Device for the separate collection of refuse, and lorry provided with such a device

Abstract: A device for the separate collection of refuse, comprises a loading container (2) to be placed on a lorry. The container is divided by means of at least one horizontal partition (3) into a number of compartments (4, 5) lying one above the other. A rear loader (8) is fitted on the rear side on the loading container and has a trough (10) which by means of at least one essentially horizontal partition (11) is divided into a number of compartments (12, 13) lying one above the other and connecting to the compartments of the loading container. Each compartment of the trough contains a pressing plate (19, 20) fixed to a drive shaft (18) for the purpose of moving refuse out of the compartment in question into the adjoining compartment of the loading container. The drive shaft (31) of the pressing plate (19) in the lower compartment (12) of the trough (10) is coupled by means of a coupling (33) which is connectable and disconnectable by means of a switching mechanism to the externally driven drive shaft (32) of the pressing plate (20) of a compartment (13) of the trough (10) lying above the lower compartment (12). The rear loader (8) is provided with unloading means (61) which make it possible for the lower compartment (4) of the loading container (2) to be emptied without the contents of a compartment (5) lying above it coming out.

Description: The invention relates to a device for the separate collection of refuse, comprising a loading container to be placed on a lorry, which container is divided by means of at least one horizontal partition into a number of compartments lying one above the other, and a rear loader fitted on the rear side on the loading container and having a trough which by means of at least one essentially horizontal partition is divided into a number of compartments lying one above the other and connecting to the compartments of the loading container, each compartment of the trough having a filling opening, and each compartment of the trough containing a pressing plate fixed to a drive shaft for the purpose of moving refuse out of the compartment in question into the corresponding compartment of the loading container. Such a device is known from European Patent Specification 0,314,238 in the name of Applicant. In principle, all components occurring in domestic refuse can be collected separately with the known device. The collection of glass is still being carried out in most cases through the glass being taken by the consumer to bottle banks set up in certain places, a system known as a "delivery system". Experiments have demonstrated that if the glass is collected from the consumer, a system known as a "collection system", more glass is collected than in the "delivery system". The object of the present invention is to adapt the known device in such a way that it is also suitable for the collection of glass. In this case account must be taken of the fact that a number of requirements are set for the collected glass. The collected glass must be broken as little as possible. In addition, the collected glass must not be contaminated by other refuse materials. The object of the invention is achieved in that the drive shaft of the pressing plate in the lower compartment of the trough is coupled, by means of a coupling which is connectable and disconnectable by means of a switching mecnanism, to the externally driven drive shaft of the pressing plate of a compartment of the trough lying above the lower compartment, and in that the rear loader is provided with unloading means which make it possible for the lower compartment of the loading container to be emptied without the contents of a compartment lying above it coming out. Through use of the measures according to the invention, it is possible when glass is being collected to use the pressing plate in the lower compartment of the trough in which the glass is collected only when it is strictly necessary, namely when a certain quantity of glass has to be pushed out of the compartment concerned into the adjoining compartment of the loading container. In this way wear of the pressing mechanism and breakage of the glass can be prevented as much as possible. In addition, this glass is prevented from being soiled by other refuse during unloading of the collected glass. Preferred embodiments of the device according to the invention are claimed in the sub-claims. The invention also relates to a lorry provided with a device according to the invention mounted on the chassis. The invention will be explained in greater detail by means of the following description of a preferred embodiment of the device according to the invention with reference to the drawing, in which: Fig. 1 is a schematic side view of a refuse vehicle provided with a first embodiment of the device according to the invention; Fig. 2 is a schematic side view of a refuse vehicle provided with a second embodiment of the device according to the invention; Figs. 3a - 3d show the principle and the different positions of a pressing mechanism used in the case of the refuse vehicles according to Figs. 1 and 2, with a slightly modified arrangement of the cylinders; Fig. 4 is a section along the line IV-IV in Fig. 1, in which the drive shafts of the pressing plates and the coupling between said drive shafts are shown in the coupled state; Fig. 5 is a section along the line V-V in Fig. 4; Fig. 6 is a section along the line VI-VI in Fig. 4; Fig. 7 is a view along the line VII-VII in Fig. 4; Fig. 8 is a section corresponding