GB2262730A

GB2262730A - Equipment for handling waste containers.

Info

Publication number: GB2262730A
Application number: GB9226402A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Alec Kenric Marzano
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1991-12-19
Filing date: 1992-12-18
Publication date: 1993-06-30
Also published as: GB9126995D0; GB9226402D0

Abstract

Equipment for the handling of waste containers comprises a lifting arm (9) pivotally attachable at one end thereof to a support structure; means (25) to rotate the arm (9) about its pivot point (12); a transverse arm (13) carried by the other end of the lifting arm (9); container gripping means (16) carried by the transverse arm (13); rotary means (14) attached to the transverse arm (13); and power means (27, 29) to rotate the rotary means (14), with respect to the transverse arm and, with it the container gripping means (16) and a gripped container (8), to a tipping position. The rotary means can be ram and rack. A device (23, 30) for opening the container lid is also provided. <IMAGE>

Description

EQUIPMENT FOR HANDLING WASTE CONTAINERS The invention is concerned with equipment for the handling of waste containers such as Eurobins, Wheelibins, etc.

In order to collect the waste from these containers, it is usual to employ a suitably equipped vehicle to carry out a "milk round", i.e. go to each container, lift it, tip it into the vehicle itself and return the empty container to its location. Current equipment uses, in addition to pivots, trolleys restricted in their movement by wheels constrained by rails or channels.

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided equipment for the handling of waste containers comprising: (i) a lifting arm pivotally attachable at one end thereof to a support structure; (ii) means to rotate the arm about its pivot point; (iii) a transverse arm carried by the other end of the lifting arm; (iv) container gripping means carried by the transverse arm; (v) rotary means attached to the transverse arm; and (vi) power means to rotate the rotary means, with respect to the transverse arm and, with it the container gripping means and a gripped container, to a tipping position.

According to a second aspect of the invention, a truck comprises a handling equipment as defined above.

The truck would normally be provided with at least one box to receive the contents of the container. Two items of handling equipment in accordance with the first aspect could be provided on a single truck, in which case the truck could be provided with two boxes e.g. for collecting two different colours of glass from the containers, or a compartmentalised box.

The transverse arm is preferably a cantilever arm.

Preferably, the equipment also incorporates means for the gradual and automatic opening of the conventionally provided lid of the container, as the latter is rotated to its tipping position.

This handling equipment is mounted on the vehicle in such a way so as not to encroach either beyond the legal limit of the vehicle width, or within the usable space available for the payload.

The design is such that the principle movements concerned with lifting and tipping the container are restricted by pivotal bearings and sliding bearings only.

By using pivotal and sliding movements only, fully constrained by bearings, the design used in this invention better constrains the movement of the container, resulting in a more efficient and positive method of automatically opening the lid just prior to discharge The container is held under control by the equipment throughout the complete cycle. This requirement is important for the safe operation of all such equipment.

Furthermore, the design of this invention incorporates a method of opening the lid which applies the opening force in a gradual manner, rather than by offering a sudden applied force to the opening mechanism which is the normal way, at present, of carrying out this function.

According to a third aspect of the invention, of independent significance, there is provided a gripping mechanism for handling a container comprising: (a) a support structure; (b) upwardly directed engagement means carried by the support structure and adapted to engage a recess of the container; (c) means also carried by the support structure to displace the engagement means upwardly into an engagement position; (d) abutment means mounted on the support structure; and (e) means to displace the engagement means and/or engaged container beneath the abutment means into a trapping position.

The various aspects of the invention will now be described in greater detail by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a plan view of a truck in accordance with the second aspect provided with handling equipment in accordance with the first aspect, Figure 2 is a plan view of the handling cycle for a container, using the truck and handling equipment of Figure 1, Figure 3 details the mechanism of the third aspect; and Figure 4 is a diagrammatic perspective view of the handling equipment of the first aspect.

In the example of the invention illustrated in Figure 1, the truck illustrated is provided with container handling equipment 10 at the front of a container box 5, that is, in a space which cannot normally be used for payloads, immediately behind the cab 1, where it is necessary to leave access to parts of the vehicle such as the gear change mechanism.

