AN UNDERGROUND CONTAINER AND A DEVICE FOR RAISING AND LOWERING THE CONTAINER

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates to the technical sector concerning collection of solid urban refuse, with special reference to refuse containers which can be housed below the surface of the ground and devices for movement thereof.

BACKGROUND ART

The prior art comprises systems for temporary disposal and aid in collection of solid urban refuse, which include the use of containers which can be interred in underground seatings, such that at normal ground level only an access mouth thereof emerges, for insertion - by force of gravity - of refuse into the container, on the part of the users, in particular the public.

These containers are periodically emptied by specially-equipped motorised means which on command of special operatives can grip the containers, engaging special universal attachments afforded therein, raising and tipping them, so that the refuse contained therein is transferred into special collection dumper equipped on the vehicles. The solid urban refuse collected on these motorised equipped vehicles is thus taken to tips, incinerators or other areas destined for its elimination.

In order for the emptying process to take place, each of the underground seatings is provided with an internal framework, to which a

lid - which can be walked on - is superiorly hinged, which lid offers the mentioned opening, the lid also being located at the level of the walking plane and being destined to be alternatively raised and lowered by means of special movement organs, contained inside the underground seating and connected to the framework.

The opening of the walkable lid is obviously necessary for the extraction of the underground container from the relative seating, with the aim of emptying it, the extraction being made possible by lifting organs, usually comprising a raising and supporting motorised platform, on which the container rests, the platform being moved in such a way that the container passes alternatively from an invisible position inside the underground seating to a completely-emerged position, and vice versa.

In practice, when the underground container is completely emerged, it can be moved by the motorised organs equipped on the vehicle for collecting the refuse, in the above-described ways, in order to empty them into the large dumper equipped thereon; once emptied, the container is relocated by the motorised organs described above, at the access of the underground seating, and newly rested on the platform.

In the field of the sector of refuse collection, it is felt that the main technical drawback of the above-described system consists in the fact that, as the container is associated to the platform by means of simple resting thereon, when the platform is moved, the container is subjected to mechanical stress due to the movement it undergoes, which might cause horizontal translations thereof on the platform, which might cause, for example, the following inconvenient and disadvantageous drawbacks:

the container repeatedly impacts against the internal walls of the underground seating and/or the framework; this causes rapid wear or

actual damage, which, in a case in which it occurs in the above- mentioned universal attachments, means replacing the container itself, as collection of the refuse can no longer be done using the motor vehicles generally used therefor;

the container repeatedly impacts against parts of the above-mentioned movement organs and the raising organs present internally of the underground seating, damaging them and requiring their replacement;

the container in totally emerged configuration either because brought up by the platform or because it has been placed on the platform by the motorised organs of the vehicle, is upturned, spreading rubbish both on the walking plane and internally of the underground seating, with a consequently longer blocking of operations and an expensive and inconvenient cleaning-up of the areas involved in the tipping of the rubbish.

In an attempt to obviate the above-described technical problem and the possibly grave consequences thereof, systems have been developed for aiding the collection of refuse, comprising container-raising organs which include centring systems for the containers with respect to the walls of the underground seating.

A solution of this type used at present comprises motorised gripping and raising organs, conformed as a fork and comprising two arms, each of which is provided with two cylindrical tines, exhibiting an upper tapering and aimed at contacting and coupling with suitable and respective truncoconical seatings fixed on the sides of the container, the concavity of which faces downwards, in such a way that the container can be rested on and thus supported by the arms.

Obviously the gripping and raising organs can be moved in such a way

that the container alternatively passes from the position of invisibility internally of the underground seating to the completely-emerged position thereof, and vice versa.

Obviously the gripping and raising organs are activated by the specialised operators, by special means therefor.

Since the above solution can only and exclusively function if during movement of the container into the underground seating the truncoconical seatings abut the tines, the container is prevented from performing significant lateral translations while resting on the arms.

