Material or article handling – Load-transporting type vehicle and external means... – Of driven type – for unloading a wheeled vehicle
Reexamination Certificate
2001-12-18
2004-10-26
Lillis, Eileen D. (Department: 3652)
Material or article handling
Load-transporting type vehicle and external means...
Of driven type, for unloading a wheeled vehicle
C414S400000, C193S0350SS
Reexamination Certificate
active
06808356
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a device for carrying various articles and a method for introducing and discharging various articles into and from container, in particular, dry container easily and speedily.
The present invention also relates to a pallet for carrying various articles into and from container, in particular, dry container.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
Freight containers have been commonly used in transporting article by such transportation means as trucks, railroad cars, and ships, and those freight containers include types called dry containers. Dry containers are normally formed in rectangular box-shapes in order to be able to be loaded in transportation means easily as well as to protect article from external damage. Furthermore, box-shaped freight containers normally have only one side of their six sides, i.e., the smallest side at the rear, is provided as an opening for introducing or discharging. Therefore, in introducing the article to be transported into a dry container mounted on a container truck, it is first necessary for the article to be lifted to the floor height of the dry container using carrying equipment such as a forklift or a crane, then pushed or pulled into the dry container with the help of workers, lowered onto the floor of the dry container, and finally moved to a specified position.
However, if said article is heavy and bulky as in the case of large machines or industrial raw materials, the carrying equipment may not be capable of handling the article, so that a loading stage having the same height as the dry container floor is prepared and the article to be loaded is first placed on this stage temporarily using a crane, and then moved into the dry container using rollers and pinch bars.
On the other hand, in the case of loading heavy article carried on pallets, which are modularized based on the lengths of dry containers, e.g., 20 feet or 40 feet, it was extremely difficult to load heavy article to specified positions of the dry containers as the lengths of the containers are long and the storage positions of the pallets are physically restricted. Similarly, the work of discharging heavy article out of dry containers has been extremely difficult.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a device convenient for carrying article onto pallet into and/or from container.
It is further an object of the present invention to provide a method convenient for introducing article onto pallet into container.
It is further an object of the present invention to provide a method convenient for discharging article onto pallet from freight container.
It is further an object of the present invention to provide a pallet that improves work efficiency for introducing and discharging article into and from container, facilitates confirmation of orders of introducing article in preparation of introducing, and makes it easier to introduce and discharging even heavy and long article into and from freight container.
The invention will now be described following.
1. Device for carrying article into and from container being characterized in comprising: a stage that is positioned close to one end opening of a container placed at a specific location and has a floor surface with a height approximately equal to a height of a floor surface of said container; a stage-side displacement means that is capable of lifting up and down a pallet loaded with article to said floor surface of said stage and supporting said pallet in such a way as to allow said pallet to move horizontally while keeping said pallet lifted up to said floor surface of said stage; and a container-side displacement means that is capable of lifting up and down said pallet to said floor surface of said container and supporting said pallet in such a way as to allow said pallet to move horizontally while keeping said pallet lifted up to said floor surface of said container; wherein receiving said pallet while keeping said pallet lifted up to said floor surface of said stage or said container is possible between said stage-side displacement means and said container-side displacement means.
2. Device for carrying article into and from container according to above-mentioned 1 further comprising an external force application means for a pallet that causes said pallet, which is supported in such a way as to be able to move horizontally by said stage-side displacement means, to move toward said container-side by applying an external force.
3. Device for carrying article into and from container according to above-mentioned 1 further comprising an external force application means for a pallet that causes said pallet, which is supported in such a way as to be able to move horizontally by said container-side displacement means, to move toward said stage-side by applying an external force.
4. Device for carrying article into and from container according to above-mentioned 1 further comprising an external force application means that causes said container-side displacement means to move between said stage and said container by applying an external force to said container-side displacement means.
5. Device for carrying article into and from container according to above-mentioned 1 wherein said stage-side displacement means is a lifting/sliding device comprising a sliding member that supports said pallet in such a way as to allow said pallet to move horizontally and a lifting member that lifts said sliding member.
6. Device for carrying article into and from container according to above-mentioned 1 wherein said container-side displacement means is a lifting/sliding device comprising a sliding member that supports said pallet in such a way as to allow said pallet to move horizontally and a lifting member that lifts said sliding member.
7. Device for carrying article into and from container according to above-mentioned 5 or 6 wherein said sliding member has multiple rollers arranged in parallel to each other.
8. Device for carrying article into and from container according to above-mentioned 5 or 6 wherein said lifting member comprises an expanding member that is capable of pushing up said sliding member by expanding itself when air is introduced.
9. Device for carrying article into and from container according to above-mentioned 1 wherein said stage has said floor surface with a height approximately equal to a height of said floor surface of said container installed on the ground.
10. Device for carrying article into and from container according to above-mentioned 1 wherein said stage has said floor surface with a height approximately equal to a height of said floor surface of said container mounted on a chassis of a truck.
11. Device for carrying article into and from container according to above-mentioned 1 wherein said pallet comprises a pallet main body, a connecting means that connects said pallet main body with a pallet main body of other pallet(s), and a bottom open space, which is open in a carrying direction, underneath said pallet, and is capable of forming a pallet combination unit that approximately matches a size of a floor space of said container by connecting with other pallet(s) as needed.
12. Method for introducing article into container using said device according to above-mentioned 1, in particular,
a method for introducing article into container characterized in placing a pallet preloaded with article to be transported on a floor surface of a stage, lifting up said pallet to said floor surface of said stage, moving said pallet toward a container placed at a specific location while keeping said pallet lifted up to said floor surface of said stage, and finally lowering said pallet to a floor surface of said container.
13. Method for introducing article into container according to above-mentioned 12 wherein said pallet is moved while keeping said pallet lifted up to said floor surface of said stage by multiple rollers, which are arranged in parallel to each other and pushed upward when compressed air is introduced.
14. Method for introducing arti
Aoki Tatsuhiko
Iwasaki Nobuo
Tsuruta Kouichi
Lillis Eileen D.
Morgan & Lewis & Bockius, LLP
Toyota Steel Center Co., Ltd.
Tran Thuy V.
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