A DEVICE RELATING TO A LOAD-CARRIER

Abstract: A device relating to a load-carrier (2) and a device for transferring the load-carrier from a railway goods waggon (1) to a lorry (8) and vice versa. The lorry has on the one hand a supporting platform (9) capable of being raised and lowered to bring it into line with the height of the loading platform of the railway goods waggon, and on the other hand a sliding carriage (13) forming an integral part of the supporting platform (9) and able to move in the longitudinal sense of the lorry for the purpose of transferring the load-carrier between the lorry and the railway goods waggon, said sliding carriage having a coupling arrangement (14) which interacts with a matching coupling arrangement (15, 16) on the load-carrier. The coupling arrangement (14) on the sliding carriage, for example one or more upward-facing plates, is rigidly attached to the sliding carriage (13) in such a way that it is caused together with the sliding carriage to move in conjunction with the supporting platform (9) as it is raised and lowered. The coupling arrangement (15, 16) on the load-carrier consists of two cross-members normally present on the load-carrier and capable of being engaged by the coupling arrangement (14) on the load-carrier.

Description: A dev i c e re l a i ng to a l oad-c a r r i e r The present invention relates to a device relating to a load-carrier and a device for transferring the load- carrier from a railway goods waggon to a lorry and vice versa, said lorry having on the one hand a supporting platform capable of being raised and lowered to bring it into line wi h the he ght of the loa ing platform of the railway goods waggon, and on the other hand a pulling and/or pushing sliding carriage for ing an integral part of the supporting platform and able to move in the Long¬ itudinal sense of the Lorry for the purpose of transfer¬ ring the load-carrier between the Lorry and the railway goods waggon, said sliding carriage having a coupling arrangement which interacts with a matching coupling ar¬ rangement on the Load-carrier. A similar arrangement has been discLosed previously in Swedish patent specification No. 409,105. In the previous- Ly disclosed arrangement the sliding carriage is provided with a number of pins capable of being displaced across the direction of travel of the sliding carriage, whereby the coupling arrangements of the load-carrier are in the form of depressions or holes corresponding to the pins. The pins are moved either manually, for example by the use of a lever, or with the help of pneumatic or hydrau¬ lic dr ve organs . In order to function correctly, the previously disclosed device requires free movement to be pro ided in three directions between the coupling arrangements of the sli¬ d ng carriage, i.e. vertical movement (achieved by rais¬ ing and lowering the supporting platform), movement in the longitudinal sense of the supporting platform OMPI (achieved by moving the sliding carriage), and movement across the supporting platform (achieved by arranging the coupling arrangements, i.e. the aforementioned pins, of the sliding carriage in such a way that they are free to move relative to the sliding carriage). The object of the present invention is to provide an arrangement of the type described by way of introduction which is considerably more simple and consequently more inexpensive, due to the fact that it requires free movement to be provided in the coupling arrangements on the sliding carriage only in two different directions. This object is achieved by providing the arrangement in . accordance with- the invention with the character stics specified in claim 1. Further developments of the invention are indicated in the subc laims . The invention is described below in greater detail with re- ference to the accompanying drawing, wherein Figures 1 - 9 show a preferred embodiment of the invention, and wherein Figures 10 - 12 show further embodiments of the invention. Figures 1 - 4 show side views of various stages in the transfer of a load from a railway goods waggon to a lorry. Figure 5 shows a view from above of the stage in the transfer of the load shown in Figure 1. Figure 6 shows a perspective view obliquely from below of an integral load-carr er ' of the arrangement in accordance with the invention. Figures 7 and 8 show on an enlarged scale a view from the side and from above of a lorry of a kind which can be used in conjunction with the invention. Figure 9 shows on an even more enlarged scale a view from the rear of details of the lorry illustrated in Figure 7. Figures 10 - 12 show in d agrammati c .form three other embodiments of the coupling arrangements included in the invention. The principle applied in the invention for the transfer of a load between a lorry and a railway goods waggon will first be described schemat cally with reference to Figures 1 - 5. A railway goods waggon 1 with a number of transverse load-carriers in the form of mutually ident cal containers 2 - 