AN INSTALLATION AND AN AUXILIARY THEREFOR FOR USE IN WORKSHOP HANDLING OF CAR WHEELS

Abstract: With servicing work in connection with automobile wheels, it is expedient to use a machine line where the various machines stand in a row for the handling and transport of the wheels between said machines at a convenient working height. It is hereby relevant to deliver the finished wheels from a balancing machine to a delivery bay at this height, into which bay the wheels in a wheel set are rolled in a row at the side of one another with positions which are marked with reference to recommended mounting positions on the vehicle. The wheel fitter can thus roll the individual wheels down and out to the correct positions on the vehicle. According to the invention, this bay is configured as a mobile unit in the form of a trolley, which with the complete set of wheels received and with the associated markings can be pushed out to the vehicle, after which the wheels can be removed from the carriage by simply rolling them down. In the meantime, it is possible for a new, empty carriage to be placed in the receiving position at the balancing machine. The transporting of the wheels will be eased to a considerable degree and, on the way to the vehicle on which the wheels are to be mounted, it is not necessary for the wheel fitter to bear in mind the correct positioning of the wheels.

Description: An installation and an auxiliary therefore for use in workshop handling of car wheels. The present invention concerns an installation for use in the handling of automobile wheels in a workshop, i.e. primarily for the delivery of wheels from a wheel balancing machine to a wheel mounting area. In tyre repair or replacement workshops it has not been traditional to use any special system in the workshop ar- rangement, in that in general the various machines have simply been situated in expedient places such as in convenient bays. The machines have generally been considered as independent, specialised units, and the operators have brought the wheels around to the machines as required. According to a forerunner for the present invention, over recent times use has been made of a more systematic arrangement by which the machines are situated in an operation line which enables the wheels to be handled in a methodical manner, and which makes the work considerably easier, in that among other things the wheels can remain at a relevant working height and consequently do not have to be lifted up and down at the individual machines. The last link in the row of machines will typically be a wheel balancing machine from which the wheels must be con- veyed back to the mounting area in front of a shielding wall. While this has hitherto involved the collection and rolling- out of the finished wheels to this area, with the above- mentioned new system it has been possible to systemise the delivery of the wheels hereto, in that a set of wheels arriv- - ing at the one end of the operation line are delivered from the balancing machine standing as a wheel group in a delivery opening in the shielding wall, from which the wheels are easily rolled out down to floor level for further rolling-out to the relevant vehicle in the mounting area. It is quite normal practice, also in the less systemised working sequence, that the wheel-balancing operator places a marker on one or more wheels in a wheel set to indicate whether the individual wheels in the set are more or less 2 round or have side wobble, hereby enabling the "best" wheel to be mounted in the most critical place, i.e. at the front on the driving side of the vehicle, while the remaining wheels - with fully acceptable wheel balancing - can then be mounted at the remaining corners of the vehicle. However, with the said newer system it has been found that in a simple and advantageous manner the work can be effected with a wheel delivery which does not require any such marking whatsoever. Instead, the delivery bay is divided into four sections which refer to the goodness of the respective wheels, for example by a frontward-faced numbering or picto- grams which indicates the balancing operator ' s recommendation regarding where on the vehicle the individual wheels should be mounted. The sections can be arranged with simple means for separate support of the individual, standing wheels, which can hereby be freely taken down for rolling-out from the individual positions. Moreover, such a sectional dividing is of further significance in that the wheel-balancing operator, who can not determine the final position of the wheels according to their goodness until all four wheels have been balanced, can very easily change between the wheel positions in the different sections simply by a rolling of the wheels. With the present invention it has been found that it is possible to further improve the said newer system, i.e. by the above-mentioned delivery bay as a whole being configured as mobile unit, i.e. as a trolley which in a blocked receiving position can receive the wheels by these being rolled in to stabilising positions on mutually separated support mem- bers, still with a marked space division. In