WO1985001492A1

WO1985001492A1 - Apparatus for compressing voluminous mass, especially household waste

Info

Publication number: WO1985001492A1
Application number: PCT/NO1984/000038
Authority: WO
Inventors: Eivind Baas Neset
Original assignee: Eivind Baas Neset
Priority date: 1983-09-28
Filing date: 1984-09-26
Publication date: 1985-04-11
Also published as: DK222885D0; NO153367B; DK222885A; NO153367C; FI852074A0; NO833510L; GB2156309A; GB2156309B; GB8512307D0; SE8502580L; SE8502580D0; DE3490441T1; FI852074L

Abstract

An apparatus for compressing voluminous mass, especially household waste, comprising a cylinder (1) with a feed opening (5) for introduction of the mass and a driven, reciprocating piston (2). The open outlet end (4) of the cylinder is connected to a sharply curved pipe (7) having an open outlet end. The outlet opening of the pipe faces substantially upwardly when the apparatus is in position for use, and the pipe has a curvature of between 60?o and 120?o. The largest radius of curvature of the pipe is equal to or insignificantly larger than the diameter of the pipe or the diameter in the plane of curvature.

Description

APPARATUS FOR COMPRESSING VDUMINOT S M^S,ESE-_CIA __Y HO SEETOLD WASTE. The present invention relates to an apparatus for compress¬ ing voluminous mass , especially household waste, comprising a cylinder with a feed opening for the mass and a driven, reciprocating piston .

Sanitation vehicles currently in use may be divided into tw types: those that compress the waste and those that do not. The former type all share the drawback that the compressin equipment is heavy, thus reducing the weight load capacity of the vehicle, as well as being very expensive. This type of vehicle is also ill suited for operation by a single person, as the sanitation worker must ordinarily go to the rear of the vehicle to deposit the rubbish sacks. Normally, therefore, such vehicles are manned by three persons, one driver and two workers for fetching the garbage and placing it in the vehicle. This is unduly labor-intensive, and therefore expensive. Vehicles of this type are also heavy and noisy, thus disrupting the environment, and they may also have problems getting through on small, poorly surfaced roads.

Sanitation vehicles of the second type, which usually are ordinary trucks with high side frames, all have the drawback

3 that the load capacity cannot be fully utilized, since 10 of household waste weighs only 1 to 1.3 tons. Moreover, they are inconvenient to use, because the height of the load increases as more waste is added.

The object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for compressing voluminous mass, especially house¬ hold waste, which is simple, inexpensive,^' requires little space, can be mounted and utilized in conjunction with an ordinary truck with high side frames, and which also permits the truck to be loaded from the side of the vehicle.

This is obtained in accordance with the invention with an apparatus of the type defined above which is characterized in that the end of the cylinder located opposite the piston is connected to a sharply curved pipe whose free end opens outwardl .

In a preferred embodiment, the opening of the pipe faces substantially upwardly when the apparatus is in position for use.

A further feature of the invention is that the pipe has a curvature of between 60° and 120°. In a practical embodi¬ ment of the invention, the radius of curvature of the pipe is equal to or insignificantly larger than the pipe diameter or the diameter in the plane of curvature.

The invention will be described in greater detail in the following with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 schematically illustrates the apparatus in side view and partial cross section.

Figure 2 shows the apparatus from above, and

Figure 3 shows the apparatus mounted on an ordinary truck.

The apparatus of the invention consists of a cylinder 1 with a compression piston 2 which is driven to and fro by a hydraulic cylinder 3. At the outlet end of the cylinder 1, a feed opening 5 is provided for introduction of the mass to be compressed, said mass comprising mainly sacks filled with household waste. For safety reasons, a cover 6 is provided which automatically closes the opening 5 when the piston is activated for compressing the waste. Joined to the outlet end 4 of the cylinder 1 is a curved pipe 7 whose external radius of curvature is equal to or somewhat larger than the diameter of the pipe in the plane of curvature. In use, as seen in Figure 3, the opening 8 of the pipe 7 faces upwardly.

The drawings show both the cylinder 1 and the curved pipe 7 as being of rectangular cross section, but they could also be formed with circular cross sections.

The piston may be formed as shown in Figure 1, as a conven¬ tional piston with a top surface and skirt 2*. However, the piston could alternately be formed as a plate where the skirt is replaced by guide ribs permanently welded to the plate.

As seen clearly in Figure 1, the curved pipe 7 has somewhat larger dimensions than the cylinder 1, so that an offset 9 is formed between the cylinder and the pipe. A similar offset can also be arranged on several sides of the cylinde The purpose of the offset is to prevent compressed rubbish which is inside the pipe from being pressed back into the cylinder chamber.

