Appeal No. 1999-0711 Page 2
Application No. 08/876,869
BACKGROUND
The appellants' invention relates to vehicles equipped with refuse collection systems
which incorporate side-loading lift and dump bucket systems which cooperate with
corresponding offset or recessed receiving hoppers having packing devices to load refuse
materials into truck bodies (specification, page 1). With particular reference to Figures 9-13,
the vehicle of the invention comprises a truck body having upper and lower storage
compartments (202, 204) and a charging hopper (208) which is narrower than the truck body
and has a flared sidewall (300) which is recessed relative to the maximum width of the truck
body, as seen in Figures 10 and 11 so as to accommodate a loading bin or bucket (218). The
bucket is provided with rollers (292, 294) which ride in angled candy cane shaped guide
channels (264, 266) for movement between a lower rest position, as shown in Figure 10, and a
raised dump position, as shown in Figure 11. The upper rollers (294) are laterally offset
relative to the lower rollers (292) when the bucket is in the lower rest position. This offset,
which maintains the bucket in an upright orientation when the rollers are disposed in the lower
outwardly angled portion of the guide channels, helps enhance the tipping of the bucket for
dumping as the rollers travel in the upper arcuate portions of the guide channels (specification,
page 22). The claims on appeal are reproduced in the appendix to the appellants' Reply Brief.
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