The equipment 10 is powered, in this example, by hydraulics derived from the truck power-take-off at the gear S, with box tipping gearing 6.

The hydraulics are then used to power the motions required to handle the container, i.e.: 1. gripping the container 8 2. lifting it to above loading opening 4 in the vehicle box 5 3. tilting the container 8 so as to discharge it 4. returning the container 8 to the ground and releasing it.

The invention handling mechanism 10 in accordance with the first aspect comprises a lifting arm 9 and pivotally supported on pivot pin 12 in turn supported from the chassis 2 near the centre line 11 of the truck, the pivot 12 being parallel to the centre line 11. The arm 9 can be positioned either towards the left or the right of the truck. In the example illustrated the arm 9, and therefore the loading operations, will be carried out on the passenger side (i.e.

the kerbside) of a right hand drive truck. Attached to the outer end of the arm 9, and running alongside the truck, is a transverse arm in the form of cantilever arm 13 to which is attached, coaxially, a rotary means in the form of a pivotal shaft 14. Affixed to this shaft 14 and, in its start and finishing positions, vertical to the ground is a container gripping means in the form of a cantilever arm frame 15 which helps to support the container 8 when lifting and also carries the container gripping mechanism 16 which grips the container and under its upper rim 17 (Figure 3). The gripping rim mechanism 16 consists of a series of upwardly directed rim engagement means in the form of hydraulically-powered in-line plates 18 which, when made to rotate by hydraulic cylinders 19, can engage under the rim 17 and just lifts the container and clamps it. The rotating movement of the plates 18 is limited by a rear stop 20 mounted on a link arm 21 which carries the pivoting plates 18. After the stop crank 22 reaches its rear stop 20, any additional extension by the cylinder 19 will cause the link arm 21 to rotate clockwise from the full line position illustrated in Figure 3 to the chain-dotted position so as to impart a small horizontal movement to the right of the container 8 thus bringing it positively beneath abutment 32 of the gripping mechanism 16 and so holding it firmly.

Above the lifting arm 9 and running parallel to it is a second pivoted arm 23, which forms part of the lid 33 which closes the top of the truck box 5. A hydraulic cylinder 25 is made to push this arm 23, and therefore the lid 33, upwards.

A connecting link 26 between the lid arm 23 and the lift arm 9 causes the lift arm 9 to lift also and at the end of its lifting movement the cantilever arm 13 which carries the frame 15 which carries the gripping means 16 and the container 8 is positioned just above the opening 4.

In this example the pivotal shaft 14 is connected to a pinion 27 at the lift arm end. A rack 28, coaxially mounted to the lift arm 9, and operated by a hydraulic cylinder 29, is engaged in the pinion 27 and when the hydraulic cylinder 29 is stroked, rotary motion is imparted to the pivotal shaft 14, gripping means 16 and container 8. A hydraulic cylinder acting on a crank could be used instead.

Thus, the container 8 is made to rotate sufficiently to discharge its contents. In order to achieve this, however, the container lid 24 must be opened and as this rotating motion commences, two stubs 7, which are mounted either side of the container lid 24, are prevented from rotating in a similar manner to the container 8 by two striker arms 30, one each side of the container 8. Thus, as the container 8 continues to revolve, the container lid 24 is prevented from doing so and therefore pivots about its lid pivot 31 on the container 8 and the container is opened.

The action of opening the container 8 is therefore a gradual one and not an abrupt one which would be the case if the lid opening stubs 7 came up to a sudden stop.

The whole of the cantilever arm assembly 13-16, when not in use, can be parked within the truck width 32 in the normally clear space available below the tipping truck box 5 and to the side of the vehicle chassis frame 2.

In addition to the equipment being able to be mounted either side of the vehicle, it could also be mounted at the rear. But in such a case, a small amount of payload space would be lost.

The tipping truck box 5 which carries the equipment can be tipped in the normal way i.e. with the body tipping gear 6 of a tipping truck and is thus able to discharge its load at the rear.

