Low cost trash compactor assembly with improved trash compression and loading capability and fluid sealing characteristics and method of operation

A trash compactor or other materials loading assembly wherein a flexible memory containing ramrod and associated platen may be flexibly driven against a trash load in such a manner as to assume its general contour and provide good trash compacting efficiency. In a preferred embodiment, the ramrod is made of relatively low cost polyvinylchloride (PVC), thereby avoiding the high costs associated with metal components. In addition, the ramrod is flexibly driven by slidable engagement with a PVC piston driver in a seal tight arrangement so as to maintain good liquid tight hydraulic fluid sealing at the side walls of the piston driver. This assembly may be used either in a trash compacting operation or in the high density compacting of new and recyclable materials. The present invention is also directed to a new and improved method of compacting materials in a high density, low cost and efficient mode of operation.

TECHNICAL FIELD 
This invention relates generally to trash compactors and more particularly 
to portable, hydraulically operated trash compactors of rugged and durable 
construction and economical to manufacture. The present invention is also 
directed to a novel method of carrying out the materials compacting 
operation described hereinbelow which is applicable to trash, recyclable, 
and new materials alike. 
BACKGROUND ART 
Generally speaking, hydraulically operated trash compactors in the prior 
art have used metal shafts or ramrods which are concentrically and 
slidably mounted for operation in a surrounding metal housing and are 
spring-loaded therein to receive a hydraulic pumping motion at one end of 
the housing. The ramrod extends through an opening at the other end of the 
housing where it is attached to a compacting or platen member operative to 
compress the trash within an adjacent trash container or the like. This 
basic hydraulically driven ramrod and housing assembly has been patterned 
after various types of hydraulically driven piston engines developed over 
the years in many diverse types of arts such as the field of railway 
locomotives. 
Whereas these types of metal ramrod-driven trash compactors have proven 
very durable and entirely satisfactory in many respects of operation, the 
cost of these all-metal mechanical devices has been, for the most part, 
prohibitively expensive for large scale low cost production methods. More 
particularly, it has not been possible to substitute lower cost materials 
such as plastics for the metal components of these trash compactors on a 
one-for-one basis and thereby obtain a satisfactory and acceptable 
commercial product which exhibits good uniform trash compacting 
characteristics in combination with good liquid tight, leak free hydraulic 
operation. Furthermore, these types of all-metal hydraulically driven 
designs often require expensive metal guides and metal shafts surrounding 
the main ramrod member of the compactor in order to provide the necessary 
support and oscillation guidance for the back and forth motion of a heavy 
metal ramrod within its surrounding housing. 
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION 
The general purpose and principal object of the present invention is to 
provide a new and improved trash compactor of fundamentally different 
construction as compared to the above prior art type of all-metal 
hydraulically driven trash compactor design. 
Another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved trash 
compactor of the type described which is capable of construction using low 
cost and durable plastic materials such as polyvinylchloride (PVC). 
Another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved trash 
compactor of the type described which additionally exhibits and operates 
with excellent and uniform trash compression and trash loading 
capabilities. 
Another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved trash 
compactor of the type described which exhibits excellent liquid tight 
hydraulic fluid sealing characteristics. 
Another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved trash 
compactor of the type described which is economical and durable in 
construction and reliable in operation. 
Another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved trash 
compactor of the type described which may be constructed in an elegantly 
simple manner using readily available materials and components derived 
therefrom. 
Another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved trash 
compactor of the type described which is operative to enhance the packing 
density of trash compressed and compacted in a trash container. 
Another object of this invention is to provide a new materials compacting 
method and apparatus of the type described which is sufficiently flexible 
and adaptable in its fundamental mode of operation to be useful in 
compacting many different and diverse types of materials at a high packing 
density within a minimum amount of space. 
A novel feature of this invention is the provision of a new and improved 
method of trash compacting operation which includes the steps of: movably 
mounting a platen to a flexible, memory containing ramrod, and above an 
opening in the trash container, and flexibly driving the ramrod from 
side-to-side with respect to its longitudinal axis so that a compacting 
surface of the platen rotates in both directions through a horizontal 
plane normal to the longitudinal axis of the ramrod when the ramrod is in 
an unflexed and unloaded condition. 
