Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
202082~
.BEV~RAGE CAN CRUSHER
Background and Summary of the Invention
Many forms of can crushers are known in the prior
art, some simple and some fairly complicated. The
popularity of crushers results from the popularity of
- light-weight metal or like cans as containers for
beverages, and it is typical that can dimensions have
become relatively standardized in sizes including
seven-ounce, twelve-ounce and sixteen-ounce, these
being the sizes destined for return to the retailer,
delivery to recycling centers and the like. Crushers
offer the convenience of reducing the volume of
returned cans to a fraction of the volume that would
result if the cans retained their original dimensions.
U.S. Patent No. 4,827,840 is typical of prior art
relating to can crushers. In that patent, a
horizontal crushing chamber receives a can and a
lever-operated plunger compresses the can to a
dimension enabling the can to be discharged through an
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opening dimensioned to allow passage of the crushed
can.
Also in that patent, among other things, the cans
are fed serially from a magazine but several drawbacks
result from relatively complex structure, leading to
elevated costs, difficult maintenance and such bulk as
to make packaging and shipping inconvenient.
According to the present invention, these and
other drawbacks are eliminated by the provision of a
wall-mountable crusher that is simple and constructed
of material having the characteristics of high strength
and long life. Further, the design lends itself to
knock-down shipping components that are easily
assembled by the purchaser. A feature is the magazine
that contains cans in serial mode for discharge one by
one into the crushing chamber and for further discharge
in crushed condition into a receptacle. A still
further feature resides in the arrangement of parts
providing for retention of the cans in the magazine
during the crushing operation of a preceding can, the
next can dropping into the crushing chamber upon
retraction of the plunger to a position prior to the
stroke on which it crushes the next can and so on. Yet
another feature is the provision of a magazine
selectively conditionable to handle cans of different
dimensions.
A significant feature is that the crusher is
provided as two units, the magazine being one unit and
the crushing mechanism the other unit. By this
feature, the magazine may be constructed of relatively
light material since it takes no significant forces
during operation of the device, while the crushing
mechanism, which does by far the bulk of the work, can
be made of heavier-duty material and can carry the
pivot means for mounting the bell crank that operates
the crushing plunger.
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Other features relate to the ability of the
crushing mechanism to adapt itself to handling
individual cans at times and further to position cans
that have been inadvertently dropped into the magazine
in upright fashion.
These and other features and objects of the
invention will appear as the disclosure progresses.
Brief Description of the Drawings
Fig. 1 is a perspective of the structure in
operational mode.
Fig. 2 is an enlarged elevation, partly in
section, showing t,he crushing plunger on its retracted
stroke.
Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the plunger at
the end of its crushing stroke.
Fig. 4 is a perspective, with a portion broken
away to show an interior part of the plunger.
Fig. 5 is a similar view of a modified form of
plunger.
Fig. 6 is a perspective of the base of the crusher
in which the plunger operates.
Fig. 7 is a fragmentary section showing how an
individual can can be added or removed without passing
through the magazine.
Fig. 8 is a fragmentary section showing how an
upright can may be turned to a correct horizontal
position by retraction of the plunger.
Detailed Description of a Preferred
Embodiment of the Invention
Reference will be had first to Fig. 1 for an
over-view of what is involved. The numeral 10
designates a wall or equivalent vertical support
structure and the crusher, comprising a magazine unit
12 and crushing mechanism unit 14, is mounted on the
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wall by any suitable means, such as by screws 16 (Figs.
2 and 3). A receptacle 18 is mounted on the wall below
the crusher unit as by means of a modified wire coat
hanger 20 and hooks 22 screwed into the wall. The
receptacle may be a conventional plastic bag commonly
used for trash, etc. In a preferred knocked-down
shipping package, the magazine is in disassembled
condition, as are the crushing components, and the bag
18, coat hanger and screws may be included in the
package or furnished by the purchaser.
The magazine unit is structurally separate from
the crusher unit and is made up of a plurality of walls
24, 26, 28 and 30 connectible in any suitable fashion
to comprise the finished magazine. After assembly of
the walls 24, 26 and 28, the screws 16 are used for
mounting. The edge portions of the walls 24 and 26
remote from the wall 28 are provided with grooves 32
and 34 into either of which the wall 30 is receivable,
depending upon the length of the cans contained in the
magazine. In Figs. 2 and 3, the magazine is shown as
containing cans 36 of the typical twelve-ounce height.
When the wall 30 is slid upwardly from the inner groove
32 and replaced in the outer groove 34, the magazine
will hold cans of the sixteen-ounce size. Smaller
cans, i.e., of the seven-ounce size are also available,
albeit in lesser quantities; however, these can be
crushed along with twelve-ounce cans when the magazine
is in the twelve-ounce mode.
The crushing mechanism 14 is wall-mounted directly
- 30 beneath but separate from the open bottom of the
magazine, again using screws 16. The crusher mechanism
includes a base 38 in the form of an upwardly facing
channel of approximately semi-circular section having a
horizontal floor or bottom 39 and an integral inner end
in the form of an upright flange 40 through which the
screws 16 are passed into the wall. The base may be
.
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made of any suitable material of high strength and
light-weight, such as aluminum, any of the well-known
plastics, etc. The horizontal length of the base is
somewhat more than the length of a sixteen-ounce can,
and the base has an outer end 42 remote from the inner
end 40 provided with a pivot 44 which mounts a
bell-crank 46 whose long arm has a handle grip 47 and
whose short arm is pivotally connected at 48 to a
plunger 50, the configuration of which is seen in Fig.
