Structure such as a container or mobile shelter

Details Structure such as a container or mobile shelter Structure such as a container or mobile shelter

1992-02-06

1994-02-08

Moy, Joseph Man-Fu

Receptacles

Freight containers

294 681, 414498, 108 561, B65D 9014

Patent

active

052842665

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a structure, such as a container or a mobile shelter, designed to be loaded onto a vehicle provided with a hydraulic lifting arm type handling mechanism.
2. Description of the Prior Art
These structures are built around a framework whose lower part embodies two longitudinal rails which cross below cross-members and cooperate with guide rollers at the rear of the vehicle chassis. These longitudinal rails are usually connected at the front part of the structure, to uprights, between which a bail bar is provided at a certain height. The lifting arm of the handling mechanism (described for example in French patent 2,109,109) is in the form of a telescopic boom articulated to a subframe which is connected to the chassis of the vehicle. To load a structure the boom is activated and the arm is swung towards the rear of the vehicle, a hook, carried by the free end of the boom engages the bail bar and the arm is then swung towards the front of the vehicle, during which maneuver the front of the structure is lifted and drawn towards the vehicle in an inclined position until its two bottom rails come into contact with the rollers mounted at the rear of the longitudinal rails of the vehicle. The structure's bottom rails then roll on the rollers while the structure continues to move forward, returning to the horizontal position, whereupon the boom is extended. At the end of the maneuver the structure rests on the rollers and is supported at the front by the hook connected to the free end of the lifting arm, the horizontal part of which is accommodated between the rails.
The configuration of the bottom of the structure (cross-members below which the longitudinal rails project) sometimes causes problems, especially if the structure must travel on a roller or rollerball type of the kind installed on aircraft. These types of handling decks can only cooperate with a flat and continuous surface, which means that the structure must be put on a pallet whose lower surface has these characteristics.


SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to reducing or even avoiding these problems.
To this end, the present invention proposes a structure such as a container or a mobile shelter adapted to be loaded onto a vehicle provided with a hydraulic lifting arm type handling mechanism, the container having two longitudinal bottom rails adapted to cooperate with guide rollers at the rear of the vehicle. According to the invention, the rails are rendered mobile between a deployed position in which they are able to cooperate with the guide rollers and a retracted position in which each is withdrawn into a housing in the bottom of the structure.
By retracting the longitudinal rails, the main projections under the structure are eliminated, which is particularly advantageous as the structure can then rest on a larger area and consequently exert a reduced pressure on the surface on which it rests, for example, on a pallet with a flat and continuous bottom. Additionally, the height of the structure is reduced so that, for example, it can be made to comply to a template from which the rails project in the deployed position.
According to preferred features of the invention the structure has a substantially plane undersurface from which the rails project when in the deployed position. The rails and their respective housings are adapted so that in the retracted position a surface of each rail is substantially coplanar with the undersurface of the structure and thereby closes the respective housing, and the structure then has a substantially flat and continuous bottom.
Note that "substantially flat and continuous bottom means a surface adapted to cooperate with handling decks mounted onboard aircraft, and in particular a surface conforming to ISO standard 8323.
With the rails retracted it is, therefore, possible to roll the structure directly over the handling decks and in particular rollerball transfer plates. This represents a saving in weight because i

REFERENCES:
patent: 1990118 (1935-02-01), Ellis
patent: 2781936 (1957-02-01), Bitney
patent: 3743125 (1973-07-01), Ashley, Jr.
patent: 4911318 (1990-03-01), Bishop
patent: 4983089 (1991-01-01), Rose
patent: 5169194 (1990-12-01), Yamashita et al.

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