The container raising and lowering systems, which comprise the above- mentioned fork-conformed organs, represents, for reasons which will be explained herein below, one of the various fruitless attempts to obtain a solution to the technical problem of centring the container with respect to the underground seatings, which solution is also efficient and easily usable by the special operators.

One of the greatest drawbacks of this technical solution is represented by the fact that the operators manoeuvring the collection vehicles have each to be able to pilot the vehicles perfectly, as well as the motorised organs so that when a container is repositioned at the underground seating, after the emptying thereof, it is arranged such that the truncoconical seatings perfectly meet and couple stably with the tines of the arms, such as to prevent the container from resting on the arms in a position of unstable equilibrium, which incurs the risk that during the movement of the arms themselves, the container might incline or even tip over, preventing a correct descent of the container into the underground seating.

As for the possibility and inconvenience of the container's tipping over,

this is easy to understand, considering the fact that a container of the size and weight envisaged, once tipped over would be very difficult to set right and subsequently correctly coupled to the arms of the raising and gripping organs, exclusively manually by the operatives.

Note that, obviously, the motorised organs of the collecting vehicles are not designed for tipping over-turned containers back up.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

This drawback and more besides are all obviated by a device for raising and lowering, as described in claim 1 herein below, and by a container which can be housed underground, as in claim 5, the device and the container being specially combinable.

The raising and lowering device, which is particularly destined to support at least a container for collecting solid refuse which can be housed in an underground seating, comprises a substantially horizontal platform and kinematic organs which activate the platform such that it can be moved vertically, alternatively in a rising or descending direction, in a predetermined range of excursion; further, the device comprises, superiorly of the platform, means for centring, in turn comprising at least two roller sets, each of which is formed by at least a first and a second roller, arranged on respective predetermined rotation axes which are perpendicular to one another, the means for centring being used in association with respective recesses for receiving them which are afforded in the container for solid refuse, in such a way as to obtain centring of the container with respect to the underground seating.

In more detail, the raising and lowering device can move the container such that it passes alternatively from an invisible position internally of

the underground seating to a completely-emerged position and vice versa.

The underground container is particularly suited to receiving solid refuse, is especially destined to be in turn received in an underground seating and is superiorly open; the container comprises a bottom which supports the refuse, which in turn inferiorly comprises at least two centring elements, each of which comprises at least a recess, which defines a decreasing volume from below going upwards along the vertical development thereof, and which comprises a first, a second and a third side, each centring element being associable to a respective set of rollers, comprised in the means for centring of the raising and lowering device, in such a way that the weight of the underground container, when rested on the device with the centring elements substantially superposed on the means for centring, causes the first and/or the second side to cooperate with the first roller of a respective set of rollers and the third side to cooperate with the respective second roller of the set, to bring the container into a stably balanced arrangement, in which each first roller contacts and stably couples with a respective upper portion of the volume defined by the respective recess, such as to ensure a perfect centring of the container with respect to the underground seating.

The technical solution not only prevents the container from being subject to the above-described dangerous horizontal translations, as will be explained in more detail herein below, during the vertical movement thereof internally of the underground seating by the respective raising and lowering device, but it significantly provides a centring system the effectiveness of which is completely independent of the skill of the personnel operating the vehicle's motorised organs for collecting solid urban refuse, thus obviating the limitations in the prior

art.

Even if the container, after emptying thereof, is not repositioned on the raising and lowering device such that each first roller is already in perfect contact with the corresponding upper portion of the volume defined by the recess, the weight of the container itself will cause the container to self-centre in the underground seating, thanks to the shape of the recesses of the centring elements, on the internal walls of which the rollers turn, in the above-described way, up until the first rollers are brought into a stable coupling with the respective upper volumes. This ensures a perfect stable equilibrium of the container on the device, such as to prevent any inconvenient horizontal translation of the container on the device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The characteristics of the invention which do not emerge from the above will better emerge from the following description, made in accordance with what is set out in the appended claims, and as illustrated in the accompanying figures of the drawings, in which:

figure 1 is a schematic vertical section of the underground container and the raising and lowering device of the invention, seen in association with a relative underground seating;