As shown in Figure 3, the feed opening 5 is provided in connection with a similar opening in the side frame 10 of an ordinary truck. In this way, the sanitation worker can deposit the garbage sacks 11 at the side of the vehicle instead of having to go around to the rear of the truck. T loading opening is always at a suitable lifting height. In Figure 3, the apparatus is mounted on the truck bed of an ordinary truck, and takes up very little space. In areas in which the garbage is fetched only once or a few times a week, the truck can be used for other kinds of transport on the days it is not needed for carrying rubbish.

Experiments have demonstrated that garbage sacks containing ordinary household waste are compressed to about 25% of their original volume. The loading capacity of an ordinary truck is therefore increased fourfold, compared to the capacity when loaded with uncompressed garbage sacks.

The compressing apparatus of the invention differs from prior art devices of this type in that it compresses only one garbage sack 11 at a time. This requires less power.

OM and the total pressure and loads are far lower. As a result, the apparatus can be constructed simply and inex¬ pensively. Another reason that the forces are larger on the conventional compressing devices is that the force of compression increases gradually as the amount fed into the apparatus increases, because the garbage is compressed in a closed compartment, a container. Since the outlet of the curved pipe 7 faces upwardly, the necessary compression force will remain the same at all times. The garbage sacks are uniformly compressed to the desired degree by being pressed through the curved pipe and are pushed in an upward direction from the outlet of the pipe. As seen in the drawings, the curved pipe has a bend of somewhat more than 90 , in this case about 110 , and the direction of egress will be backwardly/upwardl . The compressed garbage sacks are thus pushed in a direction in which they will not encounter any fixed obstacles. What will occur in practice is that a heap or hill of compressed sacks will accumulate around the compression apparatus at the front section of the truck bed. As the hill grows, a slide angle will gradually form, and when new sacks continue to be fed into the compressing apparatus and are pushed upwardly through the outlet of the curved pipe, the sacks will slide backwardly toward the opposite end of the truck, relative to the location of the compressing apparatus. The truck bed will gradually become filled, with the load being higher at the front of the truck bed, thereby obtaining a favorable distribution of the load.

Since the trucks that can be used as sanitation vehicles necessarily have to be dump trucks, the compressing apparatus may conveniently be connected to the normal hydraulic system of the vehicle.

Since this apparatus is very inexpensive to produce, it could also be adapted for stationary placement. Super¬ markets, some types of companies, hospitals and other

/"^■"BUR

-O ^W institutions often have large amounts of voluminous waste. With the provision of a stationary compressing device, all of the waste can be compressed before being deposited in a container. In such instances, the mass probably will not be fed into the apparatus in sacks; therefore, it may be desirable to provide a counterpressure in the curved pipe so that a "plug" will be formed in the pipe which will press against the new mass being fed into the device. Such counterpressure can be produced by means of a spring- loaded or hydraulically-loaded door or flap 12 as indicated in Figure 1. If the door is hydraulically loaded, it will be simple to adjust the counterpressure exerted by the door against the compressed garbage that has been forced through the apparatus. This adjustment can be automatic. If positioned as a stationary apparatus, the device may be placed at a convenient height for depositing the waste and the curved outlet pipe can be adapted to the height of a waste container, for example.

Claims

Patent Claims

1. An apparatus for compressing voluminous mass, especially household waste, comprising a cylinder (1) with an inlet opening (5) for the mass and a driven, reciprocatin piston (2) , characterized in that a sharply curved pipe having approximately the same orifice diameter as the cylinder is connected to the outlet end (4) of the cylinder.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the opening of the pipe (7} faces substantially upwardly in position for use.

3. An apparatus according to claims 1 or 2, character- ized in that the pipe (7) has a curvature of between 60 and 120°.

4. An apparatus according to claims 1, 2 or 3, characterized in that the largest radius of curvature of the pipe (7) is equal to or insignificantly larger than the diameter of the pipe in the plane of curvature.

5. An apparatus according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that the pipe (7) has a somewhat larger orifice diameter at the transition between the cylinder (1) and the pipe, such that an offset (9) is formed which prevents the mass from being pressed backwardly into the cylinder.

6. An apparatus according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that the cylinder (1) and pipe (7) have rectangular cross sections.

7. An apparatus according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that a door or flap (12) is provided at the outlet (8) of the pipe (71 which is urged toward the opening of the pipe, i.e., being spring-loaded or hydraulically loaded. U _O v^, I