GB2092987A - Refuse collecting vehicles and bin tipping means - Google Patents

Abstract

A refuse collecting vehicle has a bin tipping arrangement that can engage different types of standard bin. Respective pairs of arms (24,50) for the different bin types are folded back to inoperative positions to improve access to the loading opening (4) for manual loading and a discharge chute (22) can be folded down for the same purpose. The pair of arms (50) for one of the bin types have a flexible belt (54) extending between them to grip the bin. The belt is detachable from one arm and is secured to the other through a hydraulic tensioning ram (56). The arms (50) and an engagement pad (66) between them are adapted to the bin profile so that when the belt is tensioned the bin is gripped around substantially its complete periphery. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Refuse collecting vehicles and bin tipping means This invention relates to bin tipping arrangements and to refuse collecting vehicles having bin tipping means.

The provision of standard refuse containers is becoming widespread but their usefulness can be limited because different standard types of bin may be required by different users in the rounds of a refuse collecting vehicle, and also because there will always be some refuse that cannot be accommodated in the standard bins being used. To avoid these problems it would be desirable to have a vehicle equipped to handle a number of different standard forms of bin and that is also well adapted for manual loading when that is necessary.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a refuse collecting vehicle having a loading hopper opening at which are provided bin tipping means, said means incuding respective carrier means for at least two different types of bin, each of said carrier means comprising a pair of members that project outwardly away from the opening to engage the carrier means with the sides of the respective types of bin, at least one said carrier means being provided with means to apply a clamping force through its pair of members to engage its type of bin, said members of the respective carrier means each being collapsible to positions in which they lie close to the opening and do not restrict access to the opening for the manual discharge of bins into the hopper.

By these means it is possible to ensure that an operator is not hampered by the parts of the mechanical tipping means that are required to project some way out from the loading opening for their function.

In particular instances, however, ease of access for manual loading may be a question of the height of the loading opening, and the different requirements of mechanical tipping arrangements may result in the operator having to raise his load to an awkward height, even if he is able to come right up to the loading opening. According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a refuse collecting vehicle having a loading hopper opening at which are provided bin tipping means comprising a tipping carrier that includes a chute member serving to guide the bin's contents into the hopper when the carrier is tipped, said chute member extending above the hopper opening before the carrier is tipped, said chute member being downwardly displaceable on the tipping carrier to facilitate access for manual discharge of bins into the hopper when the carrier is in its untipped state.

Whether as a part of the tipping means aforesaid, or as a means for tipping bins on other forms of refuse collecting vehicles, in accordance with a further aspect of the present invention there may be provided a bin tipping arrangement comprising means for gripping a bin on a carrier and for tipping the carrier to empty the contents of the bin, said gripping means comprising a flexible member that is connected at its ends to attachment means on the carrier and that in its inoperative state is able to assume a position which it does not project substantially outwardly from the carrier, said member being adapted to extend around the bin and be tensioned to cause itto grip the bin firmly against the carrier for raising and tipping therewith.

Conveniently, in such an arrangement the attachment means for one end of the flexible member may be releasable when in the inoperative state, the member being placed around the bin before said end is reattached and the membertensionedto grip the bin, while the attachement means may be mounted on one or a pair of arms of the carrier that are displaceable between a retracted inoperative position and an extended operative position.

The invention will be described in more detail by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure lisa side view of the rear loading region of a refuse collecting vehicle incorporating the invention, Figure 2 is a rear view of the vehicle of Figure 1 and includes, superimposed on the upper part of the figure, a plan view of one of the bin engagement arrangements on the rear of the vehicle, and Figure 3 is a schematic hydraulic circuit diagram for the tipping arrangements illustrated in Figures 1 and 2.

The refuse collecting vehicle in Figures 1 and 2 has at the rear of its body a loading hopper 2 into which refuse is tipped through the body rear end opening 4 and is transferred forwards to the main load-carrying compartment (not shown) of the body by a packer plate 6 illustrated at a number of stages of its movement cycle.

Mounted at the rear end opening are tipping arrangements for two different standard types of refuse bins, namely the 1.1 cbm bins of DIN 30700, and circular-cross-section bins of BSS 1136. These examples of bins are designated A and B, respectively, in Figure 1.

