Material or article handling – Wheel and wheel-type article handler and transporter – Elevator-type engaging means
Patent
1993-11-16
1996-10-08
Keenan, James W.
Material or article handling
Wheel and wheel-type article handler and transporter
Elevator-type engaging means
414429, 180904, B60P 311
Patent
active
055623883
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention concerns a vehicle for transporting aircraft on the ground as used at airports to move aircraft between various areas including boarding-disembarkation areas, maintenance areas and parking areas. The transporter vehicle in accordance with the invention allows an aircraft to be transported at high speed, in the order of 30 to 40 kilometers/hour, without applying harmful loads to particular parts of the aircraft, in particular the front undercarriage.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
It is known to couple a tractor to the front undercarriage leg of an aircraft to move the aircraft around an airport without starting its own engines. A towbar is often used between the front undercarriage leg and the tractor. Another, more complex system requiring a special vehicle takes the front undercarriage leg on board, lashing down the wheel(s). Acceleration and deceleration of the transporter vehicle always apply loads directly to the fragile front undercarriage leg. For this reason these vehicles are restricted to a speed in the order of 15 kilometers/hour for the system using a towbar or in the order of 30 kilometers/hour at most in the case of the other system. In some aircraft (especially modern wide-body aircraft) the front undercarriage leg is not strong enough for the current faster type vehicle to be used.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention can solve all the above problems, i.e. enable high transporting speeds to be used without applying loads to the front undercarriage leg.
The invention consists in a vehicle for transporting an aircraft on the ground characterized in that it comprises a rolling structure shaped and sized to support an aircraft with all of its undercarriage legs on said rolling structure which is provided with mechanisms for locking the main undercarriage legs so that forces caused by acceleration and deceleration of the vehicle are transmitted to said main undercarriage legs.
Because the forces caused by acceleration and deceleration of the transporter vehicle are applied to the main (rear) undercarriage legs, which are much stronger than the front undercarriage leg, it is no longer necessary to restrict acceleration and deceleration and the aircraft can be transported at much higher speed. The height of the aforementioned rolling structure is such that it can be inserted under the aircraft standing on the ground on its undercarriage legs and comprises cradles for the main undercarriage legs equipped with mechanisms for locking the main undercarriage wheels, plus a cradle for the front undercarriage leg positioned and adapted to support said front undercarriage leg. Means are provided for raising these cradles so that the aircraft is lifted a few tens of centimeters off the ground during transportation.
Note that the front undercarriage leg is virtually unrestrained on its cradle. Only vertical movement of the front undercarriage leg is restricted, for example by a strap or any like means adapted to prevent pitching of the aircraft when the transporting vehicle accelerates. The cradle onto which the front undercarriage leg is loaded advantageously has a shovel-like shape and is coupled to a vertical displacement mechanism for lifting the aircraft and preferably to a horizontal displacement mechanism for slipping the shovel under the front undercarriage wheels.
By virtue of another noteworthy feature of the invention the cradles onto which the main undercarriage legs are loaded are adapted to grip the main undercarriage wheels and pneumatic lifting means are provided between a load-bearing part of said cradles onto which the main undercarriage legs are loaded and a part including the rolling means of said vehicle.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention will be better understood and other advantages of the invention will emerge more clearly from the following description of two embodiments of a vehicle in accordance with the invention for transporting aircraft on the ground given by way of example only and with reference to the appended drawi
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Le Gall Joel-Yves
Rodier Bernard
Hydroland S.A.
Keenan James W.
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