Material or article handling – Apparatus particularly adapted for charging or discharging a... – With means to transfer – or facilitate transfer of – vehicle...
Patent
1996-12-20
1998-12-29
Werner, Frank E.
Material or article handling
Apparatus particularly adapted for charging or discharging a...
With means to transfer, or facilitate transfer of, vehicle...
414260, 414427, 414917, B66F 900
Patent
active
058532765
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a loading carriage for the transport of an object in an at least partially raised position, comprising a traveling frame and a lifting frame, which is removably linked to the said traveling frame and connected thereto by means of lifting elements, whereby the traveling frame consists of several running wheels and the lifting frame is provided with at least one mechanical gripper which may be switched between an open and a closed position, whose actuating mechanism includes at least one actuating element, movable basically along the length of the loading carriage.
2. Description of the Related Art
A similar loading carriage is known from German Patent Publication 3607910. It is especially appropriate for use in a mechanical parking garage. In that connection, it is used to transport a passenger car from a drive-in box to a transport platform, whereby the front wheels of the car are gripped and raised by the gripper and the passenger car is pulled or pushed rolling on its back wheels.
In the loading carriage described in the aforementioned German Patent 3607910, the traveling frame is telescopic in construction, it consists of a front section and a rear section which moves in the longitudinal direction of the front section. The lifting frame is pivotally linked, on a horizontal axis, to the front section of the traveling frame. Between the rear section of the traveling frame and the lifting frame are connecting rods, so constructed as to raise the back portion of the lifting frame when the traveling frame is telescopically shortened. The front and rear sections of the traveling frame and the lifting frame gripper are mechanically coupled with a drive device including a chain.
The loading carriage known from the prior art exhibits a number of disadvantages. The most prominent of these is its heavy weight. Additional disadvantages are its complicated and vulnerable mechanism, this is because the working planes of the various coupling rod assemblies for the gripper and the two sections of the traveling frame penetrate each other, and the ability of the traveling frame to telescopically vary its length constitutes an additional complication of construction. Finally, in the loading carriage known from the prior art, the generally time-staggered course of gripping and raising the car cannot always be reliably assured.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to design a generic loading carriage with a simple construction, as light-weight as possible and the greatest possible degree of reliability. With regard to the latter, it is especially vital to ensure that the lifting frame begins to rise only after the gripper is completely closed.
According to the present invention, this object is achieved by making the lifting frame movable along the length--i.e. in the travel direction--of the traveling frame, by the fact that the lifting elements raise or lower the lifting frame according to the direction of its longitudinal movement relative to the traveling frame, and that a limit stop is associated with the lifting frame, against which the gripper actuating element lies when the gripper is closed. Since the frame is movable relative to the traveling frame in the direction of its length, it can be made significantly shorter and thus also lighter than the present state of the art. In addition, the movability of the lifting frame relative to the traveling frame enables also the latter to be lighter in construction than in the present state of the art, due to the requirement for the traveling frame to telescopically vary its length. In the loading carriage according to the invention, the raising and lowering of the lifting frame are achieved through its displacement in the longitudinal direction of the traveling frame, and not by the telescopic shortening or lengthening of the traveling frame--as is the case in the state of the art. Thus, given that the gripper actuating element (whose guide is preferably instal
REFERENCES:
patent: 3820667 (1974-06-01), Critchlow et al.
Litman Richard C.
Werner Frank E.
LandOfFree
Loading carriage does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Loading carriage, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Loading carriage will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-1418204