Refuse vehicle

Claim 1

A refuse vehicle body of the type having a generally rectangular main body, a tailgate body portion which may be raised to eject the contents, and a forward opening in the main body through which refuse may be dumped, and a ram member moveable through said main body, from said forward opening to said tailgate, for compacting refuse, and for subsequently ejecting refuse from said main body and being characterized by; a moveable bridge member of hollow multi-wall construction extending from side to side of said main body; slide means in said main body for cooperation with said bridge member, for permitting sliding movement of said bridge member along said main body between a forward compacting position and a rearward ejecting position; left and right hand compacting cylinders connecting diagonally across said main body, with respective left and right hand corners of said ram member, and said right and left hand cylinders being pivotally mounted to said bridge member and to said ram member, whereby said cylinders being operable to move said ram member relative to said bridge member along said main body for compacting refuse in said main body and said tailgate portion; cylinder storage recess means formed in said bridge member for receiving portions of said right and left hand cylinders when said ram member is in its retracted position, said cylinder storage recess means including a lower wall, side walls, an intermediate wall, and a top wall, and wherein said lower wall and said intermediate wall define a first storage recess for one of said right and left cylinders, and wherein said intermediate wall and said top wall define a second storage recess for the other of said right and left cylinders; and, ejection cylinder means connected to a forward portion of said main body, and to said bridge member, for moving said bridge member away from said forward portion of said main body towards said tailgate portion, for ejecting contents from said main body.