Enclosed type two-stage garbage compaction and storage structure

An enclosed type two-stage garbage compaction and storage structure, in particular a structure having both a hydraulic cylinder and a rotary inner cylinder provided with guide plates to compact garbage in two stages. The structure includes a housing, the hydraulic cylinder, and the inner cylinder. The housing is provided with a plurality of garbage slots to achieve quick collection of garbage. The housing has a front outlet and a lid. A slide plate is provided in front of the front outlet. The hydraulic cylinder is disposed horizontally, and has a piston rod at a front end and a push stop plate connected to the piston rod for pushing dumped-in garbage into the inner cylinder. The inner cylinder has a gate at an entrance thereof and a plurality of guide plates on its inner wall. When the inner cylinder rotates, a compaction effect is generated. The arrangement of a hydraulic cylinder having a greater compression force and a rotary inner cylinder provided with guide plates considerably enhances the compaction and storage of garbage.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
(a) Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates generally to an enclosed type two-stage 
garbage compaction and storage structure, and more particularly to a 
compaction and storage structure having both a hydraulic cylinder and a 
rotary inner cylinder to compact garbage in two stages so as to 
considerably increase garbage compaction and storage efficiency. 
(b) Description of the Prior Art 
Garbage disposal is an aggravating problem. It is therefore important to 
improve existing garbage disposal and storage structures. In densely 
populated communities where the amount of garbage is considerable, 
efficient garbage collection and storage structures are necessary. 
There has been developed a kind of garbage storage device that utilizes 
guide plates to achieve garbage compaction. However, since there are 
different types of garbage, some relatively bulky garbage such as PE 
bottles and cartons will discount its storage efficiency. There has been 
later developed a kind of device with cutters for shredding the garbage so 
as to decrease its overall size and achieve higher storage efficiency. In 
such a device, garbage is dumped into a cutter device, which cuts the 
garbage into pieces for storage in a storage tank. The cut garbage is then 
discharged via an outlet to be removed by a garbage truck. More garbage 
can be dumped into, cut, and accumulated until the device is saturated. 
However, there are the following disadvantages with such a device: 
1. The cutter device is not effective on larger or harder objects, which 
will damage the blades. Replacement of the blades is necessary, which adds 
to the cost and is therefore economically impractical. 
2. As the storage tank relies on an inner cylinder with guide plates to 
compact the garbage, the compaction rate is not good. Besides, using 
cutters to reduce the size of the garbage is not reliable and economical, 
hence not suitable for the general users. 
There is also available a kind of device that utilizes a hydraulic cylinder 
with a propeller to compact garbage until the device is saturated. 
However, although the compaction force of the hydraulic cylinder is large, 
there are the following disadvantages: 
1. Using a hydraulic device as a main power source for garbage compaction 
will make the hydraulic cylinder and the propeller a large-size device, 
which requires a very large space and expensive maintenance. This is 
impractical for small communities, buildings or institutes such as 
schools. 
2. There is only a single garbage slot, which is inconvenient. 
3. Once such a device breaks down, repair thereof is costly and 
time-consuming. Therefore, it is not cost-effective. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
Therefore, a primary object of the present invention is to provide an 
enclosed type two-stage garbage compaction and storage structure that is 
simple in construction and has the advantages provided by a hydraulic 
cylinder having a powerful compaction force and a rotary inner cylinder 
with guide plates, thus achieving a two-stage compaction and storage 
effect to increase space utilization and rate of garbage collection. 
According to the present invention, the enclosed type two-stage garbage 
compaction and storage structure comprises a housing, a rotary inner 
cylinder internally provided with guide plates, and a hydraulic cylinder 
disposed at a rear side to compact and push garbage into the inner 
cylinder. One side of the housing is provided with a plurality of garbage 
slots, the other side thereof being provided with a garbage outlet having 
a lid. The garbage outlet has a slide plate disposed in front thereof for 
guiding the garbage into the garbage truck. When garbage is dumped in, the 
hydraulic cylinder presses and pushes it into the inner cylinder, which 
rotates while compacting the garbage. The inner cylinder has a gate at an 
entrance thereof to prevent reverse flow of garbage.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
With reference to FIG. 1, which is a schematic of the exterior structure of 
the present invention, an improved enclosed type two-stage garbage 
compaction and storage structure comprises a housing 10 that is an 
elongate cylinder structure having a hydraulic elevatable leg support 11 
to facilitate adjustment of the height of the major structure of the body, 
and a plurality of garbage slots 12 respectively provided on a rear end of 
a section as well as left and right sides and an upper side of the body to 
facilitate dumping of garbage into the body or into a garbage truck. The 
garbage slot 12 on the upper side is connected to upper floors of a 
building by a creased retractable tube so that the present invention can 
be adapted to receive garbage from different floors. The plurality of 
garbage slots 12 increases the rate of garbage collection. The housing 10 
further has an outlet 13 and a lid 14 at a front end thereof. The front of 
the outlet 13 is provided with a slide plate 15 such that, when the lid 14 
is lifted, garbage from the outlet can slide down the slide plate 15 into 
the garbage truck. 