By incorporating front and rear tipping pivots which can be removed in turn, for example by means of a doubleacting hydraulic cylinder, the truck box 5 could also be tipped forward. This would enable the load to be packed to the front portion of the box, essential in the case of rearloading of a particularly long truck box.

With the advent of the increasing need to recycle material, particularly glass, plastics, paper, rags etc., the need for a multi-compartment collection vehicle becomes apparent.

This invention would be ideally suited to feed into two compartments by combining it with a method to deflect selected loads from one chamber to another or by moving the gripping and loading assembly from one position to another.

The cantilever arm could be replaced by a crossbeam which would be attached at each end to the ends of two pivotal arms located one each side of the vehicle at the rear.

If the vehicle body is divided longitudinally into two compartments, the container e.g. waste bin can be discharged into one of the two chambers simply by shuttling the gripping and tipping assembly across the crossbeam.

If this twin compartment system is then combined with an arrangement at the forward end of the truck container comprises of the cantilever arm system, combined with a movable deflection plate also feeding into two chambers, a four-compartment collection system would be achieved.

Discharging would be by tipping the vehicle body rearwards and firstly individually discharging the two rear chambers followed by the two front ones via the two empty rear ones.

Claims

1. Equipment for the handling of waste containers comprising: (i) a lifting arm pivotally attachable at one end thereof to a support structure; (ii) means to rotate the arm about its pivot point; (iii) a transverse arm carried by the other end of the lifting arm; (iv) container gripping means carried by the transverse arm; (v) rotary means attached to the transverse arm; and (vi) power means to rotate the rotary means, with respect to the transverse arm and, with it the container gripping means and a gripped container, to a tipping position.

2. Equipment as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the transverse arm is a cantilever arm

3. Equipment as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the transverse arm is a cross beam.

4. Equipment as claimed in any preceding Claim, also incorporting means for the gradual and automatic opening of the conventionally provided lid of the container, as the latter is rotated to its tipping position.

5. Equipment as claimed in any preceding Claim, wherein the means to rotate the arm about its pivot point comprises a ram.

6. Equipment as claimed in any preceding Claim, wherein the power means to rotate the means attached to the contilever arm comprises a ram and means to convert the linear motor of the ram to rotary motion.

7. Equipment as claimed in Claim 6, wherein the conversion means comprises a rack and pinion.

8. Equipment as claimed in any preceding Claim, wherein the means to grip the container comprises a main frame attached to the means attached to the cantilever arm, and power means to displace engagement means into engagement with a container.

9. Equipment as claimed in Claim 8, wherein the power means comprises a ram.

10. Equipment as claimed in Claim 8 or Claim 9, wherein the engagement means comprises a pair of upwardly directed claws.

11. Equipment as claimed in Claim 10, wherein the claws are carried on a sub-frame attached to the main frame.

12. Equipment for the handling of waste containers substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

13. A gripping mechanism for handling a container comprising: (a) a support structure; (b) upwardly directed engagement means carried by the support structure and adapted to engage a recess of the container; (c) means also carried by the support structure to displace the engagement means upwardly into an engagement position; (d) abutment means mounted on the support structure; and (e) means to displace the engagement means and/or engaged container beneath the abutment means into a trapping position.

14. A mechanism as claimed in Claim 13, comprising a main frame attached to the means attached to the cantilever arm, and power means to displace engagement means into engagement with a container.

15. A mechanism as claimed in Claim 13, wherein the power means comprises a ram.

16. A mechanism as claimed in Claim 13 or 14, wherein the engagement means comprises a pair of upwardly directed claws.

17. A mechanism as claimed in Claim 16, wherein the claws are carried on a sub-frame attached to the main frame.

18. A mechanism as claimed in Claim 17, wherein the sub-frame is pivotally attached to the main frame.

19. A mechanism as claimed in any one of Claims 13 18, wherein the engagement means comprises a pair of upwardly directed claws carried on lever arms attached to the sub-frame with a displacement ram extending between the lever arm and the main frame.

20. A mechanism as claimed in Claim 13 and substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

21. A truck comprising one or two items of handling equipment as defined in any preceding Claim.

22. A truck as claimed in Claim 21, and substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.