IES20070360A2 - The manual "V" press home compactor - Google Patents

Abstract

The Manual "V" press home compactor device is primarily used in compacting various used food and drink containers before disposal into waste bins. A vast range of food and drink containers in use today can be substantially reduced in volume before binning whenusing this device. Containers made of metal, plastic, paper, and cardboard etc. are all suitable for use in Manual "V" press home compactor device. The device can also be readily used as a breadboard/chopping board, as a food crusher for ice cubes, garlic, nuts, pressing flowers and herbs etc. The device when opened out flat can also be used as serving board for hot pans. <Figure 3>

Description

Description: A Home Compaction Device IE 0 7 o 3 6 o This invention relates to a compacting device concerning the compaction process and allows a person to reduce the volume/size of various waste containers and packaging materials. The invention also relates to the compacting device concerning the crushing of ice, nuts and other food items Introduction and background: The “V” press home compactor initial tests commenced in late 2004 and following an 18 month period of home trials and tests we have developed an environmentally friendly, manually operated horizontal compaction device for use in the kitchen and every day life.

The design had to be simple and safe to use in the home, environmentally friendly, requiring no electric power and would fit in well with the kitchen and home environment. The materials used in the fabrication are timber, plastic and stainless steel.

Numerous tests were earned out on a range of prototypes during 2005, including screw presses, gear operated plates presses and various other combinations. Eventually after many months of trials we developed the “V” press home compactor, which in the end result turned out to be very simple and straight forward device.

Key use and advantages The “V” press home compactor is unique in that it is the first device of its kind to allow home owners to reduce the size and overall volume of metal and plastic waste containers in the home, using a manually operated and environmentally friendly device.

Key Use This unique devise enables the house holder to substantially reduce the volume of various tin cans, drink cans, plastic containers and plastic bottles, paper boxes and other suitable materials before placing them in the rubbish bin. The device is also very suitable as a regular chopping board/breadboard and this enables the device to be located within easy reach for regular use in the kitchen. « 0 7 ο 3 6 ο A Home Compaction Device -3Additional Advantages Environmentally friendly The “V” press home compactor is an environmentally friendly device requiring no electricity or batteries to operate it. All the materials used in the construction are long lasting and recyclable. The “ V” press home compactor can also be used as a regular bread board and chopping board and this secondary use links it very well to other uses in the kitchen. This is a key advantage of the devise in that it easily doubles up for other kitchen uses and is always within easy reach when needed. As food cans and containers are emptied the V* press home compactor is within arms reach and in trials it takes less than 10 seconds to reduce a regular containers and tin cans by 95% of its original volume.

Cost Savings, By substantially reducing waste container volume we reduce waste collection costs for the home user, maximises bin use and reduces the number of bin collections. This will also reduces collection and handing costs for the refiise collection companies and increase the overall efficiency of our waste handling process.

As most of our waste containers are also suitable for waste recycling, compacting these items before binning reduces energy costs and increases efficiencies at the recycling plant.

Labour Savings The device reduces the home user’s waste handling time fitting much more waste in the rubbish bins, tests indicate approximately 30% efficiency increase in bin space.

Using the **V” press home compactor substantially reduces the amount of wasted space in your bin.

Removable Pins The design of the “V press home compactor includes a removable centre rod 4 on Figure 3, this allows for more flexibility and easy cleaning where required. -4E 0 7 0 3 6 0 A Home Compaction Device Compression trials - test results The following is a summary of test results carried out on various food and drink containers used regularly in the home. The tests were carried out with the “V** press home compactor placed on a standard kitchen work top. No additional aids were used in any way to assist these tests. These tests were carried out on various samples of empty household containers to establish the reduction in waste volume. In general metal food and drink cans reduce completely flat, reducing overall volume by approximately 98% of original container size as shown in the case of a regular bean cans, and pet food cans. Plastic containers and bottles also fold easily and on average plastic bottles and containers reduced between 80-90% of their original size depending on the strength and shape of the container Tests were carried out using individual containers i.e. one container compressed at a time. The waste container total volume was measure before each test and again after compression. The total volume after compression was established by immersing the compressed container face down in a calibrated water test tank.

Compression test results The table below represents 3 containers of each type being tested to provide an average reduction figure for each of the container type tested.