The above general purpose, multiple objects, novel features and advantages 
of this invention are made possible by the provision of, among other 
things, materials compacting apparatus which includes a rugged, flexible 
memory retaining ramrod which is spring loaded and slidably mounted within 
an outer housing. The ramrod is attached to a trash and materials 
compacting and compressing platen member mounted on the lower end of the 
ramrod which extends through an opening in one end of the housing. A 
piston driver member is slidably mounted and fluidically sealed at the 
other end of the housing and is hydraulically driven by hydraulic fluid 
lines and hydraulic pressure applied at its top surface. A flat ramrod 
head (ramhead) member is attached to the upper end of the ramrod and has 
its upper surface abutting against the lower surface of the piston driver 
member. The flat ramhead member is operative to slide horizontally back 
and forth against the lower surface of the piston driver and in an 
orientation which lies in a plane normal to the vertical longitudinal axis 
of the ramrod and ramrod housing. 
When the ramrod drives the compacting and trash loading platen member at 
its lower end against a load of trash, the flexure of the ramrod outwardly 
from its longitudinal axis allows the compacting platen member to conform 
to uneven trash loads and slanted trash surfaces to provide excellent 
compression and compacting of these loads into a trash container. 
Simultaneously, the outward flexure of the ramrod during trash compression 
and the corresponding bending torque applied to the ramrod drives the 
ramhead horizontally towards one of the sidewalls of the housing in 
sliding friction against the lower surface of the piston driver. This 
sliding motion does not cause the piston driver to move away from its 
surrounding liquid seals which are located between the sidewalls of the 
piston driver and the inner walls of the compactor housing. 
In addition, the upper surface of the ramhead member is structured and 
ground with a geometrical configuration that serves to prevent hydraulic 
lock between the lower surface of the piston driver and the upper surface 
of the ramhead member. In this manner, the problems of side loading at the 
piston driver and hydraulic fluid leakage thereat have been totally 
eliminated. Furthermore, the flexure of the elongated ramrod member allows 
the trash compacting platen member to rotate about its own central axis 
and thereby conform nicely to uneven trash loads in a container being 
compacted. This action in turn serves to transfer loading forces 
efficiently to a trash load, thereby enhancing the trash packing density 
in the trash container. 
These and other objects, features and attendant advantages of the present 
invention will become more readily apparent from the following description 
of the accompanying drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring now to FIG. 1, the trash compactor shown therein in isometric 
view is designated generally as 10 and includes a trash container 12 
mounted as shown on a base plate 14 and aligned with a cylindrical ramrod 
housing 16. The ramrod housing 16 is in turn mounted on a horizontal cross 
bar 18 of an upstanding frame member designated generally as 20. The frame 
member 20 further includes vertical support members 22 and 24 secured at 
their upper ends to the cross bar member 18 and secured at their lower 
ends to the base plate 14. The housing 16 surrounds a piston driven ramrod 
26 shown in its retracted position, and the ramrod 26 is joined at its 
lower end to a compactor head or platen member 28 which is covered by a 
safety shield 30. 
A hydraulic pump and associated motor housing or chassis 32 is mounted as 
shown on the back side of the base plate member 14 and is connected to a 
hydraulic fluid line 34 which extend upwardly and are joined to a single 
hydraulic fluid line 38 which leads into the upper cap or cylinder 40 for 
the ramrod housing 16. 
A power switch 42 is mounted as shown on the horizontal cross bar 18 and 
includes a control panel cycle button 44 and an emergency off button 46. 
This emergency off switch 42 may be controlled by the operation of the 
push button 46 to remove all hydraulic pressure from the ramrod housing 16 
in case of an emergency or other situations arising wherein it becomes 
desirable to immediately stop the compacting operation of the apparatus. 