to Fig. 4, in which the drive shafts and the coupling between said shafts are shown in the uncoupled state; Fig. 9 shows on an enlarged scale a part of the rear loader and the loading container of the refuse vehicle of Fig. 2, partially in a section along the line IX-IX in Fig. 2, and partially in top view; Fig. 10 shows a windscreen fitted on the rear loader, in the opened out position; Fig. 11 shows the windscreen of Fig. 10, folded up; Fig. 12 is a top view of Fig. 10, in the direction of arrow XII; Fig. 13 is a view of half of the front screen; Fig. 14 is a view of a side screen with the position of a lid holder indicated therein. In the refuse vehicle shown in Figs. 1 and 2 a loading container 2 is situated on the chassis 1. Said loading container is provided with a horizontal partition 3 which divides the loading container into two compartments 4 and 5 one lying above the other. The lower compartment 4 in the refuse vehicles shown here is designed for holding collected glass which, compared with other types of refuse, is of relatively high specific weight. Each compartment 4, 5 is provided with a filling opening at the rear side. A press-out plate 6, 7, which can act as a back pressure plate if necessary, is disposed in each of the compartments 4, 5. The loading container 2 is provided at the rear side with a rear loader 8 with filling openings 9 and a trough 10, which is essentially the shape of a vertical half circular cylinder. The trough 10 is divided by means of a partition 11 into two compartments 12 and 13, one lying above the other and connecting to the compartments 4 and 5. The compartments 12 and 13 connect by means of slide plates 14, 15 to the filling openings 9. The rear loader 8 is hingedly connected to the loading container 2 at hinge point 16. After opening of the rear loader 8, in which case the rear loader flaps backwards pivoting about hinge point 16, refuse materials present in the compartments 4, 5 of the loading container 2 can be unloaded independently of one another with the aid of the respective press-out plate 6, 7. A pressing mechanism 17 is fitted in the rear loader 8, by means of which mechanism different types of refuse separated from each other can each be placed in one of the compartments 4, 5 of the loading container 2. The pressing mechanism 17 comprises a vertical drive shaft 18, to which a pressing plate 19, 20 is fixed for each compartment 12, 13 of the trough 10. As can be seen in Fig. 3, a lever 21 is fixed to the top side of the rotary drive shaft 18. At the points 23 and 24 of said lever 21 the piston rods of two cylinders 25 and 26 are hingedly connected to the lever 21. At the points 27 and 28 the cylinders 25 and 26 are hingedly connected to the rear loader 8. The arrangement of said cylinders 25 and 26 is such that (see Figs. 3a - 3d): each pressing plate 19, 20 can make a circular stroke of 210° (105° to the left and 105° to the right); both cylinders 25, 26 are not simultaneously in their dead centre; both cylinders 25 and 26 can exert a pressing force rising towards the maximum over a path of 90° towards both sides. In the refuse vehicles shown in Figs. 1 and 2 the drive shaft 18 of the pressing plates 19 and 20 comprises two coaxial drive shafts 31 and 32 which are coupled to each other by means of a disconnectable coupling 33. The upper pressing plate 20 is fixed to the drive shaft 32, and the lower pressing plate 19 is fixed to the drive shaft 31. The disconnectable coupling 33 makes it possible when glass is being collected to use the pressing plate 19 only when it is strictly necessary, namely when a certain quantity of glass has to be pushed out of the lower compartment 12 of the trough 10 into the lower compartment 4 of the loading container 2. Breakage of the glass and wear of the pressing mechanism are thereby avoided as far as possible. When no glass is being collected, the two drive shafts 31 and 32 are coupled together and the two pressing plates 19 and 20 make the same rotary movement as that indicated above. The coupling 33 between the two drive shafts 31 and 32 is shown in greater detail in Figs. 4 - 8. The drive shafts 31 and 32 are both made hollow. The lower drive shaft 31 is provided at its top end with an outer coupling part 31a, and the upper drive shaft 32 is provided at its lower end with an inner coupling part 32a falling inside the outer coupling part 31a. The upper drive shaft 32 is supported near its lower end in the upper part of the outer coupling part 31a by means of a bearing 41. Provided on the inside of the outer coupling part 31a and the outside of the inner coupling part 32a are recesses which, when they are lying opposite one another, form a series of round holes lying in a circle at the position of the interface of the two coupling parts 31a and 32a. Round pins 42 of a coupling element 43 can move up and down in these holes (Fig. 5). The coupling 33 is shown in the connected position in Fig. 4. The coupling is shown in the disconnected position in Fig. 8. When the coupling 33 is connected (Fig. 4) the two drive shafts 31 and 32 are connected to each other by means of the pins 42, and a rotary movement of the upper drive shaft 32 is transmitted to the lower drive shaft 31. When the coupling 33 is disconnected (Fig. 8) the upper drive shaft 32 is freely rotatable relative to the lower drive shaft 31. The lower drive shaft 31 is always coupled to the coupling element 43. Said coupling takes place by means of a ring 31b, into which the pins 42 project, and which is integral with the lower drive shaft 31 and the outer