Patent ID: 7588408

Claim:
A refuse collection vehicle comprising: a vehicle chassis having front and rear sets of wheels and engine for driving at least one of said sets of wheels; a vehicle cab mounted on said chassis; a refuse storage container mounted at a rear of said vehicle chassis, said container having a rear door that can be opened to permit egress of refuse and an interior storage space; a refuse receiving hopper mounted on said chassis between said cab and said storage container and having an interior space for refuse, a vertically extending divider separating said interior space of the hopper from the storage space of the container, a substantially arcuate, interior bottom surface, a first aperture for depositing refuse or waste into said interior space, and a second aperture in or adjacent said divider for passage of refuse from said interior space to said storage space, said interior bottom surface curving in a front to rear direction to a rearmost location adjacent a base of said second aperture; two spaced-apart guide rails disposed inside and secured to said hopper; a packer mechanism having a waste pushing face at one end thereof and mounted in said hopper for reciprocating movement between a retracted position away from said second aperture and an extended position where said waste pushing face is in or adjacent to said second aperture, said reciprocating movement being along an arcuate path defined at least in part by said interior bottom surface, said packer mechanism having a blade portion with a bottom engaging and resting on said interior bottom surface, the latter supporting said packer mechanism in the hopper and a pair of spaced-apart rollers rotatably mounted on opposite sides of a trailing end section of the packer mechanism, each roller mounted to roll along a respective one of said guide rails, said rollers and guide rails guiding movement of the trailing end section of the packer; and at least one power drive mechanism connected to said packer mechanism for moving said packer mechanism from said retracted position to said extended position in order to sweep deposited refuse from said interior space through said second aperture and into said container and for moving said packer mechanism back to said retracted position during use of said vehicle, said trailing end section acting as a shield portion to protect said at least one power drive mechanism from refuse during use of said hopper and said reciprocating movement of said packer mechanism.