panel 48 and the curved inner surface 36 at the 25 pinch point 210, it is possible to reduce the weight of 26 the structural members in the tailgate 10 in the vicinity 27 of the pinch point 210. This results in making the over-28 all apparatus lighter and cheaper.

30 ///

31

32 llZ7118 1 During downward movement of the packing panel 2 44 from its rest position, shown in Figure 11, to its : 3 position shown in Figure 12, the drive cylinder 50 may 4 contract, with force being transmitted from the piston rod 82 to the drive chain 84 and to the drive plate 53 6 and torque tube 108. As illustrated, with this move-7 ment of the packing panel 44, the drive chain 84 may 8 contact the exterior surface of the torque tube 108.
9 Thus, torque which is transmitted to the packing panel 44 may be supplied through a constant moment arm deter-11 mined by the radius of the torque tube 108. During 12 this movement of the packing panel 44, the packing panel 13 may be moved relatively rapidly and the force applied 14 to the packing panel by the drive chain 84 may be rela-tively low. Also, during this movement of the packing 16 panel 44, the panel does not encounter gxeat resistance 17 from refuse within the hopper 34 since the panel is 18 merely moving from its collapsed rest position to a 19 position where the foldable panel 48 is in an extended condition adjacent to curved inner surface 36 at the - 21 pinch point 210.
22 During movement of the packing panel 44 from 23 its collapsed rest condition in Figure 11 to its extended 24 condition shown in Figure 12, the return cyli.nder 52 may undergo expansion with the piston rod 78 being extended 26 and the drive chain 80 being wrapped about the exterior 27 surface of the torque tube 108. As indicated, the posi-28 ~//

-~ ~D-llOl llZ7118 1 tioning of the drive chains 80 and 84 with respect to 2 the torque tube 108 permits unwinding of the chain 84 3 from the torque tube while the drive chain ~0 is being 4 wound about the torque tube without interference between the two drive chains. Further, as illustrated, the 6 movement of the cylinders 50 and 52 may be precisely 7 coordinated due to their mechanical interconnection through drive chains 80 and 84 with the torque tube 108. In ~ previous refuse compaction apparatus using several cylin-ders for driving a packing panel, it has been difficult 11 to coordinate the movements of the various cylinders. This 12 has resulted from the fact that the only interconnection 13 between the various cylinders may have been a hydraulic 14 interconnection which, through failure of some element in the hydràulic system, could permit the various cylinders 16 to get out of balance. This cannot occur in the function-17 ing of the present apparatus, since the mechanical inter-18 connec~ion of cylinders 50 and 52 insures that these 19 cylinders must work in unison. Additionally, as will be described, the cylinders 50 and 52 are hydraulically 21 interconnected. However, the hydraulic interconnection 22 of cylinders 50 and 52 is augmented by their mechanical 23 interconnection which prevents the cylinders from being 24 out of balance in moving the packing panel 44 within the hopper 34-26 As discussed, during movement of the packin~

27 panel 44 from its position in Figure 11 to its position .~n l~Z7~

1 in Figure 12, the rotational force applied to the pack-2 ing panel by the drive chain 84 may be applied through 3 a constant moment arm determined by the radius of the 4 torque tube 108. However, on continued rotational movement of the torque tube 108 and drive plate 53 from 6 their position shown at the right of Figure 12, the 7 connection point 86 moves to a point positioned -to 8 the left of the shaft 104. During this movement, the 9 drive chain 84 is moved out of contact with the exterior surface of the torque tube 108 and the driving force 11 from the cylinder 50 through drive chain 84 is applied 12 directly to drive plate 53 at the connection point 86.
13 This results in progressively increasing the moment arm 14 through which the drive chain 84 acts in providing torque for rotational movement of the packing panel 44 with the 16 applied force to the packing panel being progressively 17 increased as the packing panel continues its movement 18 through the hopper 34 in a working direction. During 19 this movement of the packing panel 44, the resistance of refuse within the hopper is.greatly increased as the 21 refuse is compacted and forced into the passage 42 and 22 through the narrowed throat 204. Accordingly, during 23 this movement of the packing panel 44, it is essential 2~ that a large drivi.ng force be applied to the packing panel. Also, during this movement of the packing panel 26 94, the rotational speed of movement of the packing 27 panel is progressively decreased as the moment arm ~lln llZ7118 1 between the drive chain and the axis of rotation of the 2 panel is progressively increased.
3 Figure 13, which is similar to Figures 10 through 12, illustrates the position of the packing panel 44 after completion of its movement in a working direc-6 tion through hopper 34. During movement of the packing 7 panel 44 from its position in Figure 12 to that shown in 8 Figure 13, the connection point 86 between the drive 9 chain 84 and drive plate 53 is moved further and fur-ther away from the axis of the shaft 104. This progres-11 sively increases the torque applied to the packing panel ~2 44 through contraction of the relatively large hydraulic 13 drive cylinder 50. This progressive increase in torque 14 provides a progressively increasing force to refuse within the loading hopper 34 as the refuse is forced 16 into the passage 42 and through the narrowed throat 204 17 to exert very high localized pressures on the refuse.
18 Also, during this movement of the packing panel 44, the 19 drive chain 80 is wound about the outer surface of torque tube 108 as the return cylinder 52 continues its 21 expansion-22 ~s indicated, the inner surface of passage 42 23 includes a curved surface portion 212, whose curvature 24 is directed toward the interior of the storage body 9, to exert a horizontal flow direction to refuse, indicated 26 as 214, which is directed into the storage body. Thus, 27 after subjecting the refuse to very high localized ~127118 1 pressures within the narrowed throat 204-l the refuse is 2 discharged from passage 42 into storage body 8 with the 3 movement of the refuse directed toward the ejection panel 4 12 as described in Figures 1 and 2. The force exerted on the ejection panel 12 by refuse in the storage body 8, even 6 though much less than the pressures exerted on refuse at the 7 narrowed throat 204, may be used in providing movement of 8 the ejection panel away from the passage 42 as the storage 9 body 8 becomes progressively filled with refuse. This permits 10 uniform filling of the storage body 8 with refuse which has li previously been uniformly compacted at relatively high 12 pressures within the narrowed throat 204 with the refuse 13 being stored at the lower pressures determined by the pressure 14 of refuse against the ejection panel 12. The increased moment 15 arm produced by the connection of the drive chain to the 16 connection point 86 on the drive plate 53 is indicated as 17 216 at the right of Figure 13.
18 The various members effectively operate in a servo 19 relationship to provide an optimum compaction of the refuse in the hopper 34, and particularly in the passage or opening 21 42. This will be seen from the discussion immediately below.
22 As will be appreciated, the main panel 46 and the 23 foldable panel 48 compact the refuse during their movement 24 forwardly from their respective positions shown in Figure 13.
As the refuse becomes compacted, it is directed upwardly and 26 forwardly into the narrowed throat 204 of the passage or 27 opening 42.
28 The distance of movement of the refuse in the 29 narrowed throat 204 is relatively long. Furthermore, the ///

l~Z7~18 1 narrowed throat 204 has a progressive constriction with 2 progressive distances along the passage or opening 42.
3 This causes the refuse to become compacted as it is directed through the passage or opening 42. It also causes the refuse to become fragmented during the movement of the refuse through 6 the passage, partly because of the venturi effect on the 7 refuse in the passage 42 and partly because of the interaction ~ between the different pieces of refuse with the progressive 9 constriction in the passage.
Since the passage 42 is fairly long, the refuse 11 does not move completely through the passage in a single 12 cycle of movement of the main panel 46 and the foldable panel 13 48. Thus, the refuse introduced into the passage 42 in 14 previous cycles of operation of the panels 46 and 48 is stuffed further into the passage by refuse introduced into 16 the passage in subsequent cycles of operations of the panels.
17 As the refuse is stuffed deeper into the passage in the sub-18 sequent cycles, it produces some churning of the refuse 19 introduced into the passage in the previous cycles and also produces compaction and fragmentation of such refuse as a 21 result of such 9tuffing and churning.
22 As previously described, the pressure against the 23 refuse in the most constricted area of the passage or opening 24 42 is quite large. This pressure is then relieved to a large extent in the enlarged opening 202 because the enlarged 26 opening 202 flares outwardly with progressive positions 27 toward the storage body 8. Thus, the pressure of the refuse 28 is relatively low as it enters the storage body 8.

