Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
A WASTE-COLLECTING CONTAINER
: FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a waste-collecting
container for compostable waste, in particular for
collecting of household garbage or the like, essentially
consisting of an upper lid and a lower container housing
composed of an:upstanding wall part and a bottom wall
and closeable by means of the lid, and including a space
in the region of the bottom wall separated from the
interior of the container housing, which:space is
designed to receive the liquid contained in the wast~.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Such a waste-collecting container has already been
described by the inventor in an earlier published DE-OS
3939511 on December 20, 1990. This earlier publication
teaches a number of technical features that assures that
the compostable waste stored in the container housing is
most of all well relieved from the liquid it contains in
order to guarantee a rotting supported more by aerobic
bacteria~ It is among others provided for this purpose
that the liquid is collected in the region of the bottom
wall of the container housing and that care is taken
that it can - at least partly - flow directly out of the
container housing and/or can evaporate through a
ventilating element provided on the back wall of th~
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container housing. In order to achieve this, a trough-
like insert is provided which partitions off a (very
small) part of the container housing vo:Lume for liquid
removal. The bottom of the trough-like insert is ribbed
in order to achieve, on the one hand, a stable form with
respect to the stored waste and to gain, on the other
hand, indeed a space for the separated :Liquid which
reaches the space through recesses at the bottom of the
insert.
Such a structural arrangement is fully functional;
however, it also has disadvantages. Thus, the space
available for collecting the liquid is relatively small
and is no longer sufficient in particular when liquid
removal from the container housing is disturbed, for
example, when the discharge channel in the area of the
bottom part thereof, is clogged, especially with waste
that is particularly loaded with liquid. To empty such
a waste-collecting container can also cause difficul-
ties. Thus, it is conceivable that the trough-like
insert separates from the region of the bottom wall
during a tipping of the waste-collecting container.
There also exists the risk that even when the insert
remains stationary in the waste-collecting container,
residues of waste under or within the insert are not
dumped out.
Thus, the purpose of the invention is to provide a
waste-collecting container of the type identified in
detail above which can also receive large amounts of
liquid and to simultaneously assure that the mechanical
task of emptying of this waste-collecting container
takes place smoothly and completely.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The purpose is attained according to the invention
by the space being separated from the remaining interior
portion of the container housing by a fork-like grate
which lies in a horizontal plane in the normal position
thereof, by the fork-~ike grate being pivotal in
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direction of the lid about a horizontal axle provided
adjacent a back wall of the container housing and
extending parallel to the back wall and resting on
stationary supports on the container housing. The
arrangement is thereby such that the grate is pivotal
through an approximate right angle.
A substantially larger space for co:Llecting the
liquid is in this manner created in the region of the
bottom wall of the waste collecting container than has
been possible up to now. With this it :is first assured
that the waste stored in the collecting contai.ner can be
well drained. When the waste-collecting container is
emptied, the grate pivots under the influence of gravity
toward the back wall of the container housing so that
even waste parts which slipped through the grate into
the separa~ed space can now be poured out of the
container housing. The grate returns then into its
normal position when the waste-collecting container is
set up straight again.
The pivotal grate can actually be supported in any
desired manner; however, if the support occurs on the
ventilating alement insertable into the container
housing, then the grate forms a structural unit with the
ventilating element, which unit only need be inserted
into the waste-collecting container. It is also
possible, depending on the type of waste to be stored,
to keep different types of grates on hand or to equip
different waste-collecting containers with different
grates. The expense is definitely warranted because a
good precomposting of the waste can occur in this
manner.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The details and further advantages of the invention
will be discussed in greater detail hereinafter in
connection with the drawings and one exemplary
embodiment, in which:
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Figure l is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a
waste-collecting container of the invention, and
Figure 2 is a cross sectional view taken along the
line A-A of Figure 1.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Figure 1 shows first of all a container housiny 1
and a lid 2, which are the main parts of the waste-
collecting container. The lid 2 is connected by a hinge
3 to the container housing 1 and has a number o~
openings 4 used to ventilate the interior 5 of the
container housing. A ventilating element 6 is releas-
ably fastened to the back wall 7 of the container
housing 1; it has projections 8 which are each equipped
with air slots ~ to ventilate the waste stored in the
interior 5 of the container housing. Openings 10
assuring a ventilating to the surroundings are provided
in the back wall 7. As shown in the inventor's earlier
publication mentioned above, the lower end of the
ventilating element is open to the space 16. In this
particular embodiment, the ventilating element 6 has
plural openings 9A at the lower end of a frontwardly
facing wall 6A thereof facilitating access by the space
16 to the openings 10 in the back wall 7 of the
container housing 1. It is to be recognized that the
ventilating element in the earlier publication could, if
desired, be substituted for the one shown in Figure 1.
This makes it possible to sufficiently and adequately
ventilate the waste-collecting container independent of
the amount of stored waste.
In the region of the bottom wall 11, near the back
wall 7 of which the common transport rollers 12 are also
easily rotatably supported, there are provided, adjacent
a front wall, support members 13 on which the free ends
of the grate rods or tines 15 of a grate 14 is supported
when the waste-collecting container is in an upright
position. The grate 14 is then approximately horizon-
tally arranged. Figure 2 shows a top view of the grate.
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The grate has in the special arrangement of the
exemplary embodiment the general con~iguration of a coke
fork with its outer periphery, in the top view,
conforming appro~imately to the contour of the interior
walls of the interior 5 of the container housing 1. The
grate 14 is composed of individual, back wall to front
wall extending, parallel grate rods or tines 15. The
grate 14 separates the space 16 between the grate and
the bottom wall ll from the interior portion 5. The
space 16 is the collecting receptacle for the liquid
contained in the waste.
The grate 14 is pivotal about an axle generally
designated at 17 adjacent the bac~ wall 7 of the
container housing 1. The axle 17 is formed by two stub
axles 18 stationarily provided on the grate 14, extend
horizontally and are otherwise approximately parallel to
the back wall 7. The stub axles 18 are received in
bearing holes 19 advantageously provided on the side
walls of the ventilating element 6. The stub axles 18
are actually the bent ends of two wire rod-like legs 20,
the spacing of which is slightly greater than the width
of the ventilating element 6. A direction arrow 21
makes it clear that the grate 14 is pivoted about the
axles 18 in direction of the ventilating element 6
during an emptying of the waste-collecting container and
thereby frees the entire bottom area o~ the container
housing 1 so that same can also be emptied.
The invention is not to be limited to the described
exemplary embodiment; in particular the shape and the
construction of the grate 14 and the cross sections of
its grate rods or tines 15 can be chosen relatively
freely. It must, however, be assured that the grate 14
can carry out the identified pivoting during an emptying
of the waste-collecting container under the influence of
gravity.
