FODDER SUPPLY VEHICLE

Abstract: The invention concerns a fodder supply vehicle used in the supply of animal feed in agricultural facilities and characterised in that a box or container is placed on an industrial vehicle. Multiple weighing sensors are placed between said box or container and the chassis. The box is emptied by conveyor belts (6 and 7) cooperating with the turnstiles (11) that are disposed crosswise on the back end of the box. The said parts on said end have an aperture (8) that make it possible to empty the product laterally.

Description: The present invention relates to a fodder supply vehicle according to the preamble of claim 1. Currently, in order to deliver fodder for animals to agriculture and livestock farms, the fodder is usually placed in a vehicle fitted with a box or container, so that it can be delivered in bulk unloading it manually from the rear of the vehicle, or by means of a conveyor belt that stretches all along the bottom of the box, whose weight is controlled at the loading point. It is also very common to deliver fodder in packs, as well as in low to medium capacity containers, in which case the weight is controlled per unit. The delivery of fodder in bulk to farms using a container vehicle has the disadvantage of requiring single deliveries, i.e. each order of fodder has to be taken from the supply plant to each farm one at a time because, logically, the weight is controlled at the starting point. This method results in a considerable waste of time that significantly increases the costs of the delivered product. As for the delivery of fodder in low capacity packs or sacks, or in low to medium volume containers, it is important to stress that this delivery method also leads to higher costs of the final product, since the product has to be packed and later handled with pallets and auxiliary mechanisms both at the loading and at the unloading stage; this, as has already been said, means an important waste of time. Closest priot art document US - A - 4,049,145 discloses a self-unloading agricultural wagon which carries an unloading assambly on it's front end. This wagon comprises a container which is emptied by means of two longitudinal conveyor belts and a transversal conveyer belt together with three transversal turnstiles. Further, document WO 97/09592 discloses a trailer which is used for harvesting. The trailer is provided with means for sensing the weight of an accumulated payload while the vehicle is moving. Due to its use in a harvesting trailer the weighing sensors include means for filtering out the distortion caused by engine vibration of a pulling tractor and shocks caused by bumps in the road. WO 97/09592 seeks to solve the problem to produce a yield map. Besides the weighing sensors it also provides a global positioning system (GPS) in the tractor. It is an object of the present invention to avoid the known problems of the prior art and to provide an improved solution in which the costs for delivering fodder to the respective client can be severely reduced. This object is been solved by a fodder supply vehicle having the features of the characterising portion of claim 1. Advantageous embodiments are described in the dependent claims. To work around these problems, a delivery vehicle to take fodder to agriculture and livestock farms has been devised. This vehicle is made up of a box or container placed on top of the chassis of an industrial vehicle or truck and it will be fitted with the necessary devices to deliver full or partial loads, providing the desired product weight at the unloading point. The box or container, mainly of quadrangular or otherwise rectangular section, is placed on top of multiple weighing cells or sensors, which in turn are placed on top of the chassis or sidebars of the vehicle. Therefore, it is possible to provide the desired product weight at different points controlling the weight of each unloading operation with a control unit fitted in the driver's cab. The fodder or product is loaded from the top and it is unloaded through any of the openings available at the bottom of the rear ends of both sides of the vehicle, by means of a reversible conveyor belt, placed transversally at a level lower than the bottom of the box. Along the bottom of this box stretches another reversible conveyor belt which, in this case, is placed longitudinally, thus allowing the product that has not been unloaded and is placed at the rear end of the vehicle to be carried at will towards the approximate ideal gravity centre of the load. At least two turnstiles anchored transversally towards the rear end of the conveyor belt that act as the bottom of the box also take part in the product unloading operation. These turnstiles are placed one on top of the other leaving the appropriate gap between their pins. The following is a brief explanation of how the advocated invention works. Once the fodder, or desired product, is loaded into the box and the vehicle has arrived at the unloading point, the side from which it is going to be unloaded is chosen, then the appropriate opening door is opened and the product carried by the transversal conveyor belt starts coming out; this conveyor belt receives the product from the longitudinally placed conveyor belt fitted at the bottom of the box; thus allowing the upper turnstiles, which, as is to be expected, turn in the opposite direction, to place the product correctly on top of the transversal unloading conveyor belt. If the vehicle is fully unloaded, the operation is finished, but if the vehicle is partially unloaded, after the desired amount is unloaded the direction of the bottom conveyor belt is reversed until the load is conveniently placed as much as possible towards the gravity centre of the vehicle. As for the hydraulic circuit and its controls, their detailed description is deliberately omitted because they are not considered a relevant feature of the invention. The present invention brings multiple advantages over the methods currently used to distribute products, like fodder to agriculture and livestock farms. The main advantage is the reduction of fodder handling costs, as well as transport costs for partial loads since, as mentioned before, this vehicle can carry out partial deliveries of one single load with a fully guaranteed product weight at each point. To better understand the object of the present invention, a preferential practical realization of the same has been presented in the annexed plane. In this plane: Figure -1- shows a lateral view of the present invention Figure -2- shows a rear view of the invention. The fodder supply vehicle which constitutes the present invention includes, as can be appreciated in the figures mentioned above, an industrial vehicle (1) with a quadrangular or otherwise rectangular box (2) of variable length fitted on top, and provided with multiple weighing sensors (5) between the bottom of the box (3) and the sidebars (4) of the vehicle chassis (1), as well as a longitudinally placed conveyor belt (6) fitted all along the upper side of the bottom (3) of the aforementioned box (2) and designed to roll forwards and backwards. At a level lower than this belt (6), at the rear end of the box there is another transversal conveyor belt (7) whose purpose is to receive the product carried by the first belt (6) and take it to any of the openings (8), as needed, through which the product comes out. The openings (8) are designed to be closed by means of other doors (9), they are activated individually by means of a hydraulic cylinder (10) each, and they are placed opposite the ends of the conveyor belt (7). At the rear end of the box and on top of the final conveyor belt (6), there are at least two turnstiles (11) placed transversally across the box and conveniently separated; they are basically made up of a hollow cylindrical body (12) whose outside surface has been covered with pins (13) which consist of small pieces, mainly cylindrical, of a small diameter. The aforementioned turnstiles (11) are activated by two hydraulic engines (14) situated at one end of the turnstiles inside the box, in such a way that the engines (14) are inserted in one end of the hollow cylindrical body (12). The hydraulic circuit can stop the conveyor belt (6) automatically if the turnstiles (11) get stuck for some reason; it is also possible to control the conveyor belts' (6) and (7) rolling speed, as well as the turnstiles (11) rotating speed. For a proper control of the products supplied at any given time, the driver's cab is fitted with a weighing screen with printer (15). As mentioned before, the detailed description of the hydraulic circuit features is deliberately omitted, because they are not considered to be relevant in the present invention, since they are components that belong to the current technology state.

