Portable metal compacting device

Abstract

A metal crushing device includes a crush chamber having front and rear walls, side walls, a top wall and a base wall and a movable inner top wall mounted within the crush chamber and extending generally parallel with the base wall and four hydraulic cylinders mounted on the top wall and having extendable piston rods. The piston rods connect to the movable inner top wall through the top wall generally adjacent the corners thereof. Front and rear doors provide for loading and unloading of the crush chamber, and a lift device is mounted beneath the crush chamber for raising and lowering the crush chamber. An hydraulic actuator is operatively connected to the four hydraulic cylinders to extend the piston rods downwards forcing the movable inner top wall downwards to crush items within the crush chamber between the movable inner top wall and the base wall.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001]1. Technical Field[0002]The present invention is directed to compacting and crushing devices for scrap and refuse and, more particularly, to a portable metal crushing device for crushing objects such as small appliances, car parts and the like, which includes a rectangular box-like crush chamber having a movable inner top wall, an inlet door, an outlet door, four upright hydraulic pistons mounted on top of the crush chamber for driving the movable inner top wall downwards, and a guide structure mounted atop the movable inner top wall and extending through the top wall of the crush chamber operative to guide the movable inner top wall as it moves downwards within the crush chamber to generally prevent significant shifting of the movable top wall during the crushing process.[0003]2. Description of the Prior Art[0004]There has been an almost exponential growth in the size and number of landfills being used in the United States for disposal of waste. Wh...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0014]The present invention thus provides an improved metal crushing device which is superior in many respects to those devices currently found in the prior art. For example, the multiple hydraulic pistons connected to the movable inner top wall will drive the inner top wall downwards to evenly crush material regardless of the position of the material within the crush chamber prior to crushing. Furthermore, because the guide structure mounted atop the movable inner top wall prevents significant shifting of the movable top wall during the crushing process, the wear and tear on the hydraulic cylinders is greatly reduced, particularly as compared to the prior art. Also, because the present invention includes both an inlet door and an outlet door, it is very easy for a user of the device to quickly and easily load metal objects to be crushed into the device and, once the crushing process is completed, the user need not reposition himself or herself to unload the metal crushing device of the present invention, as the unloading takes place via the outlet door. Finally, because the present invention utilizes four upright hydraulic pistons which drive the inner top wall downwards to crush metal, the inner top wall does not have to be as heavy and large as those crush plates required by devices found in the prior art, which substantially decreases the overall weight of the improved metal crushing device of the present invention, thus making the device easier to transport and more efficient to operate. It is thus seen that the present invention provides a substantial improvement over those devices found in the prior art.

Problems solved by technology

When these are received at a landfill site, they are gathered together and moved into a transport truck for transport to a recycling center, but due to the large, bulky shape of most of the metal waste, it is somewhat difficult to transport the metal waste economically.

While these devices are usable for the purpose of compacting metal into more easily manipulated bundles and plates, they include specific design defects which render them operatively insufficient for their appointed task.

Specifically, the Lindemann patent utilizes a single hydraulic piston to drive the crushing ram and the Chazen patent discloses a ram having two cylinders for performing the crushing operation, which, in either situation, can result in an unbalanced load being crushed should the majority of the material to be crushed be pre-positioned above or below the point of connection of the hydraulic rams to the crush plate.

To compensate for this potential problem, the cited patents, in accordance with several other devices found in the prior art, suggests the use of a crush plate which is exceedingly large and heavy, with the end result being that the entire unit is thus quite large and difficult to move to various locations.

Another problem encountered in the prior art is that the vast majority of metal crushing devices are not designed to be portable for on-site use, as would be beneficial when the metal crushing device is to be used at a landfill site.

Such devices are not currently found in the prior art, with the main reason for this being that the need for such a device has heretofore been somewhat limited, in that the growth in the number and size of landfills is a relatively recent phenomenon.

However, this does not change the fact that there is a significant need for such a metal crushing device, a need which is not currently addressed and solved by the prior art.

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