GB2101680A - Power-driven lids for refuse skips - Google Patents

Abstract

A rear-end-loading (REL) waste- compacting skip has its top closed by a lid 25 which is hinged at one end to the skip body. The lid is divided into longitudinally successive sections 25B, 25A hinged to one another about an axis 27 which runs, as does the main lid-to-body hinge axis 26, across the skip. A power-driven winch 28 is mounted on the skip, and coupled to one of the lid sections, 25A, to progressively open and close the lid by respectively folding the lid sections 25B, 25A against one another and unfolding them flat again along the top edges of the skip body sides. A spring-loaded arm 34, over which the winch cable 29 passes on its way to the lid section 25A, is contacted by the unfolding section 25A and pivoted against the spring-loading to resist the final stages of opening movement of the lid. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Refuse skip The invention relates to refuse skips.

Refuse skips are now widely used in this country as temporary storage for industrial refuse.

When the skips are full, they can be transported to a refuse tip, discharged, and returned empty to their original site to be gradually refilled.

Alternatively they can be discharged, without being taken from their original site, into the loading hopper of a rear-end-loading (REL) refusecompacting vehicle and left empty on site to be gradually refilled before being emptied again.

In recent times the high costs of vehicle operation have favoured the use of the REL vehicle rather than the skip-collecting vehicle, because the REL vehicle can collect the contents of many skips on a single journey whereas the skip-collecting vehicle has to take each skip separately to and from the refuse tip in a succession of journeys.

The simplest form of refuse skip is an opentopped skip. These are relatively cheap to make and to replace. However they are relatively quickly filled. They also tend to be over-filled before the REL or skip-collecting vehicles are called out to empty them. For that reason their contents often spill over the top edges of the skip. Spillage also occurs when the skip is lifted and tilted prior to being discharged into the REL vehicle or carried by the skip-collecting vehicle.

Canvas tops can be fitted to these skips, when they are nominally full, to stop spillage of contents. However these tops are relatively easily damaged. They also have to be manually fitted and removed. They must be removed prior to discharge. This is time-consuming.

Attempts have been made to overcome these two drawbacks of the simple skip. To increase the refuse-storing capacity of the skip, and to prevent spillage when the skip is being filled or is being lifted and manoeuvred for discharge, some skips have been fitted with solid lidspermanently hinged to the top of the skip. These lids resist wear better than the canvas lids. They also do not have to be removed from the skip in order to be opened. They are however.solid and heavy, and rest closed in a downward-sloping position.

Opening them manually is usually a struggle.

Such lids also have not previously incorporated any means to cushion the final stages of opening swinging movement of the lid. Ideally, the lid should be swung right back, through. an-angle approaching or exceeding 1800, to allow the skip to discharge its contents as it is tipped up by the skip-collecting or REL vehicle. The sheer weight of a heavy solid lid of typical skip-fitting dimensions tends to bring the lid down suddenly once it has swung "over-centre", and accidents have been known to occur.

The inventive concept lies in using a solid but foldable multi-part lid which is opened and closed by a power-driven winch carried on the skip and whose final stages of opening movement are resisted by spring-loaded means.

In its broadest aspect, the invention provides a refuse skip whose top is closed by a lid which is hinged at one end to the skip body; the lid being divided into longitudinally successive sections hinged to one another about an axis which runs, as does the main lid-to-body hinge axis, across the skip; a power-driven winch being mounted on the skip, and coupled to one of the lid sections, in such a way that when the winch rotates in one sense it draws the hinged lid sections along the top edges of the skip body sides and folds them against one another, thereby progressively opening the lid; and when the winch subsequently rotates in the opposite sense, it unfolds the hinged lid sections until they lie substantially flat against the top edges of the skip body sides, thereby progressively closing the lid; with springloaded means opposing at least the final stages of opening movement of the lid.

Such a construction provides a solid lid which will prevent spillage and which is not easily damaged, but which is readily opened and closed without having to be manually removed from and refitted to the skip, and which can be swung safely back to its full extent by a relatively lowpower winch unit.

The invention is particularly advantageous when applied to a rear-end-loading (REL) skip. It is easier to load such skips than to have to load over the top edges of the skip sides. The lid needs to be kept shut, whilst the skip is being loaded, and the loaded refuse will be gradually pushed up against the under surface of the lid. The lid can remain closed until the skip is either taken to a refuse tip, or lifted and tilted by an REL vehicle, to be discharged.

The invention applies most advantageously of all to an REL skip which incorporates its own refuse-compacting mechanism. The refuse loaded into such a skip, and compressed initially by the compacting mechanism, will tend to be compacted again when. pushed up from the mechanism against the under surface-of the closed lid. The refuse-storing capacity of the skip is increased to its maximum for a given skip volume, and the expensive REL vehicle itself needs to be called out on fewer occasions because the skips can go longer without needing to be emptied.

If a power supply source for the winch is carred on the skip, even greater efficiency is achieved.

The loaded skips cannot easily, indeed cannot at all normally, be brdught from their various locations around the average factory to a single site: instead, the skip-collecting or REL vehicle travels round the factory to service them where they stand. A compacting skip or other refusecompacting machine usually stands adjacent a source of external power for its compacting mechanism. A skip without any compacting mechanism, but with a power-operated lid, will similarly stand adjacent a power source. If this is the only power source for opening the lid, the skip has to be serviced in situ and only the expensive to-operate REL vehicle can do this.If, however, the skip carries its own lid-opening power source, there is a choice of either REL or skip-collecting vehicle since the power source for the lid travels with the skip, and the skip can be taken to a refuse tip if circumstances favour it.

A power source with only the lid to operate can be small, and need weigh little.

One refuse skip embodying the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings. It is an REL skip which accommodates its own refuse compacting mechanism. It will now be described with reference to those drawings. It is, of course, only one example of forms which the invention might take within the overall inventive concept.

In the drawings: Figure 1 shows the skip in perspective; Figure 2 shows the skip in rear end elevation; Figures 3A, 38 and 3C show the lid of the skip in various stages of opening movement; Figure 4 shows the skip discharging into an REL vehicle; and Figure 5 shows the contents of the skip being discharged onto a refuse tip from the back of a skip-collecting vehicle.

Figures 4 and 5 are perspective views each drawn to approximately the same scale and each drawn to a smaller scale than any of the other Figures. Figures 1 and 2 are each drawn to approximately the same scale as one another, as is Figure 3 which is more diagrammatic than the other Figures.

Referring initially to Figures 1 and 2, it can be seen that the skip is essentially a four-sides upright-walled fabricated steel structure with opposite side walls referenced respectively 11, 12 rising vertically from a flat base 13 and spanned by a relatively shallow front wall 1 5 and with rear walls 16, 17 set one above another. The skip when being fabricated is initially open-topped and is only partly closed by a top sheet 1 8 welded to, and spanning, the horizontal portions of the top edges of the side walls 11, 12. The fabricated sheet walls and top of the skip are reinforced at appropriate intervals with elongate box-section steel girders clearly shown in Figure 1 and referenced by way of example at 1 9.

Bosses 21, and lugs 22, project respectively from and above the sides of the skip. The bosses 21 are headed to take the chains, cables or pickup plates of an REL or skip-collecting vehicle. The lugs 22 are drilled so that the cables or chains of such a vehicle can be passed through and secured to them. The precise locations of bosses 21 and lugs 22 are not essential features of the present invention: they will be decided by the man skilled in this field to suit the capabilities and dimensions of currently available vehicles.

The rear end of the skip, shown in Figure 2, is closed off by a pair of double doors each referenced 23. The doors are hinged to the skip sides 11, 12 respectively so as to open outwards from the centre. The give access to the loading bay of the skip.

The skip incorporates its own refusecompacting mechanism, to which the doors 23 also give access, but which is not illustrated in any of the drawings. The mechanism is of known kind, consisting of a compacting plate powered in an arc by a hydraulic sweep cylinder which draws its hydraulic fluid from a reservoir situated behind the wall 1 7 indicated in Figure 2. An electric pump, not illustrated, is also mounted behind the wall 1 7 inside the top rear portion of the skip. The pump drives the sweep cylinder from the hydraulic reservoir. Its characteristics, location, and mode of operation can, like the rest of the compacting mechanism, be readily arrived at by the skilled man reading this present specification, and neither it nor the rest of the compacting mechanism forms an essential feature of the invention.

When the skip is being loaded, and the compacting mechanism is in use, the skip stands adjacent an external source of electrical power. A 1 3-amp socket is mounted on the side 12 of the skip and is referenced 24. The socket is connected, inside the skip, to the electric pump motor which draws hydraulic fluid from the skip reservoir to drive the sweep cylinder of the compacting mechanism. The external power supply cable can readily be plugged into the socket 24 to operate the compacting mechanism, and equally readily detached to allow the skip to be lifted and discharged when full.

Electrical cutout switches prevent the compacting mechanism from operating whilst the doors 23 are open, and a mechanical interlock automatically prevents the double doors 23 from being opened whilst the compacting mechanism is operating. These cutouts/locks are not shown in the drawings, and it is not necessary to describe them, or any other electrical cut out and safety devices which may have to be provided, in any detail in order that the invention may be understood.

That part of the top of the skip which is not contained within the sheet 1 8 is closed by a lid 25. The lid is hinged at one end to the skip body.

The hinge axis runs across the skip and is referenced 26. The lid 25 is divided into two parts, referenced respectively 25A, 258. Each part succeeds the other longitudinally of the lid.

The two parts 25A, 25B of the lid are hinged to one another about an axis which runs, as does the axis 26, across the skip. This second axis is indicated at 27 and is parallel to the axis 26. In its closed position, as shown in Figure 1, the twopart lid 25 lies substantially flat against the top edges of the sides 11, 12 of the skip.

An electrically-powered winch 28 is mounted on the top rear portion of the skip and is coupled by its cable 29 to the part 25A of the lid 25. The winch 28 is a relatively low-power winch and is compact. It is surrounded by a fabricated sheet metal housing 29A. The back of the housing 29A incorporates a removable coverplate 31. The plate 31 when opened gives access to the winch motor and the winch gearing.

The electrical power supply for the winch motor is carried on the skip. The power supply consists of a 12-volt accumulator which is rechargeable and which is carried inside the top rear portion of the skip just below the winch itself.

Figure 2 shows the position of the accumulator. It is housed in a recess formed in the wall 17. A hinged openable door 31 A gives access to a control panel 32 and a bank of control buttons 32A (which control the compacting mechanism) situated on the panel 32 behind the door 31 A.

The accumulator itself is reached via another removable coverplate (not referenced).

Although the accumulator 32 can be recharged, it does not power the compacting mechanism; but it is connected to the socket 24 mounted on the side 1 2 of the skip. This enables the power supply to recharge the accumulator whilst the compacting mechanism is in use and socket 24 is connected to the supply.

As Figure 1 shows, the winch cable 29 passes over a roller, carried on the end of an arm, on its way to the lid part 25A. The roller is machined from hardened polyurethane and is referenced 33.

Its cable-bearing surfaces are convex when viewed in cross section. It is freely rotatable in the end of the arm 34 which is a fabricated sheet steel structure and which is itself pivotally mounted in bearings 35 which are welded to the sheet top 1-8 of the skip.

The arm 34, as well as projecting from the top of the skip, -extends into the skip beneath the sheet 18. A cut out 36 is formed in the sheet 18 to make this possible. The pivotal movement of the arm 34 about the bearings 35 is limited, at one extreme by projections 34A and at the other by projections 34B, each of which bears against the top 1 8 of the skip. The total pivotal movement allowed the arm 34 by these projections is, in this particular skip, about 600.

In its forward limiting position, with the projections 34A bearing against the top 18 of the skip, the arm 34 makes an angle of about 1200 with the greater portion of the top 1 8 and projects forward beyond the main lid-to-body-hinge axis 26. This, together with the use of a two-part lid 25, reduces the initial mechanical disadvantage which the winch 28 has to over come when first beginning to open the lid.

The arm 34 is spring-loaded, There are two sets of springs, each set consisting-of a group of four identical coiled tension springs. The two sets are referenced respectively 37A, 27B. With the arm in its forward-projecting position, shown in Figure 1, both sets of springs are taut but are substantiaíly untensioned.

Pegs 38 project from the top edges of the skip body sides at spaced locations beneath the closed lid. There are two sets of these pegs 38, one on each of the sides 11, 12 of the skip. Latches 39 are carried on each of the parts 25A, 25B of the lid and cooperate with the pegs 38 to hold the lid shut against the pressures of compacted refuse forced up against the under surface of the lid during use of the skip.

Arms 41 project from the forward edge of the part 25B of the lid. These arms are very slightly splayed outwardly away from one another, and each incorporate a roller (not shown). When the lid is being closed, the arms 41 engage the skip body sides to guide the forward lid part 25B into position, and the rollers engage the top edges of the skip opening, for latches 39 to engage underneath the pegs 38.

The skip operates in the following way: The double doors 23 are opened to give access to the loading bay of the skip. Refuse (not shown in the drawings) is loaded into the skip and is compacted by the mechanism (also not shown).

The compacted refuse is pushed up against the underside of the closed lid 25 occupying the position shown in Figure 1. Eventually the skip is full, the compacting mechanism is stopped.

Before each compacting cycle can start, the doors 23 must first be closed.

The external electrical power supply (not shown in the drawings) is disconnected from the socket 24.

A door 40 (Figure 1) opens to give access to a rotary switch (not shown). The switch controls the output of accumulator 32. When turned, it makes winch 28 reel in its cable 29. The two parts of the lid 25 are drawn towards one another, along the top edges of the skip body sides 11, 12, and are eventually folded against one another as shown successively in Figures 3A and 38. The lid is thereby progressively opened. Initially (Figure 3A) the rollers behind arms 41 run along the top edges of the skip opening: eventually (Figure 38) they are lifted, with lid part 258, off them.

Continued reeling-in movement of the winch causes the lid parts 25A, 258 to swing the arm 34 clockwise (when viewed as in Figure 1) against the action of both sets of springs 37A, 37B. The springs resist these final stages of opening movement of the lid until the arm projections 348 bear against the top sheet 18: at that stage, a slip-clutch, built into the winch gearbox, stops any further reeling-in operation of the-winch. The lid is held fully open in the position shown in Figure 3C. The clutch is not shown in the drawings. The two parts 25A, 258 of the lid are clipped to one another, when the lid is in its fully-opened position, by engaging pins 42, carried by the part 25 A, into holes formed in the forward regions of the sides of the part 258. The pins 42 are permanently j-6ined to the lid part 25A by respective, short chains the non-pin-carrying end of which is secured to the lid part 25A adjacent to the hinge 26.

The skip with opened lid can then be lifted and discharged, either into the loading hopper of an REL vehicle as-shown in Figure-4; or onto a refuse tip from the back of a skip-collecting vehicle as shown in Figure 5.

Once the contents of the skip have been discharged, the empty skip is set down by the vehicle and is uncoupled from the vehicle. The lid 25 is closed progressively by causing the winch 28 to pay out its cable 29, after first disengaging the pins 42 from the holes in the lid part 25B. The two parts of the lid then move successively through the stages indicated in order by Figures 3C, 38 and 3A to resume eventually the position of Figure 1 in which they lie substantially flat against the top edges of the skip sides 11, 12. As the lid approaches the Figure 1 condition, closing all the while, the splayed-out arms 41 and their rollers guide the end of the lid part 25B into position against the sides 11, 12 of the skip; and the latches 39 automatically enter underneath and engage the pegs 38 to lock the lid shut.

Once the lid reaches its Figure 1 position, the skip operator will then automatically stop the winch from continuing to pay out the cable 29, by turning off the rotary switch inside door 40.

During this closing movement, and during the initial opening stages of movement, of the lid, the pins 42 hang loose outside the body of the skip.

Because they are adjacent the hinge 26, there is relatively little chance of them jamming underneath the closing lid. If they were to be secured to the forward end portion of the lid, or even adjacent the hinge 26 which pivots the two parts of the lid to one another, they could jam that hinge or they could prevent the engagement of the latches 39 with the pegs 38 as the lid came down.

The skip described above and illustrated in the drawings could be modified within the scope of the invention. For example the two sets of coiled tension springs 37A, 37B could be replaced by torsion bars in the pivots in the arm 34. It is even conceivable that the arm 34 could be done away with and spring-loading means provided instead by incorporating torsion bars into either or both of the hinge pivots 26, 27. The forward end of the lid part 25B could be constrained to slide up the top edges of the skip body sides, without being lifted away from them, at the price of some restriction in the arc of opening of the lid: a two-part lid, such as the one illustrated, modified in this way would not be able to swing beyond the position illustrated in Figure 3B, but this might be enough for many applications of use of the skip.The final stages of opening movement of the lid, whilst spring-loaded, could "wind-up" a ratchet mechanism which would act as an automatic safety lock should the cable 29 break when holding the lid open. Such a ratchet mechanism could be of the "pull off" kind, used in an entirely different field in sports car hand brake levers, where the ratchet is released to allow closing of the lid by a sudden sharp pull in the "opening" direction on the winch cable.

In the illustrated skip, the front pair of latches 39 are welded to the lid in fixed non-pivotal manner. They do not need to pivot, because during the first part of their opening movement, or the last part of their closing movement, they will automatically move under, or away from under, their pegs 38. The back pair of latches-the ones adjacent the hinge 27-do however have to be pivoted away from their pegs 38 before the lid can be opened. They also have to stay out of the way of the their pegs 38 as the lid comes down again. With the lid fully down, they can then be swung under the pegs again to hold the lid shut, as in Figure 1.

It will be noted from Figures 3A to 3C that the cable 29 lifts off the pulley in its final stages of opening the lid 25.

It is conceivable that the cable, on its way to the lid, could pass over a cable-receiving groove formed about the hinge axis 26, without passing over an arm such as 34. This could happen irrespective of whether or not the arm 34 were retained to provide the spring-loaded means resisting the final stages of lid-opening movement. The cable would then run, from the winch, flat along the top 18 of the skip; over the hinge axis 26; and to the lid 25. It would, again, lift off the top 1 8 as the lid was progressively opened.

Instead of latches 39 and pegs 38, the forward edge of the lid section 25B could have pegs projecting from it and engaging holes formed in the top edge region of the skip front sheet 1 5. As the lid was opened, the forward-projecting pegs would automatically withdraw from the holes in the front sheet; and as the lid came down again, the pegs projecting from its front edge would automatically enter into those front-sheet holes, because the movement of the pegs-like the movement of the existing front pegs 38-would be arcuate.

The positioning and configuration of pins 42 could also vary.

Other modifications will occur to those skilled in this field.

Claims (8)

Claims

1. A refuse skip whose top is closed by a lid which is hinged at one end to the skip body; the lid being divided into longitudinally successive sections hinged to one another about an axis which runs, as does the main lid-to-body hinge axis, across the skip; a power-driven winch being mounted on the skip, and coupled to one of the lid sections, in such a way that when the winch rotates in one sense it draws the hinged lid sections along the top edges of the skip body sides and folds them against one another, thereby progressively opening the lid; and when the winch subsequently rotates in the opposite sense, it unfolds the hinged lid sections until they lie substantially flat against the top edges of the skip body sides, thereby progressively closing the lid; with spring-loaded means opposing at least the final stages of opening movement of the lid.

2. A skip according to Claim 1, in which the spring-loaded means comprise an arm which projects from the top of the skip body and against which the lid bears during the final stages of its opening movement.

3. A skip according to Claim 2, in which the winch cable, chain or other traction element passes over the projecting end of the arm on its way from the winch to the lid.

4. A skip according to Claim 2 or Claim 3, in which the projecting end of the arm projects forward beyond the main lid-to-body-hinge axis (i.e. occupies a position between that axis and the axis about which the lid sections are hinged to one another) when the spring-loading means are in an untensioned state.

5. A skip according to any of the preceding ciaims, in which a power supply source for the winch is carried on the skip.

6. A skip according to any of the preceding ciaims, incorporating means to hold the lid sections against one another when the lid has been opened.

7. A skip according to Claim 6, in which the holding means comprise pins or clips located at the main-hinge end of the lid.

8. A refuse skip substantially as described herein with reference to, and as illustrated in, the accompanying drawings.