Freight accommodation on freight carrier – Load lashing retainer or load lashing adjunct – Wraparound
Reexamination Certificate
2003-07-21
2004-11-23
Dayoan, D. Glenn (Department: 3612)
Freight accommodation on freight carrier
Load lashing retainer or load lashing adjunct
Wraparound
C410S046000, C410S097000, C410S099000, C108S055100, C206S597000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06821068
ABSTRACT:
This invention relates to load handling pallets and load strapping means.
It is known to provide a reel unit for incorporation in a load handling pallet, e.g., a 4-way pallet, comprising a housing, a shaft rotatably mounted within the housing, a drum mounted on and rotatable with the shaft, a strapping strand, e.g., a strap, wound on the drum, an opening in the housing through which the strapping strand emerges, attachment means on the free end of the strapping. strand for securing the strand toa load on a pallet or for securing to anchorage means on a pallet after passing the strand over a load on the pallet, a rewind spring coiled round the shaft alongside the drum, stop means preventing the attachment means being drawn through the opening into the housing by the action of the rewind spring, a ratchet concentric with the drum and rotatable with the drum and shaft, with a pawl for engaging teeth on the ratchet to stop or prevent pulling of the strapping strand from the drum, means for effecting engagement of the pawl with the ratchet, and manually operable means is provided for tensioning the strapping strand when the pawl has been engaged with a tooth on the ratchet.
A pallet is described in EP-A-0 585 832 with reel units secured alongside spacer blocks below one side of the load receiving platform of the pallet, the strapping strands are straps, and the attachment means are loops for engagement with ski-tensioner type anchorage means in housings secured alongside spacer blocks below the opposite side of the platform. Alternatively, tensioning devices could be incorporated in the straps, or in the reel units, one form of the latter having a second ratchet concentric with the drum and rotatable with the drum and shaft, with a second pawl for engaging the teeth of the second ratchet to prevent rewind of the strap, a manually-operable change-over means being provided for selectively rendering one or other of the pawls inoperative, and tension being applied to the belt by a lever operated drive pinion engaged with a driven gearwheel secured on the shaft.
Another pallet is described in JP-A-10167267 with reel units secured one in a corresponding outer side of each of four corner spacers moulded integrally with a load receiving platform, the strapping strands are straps, and the attachment means are loops while the anchorage means are hooks within the outer sides of the corner spacers not occupied by the reel housings, which housings also carry lever mechanisms for tensioning the straps when the pawls are engaged with the ratchets.
Although the reel units in EP-A-0 585 832 can be readily added to existing 4-way pallets, many of which are made of wood, they are prone to damage because of being. located where contact can take place with forks of the fork-lift trucks. On the other hand, while the reel units in JP-A-10167267 are protected somewhat from the forks of fork-lift trucks by being incorporated in the corner spacers, such pallets are expensive and so are not likely to replace the millions of existing 4-way pallets.
One object of the present invention is, therefore, the provision of load strapping means for use wit existing 4-way pallets, particularly—but not exclusively—those made of wood.
According to the present invention, load strapping means for use with 4-way pallets comprises a cap for placing on a load on a 4-way pallet, at least two strapping strands retractable through openings into housings at opposite sides of the cap, spring means for retracting the strapping strands, hooks on the free ends of the strapping strands for engagement with the underside of the platform of a 4-way pallet, tensioning means for tightening the strapping strands between the cap and the pallet after interposing a load between the cap and the pallet, and stop means for limiting retraction of the hooks into the housings when not engaged with a pallet.
Preferably, four strapping strands are provided, retractable into housings one on each side of the cap; and the positions of the housings in the cap preferably causes disposition of their openings to correspond to the middle spacers of a pallet. Alternatively, the cap may be in the form of a ‘spider’ constituted by four housings conjoined in a cruciform, and the housings may be hinged together at the ends remote from their openings, to enable the spider to be collapsed into a compact bundle for delivery or return to a distributor.
However, because many loads to be palletized require overall caps to distribute strapping and/or stacking loads, e.g., products such as foodstuffs in cardboard boxes and/or cartons, or caps with depending flanges to embrace loads made up of a plurality of boxes and/or cartons, it may be convenient to provide the housings within the thickness of the cap.
Each strapping strand may be a wire or nonmetallic rope retractably wound spirally on a ‘thin’ reel within the respective housing and having a short cylindrical core between annular flanges spaced apart by negligibly more than the overall diameter of the rope, so that the rope will be wound spirally on the core, the axis of the reel being perpendicular to the general plane of the cap, the core being on a shaft rotatably mounted within the housing, there also being provided a rewind spring coiled round the shaft alongside the reel, stop means limiting the extent to which the hook can be drawn into the housing by the action of the rewind spring, a ratchet concentric with the reel and rotatable with the reel and shaft, with a pawl for engaging teeth on the ratchet to stop or prevent pulling of the rope from the reel, and manually-operable means for tensioning the rope when the pawl has been engaged with a tooth on the ratchet, particularly characterized in that each tooth of the ratchet has a pawl-engageable face inclined forwardly from its radially inner end with respect to a radial line from the axis of be shaft through said radially inner end of said face and with respect to the direction of unwinding of the rope from the reel, the pawl has a complementary face for mutual engagement with said face of any one tooth of the ratchet, the pawl is provided with spring-loading means with manually-operable means for changing the effect of the spring-loading over between urging the pawl into engagement with the ratchet and towards a position holding the pawl clear of the ratchet, and in that the manually-operable tensioning means is by way of a separate wrench engageable with one end of the shaft. The angle of inclination of said face of each tooth of the ratchet is preferably at least 10° to said radial line from the axis of the shaft.
Having installed this reel unit in a cap to bear on a load on a pallet with the manually-operable changeover means for the spring-loading means of the pawl set to hold the pawl clear of the ratchet, the rope can be unwound from the reel, as by pulling the hook, to whatever extent is required or to enable the rope to be secured to the pallet by the hook, then the manually-operable change-over means is set for the spring-loading means to urge the pawl into engagement with the ratchet, whereupon the manually-operable tensioning means can be operated to tension the rope. Because of the mating complementary inclined faces of the pawl and any one of the teeth of the ratchet that it engages, the manually-operable change-over means can be set to the position in which the spring-loading means urges the pawl towards the position clear of the ratchet but without withdrawing the pawl from the ratchet until, when it is desired to release the load from the pallet, slight additional tensioning of the rope. effected as by means of a separate wrench applied to the shaft, the consequent slight rotation of the ratchet causes the mating complementary faces of the pawl and the engaged tooth to be separated enough for the spring-loading means to withdraw the pawl clear of the ratchet, whereafter the hook can be released from the pallet, so that the rewind spring is free to act on the shaft to enable the rope to be rewound on to the reel.
The spring-loading means is pr
Facey Hugh David
Makin John
Shawcross Brian Edward
Chenevert Paul
Dayoan D. Glenn
Loadhog Limited
Trexler, Bushnell Giangiorgi, Blackstone & Marr, Ltd.
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