///

-69a-11271~8 1 The servo effect results in part from the control 2 exerted on the positioning of the ejection panel 12 to 3 maintain the pressure of the refuse in the storage body 8 4 against the ejection panel 12 within precisely controlied limits. Thus, when the pressure of the refuse against the 6 ejection panel 12 exceeds a first particular limit, the 7 ejection panel is moved through an incremental distance in 8 a direction away from the passage 42 to reduce the pressure 9 of the refuse against the ejection panel. This incremental 10 movement continues until the pressure of the refuse against 11 the ejection panel decreases to a second particular value 12 less than the first particular value. As will be described 13 subsequently in detail, the response to pressures of the 14 refuse in the storage body 8 above the first particular value occurs instantaneously. Furthermore, the incremental move-16 ment of the ejection panel is provided instantaneously through 17 booster arrangements. In thls way, the ejection panel 12 is 18 moved incrementally through small distances before the move-19 ments are interrupted by pressures below the second particular value of the refuse against the ejection panel.
21 A precise control over the pressure of the refuse 22 in the storage body 8 is important in insuring that an optimum 23 action of fragmenting and compacting the refuse occurs in the 24 passage 42. This results from the fact that the pressure of the refuse in the storage body 8 corresponds to the reduced 26 pressure of the refuse in the enlarged opening 202 of the 27 passage 42.
28 For example, if the pressure of the refuse in the 29 storage body 8 should increase above the first particular value, the pressure exerted by the refuse in the enlarged 31 opening tends to become excessive. This inhibits the ability -69b-1~271 ~8 1 of the refuse in the narrowed throat 204 of the passage 42 to 2 become stuffed into the passage by the direction of refuse into 3 the passage in subsequent cycles and to become chrned and 4 compacted as it is stuffed into the passage. In effect, the 5 refuse in the narrowed throat 204 of the passage 42 becomes 6 constipated because of the excessive back pressure exerted 7 against this refuse by the refuse in the enlarged opening 202.
8 Such constipation tends to block further flow of refuse through 9 the passage 42.
Similarly, if the ejection panel 12 becomes moved 11 incrementally when the pressure of the refuse against the 12 ejection panel is below the second particular value, an 13 efficient action of compacting and fragmenting the refuse in 1~ the narrowed throat 2-4 of the passage 42 cannot be obtained.
15 This results from the fact that the refuse in the enlarged 16 opening 202 does not exert a sufficient back pressure against 17 the refuse in the narrowed throat 204 of the passage 42 to 18 cause the refuse in the narrowed throat to become stuffed and 19 accordingly to become fragmented and compacted. In effect, 20 because of the insufficient back pressure of the refuse in the 21 enlarged opening 202, the refuse is moved loosely, or at least 22 too easily, through the passage 42 without being subjected to 23 the forces which normally cause such refuse to be fragmented 2~ and compacted.
Figure 14 is a rear view of the truck with the 26 tailgate 10 in a closed position as indicated by the arrows Z7 14--14 in Figure 1. The hopper opening is indicated by the 28 distance of the bracket indicated as 218 with a portion of 29 the figure bein~ broken away at the left to illustrate the support structure 220 for the shaft 104. As indicated, the 31 drive mechanism, including the relatively large drive cylinder 32 50 may be positioned at the left side of tail~ate 10 with the -69c-' 101 llZ7118 1 packing panel 44 being driven from only one side to pro-2 vide a lighter and less complex drive mechanism. By 3 providing the drive mechanism on only one side of the tailgate 10, there may be a weight imbalance, since ~he side of the tailgate 10 which houses the drive mechanism 6 may be heavier than the other side. Also, reaction 7 forces which are transmitted from the drive members into 8 the support structure of the tailgate 10 will be greater 9 on the side of the tailgate which supports the drive mechanism. For these reasons, the construction of the 11 tailgate 10 may be strengthened, as will be indicated, ~2 to absorb the greater weight and the greater reaction 13 forces which may be imposed on the side which houses the 14 drive mechan.ism.
The tailgate 10 may include an upper beam 222, 16 an enlarged side beam 224 and a smaller side beam 226.
17 Turning to Figure 14a, which is a sectional view taken 18 along lines 14a--14a of Figure 14, the movement of the 19 foldable panel 48 is illustrated in various states with-2P in the hopper 34. In moving from its rest position to ~1 its position at the pinch point 210, the lower end o~ the 22 foldable panel 48 may move along a curved path indica-ted 23 by the arrow ~ with the guide members 150 contacting the 2~ guide rails 56. During this movement, contact of the friction pads 49 on foldable panel 48 with the sidewalls 26 of the hopper causes rotational movement of the fol~able 27 panel about the pin 146 in the direction indica-ted by the ` 1127118 1 arrow B. In moving in the direction of arrow B, the 2 panel 48, thus, moves from a folded position relative 3 to the main panel 46 to an extended condition relative 4 to the main panel. During the movement of the fold-able panel 48 in a reverse direction within the hopper 6 34 with the panel undergoing movement in a return di-7 rection, the frictional contact between friction pads 49 8 and the sidewalls of the hopper 34 produces rotational 9 movement of the panel with respect to pin 146 which is opposite to that indicated by the arrow B. Thus, during 11 return movement of the foldable panel 48, the panel is 12 moved from its extended condition to its collapsed or 13 folded condition.
14 As described, when the panel 48 is moved down-wardly to a point adjacent the pinch point 210, there is 16 a distance between the lower edge of the panel 48 and the 17 inner curved surface 36 which may be in the order of 18 1 to 2 inches. This distance provides a margin of safety 19 for the worker who may inadvertently place his fingers 2.0 within the pinch point 210. Also, this distance reduces 21 impact forces which may be transmitted from the panel 48 22 to the structure of the tailgate 10 at the pinch point 210.
23 In its position indicated as 48', the foldable 2~ panel is.positioned adjacent to the pinch point 210 and this may be the closest point of approach of the panel to 26 the curved inner surface 36 of hopper 34. After passing 27 beyond the pinch point 210, the panel ~8 has a path of l~Z7~18 1 movement indicated by the line 228. As'illustrated, 2 the line 228 is positioned further away from inner sur-3 face 36 than the distance between the foldable panel 48 and the curved inner surface at the pinch point 210. This increased distance, as indicated by the bracket 230, may 6 be in the order of two and a half to four inches, which 7 represents a distinct difference between the present appara-8 tus as compared with compaction apparatus of the prior 9 art. In previous refuse compaction apparatus, it has been customary for,the packing panel to pass in very close proxi-11 mity to the wall of the loading hopper during packing of 12 refuse within the loading hopper. By having the packing 13 panel move in very close proximity to the curved surface 14 of the hopper, as has been done previously, the power re-quirements for driving the packing panel through the load-16 ing hopper may be greatly increased. With the panel posi-17 tioned very close to the wall of the hopper, there is no 18 provision for slippage through which refuse may be permitted 19 to slip by the panel during its movement through the hopper.
However, with the path of movement o panel 48 21 as indicated ~y line 228 in Figure 14a, there is provis~ion 22 for slippage such that refuse may be permitted to remain 23 in the hopper 34 by slipping by the foldable panel 48 as 24 it is moved through the hopper 34. By providing this degree of slippage, the power requirements for movement 26 of the panel 48 through hopper 34 may be reduced.

llZ7118 1 Additionally, the spacing 230 between the path 2 of movement 223 and the curved inner surface 36 provides 3 a further advantage which has been lacking in refuse 4 compaction apparatus of the prior art. For example, in loading refuse into a hopper, such as hopper 34, the re-6 fuse may frequently be of a bulky nature such as, for 7 example, a large cardboard box. Due to the size of the 8 object being placed within the hopper, only a small 9 portion of the object may be capable of insertion into the hopper with the balance of the artic].e extending 11 out of the opening of the hopper and over the sill 40.
~2 In previous refuse compaction apparatus, the downward 13 movement of the packing panel blade into close proximity 14 to the surface of the loading hopper would provide a shearing force which would sever a large bulky article 16 so that the severed portion would be packed within the 17 hopper as the balance of the bulky article fell to the 18 ground by reason of the weight of the article extending 19 over the loading sill. This would make it necessary to again lift the article and to feed the remainder of the 21 article sequentially into the hopper as each working 22 movement of the packing panel would, in effect, take another 23 bite out of the article.
24 By providing a distance between the edge of the packing panel, such as the distance 230 between the fold-26 able panel 48 and the curved inner surface 36, the panel 27 may not completely shear bulky articles inserted into the D-llOl llZ71i8 1 hopper. Thus, the article, if it were a cardboard box, 2 would merely be gripped between the lower edge of the 3 panel 48 and the inner curved surface 36. As the panel 4 48 continues its movement through the hopper 34, the bulky article may then be dragged into the hopper by the 6 gripping force applied to the article by the movable 7 panel. Following movement of the panel 48 through the 8 hopper, the movement of the panel in its collapsed posi-9 tion during return movement through the hopper may permit the panel to pass over the refuse which has been dragged 11 into the hopper. In this manner, instead of the panel 12 48 taking bites out of bulky articles as they are inserted 13 into the hopper 34, the panel may not only pack the bulky 14 article within the hopper in a series of packing motions, but may also lighten the job of the worker by pulling the 16 bulky article into the hopper with each succeeding move-17 ment of the foldable panel in a working direction. The 18 movement of the panel 48 through various positions within 19 the hopper 34, as shown in phantom line drawing, is indi-2.0 cated as 48''.
21 To provide support for the retainer panel cylin-22 der 55 (see Figure 9) a support plate 232 may be provided 23 on the interior of the tailgate 10 with an aperture 234 24 to pivotally support the retainer panel cylinder. Also, a pivot support 236 may be provided for rotatably suppor-26 ting the retainer panel 54 at a point adjacent to passage 27 42. Additionally, a support member 238 may be provided 1~27~18 1 for supporting the shaft 106 (see Figure 4) and a pivot 2 support 240 may be provided for the pivot 74 (see Figure 3) 3 for support of the cylinder 50.
4 As discussed in regard to Figure 1~, the struc-ture of the tailgate 10 may be designed to compensate for 6 the additional weight and reaction forces which are borne 7 hy the tailgate as a result of housing the drive mechanism 8 for the packing panels at only one slde of the tailgate.
9 Figure 14b is a sectional view taken along the line indi-cated by the arrows 14b--14b of Figure 14. As indicated, 11 irregularly shaped stiffening plates 242 may be positioned 12 at either side of the side beam 224 to engage the beams 13 244 and 246 which may converge at the pivot support 240.
14 This provides a strong base of support to absorb large reaction forces which may be transmitted to the pivot 16 support 240 by the relatively la.ge hydraulic drive 17 cylinder 50.
18 Returning to Figure 1~, an enlarged side eleva-19 tional view of the upper beam 222 is shown in Figure 14c.
As illustrated in Figure 14c, the upper beam 222 may 21 include an outer surface member 248 having a stiffener 22 assembly 250 integrally formed within the upper beam at 23 a position adjacent its left side as indicated by the loca-24 tion of the arrows 14d--14d in Figure 14. The function of the stiffener assembly may be to effectively isolate ~- 26 the high forces generated in the lefthand portion of 27 beam 222 such that these forces are not allowed to twist D-llOl llZ~7118 1 or bend the upper beam. As indicated, the stiffener 2 assembly 250 may include a transverse stiffener plate 3 252 positioned at one end and a transverse stiffener 4 plate 254 positioned at the other end of the assembly.
Turning to Figure 14d, which is a sectional 6 view taken along the line 14d--14d of Figure 14c, the 7 transverse stiffener plates 252 and 254 may each have 8 an irregular configuration with enlarged ends joined 9 to the outer surface member 248 and to an outer surface member 256 which is joined to outer surface member 248.
11 Additionally, longitudinal stiffeners 258 and 256, which 12 may each have a curved configuration corresponding to 13 the shape of the plates 252 and 254, may join the stif-14 fener plates together. The closed configuration of the stiffener assembly 250 which may be provided by the 16 interconnection of the transverse plates 252 and 254 with 17 the longitudinal stiffener plates 258 and 260 may pro-18 vide a very stiff and strong structure having a high 19 resistance to twisting and bending. In this manner, large forces which may be generated in the left portion 21 of the upper beam 222 (see Figure 14) due to mounting 22 of the drive mechanism on the left side of the tailgate 23 10 are successfully resisted by the upper beam 222.
24 Figure 15 is a sectional view through the storage body 8 taken along line 15--15 of Figure 1. As 26 indicated, the storage body 8 may be supported by upper 27 longitudinal stiffeners 262 and 264 and lower longitudinal D-llOl l~Z'7118 1 stiffeners 266 and 26g. The slide rails 20 may be 2 formed integrally with the lower stiffeners 266 and 268 3 to extend inwardly into the storage body 8. As des-4 cribed previously in regard to Figures 1 and 2, the ejection panel 12 may slidingly engage the rails 20 6 with the slide rails engaging grooves formed in the 7 lower portion of the frame for the ejection panel.
8 As discussed, the present apparatus may be 9 lighter than previous refuse compaction ap~!~ratus. To provide a strong and yet light construction for the 11 storage body 8, the sidewalls of the storage body may be 12 formed of flexible metal sheets, indicated as 270, 272, 13 274 and 276. The flexible sheets 270, 272, 274 and 276 14 may be bowed outwardly from their points of connection to the longitudinal stiffeners 262, 264, 266 and 268 16 This insures that the flexible metal sheets 270, 272, 17 274 and 276 may be placed in tension by pressures 18 generated within the storage body 8. Since the metal 19 sheets may have a high tensile strength as compared to their strength in compression, this may permit the 21 relatively thin and lightweight sheets 270, 272, 27~
22 and 276 to be used in forming the storage body 8. The 23 storage body 8 may, thus, be made lighter. Also, as 2~ discussed previously, by subjecting the refuse to high pressures within the narrowed throat 204 of passage 42 26 prior to introduction of the refuse into the storage 27 body 8, the storage body may be designed to function at ~~ D-llOl llZ7118 1 lower pressures. This also may reduce the need for rela-2 tively heavy structural members in the construction of 3 the storage body 8.
4 As indicated in Figure 15, a conduit passa~e 278 may be formed on the surface of the upper sheet 6 member 274 and a corresponding conduit passage 280 may q be formed on the surface of the lower sheet member 276.
8 The conduit passages 278 and 280 may be used for running 9 hydraulic or electrical lines between the front and rear portions of the storage body 8.
11 Figure 16 is a front view of the tailgate 10 in 12 its lowered position as indicated by line 16--16 of Figure 1.
13 As indicated, seal members 281 and 282 may be positioned 14 on the side beams 224 and 226 for contact with the rear of the storage body 8 with the tailgate 10 in its lowered 16 position. A transverse brace 283 may provide support for 17 the upper wall of the passage 42 and a lower frame member 18 284 may be positioned between the side beams 224 and 226.
19 A flat surface ~86 may be formed below the portion of the passage 42 with the flat surface positioned 21 in close proximity to a corresponding flat surface on 22 the storage body 8 with the tailgate in itS lowered posi-23 tion as illustrated in Figures 1 and 3. A seal 285 may 24 be positioned about a portion of the flat surface 286, which seal may engage the storage body 8 with the tailgate 10 26 in its lowered position to form a fluid-tight barrier.
27 As refuse is compacted within the loading hopper, fluid 2~

