Abstract:
Locking mechanisms and assemblies for securing cargo to a transportation platform without requiring the use of strapping or equivalent. Advantageously, the locking mechanism may be integrated into a container such that each container may be interlocked with an underlying and/or overlying container. Autolocking variations to the locking mechanism provide a more automated, secure and less labor intensive way to secure cargo.

Description:
U.S. GOVERNMENT INTEREST 
     The inventions described herein may be manufactured, used and licensed by or for the U.S. Government for U.S. Government purposes. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     This disclosure relates generally to the field of cargo and/or material transport. More particularly, it pertains to an apparatus and structures for securing cargo and/or materials to transportation systems. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     The transportation of cargo and/or material is a ubiquitous function in contemporary society. Associated with this transportation is the necessary function of securing the cargo and/or material to the transportation system/platform. Unfortunately, this securing of cargo and/or material oftentimes involves strapping or other systems which are labor intensive and frequently present significant safety concerns. 
     SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     An advance in the art is made according to an aspect of the present disclosure directed to a locking mechanism and structures for securing cargo and/or materials to a transportation system/platform. 
     Viewed from a first aspect, the present disclosure is directed to a locking mechanism for securing cargo to a transportation platform without requiring the use of strapping or equivalent. Advantageously, the locking mechanism may be integrated into a container such that each container may be interlocked with an underlying and/or overlying container. 
     Viewed from another aspect, the present disclosure is directed to an autolocking mechanism which allows the safe loading/unloading/securing of cargo to transportation systems and/or platforms using only forklift-type machinery. As a result, loading and unloading of cargo may be performed by only a single driver of the forklift without significant risk of injury. When configured having a form factor like that of a contemporary fork lift pallet or skid, the autolocking mechanism provides a pallet structure upon which cargo or other goods may be loaded and then conveniently loaded/unloaded. Advantageously, the autolocking mechanism according to the present disclosure secures all four corners of the pallet/container in which it is integrated, and permits the secure stacking of such palletized cargo. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
       A more complete understanding of the present disclosure may be realized by reference to the accompanying drawings in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram showing a exemplary container with integrated pallet having an integrated manual locking mechanism according to an aspect of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram showing stacked/locked containers of  FIG. 1  according to an aspect of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 3A  is a schematic wireframe diagram showing an exemplary autolocking mechanism according to an aspect of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 3B  is a schematic wireframe diagram showing a corner, connecting rod, universal joint and paddle configuration of an alternate, exemplary autolocking mechanism according to an aspect of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 4A  is a schematic wireframe diagram showing a pallet base having an integrated autolocking mechanism according to an aspect of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 4B  is a schematic wireframe diagram showing a pallet base having the alternate integrated autolocking mechanism of  FIG. 3B  according to an aspect of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic diagram showing a perspective view of the autolock mechanism according to an aspect of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 6  is a schematic diagram showing a bottom view of the of the autolock mechanism according to an aspect of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 7  is a schematic diagram showing a cargo platform for carrying autolocked cargo according to an aspect of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 8  is a schematic diagram showing an autolocked cargo container and platform receiving loops according to an aspect of the present disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The following merely illustrates the principles of the disclosure. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise various arrangements which, although not explicitly described or shown herein, embody the principles of the disclosure and are included within its spirit and scope. 
     Furthermore, all examples and conditional language recited herein are principally intended expressly to be only for pedagogical purposes to aid the reader in understanding the principles of the disclosure and the concepts contributed by the inventor(s) to furthering the art, and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions. 
     Moreover, all statements herein reciting principles, aspects, and embodiments of the disclosure, as well as specific examples thereof, are intended to encompass both structural and functional equivalents thereof. Additionally, it is intended that such equivalents include both currently-known equivalents as well as equivalents developed in the future, i.e., any elements developed that perform the same function, regardless of structure. 
     Thus, for example, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the diagrams herein represent conceptual views of illustrative structures embodying the principles of the disclosure. 
     With reference now to  FIG. 1 , there is shown a schematic diagram of a representative palletized cargo container  110  having an integrated locking pallet  120  base according to an aspect of the present disclosure. As is known, a pallet—or oftentimes a skid—is a flat transport structure that supports goods in a stable manner while being lifted by a forklift, pallet jack, front loader or other jacking device. When goods are secured directly to a pallet, they are oftentimes secured with strapping, chains or even shrinkwrap. Advantageously, with the integrated container/pallet shown in  FIG. 1 , no strapping is required. 