4 as comprising a pair of arms 52 connected rigidly to
a circular head 54 having a diameter on the order of
that of a can to be crushed; or, in other words,
fashioned to cooperate with the channeled base 38.
The pivot 44 is integral with the bottom 39 and
rises therefrom to provide the pivot axis closely above
the bottom, preferably at a height less than the
diameter of a can, which provides better geometry for
can crushing. Moreover, the pivot is directly a part
of the crushing unit and thus separate from the
magazine, thereby avoiding "beefing up" the magazine to
provide an unnecessarily high pivot.
As will be seen from the description so far, the
plunger is at the end of its retracted stroke when the
bell-crank handle is down (Fig. 2). When the plunger
is thus retracted, the lower-most can in the magazine
is free to drop into the base between the head of the
plunger and the inner end 40 of the base. Note in Fig.
2 that there is an axial space between the plunger head
and the proximate end of the received twelve-ounce can.
This will show the ability of the crusher to
accommodate sixteen-ounce cans. When the belL-crank is
rocked to the position of Fig. 3, the plunger crushes
the can to the shorter length shown and the crushed can
drops through a discharge opening 56 in the bottom of
the base 38 and is thus received by the receptacle 18.
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It should also be observed that the head of the
plunger in Fig. 3 passes the edge of the discharge
opening that is spaced from the end 40 of the base.
However, a prong 58 on the plunger prevents the head
from dropping into the opening 56 and hanging up on
that edge. See also Fig. 4. It will also be seen in
Fig. 3 that when the plunger is at the end of its
crushing stroke, the next can from the magazine is
prevented by the plunger arms from interfering with the
retracting stroke of the plunger. But, when the
plunger is fully retracted, the next can drops into
place on the base 38. Again, on its next crushing
stroke, the plu~ger prevents entry of more than one can
at a time to the base 38. Fig. 5 shows a modified form
of plunger 50' which has an arcuate underside 58' which
functions like the prong 58 to prevent the plunger from
hanging up on the edge of the discharge opening 56.
An important feature of the present design will be
seen from Fig. 7, wherein the bell-crank is swung
clock-wise to its maximum position which corresponds to
the Fig. 2 position; thus, the bell-crank is in its
plunger-retracted position. Fig. 7 shows, however,
that the plunger has been swung clock-wise about its
pivot 48 to expose the channel of the base 38, whereby
a can may be manually added to or removed from the base
as seen by the broken-line can positions 36a and 36b.
That is to say, the lower exit end of the magazine is
spaced sufficiently above the crushing unit to permit
"flipping" of the plunger as shown. For example,
during operation, the user may detect a can that for
some reason he does not wish to crush. Thus he may
slip the can 36b outwardly as suggested by the can 36a
and thereby completely remove the can. Conversely,
while the magazine is empty while adjusted for, say,
twelve-ounce cans, the user may wish to crush one or
two sixteen-ounce cans randomly, which he can do
~ ~ 7~ 20~0823
without adjusting the magazine, since he can insert a
can as shown at 36a and 36b. This is another example
of the versatility of the arrangement.
Fig. 8 illustrates a still further feature of the
invention. As shown there, with the plunger in its
crushing portion (full lines), a can 36c has been
inadvertently dropped into the magazine and lands
upright on the top of the plunger. This creates no
problem, since retraction of the plunger via the
bell-crank turns the can to a correct horizontal
position. Thus result follows from the design of the
plunger as best seen in Figs. 4 and 8 wherein it is
shown that the circular plunger head 54 has its top
spaced above plunger arms 51 by a distance sufficient
to give the plunger head an upper lip portion 55. The
upright can 36c lands outwardly or to the right of the
lip 55 (as seen in Fig. 8), so that when the plunger is
retracted the lip engages the can and turns it to the
36d position from which the can gravitates to the
correct horizontal position. It is seen that when the
plunger is in its Figs. 3 and 8 position, the lip 55 is
disposed so that can 36c naturally slips to the right
of the lip. The relationship of the lip 55 to the arms
51 is such as to form an upwardly facing "pocket"
outwardly of the lip. The horizontal distance between
the rear of the lip and the outer wall of the magazine
is on the order of the diameter of a can but quite a
bit less than the height of a can, so that a can
dropped in an upright position is bound to drop
outwardly of the lip 55 as shown. Further, the lip 55,
in the crushing position of the plunger, is spaced from
the end 40 of the base by a distance substantially less
than a can diameter.
The leverage arrangement between the bell crank
and the plunger is such as to prevent the plunger from
climbing out of the base, so that the action of
~_ - 8- 202082~
crushing is simple and smooth. As best noted by a
comparison of Figs. 2 and 3, the rear end of the bell
crank (pivot 48) travels in an arc about the pivot 44
to pass upwardly and inwardly and over or past the
pivot 44 and then inwardly and downwardly to the Fig. 3
position. At this point, the pivot 48 is just above a
straight line between the pivot 44 and the center of
the plunger head, thus exerting maximum force with
fairly minimum effort. On return of the bell crank to
its Fig. 2 position, the movement is relatively rapid
and allows the next can to drop quickly into position
to be crushed on the next stroke of the plunger. The
pivots among the base, bell-crank and plunger are
separable to contribute to the packaging of the
structure for shipping, etc.
Features and advantages other than those
enumerated will readily occur to those versed in the
art, as will many modifications of the preferred
embodiment disclosed, all without departing from the
spirit and scope of the invention.