~ D l.n1 l~Z7~18 1 may be expressed from the refuse with the fluid collec-2 ting in the region bounded by the seal 285. The seal 285, 3 thus, functions to prevent a leakage of fluid from the 4 joint between the lowered tailgate 10 and the storage body 8.
6 Figure 16a is a sectional view taken along 7 the line 16a--16a of Figure 16 to illustrate the configura-~ tion of the seal member 285. As indicated, the seal mem-9 ber 285 may include a base portion 287 that may be posi-tioned against the side beams 224 and 226 and the lower 11 frame member 284 with a curved upstanding portion 288 12 positioned at a generally right angle with respect to 13 the base portion 287. The curved upstanding portion 288 14 may include a hollow region 289 that permits deformation of the curved upstanding portion during usage in forming 16 a liquid-tight barrier between the storage body 8 and 17 the tailgate 10.
18 In supporting the seal 285, a support member 290 19 may extend outwardly in a generally perpendicular direc-tion with respect to the surface of the side beams 224 and 21 226 and the lower frame member 284 and a support 22 clamp member 291 may extend in an angular relation to the 23 seal to engage the upper surface of base portion 287. For 24 ease in replacement of seal member 285, the support clamp 291 may be somewhat flexible such that the clamp member 26 can be pulled outwardly away from contact with the base 27 member 287. This permits the removal of the seal member l~Z7118 1 285 with the clamp member 291 being pulled outwardly as 2 a new seal member is inserted. Following this, the clamp 3 member 291 may be released to clamp the replacement seal 4 member 285 firmly in place.
Figure 17 is a front elevational view of the 6 forward support frame 22 as viewed from inside the storage q body 8. As indicated, the forward frame 22 may include 8 a top frame member 292 having a curved lower surface 294 9 for engagement with the curved sheet member 274 (see Figure 15). Additionally, side frame members 296 and 11 298 may be joined to the top ~rame member 292 and a 12 cross channel ~00 may interconnect the side frame members.
13 This provides the forward frame 22 with a structure which 14 is both rigid and strong. A pair of generally triangular shaped plates 302 and 304 may be positioned against the 16 channel 300 and ~enerally triangular shaped support chan- -17 nels 306 and 308 may be positioned beneath the cross 18 channel 300 to provide a su~port between the 19 structure of the refuse storage body 8 and the truck frame 6.
21 A plate 310 may extend between the inner ends 22 of the channels 306 and 308 with plates 312 and 314 being 23~ affixed to the inner ends of the channels 306 and 308 and 2~ also with the cross channel 300- Downwardly extending connecting members 316 and 318 may be affixed respectively 26 to the plates 312 and 314 with the connecting members 27 being joined at their lower ends to the truck frame 6.

D~
11~7118 A hydraulic fluid reservoir 320 may be positioned on the 2 upper surface of the cross channel 300 and a pivot sup-3 port 322 for the ejection panel 12 (see Figure 1) may 4 be formed between the legs of the cross channel 300 Figure 17a is a side sectional view taken along 6 the lines 17a--17a of Figure 17. As indicated in Figure 7 17a, the connecting members 316 and 318 may each be joined ~3 to the respective plates 312 and 314 with the connecting 9 members extending through openings in the lower surface of the support channels 306 and 308. Connecting member 11 316, for example, extends through opening 323 in the 12 channel 306 to engage plate 312. Additionally, the 13 connecting members 316 and 318 may each include a 14 plurality of apertures 324 within which bolts may be placed in securing the connecting members to the vehicle 16 frame 6.
17 Figure 18 is an elevational view of the storage 18 body 8 as seen from the rear of the truck 2 with the tail-19 gate removed (see Figure 1). As indicated, the rear 2.0 frame 24 of the storage body 8 may include rigid side 21 members 326 and 328 joined at their upper ends by a top 22 member 330. The lower por-tions of side members 326 and 23 328 may be connected by a cross beam 332 with the cross 24 beam being joined to the truck frame 6 through angle i 25 braces 334 and 336. One leg of each of the angle braces 26 334 and 336 may be positioned in contact with the upper 27 surface of -the longitudinal members of the truck frame 6 ~ D-llOl l~Z71~8 1 with the angle braces being secured to the frame 2 through any convenient means such as connecting bolts 3 or welding. Additionally, the angle braces 334 and 336 4 may include upstanding legs which may bear against the cross beam 332 and may be secured therto, by example, 6 by welding.
7 A rear plate 338 may be joined to cross beam 8 332 with the rear plate forming a flat downwardly ex-9 ter.ding surface at the rear of storage body 8 which sur-face may be positioned in close proximity to the flat 11 surface 286 of tailgate 10 (see Figure 16) when the 12 tailgate is in its lowered position at the rear of the 13 storage body. The upper edge of the rear plate 338 may 14 be curved to correspond with the curvature of the flexible metal sheet 276 of the storage body 8. Simi-16 larly, the side members 326 and 328 may be suitably 17 curved to support the flexible metal sheets 270 and 272 18 forming the sides of the storage body 8 while the top 19 member 330 may also be curved to support the flexible sheet 274.
21 Plate support members 340 and 342 may be 22 joined to the cross beam 332 with the plate support mem-23 bers extending downwardly from the cross beam to provide 24 support for the downwardly extending rear plate 338.
A cross brace 344 may be joined to the plate support 26 members 340 and 342 with the cross brace being secured 27 to the lower extremity of the flat plate 338. Plate n o~
l~Z7118 l support members 340 and 342, together with the cross brace 2 344 may, thus, form a rigid frame for support of the 3 downwardly extending rear plate 338 which may bear against the tailgate lO in its lowered position.
A pivot member 346 may be formed at the upper 6 extremity of side member 328 with the pivot member rotatably q supporting one side of the tailgate 10 with respect to the 8 storage body 8 (see Figure l). The other side of the 9 tailgate lO may be supported by the pivot 28 which may be supported by a channel brace 348 connected to the top ll member 330. As described previously in Figure 14, hydraulic 12 cylinders within the tailqate lO may be mounted at one side 13 thereof such that the packing panel 44 may be driven from only 14 one side, as described in Figures 4 and 5. This positioning 15 of the hydraulic cylinders may produce a weight imbalance 16 within the tailgate 10 such that one side of the tailgate is 17 heavier than the other side. The heavier side of the tail-18 gate 10, which contains the hydraulic ~cylinders, may be 19 pivotally connected to the pivot 28 with the channel brace 20 348 providing additional strength in rotatably supporting 21 the heavier side of the tailgate. In addition, a support 22 channel 350 may be joined to the top member 330 to further 23 strengthen the top member at the region adjacent to the 24 pivot 28 in rotatably supporting the heavier side of the tailgate lO.

~lZ7118 1 As indicated, support beams 352 may be positioned 2 along either side of the storage body 8 at the lower ex-3 tremities thereof to provide strengthening of the storage body at these regions. Also, curved plates 354 may be joined to the support beams 352 with the curved plates 6 being connected to the upper ends of support members 340 and q 342. The curved configuration of plates 354, as illustrated, 8 may merge smoothly into the curvature of the flexible 9 metal sheet 276. The connection of the plates 354 to the flexible metal sheet 276 may, therefore, serve to fix the 11 curvature of the metal sheet at its extremities, while also 12 providing strengthening of the lower portions of the ~-3 storage body 8.
14 Figure 18a is an elevational view taken along the line 18a--18a of Figure 18, which illustrates the configura-16 tion of side member 328. The pivot 346 formed at the upper 17 extremity of side member 328 may extend rearwardly from the 18 storage body 8 with the pivot 30 for the tailgate lifting 19 cylinder 26 (see Figure 1) likewise extending rearwardly and being positioned below the pivot 346. The plate sup-21 port membex 342 may include a rearwardly inclined surface 22 355, Additionally, the other plate support member 340 23 (see Figure 18) may also include an inclined surface simi-2~ lar to surface 355. The effect of inclined surface 355 is to reduce the weight of the support member 342 while still 26 providing support for the rear plate 338.

3~
-8~-J" `.01 ~2~ii8 1 Figure 19 is a fragmentary side elevational 2 view taken from the right side of the tailgate 10 shown 3 in Figure 14 to illustrate the operation of the control mechanism. A control member 356 which may be grasped by the operator may include an outer tube 358 which is 6 secured to a plate 360. The plate 360 may be connected 7 to a rotatable rod 362 through a pin 364. With the con-8 trol member 256 positioned as shown in Figure 19, the 9 control member is in its neutral position and there is no movement of the packing panel 44. With the packing 11 panel 44 in its rest position as shown in Figure 10, move-12 ment of the control member 356 in the direction of the 13 arrow B initiates the movement of the packing panel in a 14 working direction and movement of the retainer panel 54 from a closed to an opened position. Conversely, with the 16 packing panel 44 and retainer panel 54 positioned as 17 shown in Figure 13, movement of the control member 356 18 in the direction of the arrow C initiates movement of 19 the retainer panel 54 from an opened to a closed posi-tion and movement of the packing panel 44 in a return 21 direction from its position in Figure 13 to that in 22 Figure 10.
23 A rod 366 may be positioned within the tube 358 24 with the rod extending through an aperture in the closed bottom 370 oE the tube. A spring 372 may be positioned 26 about the rod 366 at its lower end with one end of the 27 spring engaging the bottom 370 and the other end of the r)-llOl i8 1 spring engaging A spring stop 374 positioned about the 2 rod. A handle 376 may be positioned about the outer 3 tube 358 at its lower end with the handle including a 4 cross member 378 which engages the lower end of the rod 366. With the rod 366 connected to a connector 380, as 6 will be described, the connector 380 may, in turn, be 7 joined to a rod 382, then to a connector 384 and to a 8 rod 386. The rod 386 may be positioned adjacent to a 9 tailgate sidewall 387 and extend through a transverse wall 388 extending from the tailgate sidewall and through 1 a passage 390. The passage 390 may extend into a housing 12 392 with a ta~ 393 being formed at the lower end of the 13 rod 386.
14 A rotatable stop mechanism generally indicated as 394 may be rotatably positioned within the housing 392 16 with the rotational position of the stop mechanism being 17 coordinated with the rotational movement of the pac~ing 18 panel 44 as illustrated in Figures 10-13.
19 The stop mechanism 394 may include a first plate 396 in abutting relation to a second plate 398. To adjust 21 the angular relationship between the first plate 396 and 22 second plate 398, slots 400 may be formed in the second ; 23 plate with bolts 402 extending through the slots and ~- 24 threadably engaging apertures in the first plate. Thus, when the bolts 402 are tightened, the rotational position 26 of the second plate 398 may be fixed with respect to the 27 rotational position of the first plate 396. A bolt 404 -- llOl llZ71~8 1 may extend through both the first plate 396 and second plate 2 398 to engage the shaft 106 which supports the undri~en 3 end of the packing panel 44 (see Figure 4).
4 On movement of the control member 356 in the direction of the arrow B, the shaft 106 rotates in the 6 direction of the arrow denoted D as the packing panel 44 moves in a working direction through the hopper 34 as 8 illustrated in Figures 10-13. However, on movement of the 9 control member 356 in the direction of the arrow C, the shaft 106 rotates in the direction of the arrow E as the 11 packing panel 44 moves in a return direction to its rest ~2 position shown in Figure 10.
13 On rotation of the shaft 106 in the direction 14 of arrow D, with the control member 356 moved in the direction of arrow B, a stop member 406 may be rotated 16 into engagement with the tab 393. The stop member 406 17 may include a stop surface 408 which engages the tab 393 18 to exert a force through the connecting members 386, 384, 19 382 and 380 that may exert a rotational force on plate 360 to return the control member 356 to its neutral 21 position. I~hen the stop surface 408 encounters tab 393, 22 the packing panel 44 may be generally positioned adjacent 23 to the pinch point 210 as illustrated in Figure 12. Thus, 2~ through contact of the stop surface 408 with tab 393, the packing panel 44 may not proceed beyond this point in a 26 working direction unless some action is taken by the opera-27 tor to move the tab 393 so that the tab does not contact ~8 ///

