IMPROVEMENTS RELATING TO PENDULUM PACKERS

This invention relates to pendulum packers which are used to pack, with compression, refuse into containing areas.

Technical area of this invention

An example of a pendulum packer is described in Australian patent 649408 and entitled "Material Handling Apparatus".

Devices of this type have a compression member which is supported as in a pendulum so as to rotate about an approximately horizontal axis and the compression member is caused to swing from a position where it is approximately at the same height as its axial support through an arc to a position where it is approximately immediately below its axial support.

The downward stroke is a compression stroke and the backward stroke is a recharge or repositioning stroke.

The referred to Australian patent describes a work head which acts as a compression member which has a rearward face which is supported so as to be sloping so that, especially when it is in a fully retracted position, any debris inserted into the area will generally be deflected from engaging behind the compression member, and also when the compression member is being moved back through a retraction stroke, it will have a tendency to divert the material away from its path.

Otherwise, a front of the compression member which generally extends between side walls and a back wall, is positioned to abruptly confront any material within its path and thereby capture this to an effective extent and cause

it to be pushed through a defined path and into a containment area with compression.

Problems addressed bv this invention

The problem addressed by this invention is that in relation to a current manufacture of such a work head or compression member, the referred to

Australian patent describes and constrains the patent to extend only to the case where an outer most surface of the work head, as well as side walls, have an outer edge in the case of the sides of a curved shape which conforms to a curved shape of a back wall of a body which follows approximately an arc to be traversed by the work head.

Our discovery is that such an arrangement has an unfortunate result and there is both a simpler and more economic construction that can be used in this application, and further, such an alternate construction also has functional advantages in use.

The problem with having an outer surface and edge in the case of each side conforming in shape to a back wall is that material has a high potential to be caught up between the respective moving surfaces and where the conforming shapes are close to each other jam between the respective surfaces. This material that will be caught therebetween will then continue to be caught there between.

According to this invention, we have discovered that there is significant advantage in simply not having an underneath or outermost surfaces closely conforming throughout its width and length to the shape of the back wall.

From a cost point of view and even from a functional point of view, it is advantageous to have , at least in preference, a flat plate rather than have a curved shape .

Brief summary of the invention

Accordingly, in one form of the invention, it can be said to reside in a refuse compression arrangement having a body having an upper most inlet, and a lower outlet to a side of the body, a back wall and a side wall to each side of the back wall defining a pathway for refuse introduced into the inlet and to be pressed by a compression member into the outlet, the compression member being supported so as to be constrained to swing through an arc with rearward and forward outer edges being positioned so that, at least through a substantial length of the arc, the respective edges are close to or are scraping the inner surface of the back wall, the compression member also having a shape with a front face abruptly aligned to its compression direction, and a rear face which is aligned to be substantially inclined to its retraction direction, and its shape between its forward and rearward edges being such that it is at least substantially away from the back wall.

In preference this concept also extends to the side walls of a work head or as it is termed by us, a compression member which each have an outermost edge which has been previously described in the referred to Australian patent as conforming to the curved shape of the back wall. We now in preference propose that this lower edge is in fact not conforming and in preference is straight.

In a further alternate form, the compression member is further characterised in the shape of the compression member between its outer rearward and forward edges is provided by a planar member extending between the two edges.

This in fact then will mean that the respective working edges, that is the front lower edge of the front face and the rearward outer edge of the back face will still be close to the back wall surface but, by reason of the curved shape of the back wall, a remainder of the compression member will be further away from the curved surface and this mostly to a substantial extent.

In preference there is a refuse compression arrangement where there is included as a part of the compression member a refuse clearing access means which is openable for access and removal of refuse beneath the rear wall.

In further preference there is a refuse compression arrangement where the refuse clearing access part is a part at least of the front face.

In further preference there is a refuse compression arrangement where the access part is a part only of the front face and is supported by a pivot and is balanced so that it will assume a normally closed position but is adapted to open to a refuse clearing position when the compression member is at or toward its retracted position and with refuse effecting an opening force.

In further preference there is a refuse compression arrangement with a compression member operatively held to be moved between a retracted to a compression position with a curved pathway defining by a curved floor and sides, the compression member having a shape that provides for an open area between a front wall and a rear wall and the curved floor which allows for incidental refuse gathering.

In further preference there is a refuse compression arrangement with a compression member operatively held to be moved between a retracted to a compression position with a curved pathway defined by a curved floor and sides, the compression member having a shape that provides for an open area between a front wall and a rear wall and the curved floor which allows for incidental refuse gathering without jamming and further includes a refuse clearing access means.

In a further preferred arrangement there is a refuse compression arrangement further characterised in that the refuse clearing access means includes an operatively openable portion in either of the rear wall or the front surface.

While we have described a specific construction which is to say that there is a compression member which has both side waits and underneath planar walls, various configurations can be now used in order to facilitate this discovery.

A brief description of the drawings

For a better understanding of this invention it will now be described with the assistance of drawings wherein:

Rg 1 is a perspective view of the embodiment with a compression member in a retracted position,

Fig 2 is a side elevation of the same embodiment with the view being schematic and showing a retracted position at (a) and a compression position in (b),

Fig 3 is a cross sectional view through the embodiment as shown at 3-3 in Fig 1 ,

Fig 4 is a cross sectional view through the embodiment as shown at 4-4 in Fig 1 ,

Fig 5 is a perspective view of the compression member of the embodiment with part cutaway to assist in showing the arrangement and construction of this, and

Fig 6 is an enlarged view of a cross section through the compression member and its related back wall surface showing especially the gap or open area between the two.

