Freight accommodation on freight carrier – Load bearer accommodation – Retainer
Patent
1998-07-22
2000-06-13
Gordon, Stephen T.
Freight accommodation on freight carrier
Load bearer accommodation
Retainer
410 82, 410 76, B60P 708
Patent
active
060741422
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a device for locking a container to a vehicle chassis, having a housing, which on the housing side toward the container is provided with a protruding guide block; and having a rotary knob, which is supported in the housing and which has a shaft, guided in the guide block, a hammerhead-shaped locking portion protruding past the guide block, and an actuation portion disposed on the opposite direction from the locking portion, the locking being effected by rotation of the rotary knob about an actuation angle of approximately 90.degree..
Locking devices of this kind are known. They can be rapidly released and secured upon transfer from the ship or railroad car to a vehicle or van carrier. Vehicles designed for transporting containers are therefore equipped with such twist locks. To secure them, the hammerhead-shaped upper part of the rotary knob is introduced into a corner casting that is mounted on all the corners of the container, and the knob is then twisted by 90.degree.. To this end, the corner casting has an oblong slot on its underside, which receives the elongated head of the rotary knob. Shifting the head crosswise locks it and secures it against sliding out. This is the simplest way to secure containers on the transporting vehicle.
National guidelines, such as in the Federal Republic of Germany, require not only the locking described above but also an additional force-locking means of securing against unintentional release. To that end, in known devices, the rotary knob is additionally provided with a threaded fastening-down or tight-fastening device. For locking and securing, the user must first put the rotary knob in the locking position; this requires visual checking and possibly correction of the rotational position. After that, the securing nut must also be tightly screwed.
Using this kind of locking device that must be tightly screwed down is time-consuming and involves a risk of injury to the user that cannot be ignored, especially when a soiled or corroded screw device is being loosened. Because container transfers are generally done under constant time pressure, under all weather conditions, and at night when vision is poor, the known locking devices are considered disadvantageous.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the invention is to improve a locking device of the type referred to at the outset for the sake of easy, fast operability.
The invention attains this object in that the guide block has a rotation limiting portion with at least two stops acting in the rotational direction; and that the rotary knob has at least one radially protruding extension, which limits the rotation of the rotary knob in both rotational directions, by contact with the respective stops of the rotation limiting portion, to the rotational range of the actuation angle between a locking position and a release position.
Embodying the rotary knob and the guide block according to the invention requires only little additional production cost. If there is a cast housing, then the features according to the invention for the guide block can be cast along with it at the same time.
Actuating the device no longer requires visual checking and readjustment, since the respective stop defines the precise locking position and release position, and the user can tell immediately when these positions are attained.
Advantageously, the actuation can therefore be accomplished very much faster and more safely. The work involved in transferring the containers can thus be improved perceptibly.
In a simple embodiment, it is provided that the stops are formed by two opposed parallel walls of the rotation limiting portion; and that the extension of the rotary knob has a cross section originating in a square basic shape with rounded corners, and two first rounded features extend opposite one another, spaced apart essentially by the spacing between the parallel walls, over an angular range of approximately 90.degree., and the remaining second rounded features have a greater spacing f
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patent: 4776736 (1988-10-01), Tatina
patent: 5160224 (1992-11-01), Schwiebert
patent: 5356249 (1994-10-01), Hove
patent: 5927916 (1999-07-01), Kroll et al.
Gordon Stephen T.
Striker Michael J.
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