'-~ ~ 01 1 the stop surface 408. This may provide an additional 2 factor of safety by insuring that the operator consciously 3 move the tab 393 out of contact with the stop surface 4 408 to have a continuation of the movement of the pack-lng panel 44 through the hopper 34.
6 To move the tab 393 out of contact with the 7 stop surface 408, the operator may pull downwardly on the 8 handle 376 which may cause movement of the rod 366 in a 9 downward dlrection relative to the tube 358 against the force of the biasing spring 372. This, in turn, may pro-11 vide a rotational movement of the rod 382, as will be 12 described, in the direction of the arrow F to rotate the 13 tab 393 out of contact with the stop surface 408. As 1~ the operator pushes the control member 356 in the direction of arrow B to initiate movement of the packing panel 44 16 in a working direction, the operator may then keep his 17 hand on the handle 376 until the packing panel approaches 18 the pinch point 210 as shown in Figure 12. At this point, 19 the operator may then pull downwardly upon the handle 376 such that the packing panel 44 moves past the pinch point 21 210 in a continuous mo~ement in a working direction thr~ough 22 the hopper 34.
23 During movement of the packing panel 44 in a re-24 turn direction from its position shown in Figure 13, it is desirable that the movement of the packing panel not be 26 stopped when the packing panel reaches the general location 27 of the pinch point 210. Thus, a slide surface 410 may be ~7118 1 formed on the stop member 406 with the slide surface 2 being shaped and positioned to slide over the tab 393 3 during movement of the packing panel in a return direc-4 tion and to not interrupt the movement of the packing panel at the pinch point 210.
6 With the packing panel 44 moving in a working 7 direction and the shaft 106 rotating in the direction 8 of the arrow D, when the stop 406 has rotated beyond 9 the tab 393 as described, the rotation of the shaft may continue until stop member 412 on the first plate 11 396 encounters the tab 393. At this point, the plate 12 360 and control member 356 may be rotated in a direction 13 counter to that shown by arrow B to return the plate 14 and control member to the neutral position indicated in Figure 19. At this point, the movement of the packing 16 panel 44 may cease. With the packing panel 44 occupying 17 the position shown in Figure 13, the member 356 and 1~ plate 360 may then be moved in the direction indicated 19 by arrow C. This may cause rotation of the shaft 106 in the direction indicated by arrow E in which the slide 21 surface 410 of stop member 406 rides over the tab 393~ Ro-22 tational movement of the shaft 106 may, thus, continue in the 23 direc-tion of the arrow E until a stop member 414 on first 2a plate 396 contacts the tab member 393. At this point, the plate 360 and the control member 356 may be rotated in a di-26 rection counter to that indicated by the arrow C to return 27 the plate and operating member to their neutral positions 28 shown in Figure 19. At this point, the movement of the pack-29 ing panel 44 may cease and the packing panel may be posi-tioned at its rest position shown in Figure 10.

r ~ .
~;Z71~8 1 As described, the angular position of the second 2 plate 398 with respect to first plate 396 may be varied 3 by loosening bolts 402 and 404, rotating the second plate 4 with respect to the first plate, and re-tightening the bolts. The position of the stop member 406 may, thus, be 6 varied with respect to the positions of the stop members 7 412 and 414. This, in turn, may vary the point at which 8 the stop surface 408 encounters the tab 393 such that the 9 packing panel 44 may be stopped at the pinch point 210 as shown in Figure 12 or at a point in advance of the plnch 11 point, as desired.
12 Figure l9a is a detailed view taken along the 13 line l9a--19a of Figure 19 to illustrate the construction 14 of the stop member 406 and its function of sliding over the tab 393, during rotational movement of the stop member 16 in the direction of the arrow E. As indicated, the stop 17 member 406 may include a transverse portion 416 from which 18 may depend the stop surface 408. The slide surface 410, 19 which lies behind the stop surface 408 in Figure l9a may be inclined upwardly from the stop surface toward a sur-21 face 409 whose length is less than that of surface 408 22 as indicated by the brackets identifying the surfaces 23 and their length. In usage, the tab 393 does not con-24 tact the surface 409 due to its decreased length as the stop member 406 moves in the direction of the 26 arrow E. Rather, the tab 393 then encounters the 27 inclined slide surface 410 with the surface 410 then 28 riding over the tab 393 due to the resiliency of the 29 transverse portion 416. However, when the stop member ///

~lZ~il8 D-llOl 1 406 encounters the tab 393 during movement of the packin~
2 panel 44 in a working direction with rotation of the ~ shaft 106 in the direction of the arrow D, the longer stop 4 surface 408 may directly contact the tab 393. As des-cribed, this may move the control member 356 to its neu-6 tral position unless the operator has rotated the tab 393 7 out of contact with the stop member 406 by pulling down-8 wardly on handle 376.
9 Figure 20 is a view taken along the line 20--20 of Figure 19 which further illustrates the functioning of 11 the control mechanism. As indicated, the rod 382 may 12 connect at i.ts upper end through a universal joint 418 to 13 the plate 360. Additionally, the rod 382 may be fixedly 14 connected to an L-shaped bracket 420 which may, in turn, be connected through a universal joint 422 to the rod 366.
16 Thus, when the rod 366 is pulled downwardly by handle 376, lq as discussed in regard to Figure 19, the downward movement 18 of the rod 366 may have no effect upon the position of the 19 tube 358 which is fixedly connected to plate 360. The 20 downward movement of the rod 366 does, however, exert a 21 downward force upon the L-shaped bracket 420 whose posi-~2 tion is angled outwardly away from the plane of the paper 23 as it is shown in Figure 20. The downward force exerted 24 upon L-shaped bracket 420, thus, may exert a turning moment 25 on the rod 382 which may rotate the rod in the direction 26 indicated by arrow F to move the tab 393 out of engagement 27 with the stop member 406. Due to the presence of the D- l l O l ~127118 1 universal joints 418 and 422, the rotational movement 2 ov the L-shaped bracket 420 and the rod 382 does not 3 disturb the position of the plate 360 and tube 358.
4 Thus, the control handle 356 remains in its position even though the rod 382 is rotated. The universal joint 418, 6 while permitting rotational movement of the rod 380 with 7 respect to plate 360 does not, however, permit transla-8 tional movement of the rod 382 with respect to the plate 9 360. Thus, when the tab 393 is engaged by any of the stops 412, 414, 416 to produce translational movement of 11 the rod 382, this translational movement causes movement ~2 of the plate 360 and tube 358 as described previously.
13 As indicated, in the lower portion of Figure 20, 14 a support bearing 424 may be provided for the shaft 106 with the first and second plates 396 and 398 being secured 16 to the shaft at a mounting location which is positioned 17 outboard from the support bearing. Further, a closure 18 plate 426 may be positioned over the housing 392 with the 19 closure plate being secured to the housing in any conven-tional manner, such as the use of bolts 428.
21 Figure 21 is a detailed view illustrating the 22 movement of control rods 206 and 207 in transmitting 23 movement from the rotatable rod 362 shown in Figure 19 to 24 valves for controlling the hydraulic mechanism. As indi-cated, the rotatable rod 362 may extend from the right 26 rear side of the tailgate 10 where the control mechanism 27 may be located to the left rear side of the tailgate where 2~ the drive mechanism may be located (see Figure 14).

l~Z71~8 1 At the terminus of the rotatable rod 362 at the 2 left rear side of the tailgate 10, the rod may be supported 3 by a bearing plate 430 secured to a support plate 432. A
4 partial closure 434 may extend about the rotatable rod 362 as it crosses the back of the tailgate 10 to protect the 6 rod. An eccentric 436 may be secured to the rotatable 7 rod 362 at a position which is inboard from the bearing 8 plate 430. The control rods 206 and 207 may be connected 9 to a pin 442 joined to the eccentric 436 such that rota-tional movement of the rod 362 in the direction indicated 11 by arrow G may cause simultaneous movement of the control 12 rods in the direction indicated by arrow H. The control 13 rod 207 may be connected to a valve actuation member 444 14 while the control rod 206 is connected to a valve actuation member 446. As will be described, a detent mechanism 448 16 may be positioned adjacent to the valve actuation member 17 446 to hold the valve actuation member in a desired posi-18 tion after movement of the rod 206.
19 Figure 21a is a sectional view taken along the 2.0 lines 21a--21a of Figure 21 to demonstrate the manner in 21 which the rods 206 and 207 may be connected to the eccen-22 tric 436. The rod 206 may include a slot 450 formed at 23 its outer end with the rod 207 including a slot 452 formed 2~ at its outer end. With rotation of the rod 362 in the direction of arrow G as shown in Figure 21, the pin 442 26 may move to the right hand ends of the two slots 450 and 27 452. This contact may, then, move both the rods 206 and 28 207 in the direction of arrow H as shown in Figure 20.

D-llOl 1 As will be described, rod 207 may be used to 2 actuate the movement of the retainer panel 54 from a 3 closed to an opened position (see Figures 10 and 11) or to 4 actuate movement of the retainer panel from its opened to its closed position. As described previously with 6 regard to Figures 10-13, movement of the retainer panel 7 54 may precede the movement of the packing panel 44. For 8 example, the retainer panel 54 may move from a closed to 9 an opened position before movement of the packing panel 44 in a working direction through the hopper 34 (see 11 Figures 10 and 11~. Similarly, the movement of the re-12 tainer panel 5a from an opened to a closed position may 13 precede the movement of the packing panel 44 from its 14 position shown in Figure 13 in a return direction to its rest position shown in Figure 10. To provide this result, 16 a spring centered valve may be used for providing move-17 ment of the retainer panel 54 which valve may be actuated 18 by movement of the rod 207. The spring centered valve 19 may be biased to a neutral position in which no hydraulic fluid flows to the retainer panel cylinder 55 (see Figure 9).
21 On movement of the pin 442 to the right from its position 22 shown in Figure 21a, the rod 207 may be held in position 23 by the operator with control member 356 held in the direc-24 tion of arrow B until the retainer panel 54 (see Figures 2~ 10-13) has completed its movement from a closed to an 26 opened position. At this point, the operator may then re-27 turn the control member 356 to its neutral position shown 2g /// ...

