Material or article handling – Process – Of charging or discharging self-loading or unloading vehicle
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-08
2001-03-13
Hess, Douglas (Department: 3652)
Material or article handling
Process
Of charging or discharging self-loading or unloading vehicle
C414S538000, C414S559000, C414S679000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06200085
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to the transporting of large vehicles and more particularly to a trailer system for hauling farm combines and other large vehicles over the road.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The harvesting of agricultural crops typically involves the use of large farm implements that are commonly known as combines. Combines are used to cut, thresh, and clean various types of grain. Combines are large and expensive machines that are often used in one field and then moved to other fields for work there. Because combines are extremely heavy and wide, the trailers that carry them between fields must be wide and heavy structures in order to be able to handle the size and weight of the combine.
While it is desirable for efficiency to be able to transport two combines on a single trailer, weight and size considerations make this generally impractical for modern combines. In order to be able to haul two combines at once, the trailer must be wide enough and long enough to handle the size of the combines. This, together with the structural requirements of the trailer, result in the trailer being unduly heavy. The trailer, together with two combines loaded on it, is thus too heavy to comply with highway regulations regarding weight limits. Consequently, it is common practice for combines to be carried between fields one at a time, each on its own trailer. This inefficiency adds to the cost and inconvenience involved in agricultural harvesting operations.
Other types of large equipment face similar problems. For example, bulldozers and other large earth moving and construction machinery are too large and heavy to be easily transported between job sites. Many types of vehicles, both track driven machines and wheeled machines, are subject to the same transportation difficulties.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to a unique system for efficiently transporting large vehicles such as agricultural combines, bulldozers, and other heavy equipment. In accordance with the invention, a wheeled trailer has a relatively lightweight frame that includes a pair of parallel side rails. The side rails may take the form of I-beams, and they are spaced apart less than the width of the large machinery that the trailer is intended to carry. This allows the width of the trailer to be minimized which in turn reduces the overall weight of the trailer, a key feature of the invention.
Another important aspect of the invention involves equipping the axles of the vehicle that is to be transported with rollers or other friction reducing elements. These rollers or other elements are spaced apart such that they can ride along the side rails of the trailer while the implement is being loaded onto and off of the trailer. A cable and pulley system may be driven by a winch to pull the combine or other vehicle onto and off of the trailer. By providing rollers on the vehicle axles, the frame of the trailer can be considerably less than the width of the combine, with the combine overhanging both sides of the trailer. As a consequence, the frame of the trailer is reduced in size and weight so that it can simultaneously transport two combines, one behind the other, and still conform to prevailing highway weight limitations.
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Hess Douglas
O'Connor Gerald J.
Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP
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