     As is known and appreciated by those skilled in the art, a contemporary pallet (or fork lift pallet) is constructed from a number of wooden planks positioned upon stringers to create an integrated assembly. Such contemporary (wooden) pallets typically have two stringer sides and two lift sides—meaning that only two sides may receive the forks of the lift. With reference to the integrated container/pallet shown in  FIG. 1 , the structure is able to receive the forks of a lift on all four sides as fork pockets  125  are included on all four. 
     Notably, locking pins  131  are located in the center of the side portion of the pallet base  120  generally in the center of the two fork pockets  125 . In this exemplary embodiment, the locking pins are normally withdrawn within the sides of the pallet until manually activated at which time they become extended from the sides of the pallet such that they may engage locking pin receivers (locking loops)—such as those shown as  130  on the top of the container. 
     As may be appreciated, when a modular container/pallet with integrated locking is positioned upon a transport surface having mating sets of locking pin receivers, the modular container/pallet may be secured to that transport surface by manually activating the locking pins  131  until they engage the mated locking pin receivers which are part of that transport surface. 
     Similarly, a modular container/pallet with integrated locking may be stacked—one on another—wherein the lower modular container/pallet provides the locking pin receivers into which the locking pins of the top modular container/pallet are inserted.  FIG. 2  shows such a stacked configuration wherein a top container  115  is stacked upon a lower container  110  and the locking pins of the upper container engage the locking pin receivers on the top of that lower container  110 . 
       FIG. 3A  illustrates a schematic autolocking mechanism which may advantageously be integrated into a stand-alone pallet or integrated into a container/pallet such as that shown in  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 . As shown, the autolocking mechanism includes two pair of fork tine flaps  310  each individual flap being connected to a locking pin  325  which is held in a normally extended (locked) position through the effect of a torsion or other spring  315 . A connecting rod  320  connects a front set of tine flaps and locking pins to a rear set of fork tine flaps and locking pins. 
     Operationally, a locking pin  325  is located at each corner of the autolocking mechanism which in a preferred embodiment may be configured and exhibit the same form factor as a conventional fork lift pallet. Each of the locking pins  325  is connected to a flap  310 . As may be understood and appreciated from this  FIG. 3 , when the forks of a lift are inserted into fork pockets and engage the fork tine flaps—by pushing them inward toward the center in preparation to lift the pallet—the lock pins  325  are withdrawn and unlock. The connecting rod  320  provides the rotational and translational forces necessary to withdraw the lock pins on the opposite side of the pallet. In this inventive manner, when the fork tines engage the flaps on a particular side and unlock the pins the autolocking mechanism and its load will be freed for lifting. 
     Similarly, when a load positioned upon a pallet (with an autolocking mechanism according to the present disclosure) is placed at a desired location and the fork tines are removed from the fork pockets, the fork tine flaps  310  re-orient under urging by the spring  315  such that the locking pins  325  are extended and therefore capable of engaging locking pin receivers such as those shown in  FIG. 1  with respect to the modular container/pallet. Not specifically shown in these figures are a manual override mechanism which permits an operator to engage the flaps and secure them into position such that the locking pins are withdrawn. 
       FIG. 3B  shows an alternate configuration of an autolocking system according to a further aspect of the present disclosure. More particularly, the system of  FIG. 3B  employs “flip up” fork tine flaps  310  and universal jointed (or other compatible 90 degree transfer mechanism) with a connecting rod to transfer the flip up movement of the flaps to the locking pins. As with the embodiment shown previously, when a fork lift fork flips the flaps, all four locking pins located at each corner of the system are withdrawn and the pallet system is released for movement. Conversely, when the system is placed and the fork lift forks are withdrawn from the fork lift pockets, the fork tine flaps  310  are returned to their normal position through the effect of springs and the locking pins are extended thereby securing the system in place. 
       FIGS. 4A-4B  shows a schematic of a representative pallet base  400  configuration with integrated autolocking mechanism according to the present disclosure. As shown here in  FIGS. 4A-4B , the pallet base configuration of the autolocking mechanism exhibits a form factor preferably corresponding to a contemporary fork lift pallet. In this manner, the pallet base configuration may be employed in situations previously performed by contemporary wooden pallets and further configured as an autolocking pallet to which is attached a container, or cargo. As may be observed here in  FIGS. 4A-4B , fork tine paddles are contemporary wooden pallets and further configured as an autolocking pallet to which is attached a container, or cargo. As may be observed here in  FIGS. 4A-4B , fork tine paddles are visible in fork tine pockets within pallet. Consequently, when fork tines are inserted into the fork tine pockets the autolocking mechanism is activated and locking pins (not specifically shown in this figure) are withdrawn into the pallet for removal. 