`" 1~27118 1 in Figure 19 which may cause the pin 442 to occupy the 2 position shown in Figure 21b.
3 The spring centered valve may then automatically return the rod 207 to its centered position shown in Figure 21b. Elowever, the rod 206 may remain held in the 6 direction of the arrow H shown in Figure 21 by the detent 7 mechanism 448. The rod 206 rnay, thus, occupy the posi-8 tion shown in Figure 21b with the pin 442 positioned 9 closely adjacent to the left end of the slot 450. With reference to Figure 19, the rod 206 may continue to 11 occupy the position as shown in Figure 21b until the tab ~2 393 is contacted by the stop member 406 or 412 to move 13 the pin 442 slightly to the left from its position shown 14 in Figure 21b and into contact with the left end of slot 450. At this point, the rod 206 may become disengaged 16 from the detent mechanism 448 with a biasing spring of 17 the valve returning the rod 206 to its neutral position.
18 At this point, both the rods 206 and 207 may occupy the 19 positions shown in Figure 21a in which the pin 442 is centered within slots 450 and 452.
21 Again, referring to Figure 19, when the con-22 trol member 356 is moved in the direction of arrow C, 23 the rod 362 shown in Figure 21 may be rotated in a 24 direction opposite to that indicated by arrow G. This may cause the pin 442 to move to the left from its 26 position shown in Figure 21a into contact with the left 27 ends of the slots 450 and 452. As a result, the rods ---' `1101 l~Z71~8 1 206 and 207 may then be moved in a direction opposite 2 to that indicated by arrow H in Figure 21. The con-3 trol member 356 shown in Figure 19 may then be held ln 4 the direction of arrow C until the retainer panel 54 has completed its movement from an opened to a closed 6 position (see Figure 1) with the control member then being 7 returned to its neutral position and with the rod 207 re-8 turning to its neutral position to occupy the position 9 shown in Figure 21b. However, the rod 206 may remain in a ~ held position opposite to that indicated by the arrow H in 11 Figure 21 under the influence of the detent mechanism 448 12 with the right end of the slot 450 as shown in Figure 21b 13 being positioned closely adjacent to the pin 442. The rod 14 206 may remain held in this position by the detent mechanism 448 until the tab 393 (see Figure 19) is contacted by the 16 stop member 414 as the shaft 106 rotates in the direction 17 Of the arrow E. At this point, the pin 442 (see Figure 18 21b) may be moved slightly to the right into contact 19 with the right end of slot 450. This may disengage the detent mechanism 448 from the rod 206 such that the rod 21 returns to its neutral position with rods 206 and 207 22 and pin 442 occupying the position shown in Figure 21a.
23 Figure 21c is a detailed side elevation view, 24 partly in section, taken along line 21c--21c as shown in Figure 21 to indicate the ~unctioning o~ the detent 26 mechanism 448 in holding the rod 206. As indicated, the 27 detent mechanism 448 may include a base member 454 with ~Z7118 1 a rotatable arm 456 mounted thereon through a pivot 458 2 and an arm support member 460 that supports the pivot 3 for engagement with the rotatable arm. The arm 456 may 4 be biased in any convenient manner, such as by a spring, for rotation in a clockwise direction from its position 6 shown in Figure 21c with a roller 462 at the outer end 7 of the arm being forced into contact with the rod 206.
8 Notches 464 may be formed in the rod 206 with the posi-9 tion of the notches corresponding to the position of the rod when it is moved in the direction of the arrow H
11 shown in Figure 21 to actuate the packing panel 44 in a ~2 working direction (see Figures 10-13), or when the rod 13 206 is moved in a direction opposite that of arrow H to 14 actuate movement of the packing panel in a return direction.
16 As indicated, when the roller 462 engages one 17 of the notches 464, the upward force of the roller against 18 the notch may hold the rod 206 in a given position. A
19 valve 466, which may be actuated by movement of the rod 206, may be a spring-centered valve. Thus, when either 21 the right or left end of the slot 450 in rod 206 is con-22 tacted by the pin 442 (see Figure 21b) the rod may under-23 go sufficient movement to disengage the roller 462 from 24 one of the notches 464. At this point, the spring-cen-tering action of valve 466 may return the rod 206 to its 26 neutral position as indicated in Figure 21a with the 27 valve 466 then being in a neutral position such that the 28 movement of the packing panel 44 ceases (see Figures 10-13).

///

llZ71~8 l Figure 22 is a schematic representation of a 2 hydraulic circuit which may be used in actuating the 3 present apparatus. As indicated, hydraulic fluid from 4 the reservoir 348 may be transported through a supply line 468 and a valve 470 to a pump 472. From the pump 6 472 the hydraulic fluid may be supplied under pressure 7 through a line 474 which is joined to a branch line 476.
8 Branch line 476 leads to a pilot-operated relief valve 478 9 that may be conveniently set at a pressure such as 2950 psi psi. When the pressure in the line 474 and the branch ll line 476 reaches the predetermined pressure, the pressure l2 transmitted through a pressure line 479 may cause the 13 valve 478 to open to permit fluid to pass through the 14 valve to a return line 511 leading to the reservoir 348.
In permitting fluid to pass through the valve 478 at a 16 predetermined pressure of about 2950 psi, the 17 relief valve 478 acts as a safety valve for the entire 18 hydraulic system to insure that pressures within the l9 system do not exceed the predetermined pressure level.
The line 474, after passing the branch line 21 476, leads to a branch line 480 and to a spring-centered 22 valve 482. With the spring-centered valve 482 in its 23 neutral position as shown in Figure 22, hydraulic fluid 24 in line 474 may flow through the valve. The valve 482 may include a control handle 484 through which the 26 valve may be moved to a raised or a lowered position from 27 its neutral position shown in Figure 22. On movement 3~

~ D-1101 27~8 1 of the handle 484 to move the valve upwardly ~rom its 2 posit:ion shown in Figure 22, hydraulic fluid from line 3 474 may flow through a check valve 486 and through the valve 482 to a line 488. The line 488 may lead to a branch line 490 which leads to a pilot-operated relief 6 valve 492. The relief valve 492 may be set to open 7 at a predetermined pressure of about 3100 psi which 8 may be transmitted through a pressure line 493 to open 9 the relief valve such that hydraulic fluid from line 490 may flow to return line 511 and to the reservoir 11 348. The relief valve 492 which may be set at a pressure 12 less than the opening pressure for relief valve 478 13 may, thus, function to permit the release of hydraulic 14 fluid from line 490 when the telescopic ejection cylinder 14 encounters an undesirable pressure buildup during, 16 for example, movement of the ejection panel 12 from the 17 front to the rear of the storage body 8 during the 18 ejection of refuse from the storage body (see Figure 1).
19 The line 488, after passing the branch line 490, may lead to two lines 494 and 496. Line 494 may 21 lead to a solenoid valve 495 which, when actuated, as will 22 be described, will permit hydraulic fluid -to flow to a 23 return line 497 and to the reservoir 348. The line 496 24 may lead to the large end of the telescopic hydraulic cylinder 14 which may have, for example, a pressure area 26 in the order c ten times the pressure area at the small 27 end of the telescopic cylinder. A line 498 may lead from ~2 _99_ ~ D-1101 l~Z7~18 1 the small end of the telscopic cylinder 14 to a line 2 512 directed to the valve 482. With valve 4a2 in its 3 raised position, hydraulic fluid may, thus, flow 4 through the valve to lines 488 and 496 to expand the telescopic cylinder 14 while fluid from the small end 6 of the telescopic cylinder may flow through lines 498 7 and 512 through the valve to a line 514 to return line 8 511 and to the sump 348. A strainer 515 may be posi-9 tioned between the return line 511 and the reservoir .
0 348 to remove particles from the hydraulic fluid to 11 prevent clogging of the valves in the hydraulic system ~2 by the particles.
13 When the handle 484 is actuated to move the 14 valve 482 in a downward direction from that shown in Figure 22, pressurized hydraulic fluid may flow through 16 the check valve 486 and the valve 482 into the lines 512 7 and 498. This may introduce pressurized hydraulic fluid 18 into the small end of the telescopic cylinder 14 with ~19 fluid from the large end of the cylinder being returned through lines 496 and 498 to the valve 482. The returned 21 fluid rom the large end of telescopic cylinder 14 may 22 then be conveyed through through the valve 482 to line 23 514 to the return line 511 and the sump 348. As this 24 occurs, the telescopic cylinder may undergo contraction to move the ejection panel. 12 from the rear to the front 2~ of the storage body 8 (see Figure 1).

-~ "~-1101 ~lZ7118 1 When valve 482 is in its neutral position as 2 shown in Figure 22 with the telescopic cylinder 14 being 3 filled with hydraulic fluid, a problem may arise if there 4 is, for example, an increase in the ambient temperature.
Due to the substantial difference between the pressure 6 area at the large end of the telescopic cylinder 14 as 7 compared with the pressure area at the small end of the 8 cylinder, a pressure increase at the large end due to 9 thermal expansion of fluid at the large end may produce 0 a tenfold pressure increase at the small end of the tele-11 scopic cylinder. To protect against undesirable pressure 12 buildup at the small end of telescopic cylinder 14, the 13 line 498 from the small end of the cylinder may lead to a 14 branch line 500 leading to two lines 502 and 504. A
check valve 506 may be positioned in line 502 to prevent 16 the flow of hydraulic fluid from line 502 to a line 510 and 17 to the return line 511.
18 However, line 504 may lead to a pilot-operated 19 relief valve 508 which may be set to open at a pressure of about 3100 psi. When the pressure in line 504 ~1 reaches this pressure level, pressure ~ay be transmitted 22 to the valve 508 through a pressure line 509 to open the 23 relief valve such that fluid may flow to line 510 to the 24 return line 511 and to the reservoir 348.
After passing the valve 482, the line 474 may 26 lead to a spring-centered valve 516 which may be used to 27 actuate the tailgate lifting cylinder 26. With valve 516 - 1)-11()1 ~2~71~8 1 in its neutral position as shown in Figure 22, hydraulic 2 fluid may flow directly through the valve. A handle 518 3 connected to the valve 516 may be used in moving the 4 valve to a raised or a lowered positlon from that shown in Figure 22. When valve 516 is moved to a lowered 6 position, hydraulic fluid may flow from line 480 through 7 a check valve 520 and through the valve 516 to a line 522.
8 The line 522 may lead to a hydraulic choke 524 with 9 hydraulic fluid expanding the cylinder 26 during movement of the tailgate 10 to its raised potiion shown in 11 Figure 1. When the cylinder 26 is expanded to a desired 12 extent, the valve 516 may be moved to its neutral posi-13 tion shown in Figure 22 to isolate the cylinder 26 and 14 to insure that the cylinder remains in its expanded con-dition.
16 When it is then desired to lower the tailgate 10 17 (see Figure 1), the valve 516 may be moved to its raised 18 position from that shown in Figure 22. At this point, 19 the weight of the tailgate structure 10 may be exerted against the fluid within the cylinder 26 through a piston 21 rod 525. The weight of the tailgate 10 may, thus, force 22 a piston 527 downwardly within the cy].inder 26 with ~luid 23 flowing from the cylinder through choke 524, line 522 and 24 the valve 516. After flowing through valve 516, the fluid may be conveyed through a line 526 to the return line 511 26 and to the sump 348. The choke 524 may function to re-27 duce the flow rate of hydraulic fluid through line 522 .