Referring to FIG. 2, which shows the interior structure of the present 
invention, comprising a hydraulic cylinder 20 and inner cylinder 30. The 
hydraulic cylinder 20 is transverse disposed and has a piston rod at a 
front end connecting to a push stop plate 21. The push stop plate 21 is 
used to push dumped-in garbage into the inner cylinder 30 and can prevent 
entry of additional garbage during the process of pushing by the hydraulic 
cylinder 20. 
The inner cylinder 30 is internally provided with guide plates 31 that can 
generate a compaction effect during rotation of the inner cylinder. In 
addition, there is a drive motor and a power transmission device for 
driving the inner cylinder 30. Rollers are provided on the outer side of 
the inner cylinder 30 at the corners and are insertably retained in 
limiting recessed rings (not shown) on an inner side of the housing 10, so 
that they will not deviate during rotation. As this is well known in the 
art, it will not be discussed in detail herein. 
Operation of the present invention is hereinafter described with reference 
to the drawings. Garbage is dumped in via the garbage slot 12 on the upper 
side into the interior of the housing 10. Garbage is also collected via 
the garbage slots 12 on the rear side as well as the left and right sides 
to increase the garbage collection rate. The garbage falls in the position 
of the hydraulic cylinder 20. As shown in FIG. 3A, the piston rod of the 
hydraulic cylinder 20 is in a retracted state, and the garbage may enter a 
compaction channel where the hydraulic cylinder 20 is located via the 
garbage slots 12. The garbage is collectively collected in front of the 
push stop plate 21 of the hydraulic cylinder 20. At this time, a gate at 
the entrance to the inner cylinder 30 is also closed, so as to prevent the 
garbage in the inner cylinder 30 from flowing out in a reverse direction. 
When the hydraulic cylinder 20 is actuated so that it pushes forwardly, as 
shown in FIG. 3B, the gate 22 opens and the push stop plate 21 of the 
hydraulic cylinder 20 moves forwardly to compact the garbage and closes 
the garbage channel of the garbage slots 12. This prevents entry of 
additional garbage into the housing 10 behind the push stop plate 21 to 
cause damage during the process of compaction by the hydraulic cylinder 
20. This is therefore a protection arrangement. When garbage is pushed 
into the inner cylinder 30, the inner cylinder 30 rotates to bring the 
garbage forward. The garbage is compacted and pushed forward by the guide 
plates 31 inside the inner cylinder 30. When the push stop plate 21 of the 
hydraulic cylinder retracts, the gate 22 is closed, thus returning to the 
state as shown in FIG. 3A. The next compaction operation can then proceed. 
Since the inner cylinder 30 is a cylindrical structure, the guide plates 
31 on the inner side thereof can generate a compaction effect during 
rotation of the inner cylinder. A double compaction effect is therefore 
achieved. 
Reference is made to FIG. 4, which shows the present invention for use in 
storing larger amounts of garbage. As the present invention has a 
two-stage compaction action, it can store more garbage than the prior art. 
When the garbage in the inner cylinder 30 is saturated, an indicating 
light on the housing 10 will be on to inform the concerned personnel to 
clean up. At this time, by lifting the lid 14, the inner cylinder 30 will 
start rotating to discharge the garbage inside, and the garbage will slide 
down the slide plate 15 into the garbage truck, which further compacts the 
garbage. Then the lid 14 can be closed and the present invention can start 
operation again. 
In summary, aside from having a plurality of garbage slots, the present 
invention is provided with a rotary inner cylinder having compacting guide 
plates and a hydraulic cylinder having a powerful compaction effect. 
Compared to conventional garbage collecting and storage devices using only 
a hydraulic device, the present invention is more compact in size and easy 
to maintain while considerably enhancing garbage collection efficiency. It 
can therefore be appreciated that the present invention can eliminate the 
problems of the prior art. 
Although the present invention has been illustrated and described with 
reference to the preferred embodiment thereof, it should be understood 
that it is in no way limited to the details of such embodiment but is 
capable of numerous modifications within the scope of the appended claims.