These arrangements comprise a rigid carrier frame 8 mounted to tip on transverse pivot pins 10 at the sides of the hopper opening. The pins are mounted at the upper ends of side members 12 of the tipping frame, which are joined at their lower ends by a cross-beam 14. Supplementary vertical members 16 project downwards from the crossbeam 14 to connect a lower support beam 18 to it.

Welded to the top of the main beam and the adjacent edges of the side members is a lower chute plate 20.

Hinged to the upper edge of the plate is an upper chute plate 22 that is fixed by a slide bolt (not shown) in the position shown in Figure 2 in which it is substantially coplanar with the lower plate and the rear facets of the side members 12. When the bolt is released the plate 22 can be folded rearwards and downwards to lie substantially against the crossbeam 14aswill be described below.

Mounted on the cross-beam 14 are respective engagement means for the two types of bin. In the case of the 1.1 cmb bins, these take the form of a pair of flat hook arms 24 mounted on the outer reaches of the cross-beam through vertical pivots 26 that allow them to be folded against the cross-beam when they are not in use. When extended to the illustrated operative positions, their hooks 28 are disposed immediately below the engagement pins 30 that are provided on opposite sides of the standard bin.

The frame 8 is displaceable on its pivots by a tipping ram 32 connected at its ends to respective lugs 34,36 on the vehicle body and the frame 8.

When this occurs, the hooks 28 engage the pins 30 and lift the pin with the frame. As the frame tips, the bin front face is engaged by pads 38 on the support beam 18 and it then tips with the frame. The bin lid 40 is mounted through arms 42 on transverse pivots on the bin body 44, and when the bin approaches the fully tipped position shown in Figure 1, pins 46 on opposite sides of the bin lid engage cam tracks 48 in the upper side regions of the hopper so that the bin lid is swung open and the contents of the bin are tipped into the hopper. It may be noted that even when fully tipped the rearmost region of the bin mouth is behind the rear edge of the hopper, butthe chute plates 20,22 act as a guide to direct the bin's contents into the hopper.Contraction of the ram 32 returns the bin to the grouns, the bin lid swinging closed under gravity and/or a spring bias as the pins 46 return along the cam tracks 48.

For the circular cross-section bins B, the engagement means comprise short hollow-box arms 50 mounted immediately below the cross-beam 14 on vertical pivots 52 from the beam. In Figure 2 (see especially the plan view) the arms are shown in their rearwardly extended operative positions but in Figure 1 they are shown in their outwardly pivoted non-operative positions. Between the arms there extends a sling or strop 54 which is preferably a wire belt but may be provided by other forms of flexible member, such as textile belts, wire cables or metal chains. Although the sling is shown extended in a bin-gripping position in the plan view of Figure 2, it will simply hang limply when not engaging a bin.

One end of the sling is fixed to its arm through a hydraulic ram 56 and is located by a roller 58, while the other end is releasably attached to the other arm through a quick-release fastening 60 comprising a manual release pin 62 (and possibly by a further pin fastening, not shown, as a safety measure).

The releasable end of the sling will be detached before a bin is brought up to the engagement means and is then passed round the bin and re-attached to its arm. Contraction of the ram 56 grips the bin between the sling, the inner faces 64 of the arms 50, and a front support pad 66 mounted on a crossmember 68 extending between the members 16 at about the same level as the arms 50. The engagemenu faces of the arms 50 and the pad 66 form arcs on the circular profile of the bin cross-section and the flexible sling of course adopts the profile of the bin as it is drawn against it so that, as indicated in the plan view in Figure 2, there is a substantially continuous peripheral gripping support provided when the sling is tensioned.

The bin is tipped with the frame by extension of the ram 32, a lower support pad 70 on the frame 8 engaging the lower front region of the bin in this case to ensure it pivots with the frame. The plates 20,22 again act as a chute directing the bin's contents into the hopper.

When it is required to load the hopper manually, with individual items of refuse or with non-standard bins for example, both pairs of arms 24, 50 are folded back against the frame 8 and the upper chute plate 22 is unbolted and folded down. There is now easy access to the complete width of the hopper opening at a convenient loading height, with none of the elements of the bin tipping arrangements projecting more than some 25cm rearwards of the face.