the receiving position, the trolley can stand in an almost integrated position in the system, for example moved in for co-operation with a fixed retaining part and thereafter blocked by means of a simple, foot-operated brake on one or two wheels of the swivel type. The wheel-fitter, who fetches the trolley when all four wheels are ready, can possibly place another, empty trolley in the receiving position, after which he can push the whole wheel set over or out to the relevant vehicle where 3 he continues to have the said priority marking in close sight. It is thus sufficient for the wheel fitter to make one trip to the vehicle, and on the way he has no need whatsoever to remember anything about the priority given to the wheels. This is of extreme advantage generally, but particularly so in warmer climates, where there is no tradition for having the mounting places situated indoors in the immediate vicinity of the place where the wheels are delivered. With a preferred embodiment, the trolley is constructed in such a manner that its wheel-supporting bay part is variable in height and supported on an underlying carriage frame, so that the support means for the set of wheels can easily be changed between a half-high position which is suitable for receiving the wheels from the balancing machine and is also acceptable for a successive taking-down of the wheels to floor level, and a lowered, low position above the floor, whereby it is also made possible for the trolley to be used for easy collection of the wheel set from floor level and herewith for the transport of the complete wheel set to a low-lying introduction position at the delivery end of said handling line, e.g. by transport to a low-lying washing station or a low-lying delivery end of an elevator for the lifting of the wheels to the general level in the handling line. After a simple adjustment, the same trolley will thus be able to used for bringing out the complete set of wheels for the re-mounting of these on a given vehicle, but it will be understood, however, that in principle use can hereby be made of respectively "high" and "low" trolleys, where the latter do not need to have position markings. In the following, the invention will be described in more detail with reference to the drawing, in which fig. 1 is plan view of a known wheel handling installation, fig. 2 is a perspective view of the same, fig. 3 is a corresponding view of an installation in accordance with the invention, and figs. 4-6 are side views of an associated, special wheel- supporting trolley. 4 In fig 1 there is shown a workshop installation in the form of a wheel/tyre handling line 2 which can receive wheels 4 which are transported successively along a conveyor 6, which brings the wheels from a workshop or mounting area 8 to an angular transfer unit 10 for successive transport of the wheels to the handling line 2. This comprises various units, mainly a bead-breaker 12, a tyre changing machine 14 and an inflating station 16, and finally a balancing machine 18. The handling line is arranged slightly in front of a rear wall 20 where a workbench and tool cabinets or tables 24 can be placed. In front of the handling line there is a low shielding wall 26, and in this wall between the units 16 and 18 there is an opening 28 opposite a rolling-out table 30 on which the wheels from the balancing machine can be rolled out to a support section 31 in the relevant delivery opening 28. By means of separating bars 32, this bay is divided into sections to receive a complete set of wheels standing at the side of one another. The bars 32 extend downwards from an upper cross member 34 on which can be mounted forwards-facing sign-plates 36, which e.g. by means of numbering or pictograms show at which corners of the vehicle the individual wheels should be mounted. In fig. 2 are shown the shielding wall 26 and the roll- ing-out table 30, and an apparatus 38 with a height- adjustable support platform 40 which is used to transport the wheels to and from the balancing machine 18, i.e. also for the end transport from this to the rolling-out table 30. The wheel-mounting personnel can roll the individual wheels down - and out from the support section 31 for mounting in the indicated positions. Fig. 3 shows an installation according to the invention, corresponding substantially to fig. 2 with the important difference here that the delivery opening or bay 28 consists of a trolley 42 with a support frame 44 for receiving the wheels from the roll-out table 30, which here is placed correspondingly drawn back from the front of the handling line. The carriage 42 has two uprights 43 which on lower crossbars sup- 5 port fixed wheels 46 and swivel wheels 48 with foot brakes 50 respectively, and which above the frame correspond completely to the arrangement according to fig. 2. For the securing of the trolley, on the frame of the nearby shield-wall there is provided a projecting catch-plate 52 which can fasten the associated upright 43 on the trolley when this is pushed in to the position shown, in which it can also be stabilised by means of the wheel brake 50. The balancing machine