6 (of which only container No. 2 is shown in Figures 1 - 4) stands on a railway track 7 . A lorry 8 (see Figure 1) reverses up to the railway goods waggon 1 at- right-angles to it for the purpose of collecting the container 2 . The lorry 8 has a supporting platform 9 which is capable of being raised and lowered. The supporting platform 9 is connected to the chassis frame 10 of the lorry by means of three pairs of pivoting links 11 and can be raised and lowered with the help of two hydraulic cylinders (indicated in Figures 7 - 8 by the reference designat on 12 ). A chain-driven sliding carriage 13 is so arranged as to be capable of being displaced long tudinally over the supporting platform 9 . On the sliding carriage 13 and rigidly attached to it is an upward-facing engagement device 14 which interacts with one or other of two downward-facing elements 15 and 16 arranged at either end of the base of each container and capable of being engaged by the engagement device 14 . The engagement device 14 and the elements 15 and 16 which are capable of being engaged are described below in greater detail with reference to Figures 7 - 12. Once the lorry 8 , with the sliding carriage 13 in its rearmost position on the supporting platform 9 , has reversed into its position against the railway goods waggon (see Figure 2), the supporting platform 9 is raised until the engagement device 14 of the sliding carriage has engaged w th the nearest element 15 which is capable of being engaged on the container 2. Then the cai— riage 13 is driven forwards along the supporting platform 9, thereby conveying the container 2. Once the container has been transferred fully to the supporting platform 9, the supporting platform is Lowered (see Figure 4), whereby the lorry can be driven away with the container. The trans¬ fer of the container 2 from the lorry 8 to the railway goods waggon 1 takes place in reverse order, in a similar fashion, for which reason it is not considered necessary to provide any description of the procedure. Alternatively, the lorry could have taken the container - 2 from the other side of the railway goods waggon 1 . In this case the engagement device 14 of the sliding carriage would have interacted in a similar fashion with the second element 16 which is capable of being engaged on the container. The nature of the containers shown in Figures 1 - 5 is illustrated in greater deta l in Figure 6, which shows a perspective view obliquely from below of one of the mutually identical containers. It will be seen from the Figure that the container has a longitudinal, central recess 17 of a depth, measured vertically, such that a central section of two cross-members 15 and 16 normally forming part of the supporting frame of the load-carrier is partially exposed. These cross-members correspond to the previously described elements 15 and 16 which are capable of being engaged. The width of the recess 17 fits the engagement device 14 of the sliding carriage, so that this can be introduced into the space provided by the recess 17 , thereby straddling one of the exposed parts of the cross-member 15 and 16 . In the embodiment shown here, the recess 17 exposes two cross-members. Alternatively, the recess 17 may expose other supporting or reinforcing girders or box-sections, etc., forming part of the structure of the container and which may be made suitable to be engaged by the engagement device 14 . Any girders or box-sections, etc., which are present need not be exposed by means of a single recess 17 , but may be exposed by means of several recesses. Further details of the supporting platform 9 and the- sliding carriage 13 are shown in Figures 7 - 9. It may. be seen that the supporting platform 9 consists of a rectangular framework, in which the longer sides of the frame are in the form of two lengths of channel 9a and 9b set on their edges and resting on three supporting beams 18 , which are connected by the aforementioned pairs of pivoting links 11 to the chassis frame 10 of the lorry. The chassis frame of the lorry consists essentially of two Longitudinal main girders 10a and 10b . The sliding carriage 13 is operated by a chain 19 which is driven by a chain drive 21 operated by a hydraulic motor 20 arranged in the supporting platform 9 The sliding carriage 13 is designed as a box-section with two downward-facing side plates 13a and 13b and a horizontal plate 13c , which slide over the channels 9a and 9b as the sliding carriage 13 is displaced. The upward-facing engagement device 14 of the sliding carriage consists of two mutually parallel plates 14a and 14b , which are welded to the sliding carr age or are permanently attached to it in some other way. The distance between the plates 14a and 14b is selected so as to permit the plates to straddle the exposed parts of the cross-members 15 and 16 « - It is clear from the above that the rearmost of the plates 14a and 14b , i.e. the plate 14a shown in Figures 7 - 8, will always act as a pulling element, whereas the foremost