Fig 7 is a cross sectional view of a second embodiment,

Fig 8 is a cross sectional view of a third embodiment with an opening flap to allow for discharge of refuse that may be in the area of the compression member, and

Fig 9 is a perspective view of the third embodiment as shown in Fig 8 with part cutaway.

Fig 10 is a side view of a fourth embodiment where there is a compression member with a lower front portion that is able to freely pivot to release refuse, and

Fig 11 is a further view of the fourth embodiment.

A description of the embodiments

Now referring to the drawings in detail, there is a refuse compression arrangement 1 which can be used in a number of installations either in connection with for instance a mobile truck with a containment vessel on board or in a fixed installation.

However, in each case, the operation is very much similar in that there are a pair of hydraulic rams 2 and 3 which engage between and within a box frame 4 and 4a of the body 1 and in each case a respective arm 5 in the one case and 6 in the other which are each supported by a pivotal connection 7 in the one case and 8 in the other with respect to the body 1.

The body 1 itself has a back wall 10 which is shaped so that its surface 11 will conform to an arc which will be described generally through a working cycle of a compression member 12. In other words the shape of this surface is generally conforming to being a part of a cylinder in which the axis is the axis of the compression member.

The compression member 12 is constructed so that it has five walls, these being two side walls 13 and 14, a front face 15 which is abruptly aligned to its compression direction 16 which is to say aligned to have its front face defining a plane which is approximately radial to its pivot support although in this case the aligned is with a closer part of the face to the pivot axis being more forward than

that part which is further from the pivot axis, a rear wall 17 which provides a rear wall 17 which is aligned to be substantially inclined with its retraction directioni 8, and an underneath or outermost wall which is planar 20.

This outermost or underneath wall 20 is such that it extends in a planar direction from a front outer edge 21 to a rear outer edge 22 which thereby leaves a central cavity area 23 which allows for ample area to temporarily hold trash without jamming..

As can now be seen, the alignment of the upper wall is such that when rubbish is inserted into the body 1 , it will be normally deflected by this rear wall, especially when this is in the retracted position as shown in Fig 1.

However, when retracting, this wall 17 will push debris away to recharge the compression stroke by pushing trash out to a position that will then be in front of the compression member 12.

However, the outer wall 20 and also the lower most edges of the side walls 13 and 14 are such that these are simply linear in the case of the edges and planar in the case of the outermost wall and this then leaves as between the surface 11 of the back wall 10 and the compression head, a central cavity area 23 which ensures that any refuse that might accidentally pass into this area will have ample area in which to be positioned without jamming.

The respective front outer edge 21 and rearward outer edge 22 are each intended to be either close to or engaging with the surface 11 of the back wall. In one preferred case the both edges are clear from the surface by a small amount of 4-5 mms. In another case there is positioned a scraper blade which is of a mild steel that is supported against the rear outer edge 22 which then is intended to effect a scraping of the surface 11. Our invention is intended not to be specifically limited to the extent of actual or close contact of these edges.

In an alternate embodiment as shown in Figure 7 there is a compression head 30, the floor that was defining a bottom of the compression member in the previous embodiment is removed which is to say not included which is a saving in material and therefore cost and two strengthening gussets or ribs 31 and 32 located behind a front face 33 and a rear wall 34 of the compression member 30.

This has been found to also be a very effective arrangement and further reduces the possibility of refuse being caught and perhaps jamming beneath the work head compression member 30. Any refuse that may pass by the front wall or face 33 will collect in the ample area beneath the rear wall 34. This refuse then can be eventually removed by having an option to move the compression head to a further location where access to the area beneath the rear wall can be gained or there can be a removable portion of the curved floor that can be used to gain access and effect the very occasional clearing that may be useful.

In a third embodiment shown in Figs 8 and 9 which also does not have any floor as in the second embodiment there is now included as a part of a compression member 39 a portion 40 of a front wall 41 which is supported to pivot about axis 42. This axis position is chosen so that the path of the bottom edge of the portion will separate further upon such opening action from its distance from the curved floor surface thus ensuring that there is provided an opening gap. This portion 40 is in this case a lower half of the front wall and is balanced with a weight 43 so that it will normally stay closed even through a range of positions from a fully retracted position to a fully forward position. In the fully retracted position however the balance is selected so that with some weight of additional refuse behind it this will cause the portion to swing open and release the refuse. Once the refuse is released then the balance will return the portion to a closed position which is maintained to be aligned to be approximately planar with the remainder of the front wall 41 by engagement against the rib 44 which is secured to an upper portion 45 of the front wall 41.

The closed position will also be maintained upon any forward movement of the front wall 41 and it will not matter if there is an occasional opening of the portion 40 upon a return stroke of the compression member.

Now referring to the fourth embodiment as shown in Figures 10 and 11 there is a compression member 50 with in this case a front wall 51 which has two parts 52 and 53. The first of these is an upper part 52, which is supported by an uppermost hinge 54 and is held in a fixed relationship to struts 55 by bolts 56.

A lower part 53 is pivotally supported by a hinge 57 which is secured to a lower edge 58 of the upper part 52. There is in this case however no counterbalance to restore its position from time to time but in many cases upon it encountering refuse the lower part 53 will be pushed against strut 59 and therefore act as with the fixed wall system as in the first embodiment. If refuse builds up beneath the rear wall 60 then the nut 61 can be unscrewed and the upper part can be swung open to allow for total access to this inner area. Otherwise the compression head is supported by a pivot connection 62

Such an arrangement has the advantage that it can be self cleaning although it does require some additional components and is therefore slightly more expensive.

The advantage of the invention as previously described then is that at the least, it can be in some cases less expensive to manufacture than hitherto, and it has working advantages because it will have less potential to jam up and ensnare and grind on refuse as has previously been considered to be the case.