“52 PICKUP”

An Invention of Bálint Szent-Miklósy
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Picking up trash in the parks or along roadways is one of the most inefficient tasks currently performed. Equipment given to Parks and Sanitation Department workers saves them from bending by using a gripping tool that lets them grab the offending object and place it in a receptacle. This requires the use of the hand to press a trigger and the movement of the whole arm to move one object at a time to a container. This approximately 5 feet of motion vertically and horizontally is repeated innumerable times wasting time and energy.

A similar device with 52 grippers is called “52 Pickup.” These 52 grippers travel – like zipper teeth – in opposing tracks that reach from the ground past the hand, the shoulders until they reach a collection receptacle carried like a backpack. Once the gripper grasps an object at ground level, it carries it, one click at a time, as it fills up half the grippers along the track until it reached the desired receptacle where it lets go as the grippers open for their return trip to the ground level. A minimum amount of hand movement keeps the operation going with the press of a trigger. The track is light weight and attached to the arm via velcro straps.

The backpack can be emptied by pulling a cord when it is held above a garbage receptacle.

As the trigger is pressed, not only is an object gripped, but the zipper-like conveyer moves up one notch along the arm. When the object reached the position above the receptacle, the track divides for the continuous return trip letting go of the object.

“52 Pickup” is a labor saving device.

The bottom end of the device is pointed to allow reaching of small objects i.e. cigarette butts. The belts are of matching design with equally spaced nobs that when moved together up the channel, grab whatever is between them. Half way up the pipe is a handle and a trigger. The trigger simply moves the belt forward on the outside of the pipe, which makes the inside belt move up each time the trigger is pressed.

When the belt reaches the end of the plastic tube, just before it starts back down, it opens up and lets go of whatever it has carried from the ground to the collection bin.

Figure1 is a schematic side elevation view showing a cylindrical support which supports a pair of endless bands which are advanced by a trigger to pickup trash which lodges between the bands. Each of the bands has a series of projecting knobs which are forced into mutual contact by the cylindrical support. Trash is pinched between opposing knobs on the bands and is transported along the cylindrical support. A receptacle mounted on an end of the cylindrical support receives the trash which is shown in broken lines.

This and hundreds of other inventions are available from Balint Szent-Miklosy, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.