Fork Excluding Flap For Rubbish Container

Abstract

An improved container for refuse collection, which is adapted to be lifted and dumped by an appropriate elevating mechanism, is provided with a flap assembly on the supporting channels to prevent entry of lifting forks from the "wrong" side.

Description

This invention relates to refuse containers and more particularly to covered refuse containers which are adapted to be lifted and dumped by semiautomatic elevating apparatus.

In recent years, large containers for refuse, capable of being handled by equipment that picks up and dumps the contents of the container, have been widely utilized. Typical examples are shown in the patents to C. R. Dempster, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,195,942, or to A. Sherman, U.S. Pat. No. 3,270,900.

Such containers are frequently utilized in combination with front-end loader equipment, such as is disclosed in the Dempster, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 2,900,096, which includes a pair of fork-type aRms that engage channels on the underside of the container. arms

A common trash container in use today, has a generally rectangular shape with a hinged lid. With this arrangement, gravity normally keeps the lid in closed condition.

A major problem with containers of this type, when utilized with equipment such as shown in the Dempster et al., U.S. Pat. No. 2,900,096 has been created when the truck operator engages the refuse container from the side opposite the cover hinge. In normal operation, the container is lifted over the cab of the truck and rotated toward the truck body, so that the container is upended to discharge its contents. In the proper orientation, with the lifting forks inserted from the hinge side of the container, the rotation of the container over the truck body causes the lid to open and the contents are discharged with the lid acting as a partial chute, directing the contents toward the truck body.

However, and as is frequently the case with inexperienced or careless operators, if the container is engaged from the "front" or opening side of the container, when the container is inverted, the cover tends to be trapped closed, or if it does open, either the contents are not properly discharged, or, are directed away from the truck body by the cover, which deflects the flow. In an extreme case, the cover can be bent or misshapen from the emptying operation.

It has been deemed desirable to provide some means to prevent such a covered trash or rubbish container from being engaged from the "wrong" side to assure proper emptying of the contents. According to the present invention, a pair of spring-loaded flaps are mounted on the "front" of the channel members which normally receive the forks of the automatic lifting and dumping apparatus. These spring-loaded flaps prevent entry of the forks from the "wrong" side but do permit protrusion of the fork through the channel when entry is made from the "right" side, namely the hinge side of the container.

In alternative embodiments the entry-excluding flaps can be provided with a weighted member to maintain them in the fork-excluding condition through gravity. Other variations are possible, once the basic problem is recognized.

This invention will be better understood from the following description considered in connection with the accompanying drawings in which several preferred embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of example. It is to be expressly understood, however, that the drawings are for the purpose of illustration and description only and are not intended as a definition of the limits of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a trash container according to the present invention

FIG. 2, including FIGS. 2a and 2b is a side sectional view of a support channel without and with a lifting fork, respectively;

FIG. 3, including FIGS. 3a and 3b is a side view of a trash container being emptied into a loader;

FIG. 4 is a side view of a loader emptying a trash bin which has been engaged on the "wrong side;" and

FIg. 5 is a side view of an alternative lifting channel.

Turning first to FIG. 1, there is shown, in perspective, a typical trash or rubbish container 10 which includes, the improvements according to the present invention. The container 10 is provided with an upper lid portion 12 which is hinged to the body 14 of the container by either a plurality of individual hinges 16, or by a "piano"-type hinge (not shown). For ease in later description, the hinges 16 will be considered to define the "back" side of the container 10 and the side opposite the hinges 16 will be denominated the "front" side.

At each of the corners of the container 10, a caster or dolly wheel 18 is provided to make the container mobile. A pair of lifting channels 20 are fixed to the underside of the container 10 and are substantially rectangular channels which run the width of the container 10 from "front" to "rear." Positioned over the channel members 20 are covering flaps 22 which are normally positioned to exclude entry of a lifting fork. The flaps are pivotally mounted to the body of the container 14 through a pivot member 24. A bias spring 26 may be provided to maintain the flaps 22 in the closed position.

Turning next to FIG. 2 which includes FIGS. 2a and 2b , there is shown, in side secton, the channel 20 with the covering flap 22 in place. As is best seen in FIG. 2b, a lifting fork 30, when inserted into the channel 20 from the rear, will extend through the length of the channel 20. If the fork is sufficiently long, it will emerge from the "front," moving the flap 22 out of the way. With the movable flap 22, a fork can be inserted for its full length into the channel 20.

It will be obvious that any attempt by a careless or inexperienced operator to insert the lifting forks from the "front" or "wrong" side is foiled by the flaps 22 when in the normally closed position. However, no such obstacle exists to the insertion of the lifting fork from the "rear" or "right" side.