In addition, a safety switch 48 is mounted adjacent to the facing wall of 
the housing or chassis 22 and is connected through an electrical conduit 
50 to the electric motor (not shown) within the housing 32. 
Referring now to FIG. 2A, the ramrod housing 16 and ramrod 26 are 
concentrically positioned, with the ramrod 26 in a retracted position so 
that the ramrod head or "ramhead" 53 and its associated piston driver 54 
are positioned adjacent to a fluid level point 56 within the ramrod 
housing 16. In this position, there is no hydraulic pressure applied to 
the hydraulic fluid 58 by way of the incoming hydraulic line 60. In FIG. 
2A, the coil spring 62 is in its extended decompressed position as shown 
around the outer walls of the hollow ramrod 26, and the ramrod 26 is 
joined to the compactor head or platen 28 by means of a nut 64 and a bolt 
66 between which are inserted a plurality of slidable concentric washers 
68. The washers 68 are preferably cut from preferably a durable and soft 
or low-deformation type rubber so that they are able to flex from side to 
side as shown in FIG. 2B below. The safety shield 30 is concentrically 
mounted with respect to the platen 28 and the ramrod 26 extends through a 
central opening therein. 
When hydraulic pressure and fluid are applied via line 60 to the ramrod 
housing as indicated in FIG. 2B, the ramrod 26 is forced in a downwardly 
direction so as to drive the platen or compactor head 28 into direct 
physical contact with a load of trash 70 within the container 12. For the 
position and incline of the trash load 70 shown in FIG. 2B, the 
interlocking mounting arrangement including the washers 68 and the nut 64 
and bolt 66 allows the washers 68 to slide horizontally with respect to 
each other as shown and thereby allow the compactor head or platen 28 to 
rotate clockwise in the direction of the arrow 72 shown. In this manner 
the bottom surface 74 of the platen 28 is allowed to assume the general 
surface incline or contour of the trash load 70. At the same time, the 
force of the ramrod 26 against the platen 28 is thrust directly toward the 
center of mass or gravity of the trash load 70, thereby forcing the trash 
load 70 with maximum thrust efficiency toward the bottom surface of the 
container 12. This action prevents the force on the trash load 70 from 
pushing the trash load 70 with undue force into the vertical sidewalls of 
the container 12 and thereby produce a bulging of these sidewalls. 
The additional novel feature of the present invention which allows the 
compactor head or platen 28 to assume the above contour of the trash load 
70 is that the polyvinylchloride (PVC) memory-containing ramrod 26 flexes 
from side to side with respect to the longitudinal axis 76 of the ramrod 
26 and ramrod housing 16. This flexing of the ramrod 26 in turn produces a 
bending torque on the ramrod 26 and thereby causes a right to left 
shifting or sliding action in FIG. 2B of the ramrod head 53 against the 
lower surface 78 of the piston driver 54. However, since the ramhead 53 
and the piston driver 54 are in slidable engagement, this sliding friction 
action produced between these two members 53 and 54 does not cause the 
liquid seals 80 and 82 to be pulled away from the interior wall of the 
ramrod housing 16. Thus, this sliding action or coupling ensures that 
there is no fluid leakage past the seals 80 and 82 along the interior 
sidewalls of the ramrod housing 16 adjacent to the piston driver 52. Thus, 
the piston driver 54 is multi-functional in that it simultaneously 
provides the driving force for the ramrod 26 and fluidic sealing within 
the ramrod housing 16. 
Referring now to FIGS. 2C and 2D, the piston driver 54 is shown therein in 
enlarged cross section and includes a driver top plate or disk 86 in 
contact with the hydraulic fluid 58 (FIG. 2B) and the cylindrical seals 80 
and 82 which are positioned as shown around the outer periphery of the 
driver 54. As previously indicated, the lower surface 78 of the piston 
disk 54 is in slidable engagement with the top surface 90 of the ramhead 
53. The top surface 90 of the ramhead 53 is provided with three 
symmetrically spaced elongated grooves or slots 92, 94, and 96 therein 
spaced at the 120.degree. positions shown and is further provided with a 
pair of grooved rings 93 and 95. .These elongated grooves 92, 94, and 96 
and grooved rings 93 and 95 allow air to accumulate therein and prevent 
hydraulic lock up under hydraulic pressure and prevent the hydraulic 
locking of the upper surface 90 of the ramhead 53 against the lower 
surface 78 of the piston disk 54. 
