Material or article handling – Self-loading or unloading vehicles – Separable load rack
Patent
1985-10-03
1990-02-20
Werner, Frank E.
Material or article handling
Self-loading or unloading vehicles
Separable load rack
414534, 414529, 2804141, 193 35R, B60P 164
Patent
active
049021893
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to a gathering and guiding arrangement for the loading and unloading of containers or platforms onto vehicles.
It is customary, as shown for example in British Pat. No. 2 033 346, FIG. 1, see part 19, to provide rollers at the rear of a vehicle which is to carry a mountable and demountable container or platform. Often to accommodate minor misalignment between the fore and aft axis of the vehicle and the fore and aft axis of the container, the rollers are shaped with inwardly sloping substantially frusto-conical outer ends. It has been found that under many conditions, e.g. darkness, poor visibility, uneven ground, sloping ground, and restricted area for maneuvering the vehicle, that this arrangement is not adequate to cope with the minimum misalignment which the vehicle driver can reasonably achieve. It will be realized that the driver normally has only restricted vision in a rearward direction and that difficulties are particularly acute with long vehicles.
In order to provide greater gathering capacity it is not practical to extend the frusto-conical outer end as the resultant increase in maximum diameter would foul the underside of the body members, and also increase the overall length of the chassis which could be undesirable.
Further that the gathering characteristic of the frusto-conical member (roller) is such that there will be a point loading on the conical section at a position in the loading cycle when the rear end of the body is still on the ground. Thus the centralising or gathering function of the conical roller will be resisted by the ground contact of the body causing the still misaligned body to take up an attitude where there will be point loading at both sides of the vehicle.
The above sequence will tend to distort the body members and will apply undesirable side loads to the lifting equipment.
In practice the task of maneuvering a vehicle into the proper position ready to pick up a container is often very time consuming, and to attempt a lift when the misalignment is too great may be very dangerous. It would be particularly dangerous if the vehicle was on a side slope as the lifting of a heavy or loaded container raises its center of gravity several feet (metres) above the ground and the side force may tip the vehicle over sideways.
It would be highly desirable if there was an effective mechanism so that a greater misalignment can be tolerated and safer operation achieved, than in prior art designs.
According to the invention, there is provided a vehicle for carrying a container or platform and having a lifting mechanism for loading the container or platform onto the vehicle, there being roller means rotatable about a substantially horizontal axis and located at the rear of the vehicle, characterized in that a gathering and guiding means is located at each side of the vehicle forward of the roller means and positioned to be encountered by and to guide and centralize the container during a loading operation.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the gathering and guiding means is located so that it is encountered by a side edge of the container shortly after the rear end of the container has left the ground.
In a more preferred embodiment of the invention, the gathering and guiding means is constituted by a rotatable roller whose rotation axis extends, in a direction outwardly of the vehicle, upwardly and forwardly. The said rotation axis may extend in a direction such that its projection onto a vertical transverse plane perpendicular to the vehicle fore and aft axis is a line between about 20 and 75, preferably 25 and 50, degrees to the horizontal. The projection of the said rotation axis onto a vertical central plane of the vehicle may be a line between 20 and 90 degrees to the horizontal, but it is preferred that this angle should be between about 20 and 75 degrees. In quoting these figures, and in the description herein, it is assumed that the vehicle is standing on a horizontal surface.
In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the gathering and gui
REFERENCES:
patent: 3438524 (1969-04-01), Snodgrass
patent: 3656639 (1972-04-01), Lothen
patent: 3842998 (1974-10-01), Borum
patent: 4500249 (1985-02-01), Johansson
Multilift Limited
Werner Frank E.
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