operator can deliver the wheels in quite the same way as with fig. 2, but when the carriage is loaded, the wheel fitter can fetch the complete wheel set on the trolley and push it the shorter or the longer way to the mounting place, where the wheels can be rolled down from the frame 44 without any difficulty. On the way to the vehicle on which the wheels are to be fitted, the wheel fitter does not have to think about where the wheels have to be placed, the reason being that the position markers 36 are naturally also taken to the mounting place. Several trolley units 42 can be associated with the sys- tem, so that after initial pushing out of the loaded trolley, the wheel fitter can push a new trolley to the receiving position, and can thus have the trolley completely at his disposal until the work is finished, without the balancing machine operator finding that he is lacking a new trolley. As mentioned above, it can be desirable to use a trolley which is adjustable in height, though providing that such an adjustment can be effected in a simple manner and preferably by a single person. This will be possible with the carriage construction shown, where the uprights 43 are configured as - telescopic legs cf. figs. 4-6. By the withdrawal of a spring- loaded locking pin 54 on the one upright, the one end of the trolley can be lowered to a low position cf. fig. 5, in which the trolley remains standing in a stable manner, so that the wheel fitter is then free to move to the opposite end and re- peat the adjustment procedure there. The trolley, fig. 6, will thus be immediately ready to easily receive wheels from floor level for trouble-free transport to a desired unloading 6 place such as a delivery elevator at the supply end of the handling line, cf. fig. 3. Also the reversed adjustment, i.e. from fig. 6 to fig. 4, will be correspondingly easy to carry out with the trolley in the unloaded condition, precisely because it can be effected in two steps through the middle position in fig. 5.

Claims: C A I M S 1. Workshop installation for the servicing of automobile wheels, comprising various handling units, a balancing machine and a roll-out table (30) for receiving finished wheels for rolling these out to form a wheel set with the wheels standing at the side of one another on a support section (31,44) for delivery of the wheels standing at the side of one another from a level just above the floor to a posi- tion raised above the floor, said support section being in connection with separating means (32,36) for identification of recommended mounting positions for the individual wheels, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the support section ( 44 ) with associated separating means and identification means is configured as a mobile unit for the transport of a complete set of wheels, in that means are provided for the releasable securing of the support section (44) to the roll-out table (30). 2. Installation according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e- r i z e d in that the securing means consist partly of gripping part ( 52 ) for the one end of the mobile unit fixed in relation to the roll-out table, and partly of a wheel brake on a wheel of the swivel type at the opposite end of the mobile unit. 3. Installation according to claim 1, c h a r a c t er i z e d in that it comprises two or more of said mobile units for co-operation with the same roll-out table. 4. Ancillary unit for an installation according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that it consists of a - trolley with a support section for a set of automobile wheels with the wheels standing side by side, and with support means for the standing wheels in specific positions on the support section and with marking means which indicate the positions in which the individual wheels are to be mounted. 5. Ancillary unit according to claim 4, c h a r a ct e r i z e d in that the support section is an elongated frame part which is connected at each end with a column which lowermost has a wheel-supporting crossbar, and which upper- 8 most extends upwards for the support of a cross member at a distance above the frame, said cross member connecting the columns and supporting said marking means. 6. Ancillary unit according to claim 4, c h a r a c- t e r i z e d in that the support section is adjustable between a level close to the floor and a higher level. 7. Ancillary unit according to claim 5, c h a r a ct e r i z e d in that both columns down below the frame part are configured with telescopic legs extending downwards and which support opposing wheel pairs on the trolley, each of which legs can be telescoped out from the columns and fixed individually. 8. Ancillary unit according to claim 7, c h a r a ct e r i z e d in that the wheels mounted at the one end of the carriage are of the fixed type, while at the other end they consist of wheels of the swivel type, at least one of which is provided with a foot-operated wheel brake.

Inventors: HJORTH-HANSEN ARNE, HJORTH-HANSEN, ARNE
Applicants: HJORTH HANSEN ARNE, HJORTH-HANSEN, ARNE
Application year: 1999
Main classification: B60B30
IPC codes: B62D43, B65D85