The hydraulic circuit for operating the rams includes a manual control valve 80 provided with respective spools (not shown) for the individual rams operated by levers 81 a, 81 b, both spools being biased to a central, neutral position in which they prevent flow through the ram supply and return lines. Operation of the tipping ram lever 81 a, as to empty a 1.1 cbm bin, connects the pressure inlet line 82 to a line 84 for extending the ram 32 and the opposite end of the ram is connected to return line 86 through line 88.A pressure-controlled non-return valve 90 in the line 84 allows free flow of pressurised fluid to extend the valve but stops the flow in the opposite direction (return movement of the tipping frame from its tipped position) unless pressure is applied to it through the line 88: this is therefore a safety measure against hose failure, preventing descent of the tipping frame with a bin unless this is initiated by operation of the lever 81a.

To retract the ram 56 to grip a circular crosssection bin, the inlet pressure line 82 is connected by the other spool of the control valve 80 to a line 92 and the sling is thereby tensioned. Once the valve spool has been returned to its neutral position a further pressure-controlled non-return valve 94 shuts the line 92 and will not allow fluid to escape from the retracted ram unless pressure is applied to it from the line 96 to the opposite end of the ram, i.e.

when the spool lever 81 b has been operated to extend the ram. This therefore prevents the bin being released because of a hose failure. The flow through the line 96 is also controlled by a plunger valve 98 mounted on the vehicle body with a roller 100 on the rear end of its plunger able to be engaged by the rear face of the tipping frame, which thus depresses the valve plunger when the frame is in its lowered position.

in this state fluid follows the full-line path through the valve 98, but once the frame begins to pivot the ram 56 is connected to the return line 86 through the broken-line path shown in the valve 98, and the valve isolates the ram from the application of pressure through the line 96. The operator therefore cannot release the tension in the gripping sling 54 and allow the bin to drop while the frame is being tipped should he inadvertently operate the valve spool lever.

It will be understood that the invention can be applied to means for tipping different standard types of bins from those described above.

Claims (14)

1. A bin tipping arrangement comprising means for gripping a bin on a carrier and for tipping the carrier to empty the contents of the bin, said gripping means comprising a flexible member that is connected at its ends to attachment means on the carrier and that in its inoperative state is able two assume a position which it does not project substantially outwardly from the carrier, said member being adapted to extend around the bin and be tensioned to cause it to grip the bin firmly against the carrier for raising and tipping therewith.

2. An arrangement according to claim 1 wherein releasable attachment means are provided for at least one end of the flexible member.

3. An arrangement according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the flexible member attachment means are mounted on a rigid arm or arms displaceable between a retracted inoperative position and an extended operative position.

4. An arrangement according to claim 2 together with claim 3 having laterally opposed arms pivotable to and from their extended position, one of said arms carrying tensioning means attached to one end of the flexible member and the other of said arms carrying a quick-release coupling for the other end of the flexible member.

5. An arrangement according to any one of the preceding claims having profiled clamping surfaces adapted to the profile of a clamped bin and against which the bin is held by the flexible member.

6. An arrangement according to claim 3 or claim 4 together with claim 5 wherein the or each said arm has a said profiled clamping surface.

7. An arrangement according to any one of the preceding claims wherein power-operated tensioning means are provided for the flexible member.

8. An arrangement according to claim 7 wherein means are provided to lock the flexible member in its tensioned state when a gripped bin is being tipped.

9. A refuse collecting vehicle provided with a bin tipping arrangement according to any one of the preceding claims.

10. A refuse collecting vehicle having a loading hopper opening at which are provided bin tipping means comprising a tipping carrier that includes a chute member serving to guide the bin's contents into the hopper when the carrier is tipped, said chute member extending above the hopper opening before the carrier is tipped, said chute member being downwardly displaceable on the tipping carrier to facilitate access for manual discharge of bins into the hopper when the carrier is in its untipped state.

11. A refuse collecting vehicle according to claim 10 wherein the chute member is hinged to be downwardly foldable.

12. A refuse collecting vehicle having a loading hopper opening at which are provided bin tipping means, said means incuding respective carrier means for at least two different types of bin, each of said carrier means comprising a pair of members that project outwardly away from the opening to engage the carrier means with the sides of the respective types of bin, at least one said carrier means being provided with means to apply a clamping force through its pair of members to engage its type of bin, said members of the respective carrier means each being collapsible to positions in which they lie close to the opening and do not restrict access to the opening for the manual discharge of bins into the hopper.

13. A bin tipping arrangement constructed and arranged substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.

14. A refuse collecting vehicle having a bin tipping arrangement according to claim 13.