figure 2 is a schematic side view of the device supporting the container;

figure 3 is a schematic enlargement of detail K of figure 2;

figure 4 is a schematic front view of the device supporting the container;

figure 5 is a schematic enlargement of detail J of figure 4;

figure 6 is a schematic plan view of the underground container;

figure 7 is a schematic vertical section of the container, seen along line IX-IX of figure 6;

figure 8 is a schematic lateral view, partially sectioned along line X-X of figure 6, of a detail of the underground container, supported by the raising device resting on the bottom of an underground seating;

figure 9 is a section, seen along line Xl-Xl of a detail of the container supported by the device resting on the bottom of the underground seating.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

With reference to the enclosed figures of the drawings, 1 denotes a raising and lowering device, particularly destined to support at least a container 2 for receiving solid refuse, destined to be housed in an underground seating 3, which device 1 comprises a platform 11 which is substantially horizontal and kinematic organs 12 which activate the platform 11 such that it can move vertically, alternatively in a rising or descending direction, over a predetermined range of excursion.

The device 1 comprises, superiorly of the platform 11 , means for centring 15, in turn comprising at least two sets of rollers, each of which is formed by at least a first and a second roller 13 and 14 arranged on respective prefixed rotation axes which are perpendicular to one another, the means for centring 15 being usable in association with respective recesses 23 for receiving the means for centring 15 and afforded in the container 2 for solid refuse, in such as way as to achieve centring of the container 2 with respect to the underground seating 3.

As illustrated in figure 1 , the device 1 is associated to a framework 31 , housed in the underground seating 3, to which framework a lid 32 is hinged, for closing and opening the mouth of the seating 3 itself, the lid 32 being moved by a jack 33 connected to the framework 31 , in a configuration which is known to an expert in the technical sector to which the proposed technical solution relates. The kinematic organs 12 comprise a cogged pinion 121 , which is rotatably constrained to an upper end of the stem of a cylinder 122, for example hydraulic or possibly pneumatic, and meshes with a chain 123, an end of which is connected to the framework 31 , the other end being fixed to the platform 11 (see figure 1 ). In this way, according to a widely known system, when the cylinder 122 is activated by pushing the pinion 121 upwards, it causes the chain 123 to run thereon and draw up the platform 11 to which it is connected with the end that is not fixed to the framework, which framework is fixed with respect to the seating which can therefore not be moved with respect thereto. Figure 1 only schematically illustrates the structure of the kinematic organs 12, as they are widely known in the sector of raising and lowering devices.

The kinematic organs 12 and the jack 33 can be, for example, activated on command of the users, using usual and known piloting means.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the platform 11 exhibits a rectangular perimeter and each of the rotation axes, on which the rollers 13, 14 are arranged, is parallel to one of the sides of the platform 11. In more detail, the two sets of rollers are symmetrical with respect to a plane of symmetry of the platform 11 which is perpendicular to two sides thereof and parallel to the other two, and are also singly arranged in proximity of the respective opposite sides of the platform 11 (see figure 4).

In the accompanying figures of the drawings, 2 denotes the underground container, which is superiorly open and comprises a bottom 21 which supports the refuse.

As illustrated in figures 1 , 2, 3, 4, and 5, the bottom 21 infehorly comprises at least two centring elements 22, each of which in turn comprises at least a recess 23 which defines a volume that decreases going from bottom to top in the vertical development thereof, and which comprises a first, a second and a third side 24, 25, 26.

Each centring element 22 can advantageously be associated to a respective set of rollers, comprised in the means for centring 12, in such a way that the weight of the underground container 2, when resting on the device 1 with the centring elements 22 substantially superposed on the means for centring 15, is such that the first and/or second side 24,

25 cooperate with the first roller 13 of a respective set of rollers and the third side 26 cooperates with the respective second roller 14 of the same set (see in particular figure 5) in order to bring the container 2 into a stable balanced arrangement, in which each first roller 13 contacts and stably couples with a respective and suitable upper portion 231 of the volume defined by the respective recesses 23 (see figure 3 in particular) such as to ensure a perfect centring of the container 2 with respect to the underground seating 3.