coupling part 31a (Fig. 6). The control of the coupling 33 takes place by means of a control rod 44 extending from the underside of the rear loader 8 through the hollow drive shaft 31 and firmly fixed to the coupling element 43. The control rod 44 is provided on the underside with a collar 45 which is confined in a thrust block 46. As shown in Fig. 4, pivot points 47, about which a rotary connecting piece 48 rotates in each case, are provided on the thrust block 46 on both sides. At 49 each of the two rotary connecting pieces is hingedly connected to a second rotary connecting piece 50, and at 51 to a cylinder 52. Each rotary connecting piece 50 and each cylinder 52 is rotatably connected at 53 and 54 respectively to the rear loader 8. The rotary connecting piece 48 and the thrust block 46 go into the position shown in Fig. 8 through retracting of the two cylinders 52. The coupling element 43 is then situated in the position shown in Fig. 8 and the coupling 33 is disconnected. In order to prevent the lower drive shaft 31 with the pressing plate 19 connected thereto from making uncontrolled movements when the coupling 33 is disconnected, the lower drive shaft 31 and the lower pressing plate 19 must be fixed when the coupling is disconnected. For this, the control rod 44 is provided with a flattened part 56 which in the disconnected state of the coupling 33 fits into a slot 57 in a plate 58 fixed to the bottom of the rear loader 8 (Fig. 7). The lower drive shaft 31 can consequently no longer rotate relative to the rear loader 8. Another locking possibility is shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 9. The locking in this case is by means of a locking element 59 which can engage on the outer end edge 60 of the lower pressing plate 19. It will be clear that the connection and disconnection of the coupling 33 must be carried out in the position in which the lower pressing plate 19 is locked. During the connection and disconnection the upper pressing plate 20 must be positioned directly above the lower pressing plate 19. There are two possible solutions for preventing the mixing of glass with refuse materials from the upper compartment 5 of the loading container 2 during the unloading of glass from the lower compartment 4 of the loading container 2. In the embodiment according to Fig. 1 this is achieved through the rear loader 8 being provided with a flap-down bottom 61 which at 62 is hingedly connected to the rear loader 8. The flap-down bottom 61 is operated by means of a cylinder 63, which at the position of 64 is hingedly connected to the flap-down bottom 61 and at the position of 65 is hingedly connected to the rear loader 8. Glass which is situated in the lower compartment 4 of the loading container 2 can be unloaded through the opened bottom 61 of the rear loader 8 by means of the press-out plate 6. In the embodiment shown in Figs. 2 and 9 the side walls and the bottom 11 of the upper compartment 13 of the trough 10 are provided at the side of the loading container 2 with extension plates 67, 68 which connect to the side walls and the bottom 3 of the upper compartment 5 of the loading container 2 when the rear loader 8 is partially opened. When the rear loader is closed these extension plates 67, 68 fall inside the upper compartment 5 of the loading container 2 (see also Fig. 9). The dimensions of the extension plates are such that no load can be unloaded from the upper compartment 5 of the loading container 2 when the rear loader 8 is partially opened. In view of the low cohesion of glass, partial opening of the rear loader is sufficient to permit unloading of the glass with the aid of the press-out plate 7. Since the heavy components of domestic refuse such as fruit, vegetable and garden waste and glass are generally collected in the lower compartment 12 of the rear loader 8, it follows from this that the lighter components such as paper and plastic will go into the upper compartment 13. In order to prevent these light components from flying away during loading, a windscreen 69 is fitted near the filling opening of the upper compartment 13. This windscreen flaps out automatically when the choice is made for emptying into the upper compartment 13, and flaps in at a specific speed of rotation of the vehicle motor. The windscreen 69, as shown in Figs. 10 to 14, comprises a front screen 69a and two side screens 69b and 69c. The description which follows of one side screen applies to both side screens. The side screen 69b can rotate by means of a hinge pin 70 which is accommodated in the two bearings 88 and 89. The hinge for the front screen 69a comprises two short pins 72 which are mounted in the bearings 71 and 71a. The short pins are fixed to each other by means of the rotary connecting pieces 73 and 73a with a torsion shaft 74 between them on which the front screen 69a is fixed. A rotary connecting piece 75 (Fig. 12) for each side screen is fixed on the torsion shaft 74. This rotary connecting piece is fixed at point 76 to a cardan shaft 77 which is provided with two cross pieces 78. The axis of rotation of the short pins 72, the axes of rotation of the rotary connecting pieces 75 and the axes of rotation of the cardan shaft 77 and the hinge pin 70 lie in one horizontal plane B (see Figs. 12 and 14). A hydraulic cylinder 81 is rotatably connected at 80 to the rotary connecting piece 73 and rotatably connected at 89 to rear loader 8. By means of this one cylinder the two side screens and the front screen are flapped out or flapped in simultaneously. The two side screens and the front screen are