Patent ID: 7070382

Claim:
A side loading, refuse collection vehicle body for loading, compacting, transporting and ejecting refuse materials comprising: (a) a hollow refuse storage enclosure for containing compacted refuse having a rear refuse discharge opening including a tailgate and a forward bottom refuse receiving opening extending across said storage enclosure; (b) a charging hopper disposed forward of said storage enclosure and having a width generally equal to the width of said storage enclosure for receiving refuse from refuse containers, said charging hopper having a floor lower than that of said storage enclosure thereby creating a dropped receiving volume, said dropped receiving volume being in communication with said refuse receiving opening of said storage enclosure; (c) a generally linearly operating packing mechanism extending across said charging hopper for moving refuse materials deposited in said charging hopper from said charging hopper into said storage enclosure and packing said refuse materials in said storage enclosure; (d) a reciprocating ejection mechanism in said storage enclosure, said ejection mechanism further comprising a transverse, generally vertical ejection panel operable along a direction parallel to the length of said refuse storage enclosure a sufficient distance to provide complete ejection of the contents thereof, a linear operator for selectively reciprocally operating said ejection panel during an ejection stroke; and (e) a packing-ejection assist panel comprising a transverse vertically pivoting blade generally extending across said refuse receiving opening situated to selectively sweep material in said dropped area generally rearward and selectively block a major portion of said forward bottom refuse receiving opening during selected ejection strokes of said ejection panel.