Slurry truck transport bins

Abstract

A slurry truck transport bin includes a double-walled bin tub of molded resin and a double-walled lid of molded resin. The bin tub has an inner wall bounding a cavity for containing unsolidified waste slurry, a lip bounding an opening of the cavity, an outer wall defining channels extending across a bottom of the bin tub opposite the cavity opening and sized to accept forklift tines, and structural ribs connecting the inner and outer walls and arranged to support a floor of the cavity under weight of over a metric ton of unsolidified waste as the bin tub is lifted by forklift. The lid is configured to span the cavity opening and defines an underside perimeter channel sized to receive the lip of the bin tub. The inner wall of the bin tub at the lip and an inner wall surface of the lid bounding the perimeter channel are of complementary tapers.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A slurry truck transport bin, comprising:
 a double-walled bin tub of molded resin, the tub having:
 an inner wall bounding a cavity for containing unsolidified waste slurry, the bin tub having a lip bounding an opening of the cavity; 
 an outer wall defining channels extending across a bottom of the bin tub opposite the cavity opening, the channels sized to accept forklift tines; and 
 structural ribs connecting the inner and outer walls and arranged to support a floor of the cavity under weight of over a metric ton of unsolidified waste as the bin tub is lifted by forklift; and 
   a double-walled lid of molded resin configured to span the cavity opening, the lid defining an underside perimeter channel sized to receive the lip of the bin tub,   wherein the inner wall of the bin tub at the lip, and an inner wall surface of the lid bounding the perimeter channel, are of complementary tapers, and wherein the relative sizes of the bin tub lip and the inner wall surface of the lid are such that when the lid is placed on the bin tub with the lip in the channel, the inner wall of the bin tub is positioned to engage the tapered inner wall surface of the lid with the lip of the bin lid spaced from a bottom of the lid channel, and   wherein the bin tub is of such flexibility that cinching the lid to the bin tub with a force sufficient to cause the tapered inner wall surface to slide along an inner tub surface until the bin tub lip contacts the bottom of the lid channel, flexes the bin tub lip outward without cracking, thereby forming a barrier to slurry flow along two sets of contacting surfaces between the bin tub and the lid.   
     
     
         2 . The slurry truck transport bin of  claim 1 , wherein the double-walled bin tub of molded resin includes a sealed void space defined between the inner wall and the outer wall. 
     
     
         3 . The slurry truck transport bin of  claim 1 , wherein the double-walled bin tub of molded resin and the double-walled lid of molded resin are each in the form of a unitarily molded structure. 
     
     
         4 . The slurry truck transport bin of  claim 3 , wherein the bin tub and the lid are each rotationally molded high density polyethylene (HDPE) structures. 
     
     
         5 . The slurry truck transport bin of  claim 1 , wherein the lid includes an upper wall, a bottom wall, and a side wall connecting the upper wall and the bottom wall, and wherein the upper wall, the bottom wall, and the side wall define therebetween a sealed void space. 
     
     
         6 . The slurry truck transport bin of  claim 5 , wherein the upper wall defines upperside channels sized to accept forklift tines, and wherein the lid further comprises one or more metal plates attached to the upper wall and spanning the upperside channels so as to confine forklift tines within the upperside channels. 
     
     
         7 . The slurry truck transport bin of  claim 6 , wherein the upperside channels include a first set of channels and a second set of channels intersecting channels of the first set, and wherein the metal plates span intersections between channels of the first and second sets. 
     
     
         8 . The slurry truck transport bin of  claim 5 , wherein the bottom wall defines one or more recesses extending horizontally along a length of the lid. 
     
     
         9 . The slurry truck transport bin of  claim 1 , further comprising a rubber bulb seal positioned in contact with the tapered inner wall surface of the lid within the underside perimeter channel and sized to be compressed and flex outward when the tapered inner wall surface slides along the inner tub surface of the inner wall. 
     
     
         10 . The slurry truck transport bin of  claim 1 , wherein, when the bin tub lip contacts the bottom of the lid channel, an outer surface of the outer wall is in contact with an inner surface of a side wall of the lid, thereby forming a third set of contacting surfaces between the bin tub and the lid to secure the slurry flow within the bin tub. 
     
     
         11 . The slurry truck transport bin of  claim 1 , further comprising a rubber bulb seal positioned in contact with an inner surface of a side wall of the lid within the underside perimeter channel and sized to be in contact with both an outer surface of the outer wall and the inner surface of the side wall when the lid is placed on the bin tub with the lip in the channel. 
     
     
         12 . The slurry truck transport bin of  claim 1 , further comprising one or more metal plates spanning the channels on the bottom of the bin tub and configured to confine forklift tines within the channels. 
     
     
         13 . The slurry truck transport bin of  claim 1 , further comprising one or more releasable ratchet strips surrounding the lid and secured to the outer wall of the bin tub. 
     
     
         14 . The slurry truck transport bin of  claim 1 , wherein the tapered inner wall surface of the lid has a vertical height of between about 3 inches and 5 inches, measured perpendicular to the bottom of the lid channel. 
     
     
         15 . The slurry truck transport bin of  claim 1 , wherein the cavity defines a volume of at least 3.5 cubic yards, and wherein the slurry truck transport bin has an empty weight of less than about 1000 pounds.