Patent ID: 7806047

Claim:
A can crushing apparatus for holding and crushing a plurality of cans, said apparatus comprising: a base having an upper surface; a receiving bin including an end wall and a pair of side walls extending upwardly from said upper surface, said side and end walls having an upper edge defining a fill opening into said receiving bin, said base having an aperture therein extending into said upper surface and outwardly of a lower surface of said base, said aperture being positioned adjacent to said end wall; a drive assembly being mounted to said base, said drive assembly including an arm having a free end, said free end being positioned adjacent to said receiving bin opposite of said end wall, said free end extending into said receiving bin and moving toward said end wall when said drive assembly is actuated in a first direction and away from said end wall when said drive assembly is actuated in a second direction; a loading assembly being mounted on said base and holding a plurality of the cans, said loading assembly depositing the cans into the receiving bin one at a time for each actuation of said drive assembly in said second direction, said loading assembly including; a ramp having a bottom wall and a pair of lateral walls, said ramp being angled downwardly toward said receiving bin, said cans being positioned on their sides on said bottom wall and rolling toward said receiving bin; a retaining assembly being mounted to said arm to allow said cans to fall into said receiving bin one at a time, said retaining assembly controlling the movement of said cans from a queued position to a loaded position and then to the receiving bin, said loaded position being adjacent to an end of said ramp, said retaining assembly including a first stop abutting one of said cans in said queued position when said arm is in a retracted position and a second stop abutting one of said cans in said loaded position when said arm is in a fully extended position; and wherein one of the cans is positioned in the receiving bin and crushed when said drive assembly is actuated in said first direction and falls through said aperture when said drive assembly is actuated in said second direction.