GB2079720A

GB2079720A - Refuse collecting vehicles and packer mechanisms therefor

Info

Publication number: GB2079720A
Application number: GB8120835A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: GLOVER WEBB LIVERSIDGE Ltd
Current assignee: GLOVER WEBB LIVERSIDGE Ltd
Priority date: 1980-07-07
Filing date: 1981-07-06
Publication date: 1982-01-27

Abstract

A refuse collecting vehicle has a crank driven packer plate mechanism 26 to transfer refuse from a loading hopper to a main load-carrying body. To reduce the possibility of material in the hopper blocking free movement of the mechanism, the packer plate (2) is arranged to perform a packing movement in which it is at a close but increasing spacing from the hopper floor (52) during at least an initial part of that movement over a downwardly sloping part of the floor. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Refuse collecting vehicles and packer mechanisms therefor This invention relates to refuse collecting vehicles and in particulartothe packing mechanisms used in such vehicles for the transfer of refuse from a receiving hopper to a load-carrying body.

A known form of packing machanism exemplified in our earlier UK Patent No. 1 588 133, comprises a packer plate mounted for pivoting movement over the floor of the hopper by means of corresponding pivot linkages at opposite sides of the packer plate.

In the operation of pivoted packer plate mechanisms, it is generally desirable to run the packer plate as close to the floor of the hopper as is reasonably practical in order to ensure that everything in the hopper is swept into the main load-carrying compartment. It follows, therefore that the designer usually tries to maintain a constant spacing between the bottom edge of the packer plate, or the projecting prongs that may depend from the main body of the packer plate, and the hopper floor.

However, a problem that can arise with the movement of the packer plate over the floor of a hopper is that material can become jammed between the bottom of the packer plate and the hopper floor. This may occur particularly if as has been previously proposed the gap between the packer plate and the hopper floor decreases as the packer plate sweeps the refuse forwards, towards the load-carrying body in order to produce precompression of the refuse, but is can also arise when the spacing is kept contant during the packing movement.

According to the present invention, in a refuse collecting vehicle in which a packer plate is displaceable from a raised retracted position over a loading hopper floor to transfer refuse to a main loadcarrying body of the vehicle, the packer plate is arranged to move with an increasing gap between its bottom edge and the hopper floor at least during its initial packing movement from the rear of the hopper.

More particularly, it is found that if the hopper has a downwardly sloping floor in its region remote from the main load-carrying body, and it is arranged that the increase of spacing occurs during the downwards movement of the pivoting packer plate over that region at the beginning of its movement towards the load-carrying body, it is possible to minimise jamming or trapping of objects that can cause excessive wear and damage to both the packer plate and the hopper floor, without affecting the efficiency of transfer of the hopper contents.

It is believed that the reason for this is that the damage is most usually caused by hard objects, e.g.

of metal or glass and these are relatively dense. If the packer plate is at a relatively small spacing at the beginning of its packing movement, such objects will not tend to jam the plate even if its spacing from the hopper floor is very small, because they will then more easily fall down the sloping floor of the hopper to the lowermost middle region as soon as they experience any forwards force. The lighter or more easily crushed material will be trapped by the bottom edge of the packer plate at the beginning of its movement and thereby effectively close the gap between the packer plate and the hopper floor, even as that gap begins to increase. The efficiency of clearance of the hopper is therefore not impaired.

The invention will be described in more detail, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing which is a schematic illustration of the movement of a pivoting packer plate over the hopper floor in a refuse collecting vehicle.

The drawing illustrates the movement of the packer plate 2 over a hopper floor 52 in which the driving mechanism 26 causes the packer plate to perform a curved packing movement in which the prongs 24 are maintained at an increasing spacing from the hopper floor during the packing stroke, the path of the prong tips being indicated by the broken line P. The packer plate is shown at the beginning of the packing stroke, inclined at an angle of about 40 to the vertical and it reaches a similar but opposite inclination at the end of the stroke when it has travelled almost to the hopper exit lip 54.

In one trial construction which gave satisfactory results, the gap between the packer plate prongs and the hopper floor at the beginning of the packing movement was some 2.5 cm at a point where the tangent plane to the hopper floor had a forwards and downwards slope of approximately 40O. The packer plate movement was so controlled that this spacing increased as the packing movement proceeded until, at a point where the tangent plane sloped forwards and upwards at substantially the same angle of 40 , the clearance had been doubled.

