Roll-on, roll-off and other containers of many sizes and types are known and are often used in the collection and transportation of numerous materials including waste materials; residential, commercial and industrial refuse or debris; bulk materials; finished products; parts; or components. Generally, a container is transported by a truck to the site where it is to be filled. The container is unloaded by the truck in some cases by tilting the bed and setting the container on the ground with the aid of a container retrieving hoist mechanism. The container is then filled while sitting on the ground, floor, or other surface before being reloaded onto a truck and transported elsewhere to be emptied or the like.
Prior art containers have been designed with standardized fittings that are specific to facilitate transport by a certain size and/or type of transport means, i.e., truck. The container fittings are permanently positioned to be engaged by the hook or other element of a container retrieving hoist mechanism at a defined height. It is a problem that only a specific truck having a container retrieving mechanism with a minimum hook or other element height can matingly engage or retrieve a container with a specific hook-receiving support or connector member height.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,841,505 relates to a self-packing and ejecting roll off container has a top door and two side doors slightly spaced from a first closed end. A concave packing and ejecting blade having a replaceable edge with a downward extending, friction reducing strip is mounted on a frame which is supported on guides spaced upward from the bottom of the sidewalls. The frame and curved blade are homed at the first closed end with the blade near the door openings. The frame and blade are moved by a multiple stage hydraulic cylinder. The container is completed by a power drive tailgate which closes the container and by a seal which extends inward from the tailgate against the open end to tightly seal the container. The base of the container has hooks at opposite longitudinal ends so that the container may be rolled on and rolled off trucks at either end.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,897,882 relates to a reversible roll-off container for use with a truck chassis. The truck chassis has a rearwardly directed frame and means for hoisting and positioning a container thereon. The container has an improved frame engaging means thereon providing for bidirectional loading of the container and automatic securing or holding of the container on the truck during transport or unloading of the container contents.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,848,619 relates to a removable support with a transverse hooking bar for equipping a front panel of a container, having a front panel and an upper panel, to receive a hook of a swinging cross piece bracket, adapted to fit a transportation and handling vehicle, wherein a transverse hooking bar of the movable support receives a handling hook which is connected to the vehicle. The hooking bar is thereby disposed on the front panel, connected to the removable support. The container is locked into place by an eclipsible lock, but at the same time the removable support can be unlocked, allowing access to the front panel of the container. The removable support can pivot about an axis to a horizontal position on the upper panel of the container where it may be locked into place. The support is vertically moveable on the front panel and may be secured at the top or bottom of the panel by means of the eclipsible lock. A swinging door located on the front panel is made accessible by use of the removable support.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,169,194 relates to a container which has a support member which ascends and descends and is provided at back of a container body, a top connecting member which is fixed at front of the container body and can couple and decouple with a carrier, a bottom connecting member which is provided at the front of the container body so as to be able to move and which couples and decouples with the carrier, and transmitting members which transmit the movement of the bottom connecting member to the support member and raise and lower the support member. When this container is loaded on the carrier, it is reportedly possible to synchronize the front and back of the container body so that the container remains level by raising the front of the container by lifting the top connecting member at the front of the container body by means of a member of the carrier, and holding the bottom connecting member at the front of the container fixed with respect to the ground, transferring the motion of the bottom connecting member relative to the container body to the support member at the back of the container by means of the transmitting members, and extending the support member at the back of the container down to raise the back of the container.
The prior art fails to solve the problem of having to monitor the mateability between trucks and containers of various sizes and thus creates an economic burden on container transporters. For example, even though one transport truck may be located in an area where a full container is waiting to be picked up, the truck is not able to mate with or be able to retrieve the container due to differing connection heights, such as when the truck has a minimum hook or other implement height, and the container has hook-receiving support with a vertical height below the truck hook height. In this case, another truck which is mateable with the container has to be sent out, resulting in a waste of time and resources.