Turning now to FIG. 3, which includes FIGS. 3a and 3b, in FIG. 3a, there is shown a rubbish or trash container 10 according to the present invention engaged by the lifting forks 30 of a front end loader such as is illustrated in the Dempster, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,195,942. Such a front end loader 50 is shown only in outline, since the construction of the loader 50 is immaterial to the understanding of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 3a, either the front end loader 50 cam be moved until the loading forks 30 engage the appropriate channels 20 of the trash bin 10 while stationary, or, alternatively, a workman may roll the trashbin 10 until the forks 30 have fully engaged the channels 20 for their entire length.

The manner of emptying the trashbin is illustrated in FIG. 3b. The forks 30 are attached to lifting arms 52, which carry the trash container 10 in an arc over the truck cab to a position above the truck body. An opening in the top of the truck body receives the contents of the container 10. When the container 10 has been carried to the appropriate discharge point above the body of the truck 50, mechanisms connecting the forks 30 with the lifting arms 32, further rotate the trash bin 10, as shown, in the clockwise direction to the dotted final, dumping position.

In the extreme position, gravity and the weight of the contents causes the cover 12 to open, rotating about the hinge 16 to a fully opened position. The contents of the container then are free to pour from the container 10, with the cover 12 acting as a partial chute.

At the conclusion of the dumping operation, after the contents of the container 10 have been fully deposited into the truck body 50, the forks 30 then rotate in the counterclockwise direction. Similarly, the lifting arms 32 also rotate in a counterclockwise direction, lowering the container 10 to rest upon the pavement in front of the loader 50.

Turning to FIG. 4, a problem of a prior art bin 10', which lacks fork-excluding flaps, is illustrated. In FIG. 4, a trash container 10'has, inadvertently, been loaded onto lifting forks 30 from the "front." The container 10' has been elevated to a position above the truck body 50 and in this position, the hinges 16' are at the top of the container 10'. As the forks 30 rotate in the clockwise direction (as viewed in the FIG.) to the position indicated by the dotted outline, gravity and the weight of the trash or rubbish tend to open the lid 12' from the bottom. however, gravity tends to retain the lid 12' in the vertical alignment and therefore the lid may not open fully.

If, for any reason, an obstruction exists which interferes with the opening of the lid 12', then the time required to empty the container 12' is extended. In some instances, the container may not be fully emptied. Further, the lid 12' may be crushed or damaged by being forced open against an obstruction, under the weight of the contents. Yet another possible disadvantage in this orientation of the container 10' is that the lid 12' might act as a deflector, bouncing trash out of the truck and into the street.

Turning finally to FIG. 5, there is shown an alternative embodiment of the fork-excluding flap of FIGS. 1 and 2. As shown in FIG. 5, a support channel 120 is covered by a flap 122 which is pivotally mounted to the body of a container 110 on a pivot member 124. A weighted arm 126 is of sufficient mass to hold the flap 122 in the closed, fork-excluding position, through the force of gravity, alone, without the need of a bias spring.

The flap 122 can, of course, be lifted out of the way by a fork member 30 (not shown) entering from the "rear" side of the channel 120. As with the preferred embodiment, the fork 30 is free to extend beyond the front of the channel 120 so that the bin 110 is fully seated on the forks during the lifting and dumping operation.

Thus there has been shown in more than one embodiment, apparatus intended to insure that trash containers will be properly loaded on front-end loading equipment which is used for lifting and dumping containers. The fork excluding flaps function to permit entry and complete seating of the fork only when entry is made from the correct or rear side. The flaps prevent the entry of the fork from the "incorrect" or front side of the container.

Claims

What is claimed as new is:

1. A receptacle for receiving waste matter, said receptacle comprising:

a container having a cover hinged at the rear side thereof;

a cover coupled to said hinge;

lifting fork receiving channels attached to the bottom of said container; and

fork excluding means coupled to said channels for limiting fork entry to one side only, said fork excluding means comprising; a flap member pivotably mounted on said channels to block entry of a lifting fork and biasing means normally maintaining said flap member in a fork excluding configuration while permitting deflection of said flap member by a lifting fork emerging from said channels.

2. The receptacle according to claim 1 wherein said biasing means include a spring member connected between said flap member and said channel means, urging said flap member to block entry of a fork into said channel means.

3. The receptacle according to claim 1 wherein said biasing means include a lever arm connected to said flap member and a weight member attached to said lever arm, whereby a gravitational force maintains said flap member in a fork-excluding configuration.