Abstract: The door of a trash compactor has an auxiliary door located to permit trash to be entered through it into the throat of the compactor. The auxiliary door, when closed, includes a throat portion which converts into a chute when the auxiliary door is opened.

Abstract: A trash compactor has a compacting head supported by two sets of links, each set having a pair of links pivotally interconnected by a member common to both pairs and spacing the two sets of links apart. Corresponding ends of the links are pivotally connected to the head and means connect the other ends of the links to the compactor in a manner enabling the linkage to be unfolded to extend the head into a compacting position or retracted therefrom. Vertical screws, rotated by a reversible drive are threaded through the pivot member to effect such folding and unfolding of the linkage. The ends of the pivot member are within vertical guides and the linkage includes stabilizing links connected to the head.

Abstract: The trash compactor has a throat above the chamber in which the trash receiving unit is located. The trash receiving unit consists of a pan and a container, both dimensioned so that their walls are shielded by the throat. The pan fits the chamber with its walls spaced from the walls of the housing and receives a trash bag within it. The container is open at the top and bottom with its walls upwardly and inwardly tapering with its lower end fitting within the bag and holding it bottomed against the pan. Both the pan and the container are of a plastic having a good memory and they are detachably interconnected. A carrying strap enables the unit or the pan with the bag therein and with the container removed, to be carried to a pick-up or disposal site.

Abstract: A trash compactor has a trash compacting head supported by linkage of a type that can be unfolded to extend it and folded to retract it. The linkage consists of first and second sets of links connected to the head in a spaced apart relationship. A pair of parallel, laterally spaced operating members are connected to the linkage and are operable to fold and unfold the linkage to raise the compacting head into its inoperative position or to force it downwardly into an operative position. A reversible drive supported by the structure includes means connecting it to the operating members and is operable to effect their movement in the same direction and to the same extent in both linkage folding and linkage unfolding directions, in the latter direction, even if the resistance to the head is unequal in the direction defined by the connection of the two sets of links with the compacting head.