Material or article handling – Process – Of loading or unloading marine system
Patent
1997-08-28
2000-05-09
Hess, Douglas
Material or article handling
Process
Of loading or unloading marine system
4141432, 4141421, B63B 2700
Patent
active
060595213
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a distribution method in passenger vessels, car ferries and corresponding vessels, comprising a number of passenger cabins as well as at least one vertical conveyor able to transport goods to cabin floors, in order to facilitate the transportation of goods units to cabins or to several corresponding onboard operational sites, these operational sites located between the ship entrance or goods storeroom or collecting site for centralized goods handling. The invention also relates to the structures of transport pallets used in this distribution method, as well as conveyor arrangement for implementing the shifting phases included in this distribution method.
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Large passenger cruisers and car ferries are nowadays taking onboard as much as 2,500 passengers and even larger numbers are yet projected. People going on a cruise or voyage in most cases have a great deal of luggage, because lots of different outfits and travelling requisites are needed, or they, for other reasons, have plenty of luggage. Nowadays, the shifting of luggage onboard the ship in most cases takes places as a result of the passenger's own physical effort, i.e., by carrying. This is awkward, often even painful, for every passenger and especially for older and/or disabled persons. Alternatively, passengers can use services provided by porters, but even then, the shifting of luggage results from physical labor. In the previous case, the service level to the passenger is nonexistent, and in the latter case, a very remarkable number of porters are needed for a short period of time. During the voyage, there is a need for change of linen in the cabins, which further requires essentially shifting equipment and personnel to collect the used linen and to distribute the clean linen so that these operations can be carried out without disturbing the passengers in a short time period and, possibly, at desired times. During the voyage, it is also necessary to shift goods from storerooms to galleys, shops, and kiosks, and to return empty packing material to storerooms and garbage rooms. There is a further need, at least to some extent, to transport food from the galley to cabins and carry empty used dishes in the reverse direction. All this requires labor, transportation, and transporting equipment. Because the cabins, kiosks, shops and other corresponding sites onboard the ship are mostly situated on different decks than the storerooms, ship entries and cargo ports, galley and centralized preparation/processing plants, like laundries and other collecting sites, a vertical conveyor, mostly a lift, will be used for vertical transportation.
In airports there are various automated conveyor systems for the handling of luggage flows. The handling of material between the check-in point and the loading cart is carried out by these systems in a very mechanized way. The most sophisticated systems also use a code relating to a goods unit in order to express the connection between the goods unit and its owner at the end of the trip. The essence here is that the handling of the luggage takes place as an individual from the check-in to the cargo bay of the plane. The luggage handling of smaller planes is very labor intensive. At the distribution crates of the transportation system, luggage goods are manually placed in transportation carts accommodating from 15 to 20 suitcases. A tractor will pull a train of 5 to 10 carts to the plane's cargo openings and, after that, the loading of the plane will take place by manual lifting and human pushing inside the plane. In the new wide-bodied planes, the luggage is placed in freight containers, again, suitcase by suitcase manually. The transverse section of the containers matches broadly the curved form of the fuselage and the containers are loaded by articulated elevator into the plane. Within the plane, the containers are shifted by means of a train of rollers and power wheels or conveyor chains of known technology. The goods can a
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