Refuse collection system, refuse collection truck and loader assembly

Abstract

An improved loader apparatus for a refuse collection truck or vehicle which includes a vertical rail assembly, a carriage apparatus mounted for vertical up and down movement along the rail assembly, a single length of drive chain for lifting and lowering the carriage apparatus between a home or down position and a dump or up position, a hydraulic motor system for driving the drive chain such that the refuse container-engaging apparatus carried by the carriage assembly can be position laterally outwardly therefrom for operatively engaging a refuse container to be emptied. The system includes a feedback system for controlling the speed, acceleration and deacceleration of the pick-up, transporting, emptying, lowering, and releasing cycle for minimizing cycle time while simultaneously maximizing the dumping efficiency of the system. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention an improved refuse collection vehicle having a plurality of individual different and distinct refuse storage bins each designated for receiving one and only one type of refuse therein such as glass, aluminum cans, plastics, other metals, garbage, trash, paper, and the like, or one and only one predetermined mix of such types. A plurality of refuse containers are located at each pick-up site, and each includes indicia for identifying the particular type or type mix of refuse contained therein for bin-selection purposes. The improved refuse collection truck of the present invention includes an improved loader assembly which has a longitudinal positioning system for selectively positioning the rail assembly and carriage assembly, including the operatively engaged refuse container to be emptied, longitudinally along the side of the vehicle to a position adjacent the particular bin designated for receiving the particular type of contents identified as being within the selected refuse container, and an automated system for longitudinally positioning, lifting, emptying, transporting, lowering, restoring and releasing the emptied refuse container to its orignal or another suitable position at the pick-up site.