D_ 1101 :1127118 1 to a relatively low flow rate. This may insure that the 2 tailgate descends slowly in moving from its raised posi-3 tion 10' to its lowered position 10 as shown in Figure 1.
4 After passing beyond the valve 516, the line 474 may reach two branch lines 528 and 530. The branch line 6 530 may lead to a pilot-operated relief valve 532 having 7 a pressure line 533 connected to the line 474. When the 8 pressure within line 474 reaches a predetermined value of 9 about 3100 psi, the pressure transmitted through line 533 may open the valve 532 to permit pressurized fluid 11 to flow through the valve to a return line 546 which 12 leads to line 511 and to the reservoir 348. The relief 13 valve 532 may, thus, control the pressure of hydraulic 14 fluid which is fed to the cylinder 55 for actuation of the retainer panel 54 and which is fed to the cylinders 16 52 and 50 for actuation of the packing panel 44 as il-17 lustrated in Figures 10-13.
18 As described in Figures 21, 21a, 21b and 21c, 19 the control rods 206 and 207 may be moved together in unison. With the rods 206 and 207 moved together in 21 unison in the direction of arrow H as shown in Figure 21, 22 a spring-centered valve 538 may be moved upwardly from 23 its neutral position as shown in Figure 22 and the spring-24 centered valve 466 may also be moved upwardly. Hydraulic fluid may then flow from the line 474 through a line 528 26 to a line 534 and through a check valve 536. After 27 flowing through check valve 536, pressurized hydraulic ~ D-llOl ~ l~Z7118 1 fluid may then flow through the valve 538 and through a 2 line 540 to the cylinder 55. This may cause the cylinder 3 55 to contract with fluid from the head end of the cylinder flowing through a line 542, through valve 538 and through a line 544 to the return line 546.
6 Since the volume of the hudraulic cylinder 55 7 may be relatively small, the contraction of the cylinder 8 may be relatively rapid to provide rapid movement of 9 the retainer panel 54 from its closed position shown in Figure 10 to its opened positioIl shown in Figure 11. At 11 this point, the control handle 356, after first being 12 moved in the direction of arrow B, may be moved in a 13 direction opposite that of arrow B to its neutral posi-14 tion as shown in Figure 19. This may permit the spring-centered valve 538 to return to its neutral position to 16 cause the rod 207 to return to its neutral position shown 17 in Figure 21b with the pin 442 centered within the slot 18 452 in rod 207. The rod 206 may, however, remain in the 19 direction of arrow H through the action of the detent mechanism 448 as described in Figures 21b and 21c. With 2~ the valve 538 returned to its neutral position, and the 22 valve 466 in its raised position from that shown in 23 Figure 22, hydraulic fluid may flow from line 474 through 2~ the valve 538 and to a branch line 545, through a check valve 548 and the valve 466 and to a line 550. Line 550 26 may lead to a line 552 to the rod end of the relatively 2~ large drive cylinder 50 which may be used in moving the ~1 r~ 0 1 ~.Z`~1~8 1 packing panel 44 in a working direction, as described in 2 Figures 10-13.
3 On the introductlon of pressurized hydraulic 4 fluid into cylinder 50 through line 552, a piston 554 may be moved upwardly from its position shown in Figure 6 22 to contract the cylinder in moving the packing panel 7 44 in a working direction as described in Figures 10-13.
8 As described in regard to Figure 3, the relatively large 9 hydraulic drive cylinder 50 may be mechanically coupled with the relatively small hydraulic return cylinder 52.
~1 Thus, as the piston 554 of cylinder 50 is moved moved 12 upwardly to contract the cylinder 50, a piston 555 of 13 return cylinder 52 may be moved downwardly to expand the 14 return cylinder. On downward movement of piston 555, hydraulic fluid within the rod end of cylinder 52 may be 16 exhausted through a line 574 and through the valve 466 17 to a line 557 to line 546 and to line 511 and reservoir 18 348.
19 As hydraulic fluid is fed to the rod end of the drive cylinder 50, through line 552, a pilot-operated j 21 check valve 562 may prevent the flow of hydraulic fluid 22 from the line 550 past the check valve. A line 560 con-23 nected to the head end of the drive cylinder 50 may lead 24 to the head end of the return cylinder 52. Thus, as the piston 554 is moved upwardly with the piston 555 moving 26 downwardly, hydraulic fluid which is exhausted from the 27 head end of drive cylinder 50 may pass through the line ~105-- D-llOl ~1271~8 1 560 into the head end of the return cylinder 52. In 2 this manner, the return cylinder 52 may act as an accumu-3 lator of the hydraulic fluid which is discharged from the head end of cylinder 50. Additionally, a line 561 may interconnect line 560 with the return line 511 to 6 the reservoir 348. Hydraulic fluid which is discharged 7 from the head end of the cylinder 50 may, thus, also 8 flow from line 560 into line 561 and to the return line 9 511. However, to encourage flow of hydraulic fluid be-tween the cylinders 50 and 52, the line 560 may be re-11 latively large to offer less resistance to flow than the 12 line 561.
13 As the piston 554 is moved upwardly within drive 14 cylinder 50, a pressure port 559 in the wall of the cylinder 50 may be uncovered to receive pressure from 16 fluid on the underside of piston 554. The port 559 may, 17 for example, be uncovered when the packinq panel 44 moves 18 beyond the pinch point 210 during its movement in a work-19 ing direction as illustrated in Figures 12 and 13. As the 2.0 packing panel 44 passes beyond the pinch point 210, greater 21 resistance may be encountered by the panel from refuse 22 within the hopper 34 which may result in higher pressures 23 at the rod end of the drive cylinder S0. As also dis-24 cussed in regard to Figures 10-13, during movement of the packing panel 44 in a working direction through the hop-26 per 34, refuse within the hopper is subjected to high 27 pressures as the refuse passes through the narrowed throat ,, ___._._ _ .. , . . _ .. -- .. , . .. . .. .,_ D-llOl ~127~18 1 204 in passage 42 leading to the storage body 8. Thus, ., 2 the pressure of refuse within the storage body 8 which 3 is exerted against the ejection panel 12 may be of a 4 relatively low magnitude even though high pressures are experienced by the refuse within the narrowed throat 6 204 and high pressure hydraulic fluid is supplied through 7 line 552 to the rod end of the cylinder 50.
8 Since the pressure of refuse within the storage - ~ 9 body 8 exerted against the ejection panel 12 may be re-latively low, in comparison to previous refuse compacting 11 apparatus, the pressure which is experienced at the large ~2 end of the telescopic cylinder 14 by refuse bearing 13 against the ejection panel may also be relatively low. If 14 the means for dumping hy.draulic fluid from the large end of the cylinder 14 were a purely hydraulic mechanism, the 16 speed of actuation of the mechanism might not be suffi-17 ciently rapid. To provide a more rapid and more controlled 18 dumping of hydraulic fluid from the large end of the tele-19 scopic cylinder 14 when the ejection panel 12 moves in small incremental steps from its rearward position 12 to 21 its forward position 12' (see Figure 1), an electr.ical 22 system may be used to control the dumping of hydraulic 23 fluid from the telescopic cylinder 14. The pressure port 24 559 in the drive cylinder 50, as described, may lead to a pressure sensing line 556 to a pressure actuated switch .. 26 558. The switch 558 is opened in its position shown in 27 Figure 22. However, when the pressure at the rod end of .. . _ . .........

- l:lZ'~118 llol 1 drive cylinder 50 reaches a predetermined level, such as 2 240() psi, a switch member 563 may be moved downwardly 3 by the pressure in line 556 into contact with a pole 565 to 4 complete a circuit between an electrical power source 566 and the solenoid valve 495 through wires 568, 570 and 572.
6 With the switch 558 closed, the solenoid valve q 495 may, therefore, be actuated to quickly dump fluid from 8 the large end of telescopic cylinder 14 through line 494 -9 to line 497 and to the reservoir 348. This permits move-ment of the ejection panel through a small incremental 11 distance as described in regard to Figure 1 to reduce the 12 pressure of refuse against the packing panel 44 and, in 13 turn, to reduce the hydraulic pressures at the rod end of 14 the drive cylinder 50. When the pressure of hydraulic fluid at the rod end of the cylinder 50 then drops to a 16 predetermined level such as 2150 psi, the switch 558 17 may return to an opened position as shown in Figure 22 18 to return the solenoid valve 495 to its closed position.
19 The packing of refuse may then continue until the pres-sure at the rod end of the cylinder 50 again reaches the 21 predetermined leveI required to close switch 558 and the 22 whole operation may be completed a~ain, etc., to move 23 the ejection panel 12 in small incremental steps from 24 its rearward position 12 to its forward position 12' (see Figure 1) as the storage body 8 is progressively 26 filled with refuse.

D-llOl `71J.8 1 When the packing panel 44 has completed its 2 movement in a working direction as shown in Figure 13, 3 the rod 206 may then be returned to a neutral position 4 by contact of the pin 442 with the end of the slot 450 in the rod 206 as described in regard to Figures 21, 21a, 6 21b and 21c. This may, then, overcome the detent 7 mechanism 448 such that the spring-centered valve 466 may 8 be returned to its neutral position shown in Figure 22.
9 With the packing panel positioned as shown in Figure 13, the rods 206 and 207 may then be moved down-11 wardly from their positions shown in Figure 22 to actuate ~2 movement of the panel 44 in a return direction to its 13 rest position shown in Figure 10. The simultaneous move-14 ment of the rods 206 and 207 may move the valves 538 and 466 to.their lowered positions from that shown in Figure 16 22 with hydraulic fluid passing from line 534 through 17 check valve 536 and valve 538 into line 542 to the head 18 end of the retainer panel cylinder 55. This may cause 19 the retainer panel cylinder 55 to expand with hydraulic fluid exhausted from the rod end of the retainer panel 21 cylinder passing through line 540, valve 538 and into 22 line 544 to the reservoir 348. With the volume of the 23 retainer cylinder 55 ~eing relatively small, the expan-24 sion of the retainer cylinder to return the retainer panel 54 to its closed position shown in Figure 10 may 26 occur relatively quickly.

... . . , ,., ..... =~, ~ ,~

~ D-llOl 7il8 1 The control member 356 (see Figure 19) may 2 then be returned to its neutral position by moving 3 the control member in a direction opposite to that in-4 dicated by arrow C. This may permit the spring-centered valve 538 and the control rod 207 to return to their 6 neutral positions as deseribed in Figures 21, 21a, 21b q and 21c with the rod 206 being retained in a direction op-8 posite that of arrow H through the detent mechanism 448.
9 Hydraulic fluid may then pass through valve 538 in its neu-tral position to ~ine 545, through check valve 548, and 11 valve 466 into line 574 to the rod end of the relatively 12 small return cylinder 52. As described previously, 13 cylinders 52 and 50 may be mechanically interconnected.
14 Thus, as cylinder 52 is contracted, the relatively large drive cylinder 50 may be expanded. Hydraulic fluid 16 which is exhausted from the rod end of the cylinder 50 lq during its expansion may be conducted through lines 552 18 and 550 to valve 466 and into line 557 to the reservoir 19 34~. However, due to the relatively large volume of hydraulic fluid whieh may be contained at the rod end of 21 eylinder 50, the resistance to fluid flow eneountered by 22 the fluid within lines 552, 550, ete., may oppose the 23 expansion of hydraulie eylinder 50. This may inerease 24 the resistanee to eontraetion of the return eylinder 52 which may inerease the pressure of hydraulie fluid fed 26 to the rod end of the return eylinder through line 574.

1~27118 ~ ol 1 A pilot line 564 leading from line 574 to the 2 pilot-operated check valve 562 may transmit pressure to 3 the check valve which may be set to open at a relatively 4 low pressure of about 500 psi. On opening of the check valve 562, fluid which is exhausted from the rod 6 end of cylinder 50 may then flow from line 552 through 7 the check valve 562 into the line 560 for return to the 8 head end of cylinder 50. In this manner, the relatively 9 large drive cylinder 50 may act as its own accumulator during expansion of the cylinder. Hydraulic fluid which 11 is exhausted from the head end of the return cylinder 12 52 during its contraction may also flow through the line 13 560 into the head end of the drive cylinder 50 with the 14 drive cylinder, therefore, also acting as an accumulator for the return cylinder 52. Additionally, hydraulic 16 fluid may flow through line 561 into the return line 511 17 to the reservoir 348. However, as stated, the size af 18 line 560 may be larger than that of line 561 to encourage 19 the flow of hydraulic fluid between the cylinders 52 and 50 thxough the line 560.
21 Figure 23 illustrates an alternative hydraulic 22 circuit which may be used in controlling the present 23 apparatus. While the hydraulic circuit of Figure 23 is 24 similar to that of Figure 22, it also differs in a number of important respects. As indicated, a reservoir 576 may 26 supply hydraulic fluid through a supply line 578 to a 27 valve 580 and then to a pump 582. Leading from the pump ~2 J-l lol llZ~118 1 582 is a line 584 which is joined to an auY.iliary line 2 586, may be used for operating conventional auxiliary 3 equipment. The supply line 584 may then lead to a 4 branch line 588 joined to a pressure-operated pilot valve 590. The valve 590 may be set to open at a given 6 pressure level such as 2950 psi and a pressure 7 line 591 may be used to transmit pressure from the line 8 588 to open the valve when the predetermined pressure 9 level is reached. Valve 590 may, thereby, function as a safety valve for the entire hydraulic system with the 11 pressure for opening the valve being the maximum system 12 pressure.
13 After passing branch line 588, the line 584 may ~4 then lead to a spring-centered valve 592 which may be operated by movement of a handle 594. With the valve 16 592 in its neutral position, as shown in Figure 23, 17 hydraulic fluid may flow through the valve. However, 18 when valve 592 is moved to a raised position from that 19 shown in Figure 22, pressurized fluid may then flow through a line 596, a check valve 598, and then through 21 valve 592 into a line 600. The line 600 may lead to 22 a branch line 602 which is directed to a solenoid valve 23 606 and also to a line 604 which is directed to the large 2~ area end of the telescopic hydraulic cylinder 14 as shown in Figure 1. With pressurized hydraulic fluid being fed 26 through line 604 to the large area end of telescopic 27 cylinder 14 the telescopic cylinder may be expanded to ~lZ~i~

