Patent ID: 7434506

Claim:
A propane bottle recycler comprising: a) a bottle station, the bottle station comprises: a bottle station frame, a bottle manifold is pivotally connected to the bottle station frame so that the bottle manifold can be raised to a vertical position or lowered to a horizontal position, the bottle manifold comprises a bottle header and a plurality of bottle cradles, the bottle header comprises a plurality of receiving cavities, a plurality of propane hoses, and a propane manifold; b) a first propane collection tank; c) a liquid propane storage tank; d) a compressor; e) a bottle crusher; and f) a crushed bottle storage compartment, wherein the sides of the receiving cavities are not threaded, wherein the number of the receiving cavities equals the number of the bottle cradles, wherein the number of the propane hoses equals the number of the bottle cradles, wherein one or more propane bottles is/are placed in the bottle cradle(s) when the bottle manifold is in the horizontal position, with one propane bottle per bottle cradle, wherein each propane bottle comprises a mouth, wherein the mouth of each propane bottle is inserted into the respective receiving cavities, wherein each receiving cavity comprises a propane evacuation nipple, wherein the bottle manifold is raised to the vertical position so that the bottle mouths are facing downward, wherein the propane from each bottle flows through the propane evacuation nipples, through a valve on the opposite side of the bottle header, and into one of the propane hoses, wherein the propane flows from the propane hoses into the propane manifold, wherein the propane flows from the propane manifold into the first propane collection tank, wherein the propane flows from the first propane collection tank into the compressor, wherein the propane is in gaseous form when it flows into the compressor, wherein the compressor repressurizes the propane into liquid form, and wherein the liquid propane flows from the compressor into the liquid propane storage tank.