Patent ID: 7421946

Claim:
A press for compressing cans into bales comprising: a housing having a horizontal floor, first and second pairs of horizontally spaced parallel vertical side walls rigidly interconnected and extending upwardly in relation to said floor forming a vertically elongated precompression chamber having a rectangular cross section, said first pair of vertical side walls extending to and secured to said floor, a precompression ram in said precompression chamber vertically shiftable between raised and lowered positions and having a flat horizontal lower end, the lower end of one wall of said second pair of vertical walls terminating at the vertical elevation of said lower end of said precompression ram in its lowered position to form an opening for said main compression ram and the lower end of the other wall of said second pair of vertical walls terminating above the vertical elevation of said lower end of said precompression ram in its lowered position to form a discharge opening which is larger in vertical dimension than the opening for said main compression ram, a sliding door at said discharge opening, shiftable between open and closed positions, a main compression ram disposed for horizontal reciprocation through said opening for said main compression ram having a compression end face, said housing including a main compression chamber formed at the lower end of said precompression chamber by said horizontal floor, said first pair of vertical walls, the lower end of said precompression ram when in its lowered position, said door and said end face of said main compression ram, a feed opening in one wall of said first pair of walls and a clean out window in the other wall of said first pair of walls, a can feed hopper adjacent said one wall of said first pair of walls including a shaft at its bottom, a feed chute adjacent said one wall of said first pair of walls including a scoop at its lower end, said feed chute being vertically reciprocatable between a lowered position in which said scoop is in said shaft for receiving cans and a raised position in which said scoop discharges cans into said precompression chamber, and vertically engageable members on said chute and said precompression ram moving said chute between said lowered and raised positions upon said precompression ram moving between its lowered raised and positions, respectively.