Refuse collecting vehicles
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to an improvement in refuse collecting vehicles of the kind generally defined in the preamble of claim 1. 
     In one known type of such refuse collecting vehicles means are provided for swinging (up) the refuse container on a horizontal axis extending transversely with respect to the refuse truck and usually located adjacent that end of the collecting container which is remote from the load hopper. After that the lowermost end wall of the inclined, filled container is opened and the refuse is fed out through the opening of the wall. 
     In other refuse trucks of the prior art, whose collecting containers are provided with pivotable legs, the containers after having been filled are first lifted after which the legs are swung down. Subsequently the container is freed from its lifting means and lowered, so that it will rest upon the ground with its legs, free from the refuse truck which can now be provided with a new, empty container. 
     In each of these two cases the garbage string which extends from the load hopper into the collecting container is ruptured or cut off at the raising or pivoting up of the collecting container. During this step it is almost unavoidable that some refuse comes loose and falls down to the ground. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The primary object of the invention is to eliminate this drawback and thereby prevent littering of the ground in connection with the separation of a collecting container from an appurtenant load hopper. This object is attained thanks to the fact that the device, according to the invention is so designed as is set forth in the characterizing clause of claim 1. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     Further features and advantages of the device according to the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description and the annexed drawings which diagrammatically and as non-limiting examples illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention. 
     FIG. 1 is a side view of part of a refuse collecting vehicle and illustrates the mutually adjacent portions of the loading hopper and the collecting container as well as a spill box provided under the latter according to the invention. 
     FIG. 2 is a plan view of the spill box and an appurtenant displaceable bottom plate which serves as a &#34;shutter&#34;. 
     FIG. 3 is a side view on a larger scale of the left-hand portion of the spill box in FIG. 1. 
     FIG. 4 is an end view of the spill box on a larger scale. 
     FIG. 5 is a plan view corresponding to FIG. 3 of part of the spill box without its bottom plate. 
     FIG. 6 is a plan view of the bottom plate. 
     FIG. 7 is a cross sectional view on line VII-VII in FIG. 5 rotated 90° counter-clock-wise and illustrating a detail on a larger scale. 
     FIG. 8 is a side view of a rake. 
    
    
     In FIG. 1 there are illustrated, very diagrammatically and in a side view, those portions of a refuse collecting truck which are affected by the invention. The driver&#39;s cab (not shown) of the truck is presumed to be located to the left of the Figure, and the rear end of the truck (not shown) is then supposed to be located to the right of the FIG. 1 designates a frame beam which forms part of the chassis of the refuse truck. In the chassis there is secured by means of bolts a bracket 2a, 2b, 2c, which is shown to be substantially T-shaped in the drawing, for a hydraulic pivot or lifting cylinder 3. The piston rod 4 of the cylinder is pivotally connected at 5 to a support beam 6 which carries a refuse collecting container 7 (only partially shown) which is rigidly united with the beam 6. 8a and 8b designate reinforcement members for the collecting container, whose bottom or lower edge is designated 9. The beam 6 has a tenon 10 which, except when the container is to be emptied or removed from the refuse truck, engages a recess in a bracket 11 which is permanently secured to the reinforcement member 2c by means of a plate or the like 12. 13 represents the fore end or front of the collecting container 7. 
     15 designates the loading hopper which is shown only in part and is welded to the reinforcement member 2a through the intermediary of a U-shaped plate 16. 17 is a ring-shaped gasket or washer which is located in the interspace between the rear wall of the loading hopper 15 and the front wall 13 of the collecting container and surrounds openings (not shown) located opposite each other in said front and rear walls. A pressure screw provided in the loading hopper feeds the refuse while compressing it from the loading hopper into the collecting container 7 through these openings. 
     The spill box which is provided according to the invention and is designated 19 is disposed under the collecting container 7 and is at least as long as the width of the collecting container. In its transverse direction the spill box 19 projects into the interspace between the collecting container and the loading hopper 15, preferably at least right up to the hopper. 
     The spill box 19 is more explicitly shown in FIGS. 2-8. It comprises two longitudinal walls 20, two transverse or end walls 21, 22, of which the latter may be regarded as the &#34;front&#34; of the spill box in this disclosure. In the bottom 23 of the box an opening 24 is provided adjacent the front 22 of the box as is most clearly shown in FIG. 5. The opening 24 is normally, i.e. except just after an emptying of the collecting container 7, closed by means of a displaceable bottom plate which is generally designated 25 and is shown separately in FIG. 6. The length of the plate 25 is more than twice the extension of the opening 24 as seen in the longitudinal direction of the box. The plate 25 has an opening 26 which has substantially the same dimensions as the opening 24 and is displaced with respect thereto in the longitudinal direction of the spill box to such an extent that the two openings are located completely beside each other in the normal pushed-in position of the plate 25, as is apparent from FIG. 2. The plate 25 is slidably carried by a pair of L-profile rails 27 which are shown in FIGS. 2-5 and 7 and has a turned-up fore edge 28 which projects beyond the front 22 of the spill box. Inside its front the plate 25 has a central stop 29 which co-operates with the front of the spill box. 
     The spill box 19 is also provided with a rake or piston 31 which can be pulled out and pushed in and is illustrated separately in FIG. 8. To the rake 31 a pull rod 32 is secured which passes through guide openings or recesses in the front 22 of the box and the fore edge 28 of the plate. The pull rod 32 has a grip 33 in its free end. A locking pin or the like 34 (FIG. 2) which may be inserted into an aperture 35 (FIG. 8) in the pull rod 32 and is attached to one end of a chain 36 (FIG. 3) whose other end is attached to the front 22 of the spill box, serves to prevent unintentional displacement of the rake and the pull rod as well as of the bottom plate 25. 
     To fix or locate the spill box 19 with respect to the collecting container 7 and/or to make the spill box extend all the way up to the bottom of the collecting container, the spill box may be provided, at least at one of its transverse or end walls, with a possibly removable extension plate 38 (FIGS. 1 and 4) which makes this wall higher than the side walls of the spill box. 
     As is apparent from the above, the spill box is so disposed or located on the refuse collecting van that its collecting container serves as a cover or &#34;lid&#34; for the spill box. 
     The device according to the invention operates and is utilized in the following way: 
     When the collecting container 7 has become filled and is to be emptied, a garbage can be refuse sack is initially placed under the opening 24 in the bottom 23 of the spill box 19. Subsequently the locking pin 35 or catch is removed and the bottom plate 25 is pulled out until its opening 26 registers with the opening 24. After that (or alternatively before the unfastening of the catch and the pulling out of the bottom plate) the collecting container is pivoted upwards or raised, thereby rupturing the refuse string extending from the loading hopper 15 into the collecting container 7, so that some waste falls down into the spill box 19. After that the refuse is raked down from the spill box into the garbage can by the rake 31 by pulling the grip 33, the rake and the bottom plate being subsequently pushed back into their initial positions. The garbage can is suitably emptied into the loading hopper. 
     The embodiment described above and illustrated in the drawings is, of course, to be regarded merely as a non-limiting example and may as to its details be modified in several ways within the scope of the following claims. Thus, the front of the spill box may be made removable or pivotable, and the opening thus created may replace the opening 24 in the bottom of the spill box. Alternatively the whole spill box may be made removable.