Item Original volume Compressed volume Average % Volume reduction Bean Can 450ml <50ml 98% Spaghetti Can 250ml <15ml 94% Pineapple Can 700ml <50ml 92% Cider Can 500ml <20ml 96% Plastic water bottle 500ml <100ml 80% Milk carton plastic 2000ml <200ml 90% Milk carton paper 1000ml < 100ml 90% Pet food can 450ml <50ml 98% Orange juice plastic 1000ml <200ml 80% Coke bottle plastic 2000ml <400ml 80% IS 0 7 ο 3 6 ο -5Α Home Compaction Device In one embodiment of the invention the “V” press home compactor uses a positioning template 5 in Figure 4, as an operating guide when compressing tin cans. The “V** press home compactor employs a unique folding step that folds tin cans completely flat with very little energy in just two folds. Repeat tests were carried out to establish the consistency of results, and in the case of the metal containers the results were found to always follow the same pattern and the tin cans would consistently fold in the same way, and in every test the metal cans folded flat.

With plastic containers the results would vary depending on the container size and shape but all containers again compressed and consistently gave results of above 80% overall reduction in their volume.

Other Key Uses o Breadboard/Chopping-board, The “V** press home compactor can also be used for food preparation, chopping board and bread board, this additional key use makes the device very accessible and within arms reach in the kitchen when needed to compress waste containers and tins. o Asa food crusher, The “V” press home compactor can also be use successfully to crush....... o Ice cubes, (using a plastic bag and under fold the open end) o Garlic, Ginger etc oNuts. o Other suitable foods items. o Serving board for hot pans, and food display board. o Flower pressing, when used with suitable paper can be a very effective flower and herb press. -6,ε°7<>360 A Home Compaction Device Description of the drawings A total of 5 drawings are included within this application.

Figure 1 is a plan view of the apparatus according to the invention for the compression and reduction of empty food and drink containers in the home. The overall dimensions may vary depending on the strength required.

Figure 2 is the side elevation of the apparatus of Figurel.

Figure 3 is an isometric drawing of the entire “V” press home compactor device in the folded position.

Figure 4 is the folding template applied to the device as operated on a standard kitchen worktop.

Figure 5 is the “V” press home compactor in use with the folding template as in Figure 4.

Safety Notice: • The “v” press-compactor is not suitable for glass, hard plastic, pressurised containers, and other brittle materials.

• No part of the hand or body should be place between the two plates at anytime.

• This device is not suitable for use by children at any time. *Ο7θ36Ο A Home Compaction Device Construction and assembly of the “V” press home compactor The “ν'’ press home compactor is made up of two plates of equal size and thickness which are joined together at one end to form a hinge effect or a “V” shape. The hinge is made up of a number of steel inserts linked via 2 steel rods buried within the ends of each plate. One of the rods is removable to cater for cleaning and plate reversal as required.

The compression plates Two equal sized plates are required, made of suitable material, (timber, steel or plastic) sized to suit house hold use and storage.

In trials the most suitable range was found to be between 200mm x 300mm x 20mm up to 300mm x 400mm x 25mm in suitable grade A hardwood material. Larger sizes were found to be much more powerful, however their size and weight made them difficult to handle as a kitchen implement The optimum size established during tests was found to be 260mm x 360mm x 20mm, around the same size of an average breadboard.

The hinge end of both plates must now be rounded into a semi-circle to the same diameter as that of the plate thickness. This is very important as this curvature allows the two plates rotate close together and also allows the plates be reversed when required. If the plates are 20mm tick then the hinge end must be rounded to a diameter of 20mm along its full length.

The hinge end is the shorter of the two sides, in this case the hinge end is 260mm long.

Each plate is then saw cut 3-5 times along the curved hinge end, these cuts must match and align on both plates. The depth of the saw cuts is equal to the plate thickness, in this case 20mm. The width of these saw cuts must match the thickness ofthe insert pieces in this case 1.5- 2mm.

Hinge holes The hinge holes are made by taking the curved hinge end of both plates and drilling a hole along its full length (260mm) to provide an even, straight axial hole running parallel to the curved end.

The hole is positioned 10mm (half the plate thickness) in from the curved edge and centred top IE 0 7 -8A Home Compaction Device and bottom of the plate 10mm in this example.. The size of hole depends on the strength required, in tests the hole can vary from 4mm up to 6mm.

A straight even hole should now be lined up by viewing through from one end to the other.

