Material or article handling – Marine loading or unloading system – Marine vessel to/from shore
Patent
1996-11-06
1998-07-07
Young, Karen M.
Material or article handling
Marine loading or unloading system
Marine vessel to/from shore
4141413, 4141414, 212316, 212318, 212325, B66C 502
Patent
active
057758662
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a cargo loading crane, in particular a container loading crane, comprising a crane bridge extending in a direction of transfer, a first hoist unit, a second hoist unit which is arranged at a distance from the first hoist unit in the direction of transfer, while the first hoist unit and the second hoist unit in each instance have at least one hoisting gear with assigned cargo pick-up means, and a transfer unit arranged between the hoist units, the transfer unit and the hoist units being designed so that cargo can be exchanged between each of the hoist units and the transfer unit.
Such a cargo loading crane is disclosed, for example, in German Patent 19 06 212. The known crane is used for loading and unloading container ships. For unloading a container ship the first hoist unit, the so-called sea or deck crab, lifts a container out of the cargo hold of the vessel and transfers it to a transfer unit (also known as "transfer crab" in technical container parlance) moving on the crane bridge. The transfer crab transfers this container to shore to the second hoist unit, the so-called shore crab, which then sets the container down on the shore, while the transfer crab returns to the first hoist crab.
The duration of the operating cycle for loading and unloading cargo carriers such as, for example, container ships, has hitherto been limited by the two hoist crabs. In loading a container ship, for example, the time required by the deck crab to lower a container, uncouple the cargo pick-up means from this container, transfer the cargo pick-up means to an additional container, couple the cargo pick-up means to this additional container and lift the additional container to the transfer crab was usually longer than the travel time required by the transfer crab from the deck crab to the shore crab and back to the deck crab, including the respective delivery times. However, as a result of continuing technical improvements in hoist crabs as well as in the facilities for guiding a container to be put down and for guiding the cargo pick-up means onto a container to be picked up, these relationships have meanwhile changed to the disadvantage of the transfer crab, which now represents the limiting factor for operating cycle times.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the invention therefore is to make available a generic cargo loading crane by which operating cycle durations for loading and unloading cargo carriers such as, for example, container ships, can be further reduced.
According to the invention, this object is accomplished in that a conveyor unit is provided in the direction of transfer on the side of the second hoisting means turned away from the first hoist unit, the conveyor unit and the second hoist unit being designed so that cargo can be exchanged between them, and the conveyor unit having at least one delivery/receiving station for cargo.
The conveyor unit, connected before or after the second hoisting means, shortens the transfer path covered by the transfer crab with corresponding shortening of transfer times between deck and shore crabs, as a result of which the operating cycle time of the cargo loading crane is likewise reduced.
To increase the loading and unloading rate in the region of the conveyor unit, it is proposed that the conveyor unit have at least two conveyor tracks with a delivery/receiving station for cargo in each instance. In order to permit side-by-side arrangement of a plurality of cargo loading cranes on the dock, it is further proposed that the at least two conveyor tracks be arranged one above the other.
One conveyor track, for example, may have a conveyor platform which is displaceable on rails extending in the direction of transfer. In a simple and inexpensive-to-manufacture embodiment, the conveyor platform may be formed of a fixed plate which, by means of rollers attached thereto, is movable on the rails.
When at least one of the conveyor tracks is assigned a return track which runs substantially parallel to the conveyor trac
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Bauer Dieter
Hosler Klaus
Tax Hans
Hess Douglas
Tax Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH
Young Karen M.
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