The following is an example of typical component values, sizes, and 
materials used in a trash compactor of the type described above which has 
been successfully built, tested, operated, and fully reduced to practice. 
However, it should be understood that the following values are given by 
way of an example only in an effort to assist those skilled in the art to 
practice the invention and are in no way limiting on the scope of the 
claims herein. 
EXAMPLE 
The ramrod housing 16 is constructed of aluminum, and the piston driver 54, 
ramrod 26, and ramhead 53 are all constructed of polyvinylchloride (PVC). 
The platen 28 will be preferably constructed of steel. The seals 80 and 82 
have been fabricated of neoprene, and the mainframe members 18, 22 and 24 
have been constructed using a three inch by three inch square tubing. The 
trash container 12 has consisted of a thirty-eight gallon, molded high 
impact polyethylene plastic material with stainless steel door hinges and 
accessories. 
The hydraulic reservoir within the housing or chassis 32 has been 
constructed of an eight gallon molded high impact polyethylene plastic 
material, and the hydraulic pump within the housing has been a 150 pounds 
per square inch adjustablepressure, relief type pump. The steel base 14 
has been configured thirty-one inches wide and thirty-two inches deep, and 
the electric motor used with the hydraulic pump within the housing 32 has 
been a one-half horsepower motor operative at 1725 RPM, and at 8 amps, 
with a thermally protected automatic reset feature. The hydraulic pressure 
hoses shown in FIG. 1 have been constructed of a nylon weave, high 
pressure transparent polyvinylchloride. 
Various modifications may be made in and to the above described preferred 
embodiment without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention. 
For example, there are many design modifications and equivalents which may 
be made to the above described piston driver and ramrod component 
assembly, as well as to the particular interlock mounting of the compactor 
head or platen on the end of the ramrod, while still obtaining the 
advantages and benefits of the uniform trash loading, flexure and torque 
motion described above. These advantages not only gain the benefit of 
uniform trash loading and compacting without resorting to heavy metals, 
but there is the advantage that there is always provided good liquid tight 
sealing between the hydraulic fluid 58 within the upper portion of the 
ramrod housing 16 and the ramrod 26 and ramhead 53 as previously 
described. 
In addition, the novel trash compactor described herein may be designed, 
constructed and scaled accordingly to operate in both commercial and 
consumer environments and may be modified to be operative with 
additionally joined trash containers. For example, the trash compactor 
apparatus shown in FIG. 1 may be permanently mounted in a fixed location 
and immediately above another removable trash container (not shown) which 
is concentrically aligned through an opening (not shown) in the base plate 
14. In this type of application, the trash container 12 could be fixedly 
mounted on the base plate 14 so that the entire apparatus of FIG. 1 can be 
fixed in place underneath a counter top in the home or in a manufacturing 
plant or the like. 
It is also within the scope of this invention and the claims appended 
hereto to employ the present invention and its associated method of 
operation in applications other than the compacting of "trash" per se. For 
example, it is entirely possible and even highly likely that the above 
described apparatus and method will prove highly useful and advantageous 
in compacting other-than-trash materials such as recyclable materials 
which may not be classified as "trash" or even in new materials such as 
fresh newspapers, magazines or the like which have a definite need of 
being packed into the smallest possible space in the least amount of time 
with the highest degree of efficiency using a low cost apparatus such as 
is described herein. Thus, the present invention will be extremely useful 
in applications which require the rapid, efficient and low cost tamping of 
certain materials destined for future use and therefore not classifiable 
as "trash". 
Accordingly, these and other design equivalents and modifications which may 
be made by those skilled in the art to tailor the compactor operation 
described herein to a particular application are clearly within the scope 
of the following appended claims.