Material collecting and hauling apparatus

Abstract

A waste hauling apparatus including a truck body divided into two separate compartments by a movable dividing wall. A bucket assembly having separate side-by-side bins is operative to transfer trash material loaded into the bucket by an operator at ground level to the isolated compartments. The bucket travels between a material receiving position and a material discharging position along a trackway having a path of movement including a vertical portion and a transverse portion. At the material discharging position the material contained in the bins is discharged into associated material receiving openings that communicate with respective compartments defined by the truck body. The bucket is reciprocally conveyed between the trash receiving and trash discharging positions by a chain drive mechanism driven by a fluid pressure operated motor and interconnected with the bucket by a linkage mechanism. The linkage mechanism cooperates with the chains to define the limits of movement for the bucket. The compartment dividing wall is used to adjust the volumes of the compartments and is transversely movable inside the truck body by a fluid pressure operated actuator. A discharge door forming part of the dividing wall is opened in order to empty the contents of one of the compartments, through the rear of the truck body as the overall truck body is raised and rotated about a rear pivot axis. Covers overlie the material receiving openings and are opened as the bucket moves to its material discharging position. In an alternate embodiment, the truck body includes upper and lower compartments divided by a fixed dividing wall. Each compartment includes an associated packing blade. A hydraulic control system coordinates movement in the blades and bucket.