Preferably the first, second and third side 24, 25, 26 are flat and oblique with respect to an ideal horizontal plane which crosses them and are arranged such that the first and second side 24, 25 face one another (see figures 3 and 5).

In more detail, as shown in figures 1 , 2 and 3, the first and second side 24 and 25 are arranged such that a vertical section of the internal surface thereof, performed along an ideal plane which is perpendicular

to the axis of the first roller 13, defines a trapeze surmounted by a triangle, the triangle having the smaller base of the trapeze as its base.

In the preferred embodiment, the bottom 21 has a rectangular perimeter and the centring elements 12 are symmetrical with respect to a plane of symmetry of the bottom 21 , perpendicular to two of the sides thereof and parallel to the other two sides thereof.

In more detail, the centring elements 12 are singly arranged in proximity of respective opposite sides of the bottom 21 (see figure 4).

As illustrated in figure 1 , the container 2 has a substantially prismatic conformation and exhibits two universal attachments 27 which can engage with the above-mentioned motorised organs equipped on the refuse-collection vehicles in the ways described herein above.

Figures 6, 7, 8 and 9 show a particular embodiment of the invention, in which the underground container 2 comprises a mobile internal bottom 4, superiorly provided with a shaking indentation 41 , which bottom 4 is kept at the internal bottom of the container 2 by means for retaining 42 such as to prevent falling thereof during tipping of the container 2.

The means for retaining, as illustrated in particular in figure 6, comprise a frame 421 fixed internally to the container 2 and located superiorly of the mobile bottom 4, in which a central communication opening 422 between the mobile bottom 4 and the internal upper volume 28 of the container 2 is afforded, inferiorly defined by the container 2.

With the aim of preventing any risk whatsoever of insinuation of refuse into the space between the mobile bottom 4 and the bottom of the container 2, a special gasket is, for example, placed at the perimeter of the opening 422, in such a way as to seal the passage between the frame 421 and the mobile bottom 4, when the container 2 is arranged

vertically (see figure 7).

As illustrated in figures 8 and 9, the mobile bottom 4 is connected, thanks to a suitable slot 48 afforded on the bottom of the underground container 2, to a vertical pin 43, located at the bottom of the underground seating 3, the pin 43 being moved by actuator organs 44, in such a way that the activation of the actuator organs 44 produces the horizontal sliding of the mobile bottom 4, so that the solid refuse accumulated in the container 2 is shaken by the indentation 41 , thus homogenising the distribution thereof internally of the underground container 2.

As the refuse is introduced into the container 2, it gradually arranges naturally in a pyramid-shaped pile, or a cone, which imply that once the vertex of the pyramid or cone has reached the top of the container 2, thus not allowing further introduction of refuse, a certain volume still remains unused in the container 2. In order to be able to fill this space too with refuse, the slidable mobile bottom 4, with the shaking indentation 41 , can be actuated periodically to produce a homogeneous distribution of the refuse in the container 2.

As shown in figure 7, the mobile bottom 4 can slide on the bottom of the container, resting on skates 49 made of a plastic material.

A central portion of the mobile bottom 4 superposed on the pin 43 preferably features a convex conformation with respect to the upper internal volume 28 (see figures 7 and 9).

By way of example, as illustrated in figure 8 and as widely known by a technical expert in the field, the actuator organs 44 can comprise a cylinder 45, for example pneumatic or hydraulic, directly connected to the pin 43, and a horizontal guide 46 for defining the range of excursion

of the movement of the pin 43 itself.

In particular, the pin 43 and the mobile bottom 4 can for example be mutually connected by lock joint engaging and disengaging means 47 of the type shown in figure 8.

The above is intended to be by way of non-limiting example, so that any variation of a practical-applicational nature are understood to be within the protective ambit of the invention as described herein above and as claimed in the following claims.