plate, i.e. the plate 14b shown in Figures 7 - 8, will always act as a pushing element. This si tuation must always be taken into cons deration, of course, when determining the dimensions and the physical properties of the respec- tive plates. Thus, in the embodiments of the invention as described, use is made of two cross-members (15 and 16) normally forming part of the supporting frame of the container. This means that no additional equipment requires to be fitted to the container so as to enable it to be used with the device in accordance with the invention. The engagement device 14 and the elements 15 and 16 which are capable of being engaged may, of course, be executed in a number of alternative fashions. For example, the plate 14a and/or the plate 14b may be divided up into two or more subsidiary plates 14c - 14f ; see Figure 10. Also, other fork-like organs may be used in place of - the plates 14 . Figures 11 -12 illustrate two further embodiments of the engagement device 14 and the elements 15 and 16 which are capable of being engaged. The engagement device shown in Figure 11 is in the form of a single plate 14g , with each of the cross-members 15 and 16 being provided with an appropriate recess 15a and 16a which extend along the respective member. (Only the cross-member 15 is shown in Figure 11). The plate 14g should preferably be of tapered section so as to facili- TT EA tate its being ' guided into the recess 15 a and 16 a In Figure 12 the engagement devices of the sliding carriage are shown as two pins 14h and 14 , which are permanently attached to the carriage. The two cross-members 15 and 16 are provided in this case with corresponding holes 15 b-c and 16 b-c . (Only the cross-member 15 is shown in Figure 12). The pins 14h and 14i should preferably be of tapered section so as to facilitate their being guided into the holes 15 b-c and 16 b-c . OMPI

Claims: Claims 1. A device relating to a load-carrier (2) and a device for transferring the load-carrier from a railway goods waggon (1) to a lorry (8) and vice versa,, said lorry having on the one hand a supporting platform (9) capable of being raised and lowered by essentially parallel displacement to bring it into line with the height of the loading platform of the railway goods waggon, and on the other hand a motor- driven pulling and pushing sliding carriage (13) forming an integral part of the supporting platform and able to move in the Longitudinal sense of the lorry for the purpose of transferring the load-carrier between the Lorry and the railway goods waggon, said sliding carriage having a coup- Ling arrangement (14) for interacting with a matching coupling arrangement (15, 16) on the load-carr er, c h a ¬ r a c t e r i z e d in that the coupling arrangement (14) on the slid ng carriage is rigidly attached to the sl ding carriage (13) in such a way that it is caused together with the sliding carriage to move in conjunction with the sup¬ porting platform (9) as it is raised and lowered, and in that the coupling arrangement (14) on the sliding carriage comprises an upward-fac ng engagement device intended to interact with the coupling arrangement (15, 16) on the load-carrier, which comprises a downward-facing element arranged on or near the underside of the Load-carrier and capable of being engaged by said engagement device, said downward-facing element being rigidly attached to the Load-carri er. 2. A device relating to a Load-carr er in accordance with claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the bottom of the load-carrier (2) exhibits at least one recess (17) which exposes at Least one part of at Least one cross- member (15, 16) normally forming part of the supporting f rame of the load-carrier, and in that said cross-member constitutes said downward-fac ng element which is capable of be ng engaged. 3. A device in accordan.ee with claim 2, -c h a r a c - t e r i z e d in that the cross-member (15, 16) is pro¬ vided with at least one recess (15a - c) in which said engagement device (14g - i) s able to enter nto posi¬ tive engagement. 4. A device for transferring a Load-carrier in accordance with claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the en¬ gagement device (14) comprises a f rst element (14a) in¬ tended to puLL the load-carrier (2) and a second element (14b) intended to push the Load-carrier, said first and second elements together de ining the Limits of a space extending across the direction of travel of the sliding carr age, said space be ng so arranged as to enclose said downward-facing element (15, 16) of the Load-carrier which is capable of being engaged. 5. A device in accordance with claim 4, c h a r a c - t e r i z e d in that at least one element of said first (14a) and second (14b) elements is divided nto at Least two separate subsidiary elements (14c - f). O PI

Inventors: HENRIKSSON ARNE, HENRIKSSON, ARNE
Applicants: KALMAR LAGAB AB
Application year: 1983
Main classification: B60P1
IPC codes: B60P1, B61D3, B61D47, B65G63, B65G67