Abstract: A container handling mechanism suitable for mounting on the side of a refuse vehicle for loading material from refuse containers is disclosed that includes a lift assembly, having a pair of spaced, generally parallel lift support members, attachable to a refuse vehicle, a carriage device reciprocally operable along the lift support members of the lift assembly, a container grabbing system carried by the carriage device and further including a pair of opposed grabber fingers and an actuator system for closing and opening the grabber fingers to engage and release containers of interest, the container grabbing system being vertically pivotable on a short radius for adjusting the position of and tipping a container. A chain and cylinder drive system operates the carriage device along the lift assembly, and a control system controls operation of the container handling mechanism.

Abstract: A manual/automatic side loading and rear discharge refuse collection truck body as disclosed which incorporates full ejection without truck body tipping. A unique packing system as provided which includes a low profile packer panel which operates in a low profile charging material receiving hopper which also features lowered or dropped floor to facilitate optional manual loading. The charging hopper features a low profile which creates a dropped area beneath the forward portion of the storage enclosure so that material deposited in the charging hopper can be fed by the packing system into the storage enclosure through a bottom forward charging opening. A packer-ejector assist panel is provided to assist in clearing material from the dropped area portion of the charging hopper.

Abstract: A refuse collection vehicle for loading, compacting, transporting and ejecting refuse materials is disclosed including a hollow refuse storage enclosure having a forward refuse receiving opening, and a rear refuse discharge opening closed by a tailgate. A generally full width charging hopper is located forward of the storage enclosure for receiving refuse from refuse containers, the charging hopper having sidewalls and a floor and being in communication with the storage enclosure. A variable stroke followerless packer-ejector panel mechanism is provided to move refuse materials to the sweep charging hopper, pack the refuse materials into the storage enclosure and fully eject the refuse materials from the storage enclosure. The truck body accommodates one or more container handling devices selected from narrow profile side-loading and front-loading container handling devices or a combination thereof for emptying containers into the charging hopper.