US Patent Issued to The Heil on Aug. 5 for "Refuse collection with auger and contamination detection panel" (Tennessee, Alabama Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 6 -- United States Patent no. 12,378,068, issued on Aug. 5, was assigned to The Heil Co. (Chattanooga, Tenn.).

"Refuse collection with auger and contamination detection panel" was invented by David C. Gentry (Chattanooga, Tenn.), Eric Evans (Fort Payne, Ala.), Bryan Stewart (Chattanooga, Tenn.), Anthony B. Giles (Chattanooga, Tenn.) and Michael Shane Peek (Pisgah, Ala.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A refuse collection vehicle includes a packer system with an auger screw, one or more refuse support panels, one or more sensing devices, and a refuse support panel actuator system. The refuse support panel(s) support refuse while characteristics of the refuse are sensed. The...