1. A refuse collecting vehicle in which a packer plate is displaceable from a raised retracted position over a loading hopper floor to transfer refuse to a main load-carrying body of the vehicle, the packer plate being arranged to move with an increasing gap between its bottom edge and the hopper floor at least during an initial part of the packing movement of the plate from the rear of the hopper.

2. A vehicle according to claim 1 wherein the hopper floor slopes downwards over at least a portion of its extent remote from the entry from the hopper into the body, the packer being arranged to move with an increasing gap over said portion of the floor at least.

3. Avehicle according to claim 1 wherein the packer plate is arranged to move with an increasing gap between its bottom edge and the hopper floor over substantially the whole of the packing movement.

4. A vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein said gap is substantially doubled during the packing movement of the packer plate.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. SPECIFICATION Refuse collecting vehicles and packer mechanisms therefor This invention relates to refuse collecting vehicles and in particulartothe packing mechanisms used in such vehicles for the transfer of refuse from a receiving hopper to a load-carrying body. A known form of packing machanism exemplified in our earlier UK Patent No. 1 588 133, comprises a packer plate mounted for pivoting movement over the floor of the hopper by means of corresponding pivot linkages at opposite sides of the packer plate. In the operation of pivoted packer plate mechanisms, it is generally desirable to run the packer plate as close to the floor of the hopper as is reasonably practical in order to ensure that everything in the hopper is swept into the main load-carrying compartment. It follows, therefore that the designer usually tries to maintain a constant spacing between the bottom edge of the packer plate, or the projecting prongs that may depend from the main body of the packer plate, and the hopper floor. However, a problem that can arise with the movement of the packer plate over the floor of a hopper is that material can become jammed between the bottom of the packer plate and the hopper floor. This may occur particularly if as has been previously proposed the gap between the packer plate and the hopper floor decreases as the packer plate sweeps the refuse forwards, towards the load-carrying body in order to produce precompression of the refuse, but is can also arise when the spacing is kept contant during the packing movement. According to the present invention, in a refuse collecting vehicle in which a packer plate is displaceable from a raised retracted position over a loading hopper floor to transfer refuse to a main loadcarrying body of the vehicle, the packer plate is arranged to move with an increasing gap between its bottom edge and the hopper floor at least during its initial packing movement from the rear of the hopper. More particularly, it is found that if the hopper has a downwardly sloping floor in its region remote from the main load-carrying body, and it is arranged that the increase of spacing occurs during the downwards movement of the pivoting packer plate over that region at the beginning of its movement towards the load-carrying body, it is possible to minimise jamming or trapping of objects that can cause excessive wear and damage to both the packer plate and the hopper floor, without affecting the efficiency of transfer of the hopper contents. It is believed that the reason for this is that the damage is most usually caused by hard objects, e.g. of metal or glass and these are relatively dense. If the packer plate is at a relatively small spacing at the beginning of its packing movement, such objects will not tend to jam the plate even if its spacing from the hopper floor is very small, because they will then more easily fall down the sloping floor of the hopper to the lowermost middle region as soon as they experience any forwards force. The lighter or more easily crushed material will be trapped by the bottom edge of the packer plate at the beginning of its movement and thereby effectively close the gap between the packer plate and the hopper floor, even as that gap begins to increase. The efficiency of clearance of the hopper is therefore not impaired. The invention will be described in more detail, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing which is a schematic illustration of the movement of a pivoting packer plate over the hopper floor in a refuse collecting vehicle. The drawing illustrates the movement of the packer plate 2 over a hopper floor 52 in which the driving mechanism 26 causes the packer plate to perform a curved packing movement in which the prongs 24 are maintained at an increasing spacing from the hopper floor during the packing stroke, the path of the prong tips being indicated by the broken line P. The packer plate is shown at the beginning of the packing stroke, inclined at an angle of about 40 to the vertical and it reaches a similar but opposite inclination at the end of the stroke when it has travelled almost to the hopper exit lip 54. In one trial construction which gave satisfactory results, the gap between the packer plate prongs and the hopper floor at the beginning of the packing movement was some 2.5 cm at a point where the tangent plane to the hopper floor had a forwards and downwards slope of approximately 40O. The packer plate movement was so controlled that this spacing increased as the packing movement proceeded until, at a point where the tangent plane sloped forwards and upwards at substantially the same angle of 40 , the clearance had been doubled. CLAIMS

5. A refuse collecting vehicle having a packer mechanism constructed and arranged for use and operation substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawing.