Peabody International Corporation

George W Palmer

William A Herpich

Francis H Pittenger

An apparatus for compacting refuse as in the body of a rear loader refuse truck having a movable panel which extends across the body as a barrier against which the refuse is compacted by a packer blade. The packer blade is movable through a loading hopper to move the refuse into the rear of the body and to compact it against the panel. The apparatus has an hydraulic system including a pump for supplying fluid at a controlled maximum system pressure, an hydraulic cylinder mechanism for powering the packer blade and a valve which is biased toward neutral and which is manually movable to a power position for supplying fluid to the hydraulic cylinder. The valve has pressure responsive means which hold it in power position and which are deactivated when the pressure in the hydraulic cylinder reaches a level below maximum system pressure. The apparatus comprises a manually activated, position sensing device, for example an engageable cam, which can be set to overcome the pressure responsive means and to hold the valve in power position. An element of the packer blade structure deactivates the position sensing cam when the packer blade reaches a position close to but short of its normal final rest position which allows the bias on the valve to return it to neutral and to stop the movement of the packer blade.

Hydraulic system for a refuse truck

A tailgate for a rear loading refuse vehicle. The tailgate has vertical side walls and a hopper-like bottom. There is an upwardly and forwardly inclined guide track in each of the side walls. A slide block is reciprocated in each guide track by one of a pair of packing cylinders which extend along and are spaced laterally from the guide tracks with the bases of the cylinders at the upper ends of the tracks and the ends of their rods connected to the slide blocks. A generally rectangular packer blade is pivotally supported along its upper edge by the guide blocks. A pair of sweep cylinders are pivotally connected at the upper rear corner of the tailgate and their rods are pivotally connected to the packer blade at a point intermediate its upper and lower edges. The geometry of the apparatus is such as to apply the force acting laterally on the guide tracks primarily in the down direction so that the tailgate structure is supported against this force by the vehicle body enabling the tailgate sidewalls to be less massive. Preferably the guide tracks open toward the inside of the tailgate and the packing cylinders are located inside the tailgate. A non-load carrying fall back shield also is carried by the slide blocks to prevent refuse already in the vehicle body from falling backwardly over the packer blade.

Growing community of inventors

Galion, OH, United States of America

George W Palmer