covered with canvas. The canvas of the front screen is also connected to the side screen at 82. The difference in position between the front screen and the two side screens relative to their respective axes of rotation in plane B (see Fig. 14) ensures that in the flapped down position the front screen comes to lie at a distance A (see Fig. 13) below the two side screens. Partly due to the shape of the front screen and the fixing of the canvas of said front screen to both the front screen and the side screens, the piece of canvas folds approximately inside the triangle D E F (see Fig. 13), in such a way that in the flapped down position of the windscreen it lies folded up in the space A between the front screen and the two side screens. If a refuse container with a partition (a so-called duobin) has to be emptied, the lid thereof must first be opened to ensure that the partition of the refuse container can come into contact with the partition 15 of the rear loader 8 (the refuse container is emptied partially into the lower compartment 12 and partially into the upper compartment 13). In the tilted position of said refuse container, indicated by 83 in Fig. 4, there is a chance of the lid 84 falling shut, which will make emptying out of the load into the upper compartment difficult (partly due to the low mass of the refuse in question). In order to prevent this, a so-called lid holder is fitted on both side screens, comprising a bracket 86 which is rotatable at 85 (see Fig. 10). The movement of each bracket is handled by a pneumatic cylinder 87 and takes place automatically after selection of the particular "emptying location". If the windscreen is flapped down or if another emptying location is selected, the two lid holders flap down automatically (see Fig. 11).

Claims: Device for the separate collection of refuse, comprising a loading container (2) to be placed on a lorry, which container is divided by means of at least one horizontal partition (3) into a number of compartments (4, 5) lying one above the other, and a rear loader (8) fitted on the rear side on the loading container and having a trough (10) which by means of at least one essentially horizontal partition (11) is divided into a number of compartments (12, 13) lying one above the other and connecting to the compartments of the loading container (9), each compartment of the trough having a filling opening, and each compartment of the trough containing a pressing plate (19, 20) fixed to a drive shaft (18, 31, 32) for the purpose of moving refuse out of the compartment in question into the adjoining compartment of the loading container, characterised in that the drive shaft (31) of the pressing plate (19) in the lower compartment (12) of the trough (10) is coupled by means of a coupling (33) which is connectable and disconnectable by means of a switching mechanism to the externally driven drive shaft (32) of the pressing plate (20) of a compartment (13) of the trough (10) lying above the lower compartment (12), and in that the rear loader (8) is provided with unloading means (61; 67, 68) which make it possible for the lower compartment (4) of the loading container (2) to be emptied without the contents of a compartment (5) lying above it coming out. Device according to claim 1, characterised in that the drive shaft (31) of the pressing plate (19) in the lower compartment (12) of the trough (10) is positioned vertically and is made hollow, and in that a pin coupling (33) is fitted at the top end of the hollow drive shaft (31), by means of which coupling the hollow drive shaft (31) can be coupled to the lower end of the drive shaft (32) of the pressing plate (20) disposed coaxially relative to the hollow drive shaft (31) in a compartment (13) of the trough (10) lying above the lower compartment (12), while a control rod (44) extends from the underside of the rear loader (8) through the hollow drive shaft (31), for operating the pin coupling (33). Device according to claim 2, characterised in that a movement mechanism for moving the control rod (44) is fitted on the underside of the rear loader (8), which mechanism engages on the lower end of the control rod (44). Device according to claim 1, characterised in that the rear loader (8) is provided at the underside with a flap-down bottom (61). Device according to claim 1, characterised in that the side walls (64) and the bottom (11) of a compartment (13) lying above the lower compartment (12) of the trough (10) are provided at the side of the loading container (2) with extension plates (67, 68) which when the rear loader (8) is partially opened connect to the side walls and the bottom (3) of the compartment (5) of the loading container (2) connecting to the compartment (13) concerned. Device according to any of claims 1 - 5, characterised in that a windscreen (69) is fitted near the filling opening (9) of the upper compartment (13) of the trough (10). Device according to claim 6, characterised in that the windscreen (69) comprises a front screen (69a) and two side screens (69b and 69c) which through coupling means can be flapped in and out simultaneously by one cylinder (81). Device according to claim 7, characterised in that the two side screens (69b, 69c) of the windscreen (69) are provided with a lid holder (86) which can be flapped away with the aid of a cylinder (87). Lorry provided with a device according to any of claims 1 - 8 mounted on the chassis.

Inventors: BARMENTLOO ADRIANUS, BARMENTLOO, ADRIANUS
Applicants: GEESINK BV, GEESINK B.V.
Application year: 1991
Main classification: B65F3
IPC codes: B65F3