1 provide movement of the ejection panel l2. Hydraulic 2 fluid which may be exhausted from the small area end of 3 the telescopic cylinder 14 may flow through a line 608 4 to a line 618 and through the valve 592 to a return line 620. The line 620 may lead to a return line 622 6 which may, in turn, lead to a line 616 through a check ~ valve 617 and strainer 619 and into the reservoir 576.
8 When the valve 592 is moved to its lowered 9 position from that shown in Figure 23, hydraulic fluid may flow from line 596 through check valve 598 and 11 valve 592 into lines 618 and 608 to the small area end 12 of telescopic cylinder 14. This may produce contrac-13 tion of the telescopic cylinder 14 with hydraulic fluid 14 being exhausted from the large area end of the telescopic cylinder through lines 604 and 600, valve 592 and into 16 line 620 to return line 622.
17 When valve 592 is in its neutral position 18 shown in Figure 23, the telescopic cylinder 14 is iso-19 lated from line 584 and pressure buildup may occur at the small area end of the telescopic cylinder because 21 Of an increase in the ambient temperature. If a pres-22 sure buildup occurs in the large area end of the cylinder 23 14, this may, for example, cause a tenfold pressure 2~ buildup in the small area end of the cylinder because of the area ratio between the pressure area at the large area 26 end and the pressure area at the small area end. To 27 relieve such a pressure buildup, a branch line 610 from D-llOl 1 line 608 may lead to the pilot-operated valve 612 with a 2 pressure transmitting line 613 from line 610 to the valve 3 to control its operation. The valve 612 may be set, for 4 example, to open at a pressure of about 3100 psi to permit the exhaust of hydraulic fluid from line 610 6 through the valve and into a line 614 which leads to 7 return line 616.
8 . After passing beyond valve 592 in its neutral 9 position, the supply line 584 may lead to a spring-cen-tered valve 624 which is shown in its neutral position 11 in Figure 23. The valve 624 may include an operating -12 handle 626 which may be actuated to move the valve to 13 its lowered position from that shown. With the valve 14 624 in its lowered position, pressurized hydraulic fluid may then pass from line 584 to line 628, through a check 16 valve 630, and valve 624 and into a line 632. The line 17 632 may lead through a pressure choke 634 to the hydrau-18 lic cylinder 26 which may be used for lifting of the 19 tailgate 10 as illustrated in Figure 1.
2,0 As hydraulic fluid is fed through line 632 to 21 the head end of the cylinder 26, the cylinder may be 22 expanded to raise the tailgate to its position 10' shown 23 in Figure 1. The valve 624 may then be returned to its 24 neutral position to isolate the cylinder 26 and insure that the tailgate remains in its raised position 10'.
26 When it is desired to lower the tailgate to its position 27 10 shown in Figure 1, the valve 624 may then be moved D-ll 01 ~Z7~B

1 to its raised position from that shown in Figure 23 with 2 hydraulic fluid passing from the cylinder 26 through the 3 choke 634, the line 632 and valve 624 and into a return 4 line 636. As described in regard to Figure 22, the weight of the tailgate 10 (Figure 1) may be used to advan-6 tage in contracting the hydraulic cylinder 26 during 7 lowering of the tailgate. Since the weight of the tail-8 gate 10 may be borne by the cylinder 26, the weight of the 9 tailgate may force fluid from the head end of the cylinder when the valve 624 is in its raised condition. However, be-11 cause of the presence of the hydraulic choke 634, fluid flow ~2 through the line 632 may be maintained at a relatively slow 13 rate to insure that the tailgate is not lowered too rapidly.
14 Proceeding beyond valve 624 in its neutral position, the supply line 584 may lead to a branch line 16 638 to a pilot-operated valve 640 controlled through a 17 pressure line 641. The pilot-operated valve 640 may be 18 set to open at a pressure of about 3100 psi to permit 19 exhaust of hydraulic fluid through the valve to a line 20~ 642 leading to return line 616 to the reservoir 576.
21 'rhe pilot-operated valve 640 may, thus, be set to deter-22 mine the maximum pressure of hydraulic fluid which is 23 supplied to the retainer panel cylinder 55, the return 2~ cylinder S2 and the drive cylinder 50 during movement of the packing panel 44 as illustrated in Figures 10-13.
26 The supply line 584 may then lead to a spring-27 centered detent valve 648 which may control the flow of ` ~ ~ D- )1 1 hydraulic fluid to cylinders 55, 52 and 50. In this re-2 spect, valve 648 may perform the functions of both the 3 valves 538 and 466, as discussed in Figure 22. The use 4 of a single spring-centered detent valve 648 in the circuit of Figure 23, thus, represents an improvement 6 over the hydraulic circuit of Figure 22. With valve 648 7 in its neutral position shown in Figure 23, hydraulic 8 fluid may flow through the valve from line 584 to line 9 616. However, when valve 648 is moved to its raised position from that shown, hydraulic fluid may flow from 11 line 584 through a line 644 and a check valve 646. Valve 12 648 may be moved to its raised position by an operating 13 rod 650 with the rod being held in a raised position by 14 a detent mechanism 651 which is-similar in its operation to the detent mechanism 448 described in Figures 21 and 16 21c and Figure 22. That is to say, notches may be formed 17 in operating rod 650 which may be engaged by a roller 18 positioned on a spring biased arm to maintain the opera-19 ting rod in a desired position with the valve 648 in a raised or a lowered position as compared with its neutral 21 position shown in Figure 22.
22 With valve 648 in its raised position from that 23 shown in Figure 23, pressurized hydraulic fluid passing 24 through check valve 646 may pass through valve 648 into a line 652. A branch line 654 leading from line 652 may 26 lead to the rod end of the retainer panel cylinder 55.
27 Thus, flow of hydraulic fluid throu~h line 654 may cause .. ~ - .

7~

1 the c.ylinder 55 to contract to move the retainer panel 54 2 from a closed to an opened position as illustrated in 3 Figures 10 and 11. As this is occurring, hydraulic fluid 4 may be exhausted from the head end of cylinder 55 to a line 696 which leads to a line 686, through the valve 6 648 and to a line 687. Line 687 is joined to return 7 line 642 which conveys the hydraulic fluid to line 616 8 and to reservoir 576. Since the hydraulic cylinder 55 9 may be relatively small in comparison with the relatively large drive cylinder 50, the contraction of cylinder 55 11 may occur prior to contraction of the drive cylinder.
12 Pressurized hydraulic fluid flowing through 13 line 652 with valve 648 .in its raised position may flow 14 into a line 656, through a check valve 658 and into a line 660 leading to the rod end of drive cylinder 50.
16 This may cause the cylinder 50 to contract in moving 17 the packing panel 44 in a working direction as described 18 in Figures 10-13. When the packing panel 44 reaches the 19 approximate position shown in Figure 12, a piston 662 within cylinder 50 may uncover a port 663 leading to a 21 pressure line 674 to a p~essure-actuated switch 676. The 22 switch is in its open position as shown in Figure 23.
23 However, when the pressure at the rod end of cylinder 50 24 reaches a predetermined level such as 2400 psi, a switch member 677 may be rotated downwardly into contact 26 with a pole 679 to close the switch 676 with the switch re-27 maining closed until the pressure at the rod end falls to 28 a pressure level such as 2150 psi. The switch 676 29 may be connected through an electrical power source 678 ///

'- 1lO1 ~Z7118 1 with the solenoid valve 606 through wires 680, 682 and 2 684. The functioning of the switch 676 in conjunction 3 with the solenoid 606 is the same as described for 4 switch 558 in conjunction with solenoid 495 in regard to Figure 22. That is, closing of the switch 676 may 6 close the solenoid valve 606 to provide rapid dumping 7 of hydraulic fluid from the large area end of rapid 8 telescopic cylinder 14 in response to pressures at the 9 rod end of drive cylinder 50. This rapid dumping of hydraulic fluid permits controlled incremental movement 11 of the ejection panel from its rearward position 12 to 12 its forward position 12' as indicated in Figure 1 during 13 filling of the storage body 8 with refuse.
14 As described, the relatively large drive cylinder 50 may be mechanically interconnected with the relatively 16 small return cylinder 52. As the drive cylinder 50 under-17 goes contraction, the return cylinder 52 may, thus, under-18 go expansion with hydraulic fluid from the rod end of 19 return cylinder 52 being exhausted through a line 694, a 2.0 check valve 688 and into the line 686. The fluid flow 21 from line 686 may pass through the valve 648 in its raised 22 position and through the line 687 to return lines 642 and 23 616 leading to the reservoir 576. A line 664 from line 24 660 to a pilot-operated check valve 666 may remain closed as pressurized hydraulic fluid is fed through line 660 to 26 to the rod end of cylinder 5~. A line 672 may interconnect : 27 the head ends of the cylinders 50 and 52 such that fluid ~ D-ll.01 ~Z~i~