The hinge components The hinge is constructed using high grade stainless steel material. The hinge consists of 3-5 insert plates which are curved at both end to suit the curved end of the plates, the overall length of the insert is equal to the total depth of both plates, example if the plates are 20mm then the insert is 40mm long. The insert is the same width as the plate thickness, and is fitted with 2 holes corresponding to the holes drilled in the 2 plates. The inserts are 1.5mm to 2mm in thickness depending on strength required.

Two stainless steel rods diameter 4-6mm are cut to suit the width of the 2 plates, with one of the rods being an extra 20mm longer in length, this extra length provides a finger grip that allows the rod to be retracted and the plates separated as required. The second rod is left in place with the inserts attached.

Assembly Stack the plates on top of each other, with both curved ends aligned, the saw cuts should now be aligned, place an insert in each slot and then tread the 2 rods through, insert plastic end caps over each hole and attach the finger grip sleeve to the protruding rod. Check the device for ease of movement and the plates should also be fully reversible by turning the plates full circle. -9lE07°36o A Home Compaction Device

Claims (5)

Claims

1. A home compactor device for compacting empty food and drink containers comprising of..... • Two equal sized pressure plates hinged together, one plate directly on top of the other, which when operated creates pressure between the plates. This pressure exerts sufficient force to compress most general house hold food and drink containers (can, bottles, containers, cartons etc.) to a fraction of their normal size. • A continuous hinge device linking the two pressure plates at one end al lowing the plates to open/close and apply down ward pressure directly onto the bottom plate. • A finger grip by way of a formed opening at the edge of each plate at the opposite 15 end to the hinge, to assist in operating the devise. • A removable pin as part of the hinge device to allow easy disconnect and reconnect of the pressure plates. 20

2. A home compactor device as claimed in claim 1 where in the continuous hinge device allows the plates to be folly reversed allowing all 4 working faces to be used evenly.

3. A home compactor device as claimed in claim 1 where in when pressure is applied by hand to the top plate a downward force is exerted within the plates and this pressure is 25 greatest closest to the hinge side.

4. A home compactor device as claimed in claim 3 where a compression template may be attached to the device to assist in the correct positioning of various sizes of household cans and containers.

5. A method of compacting household food cans and containers using the devise as claimed in claim 4 whereby the home compactor device operates as follows.... - 10A Home Compaction Device • Place the “V” press home compactor device level on a suitable table or work-top making sure the surface is clean, dry and free from any loose materials. • Open the top plate 1, of the “V” press home compactor to approx 90 degrees. Tin cans • Example bean cans, fruit cans, dog food cans etc. use the special guide pattern 5 and match the can size, then position the can base inline with the location indicated and close the top plate 1 until resting on the can. • Holding the end of the can push down on the can and close the press. • The can will collapse into the first fold position. • Open the top plate 1 and reset the can position into the centre of the “V” press home compactor with the open end of the can facing outwards • Then close the top plate to rest on the can, and place both hands on top of the press and then push down slowly until the can is completely flat. • The can should now be fully flattened and ready for disposal. Drink cans • Place the drink can end on to the centre of the “V” press home compactor, and slowly close the top plate down, then hold the can in position until the can is firmly griped in the press, then push down slowly (do not attempt to fully compress the can in this first move), then open the press and turn the can round one half turn and repeat the action to the other end of the can, this should then fully flatten the drinks can. Plastic bottles and containers ♦ Depending on the shape and size of the container, you place the neck or open end of the container or bottle to the hinge and centre of the “V” press home compactor and close the press, again keep hold of the bottle until you have a good grip in the press then open and turn the container round one half turn and repeat « ο 7 ο 3 6 θ - 11Α Home Compaction Device the press, this should then fully flatten the container. With heavier plastic it may take a couple of extra presses to compress the container fully • With plastic bottles and containers always remove the lid before compression. Paper and cardboard containers • Similar to the plastic containers, place the paper carton or box in centre on the “V” press home compactor and close the top plate, in most cases with paper cartons one press will fully collapse the carton. • With heavier cardboard containers it may require a number of compressions. Ice Crushing • Place the ice cubes in a plastic bag and rotate the bag after each press until the desired size is achieved. Other food items • Place the nuts close to the hinge at mid point and close the press slowly, place a lean cloth over the press to prevent the nut pieces from flying off. Precaution • Never over load the “V” press home compactor with too much material. • Never apply excessive pressure to the top plate as this may result in damage or strain the hinge mechanism, and may also damage the plates. • The “V” press horizontal home compactor should be operated using hand pressure only ΙΕ 0 70 36 0