Claims: Fodder supply vehicle of the type of those employed to supply or distribute fodder to agriculture and livestock farms consisting of an industrial vehicle (1) fitted with a quadrangular or otherwise rectangular box or container (2) placed on top of an industrial vehicle (1), the container (2) being emptied by means of a longitudinal conveyor belt (6) and a transversal conveyer belt (7) together with two transversal turnstiles (11) characterized in that the conveyer belt (7) and the turnstiles (11) are arranged in the container (2) towards its rear end; between the container (2) and the vehicle chassis (4) multiple weight sensors (5) are arranged allowing to see and record each weighing operation on a screen (15) located in the cab of the vehicle (1). Fodder supply vehicle according to the previous claim, characterized in that at back of the sides of the container (2) and at the bottom there is an opening (8) fitted with a door (9) that is used to empty the product from one side, and both are opened and closed by an activating cylinder (10), preferably hydraulicaly. Fodder supply vehicle according to one of the previous claims, characterized in that the conveyor belt (6) covers the whole of the bottom of the container (2), it can roll forwards and backwards and its speed in both longitudinal directions can be controlled. Fodder supply vehicle according to the previous claims, characterized in that the conveyor belt (7) is located at a level lower than belt (6) and at its rear end, it is also located opposite the container side openings (8), it rolls with an adjustable linear speed towards either of the side openings (8). Fodder supply vehicle according to the previous claims, characterized in that at the rear end of the container (2) and above the conveyor belt (6) there are two transversal turnstiles (11) placed at a distance from each other, they rotate in the opposite direction and are made up of a hollow cylindrical body whose exterior surface is covered with multiple pins (13) consisting of small metal elements, and they are activated by two hydraulic engines inserted in the ends of the hollow cylindrical bodies (12) located inside the box.

Inventors: TORRES ASO FERNANDO, TORRES ASO, FERNANDO
Applicants: GRUPO TATOMA S L, GRUPO TATOMA, S.L.
Application year: 2001
Main classification: B60P1
IPC codes: B60P1, G01G19