1 discharged from the head end of the contracting drive 2 cylinder 50 may flow through line 672 to the expanding 3 head end of the return cylinder 52. In this manner, the cylinder 52 may act as an accumulator for exhausted oil from the head end of cylinder 50 during its contraction.
6 Additionally, a line 658 may lead from the head 7 end of the cylinder 52 to a line 670 which may be joined 8 to return line 616. Hydraulic fluid may, then, also flow 9 through lines 668 and 670 to the reservoir 576. However, to encourage flow between the cylinders 50 and 52 rather 11 than to the reservoir 576, the line 672 may be relatively 12 large as compared with the size of line 670~ After con-13 traction of the drive cylinder 50 is completed, the 14 packing panel 44 may occupy a position as shown in Figure 13. At this point, as will be described, the operating 16 rod 650 may be moved to disengage the rod from the detent 17 mechanism 651 with the valve 648 being to its neutral 18 position.
19 '.~o c-ause movement of the packing panel 44 in a return direction from its position shown in Figure 21 13 to its rest position æhown in Figure 10, the rod 6S0 22 may be moved downwardly to move the valve 648 to a lowered 23 position from that shown in Figure 23. Hydraulic fluid 24 may then pass from line 644, through check valve 646 and valve 648 and into line 686. Line 686 may lead to a 26 branch line 696 through which hydraulic fluid may be ~27~8 D-llOl 1 conveyed to the head end of the retainer panel cylinder 2 55. This may cause expansion of the retainer panel 3 cylinder 55 with hydraulic fluid being exhausted from the ~L rod end of the cylinder through a line 654 leading to line 652 and through the valve 648 to line 687. Line 6 687 may convey the exhausted fluid through lines 642 and q 616 for return to the reservoir 576. As discussed, since 8 the volume of the retainer panel cylinder 55 may be re-9 latively small, its movement may take place relatively rapidly such that the retainer panel 54 will complete 11 its movement from an opened to a closed position (see 12 Figures 13 and 10) prior to the movement of the packing 13 panel 44 in a return direction.
14 Pressurized hydraulic fluid flowing through line 686 may also flow to the pilot-operated check valve 16 688 which may be connected through a pressure-sensing 17 line 690 to line 686. When the pressure in line 686 18 reaches a predetermined level, such as 1500 psi, 19 pressure transmitted through line 690 may then open the valve 688. Fluid passing through the line 690 for opera-21 tion of the valve 688 may then be exhaused through a 22 pressure, bleeding line 692 to the return line 616. The 23 function of the pilot-operated check valve 688 may, 24 thus, promote the movement of retainer panel cylinder 55 prior to movement of the return cylinder 52.
,26 With the pilot-operated check valve 688 moved 27 to its closed position, fluid may flow from line 686 D-' 11 1 through the valve 688 and into line 694. Line 694 may 2 convey the pressurized hydraulic fluid to the rod end of 3 return cylinder 52 to, thereby, contract the return cylinder. As the return cylinder 52 contracts, the drive cylinder 50 may expand due to the mechanical connection 6 between the cylinders as discussed previously. On expan-q sion of the drive cylinder 50, there may be a pressure 8 buildup at the rod end of the drive cylinder since the 9 ourflow of oil from the rod end is blocked by the check valves 658 and 666. However, the chec~ valve 666 may be 11 set to open at a pressure of about 250 psi in 12 the line 694 which may be conveyed to the valve through 13 a pressure sensing line 698. ~hus, the check valve 666 14 may be opened quickly to permit the flow of hydraulic fluid from the rod end of the cylinder 50 through line 16 664 and.check valve 666 into line 668 to the head end of 17 the cylinder 50. Cylinder 50 may, thus, act as its own 18 hydraulic accumulator during its expansion, with hydraulic 19 fluid being circulated from the rod end to the head end Z of the cylinder. Also, hydraulic fluid discharged from 21 the rod end of drive cylinder 50 may flow through line 22 670 to return line 616 and the reservoir 576. However, 23 to encourage flow of hydraulic fluid from the rod end to 2~ the head end of cylinder 50 during its expansion, the lines 664 and 668 may be relatively large as compared 26 with line 670. Thus, there may be less resistance to 27 flow of fluid from the rod end into the head end of 1 cylinder 50 as compared with resistance to flow through 2 line 670 to the reservoir 576.
3 As the drive cylinder 50 is expanding, the re-4 turn cylinder 52 may be contracting due to the mechanical interconnection between the cylinders. During contraction 8 of the return cylinder 52, fluid may be exhausted from the 7 head end of the return cylinder through line 672 and into 8 the head end of the drive cylinder 50. Thus, the drive 9 cylinder 50 may also act as an accumulator for hydraulic fluid discharged from the return cylinder 52 during its 11 contraction. When the return cylinder 52 has completed 12 its contraction in moving the packing panel 44 to its rest 13 position, as shown in Figure 10, the operating rod 650 may 14 be moved to disengage the detent mechanism 651 from the rod and to return the valve 648 to its neutral position 16 shown in Figure 22.
17 Figure 24 is a detailed view similar to 18 Figure 21, which illustrates the manner in which the rod 1~ 650 may be actuated in controlling the movement of the valve 648 as described in Figure 23. In view of the simi-21 larity between Figures 24 and 21, like reference numerals 22 have been used in Figure 24 for ease of description. As 23 previously described, movement of the control member 356 in 24 the direction of arrow B (Figure 19) causes rotational movement of the rod 362 in the direction of the arrow G
26 (Figure 21). This, in turn, causes translational movement 1)-1101 li.~,271`~d 1 of the rod 650 in the direction of the arrow H (Figure 24) 2 to move the valve 648 to a raised position as compared with 3 its neutral position shown in Figure 23. In its raised 4 position, the valve 648 functions to provide contraction of the drive cylinder 50 and movement of the packing panel 6 44 in a working direction through the hopper 34 as described 7 in Figures 10-13.
8 ~fter movement of the control member 356 in the ~ direction of the arrow B, the member may remain in this position with the rod 650 moved in the direction of the 11 arrow H. The member 356 is not returned to its neutral 12 position as in the apparatus of Figures 21, 21a, 21b, 21c 13 and 22 where two rods 206 and 207 may be actuated by move-14 ment of the member 356. With the member 356 positioned in the direction of the arrow B to cause movement of the rod 16 650 in the direction of the arrow H, the member may remain 17 in this position until returned to its neutral position 18 through contact of the tab 393 with stop members 406 or 19 412 as described in Figure 19. As described in Figure 19, to avoid contact of the tab 393 with stop member 406, the 21 handle member 376 may be pulled downwardly to cause rotation 22 of the rod 382 in the direction of the arrow F.
23 When the member 356 is returned to its neutral 24 position by stop member 412 after movement of the packing panel 44 in a working direction through the hopper 34 (see 26 Figures 10-13), the rod 650 shown in Figure 24 may be 27 moved in a direction opposite to that of the arrow H and 1 and the rod 362 may be rotated in a direction opposite 2 to that indicated by arrow G to return the rod 650 3 to its neutral position as illustrated. As the rod 4 650 is moved in a direction opposite to arrow H, the detent mechanism 651 may become disengaged from the 6 rod 650.
7 With reference to Figure 19, when the control 8 member 356 is moved in the direction of the arrow C, this 9 may cause rotation of the rod 362 from its neutral posi-tion in Figure 24 in a direction opposite to that indicated 11 by arrow G to provide movement of the rod 650 from its 12 neutral position in a direction opposite to that of 13 arrow H. This may move the valve 648 to its lowered posi-14 tion from its neutral position shown in Figure 23. The valve 648 may then remain in its lowered position until 16 the stop member 414 contacts the tab 393 to return the con-17 trol member 356 to its neutral position (Figure 19). As 18 the control member 356 is returned to its neutral position, 19 the rod 650 may also be returned to its neutral position as shown In Figure 24.
21 In the foregoing description, the movement of 22 structural elements, such as valves, etc., has been des-23 cribed by referring to the valves as being in a raised po-24 sition or a lowered position with respect to a neutral posi-tion. This terminology has been used in regard to Figures 22 26 and 23. It should be understood that the terms "raised"
27 and "lowered" do not imply that ~he valves are positioned -~ `1)-1101 7~8 1 in a particular manner or that the valves are raised or 2 lowered in the sense of being moved to a higher or 3 lower elevation. The terms "raised" and "lowered" are, 4 therefore, used merely in a relative sense with respect to the way in which the valves are illustrated in the 6 figures of the drawings. The valves may, however, be 7 mounted any desired manner such that movement of the 8 valves need not have any necessary relation to their 9 being raised or lowered.
Similarly, in the drawings, lettered arrows 11 have been used to illustrate movement of various struc-12 tural elements. It should be understood that the move-13 ments illustrated by these arrows are intended merely 14 to demonstrate relative movement of the structural ele-ments. However, depending upon the physical placement 16 Of the structural elements, the movement of the elements 17 in a particular directio~ may vary depending upon the 18 placement of the structural elements with respect to 19 the overall structure of the apparatus.
In Fiyures 22 and 23, reference has been made to 21 the telescopic cylinder 14 as illustrated in Figure 1 for 22 providing movement of the ejection panel 12. The telescopic 23 cylinder 14 may, however, be replaced with the conventional 24 cylinder 62 mounted on the support member 60 as shown in Figure 2. With this substitution, the pilot-operated valve 26 508 (Figure 22) and pilot-operated valve 612 (Figure 23) 27 may be eliminated since use of the conventional cylinder 62 28 may avoid the problem of pressure buildup that can occur in 29 the telescopic cylinder 14 with changes in thè ambient temperature.

3~ ///

Claims

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. In combination for packing refuse, a storage body having an opening for receiving the refuse, a hopper disposed in contiguous relationship to the storage body and having a first opening for receiving refuse and a second opening communicating with the opening in the storage body, the second opening being constructed to define in the hopper an orifice of progressively decreasing dimension with progressive positions toward the opening in the storage body, packer panel means disposed in the hopper and movable cyclically in the hopper for compacting the refuse and for passing the refuse, after compaction, through the second opening in the hopper, an ejection panel disposed in the storage body and movable in the storage body in a direction toward or away from the hopper, and means responsive to the pressures of the refuse in the second opening in the hopper for producing movements of the ejection panel in the direction away from the opening in the storage body upon the imposition of a particular pressure by the refuse in the second opening in the hopper.

2. In the combination set forth in Claim 1, the second opening being shaped to provide for a progressive compression of the refuse in the hopper during the movement of the refuse through the second opening and for an instantaneous relief in this progressive compression after movement of the refuse through the portion of progressively decreasing dimension in the second opening.

3. In the combination set forth in claim 1, the moving means for the ejection panel being constructed to provide a movement of the ejection panel in small increments in the direction away from the opening in the storage body.

4. In the combination set forth in claim 1, 2 or 3, the moving means for the ejection panel being constructed to provide the incremental movement of the ejection panel until the production of a second pressure lower than the particular pressure.

5. In the combination set forth in claim 1, 2 or 3, the packer panel means being shaped and being movable in a cyclic path providing a movement of the refuse into the second opening in the hopper and a movement into the storage body from the second opening of the refuse directed into the second opening in a previous cycle of movement of the packer panel means.

6. In the combination set forth in claim 1, 2 or 3, retainer means disposed at the throat defined by the second opening and movable between first and second positions and disposed in the second position to restrict the throat de-fined by the second opening to prevent the refuse in the throat from falling into the hopper and disposed in the first position to at least partially define the throat.

7. In the combination set forth in claim 1, 2 or 3, means operatively coupled to the retainer means for moving the retainer means between the first and second positions in synchronous relationships with the cyclic movement of the packer panel means to provide for the disposition of the retainer means in the second position upon the movement of the packer panel means past the second opening in the hopper and to provide for the disposition of the retainer means in the first position upon the movement of the packer panel means towards the second opening in the hopper.

8. In the combination set forth in claim 1, 2 or 3, the moving means for the ejection panel including a hydraulic cylinder and a hydraulic piston and means including the hydraulic cylinder for providing a flow of fluid and further including means for facilitating the flow of hydraulic fluid through the hydraulic circuit between the times for the produc-tion of the particular pressure and the second pressure by the refuse against the ejection panel to minimize the distance of travel of the ejection panel in each incremental movement.

9. In the combination set forth in claim 1, 2 or 3, the hopper, the packer panel means and the second opening in the hopper being constructed and shaped to obtain the production of relatively high pressures against the refuse in the second opening and the opening in the storage body being con-structed and shaped to obtain the production of relatively low pressures in the storage body.

10. In the combination set forth in claim 1, 2 or 3, the storage body being made from a thin and light weight sheet material.

11. In the combination set forth in claim 1, 2 or 3, means for driving the packer panel means from only one lateral end of the packer panel means, the packer panel means being constructed to resist any torsion produced from driving the packer panel means from only the one lateral end.

12. In the combination set forth in claim 1, 2 or 3, the packer panel means being paced from the hopper during the cyclic movement of the packer panel means past the first opening in the hopper and until a pinch point near the bottom of the hopper.

13. In the combination set forth in claim 1, 2 or 3, the packer panel means including a first packer panel and a second packer panel and means supporting the second packer panel far movement with the first packer panel and for independent movement relative to the first packer panel to obtain compaction of the refuse in the hopper and means in the hopper for producing the independent movement of the second packer panel relative to the first packer panel during the cyclic movement of the first packer panel in the hopper.

14. In the combination set forth in claim 1, 2 or 3, the first packer panel and the retaining means being shaped to provide for a wiping action on the first packer panel by the retaining means and the movements of the first packer panel and the retaining means being synchronized to provide for a wiping action of the first packer panel by the retaining means before any movement of the first packer panel in directing refuse into the second opening in the hopper.

15. In the combination set forth in claim 1, 2 or 3, the means driving the first packer panel at posi-tions adjacent only the first side wall of the hopper including the following:
a first shaft extending through the first side wall, a second shaft extending through the second side wall, a torque tube disposed on the first shaft, rigidifying means connected between the first packer panel and the torque tube, and stiffening means connected between the first packer panel and the second shaft, the first packer panel being constructed and shaped to provide for a transmission of torque through the packer panel without any twisting.

16. In the combination set forth in claim 1, 2 or 3, the torque tube being hollow and being disposed adjacent the first side wall of the hopper and the first packer panel being elliptical in a cross-section substantially parallel to the first side wall and the major axis of the elliptical cross-section of the first packer panel extending in a direction having a major component toward the torque tube.