       FIG. 5  is a schematic perspective diagram of an autolock assembly  500  according to an aspect of the present disclosure. In particular, the autolock assembly comprises a flap  510 , pivot-ably attached to locking pin rod  520  by linkage  525 . Springs  530  which apply force to bracket  540  maintain the locking pin  520  in an extended position. Operationally when the flap is rotated (by a fork lift tine for example) it results in a translational movement of the locking pin  520  such that it is withdrawn. When the flap  510  is released (the fork lift tines is removed) the spring  530  urges the flap to a normal, closed position and the locking pin is extended. 
       FIG. 6  is a schematic diagram showing a bottom view of the autolock assembly shown in  FIG. 5 . Shown in  FIG. 6  are flap  510  pivot-ably attached to the locking pin rod  520  by linkage  525 . Spring  530  applies force at one end to the locking pin  520  and to the other end to bracket  540  such that the locking pin is in a normally extended position and aligned with the flap  510 . 
     Turning now to  FIG. 7 , there shown a cargo platform suitable for use with pallet base autolocking assemblies such as those shown and described. As shown in the  FIG. 7 , the cargo platform includes a series of locking pin receivers (locking loops)  710  which are spaced to receive the locking pins of the autolocking assemblies previously described. As such, when cargo—positioned upon a pallet base autolocking assembly  720 ,  730 —is aligned with and positioned upon the locking pin receivers the locking pins  740  of the assembly engage the receivers and secure the assembly and the cargo to the platform. Advantageously, and as can be readily appreciated, such a configuration assures uniform loading and facilitates balancing of the load upon the platform while positively securing the load to the platform. 
     In a preferred embodiment, the present disclosure is implemented as a Container Roll in/out Platform (CROP). As is known, conventional CROP structures are approximately a 20′ by 8′ platform that is primarily used in conjunction with the Army Load Handling System (LHS). The LHS is typically mounted on a large transportation truck, and can lift the CROP from the ground onto the back of the truck for transport. This system is designed for typically moving palletized or general cargo. Specifically, this platform is the prime mover for all of the US Army&#39;s ammunition in tactical settings. 
     A king Modular Intermodal Container (JMIC) (such as the container shown as  730 ,  730  in  FIG. 7 ) is a standardized container with standardized lockdown points. Each JMIC has four receptacles for lockdown points ( 740 ), one under each base corner. These receptacles accept a standardized ring-shaped protrusion in a standardized pattern. Additionally, in this preferred embodiment, each includes four lockdown points on top ( 750 ) for stacking one container onto another and securing. Advantageously, the autolocking mechanism of the present disclosure facilitates this stacking and locking as can be viewed from this  FIG. 7 . 
     Currently, these two systems to not interact in any sort of mechanical fashion. The JMICs can be transported on the CROP utilizing traditional tiedown procedures, which does not make use of their unique interlocking features, is time-consuming, and can pose safety concerns. 
     The CROP-JMIC Interlock System when integrated with the autolocking mechanism of the present disclosure advantageously combines these systems into a surprisingly easy to use overall system. 
     In this preferred embodiment, the interlock loops are positioned in groups of four such that they match the required footprint of the JMIC. Furthermore, groups of four interlocks are spread out such that they make a 2×4 grid on the top surface of the CROP, allowing for the placement of 8 JMICs on the top surface of the CROP. Of course, those skilled in the art will appreciate that additional JMICs—including the autolocking system of the present disclosure—may be stacked/locked upon the top surfaces of these JMIC containers secured to the top surface of the CROP. In this manner, a secure stack of JMICs may be assembled and transported without any additional tie-down or strapping. 
     Of additional interest, the interlocks (locking loops/receiving loops) are all foldable such that they fold down flat when not in use thereby returning the surface of the CROP returns to a flat, usable surface. 
     The locking loops receiving loops  710  are shown in a more detailed view in  FIG. 8 . As shown in the figure, when a container  730  with integrated autolock system according to the present disclosure is in position, each of the corners of the container  730  are proximate to a locking loop  710 . In this manner, when the container system is positioned with a fork truck or the like, and the fork truck is withdrawn, the four locking pins  715  will engage the locking loops adjacent to the pins and secure the system in place. 
     At this point, while we have discussed and described the autolocking assembly and configurations thereof it is noted that variations to those disclosed are contemplated. Accordingly, the scope of the disclosure should be only limited by the claims attached hereto.