Patent GB-561233-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to mobile hoisting and conveying  apparatus
IPC: B66C23/36
Filed: 1942-06-02
Abstract: 561,233. Self - propelled cranes and load - handling machines and vehicles. A.C.E. MACHINERY, Ltd., and EVANS, P. N. June 2, 1942, No. 7469. [Classes 78 (iii), 78 (iv), and 78 (v)] [Also in Group XXXI] A self-propelled hoisting and conveying apparatus comprises a vehicle chassis, means for detachably mounting a crane jib or like device at the front of said chassis, a power unit mounted' at the rear and adapted to propel the vehicle and to drive the crane hoisting-gear, and multiple control means for starting, stopping and reversing the drive for the vehicle and the crane. Other load-handling devices such as a hoist or a scoop may be used interchangeably with the crane jib. In the construction shown in Fig. 1, a crane jib 6, 7 is detachably secured at 8, 9 to the side plates 1 of a' vehicle frame mounted on pair of steering wheels 11 and a single rear wheel or group of wheels '12 driven through friction reversing gear by an internal-combustion engine 5. A balance weight 10 is provided at the end remote from the jib, and a coupling hook 13 is also provided to enable the vehicle to be used as a tractor. The vehicle frame comprises two side plates 1, 2 connected together by top and bottom plates 3, 4. The engine 5 drives shafts 24, 28 continuously through chain gears 21, 25, the shaft 24 driving the road wheels 12 and the shaft 28 driving the shaft 29 of the winding drum for the hoisting rope 36 of the crane or other loading appliance. The friction reversing gear for driving the road wheels 12 is as described in Specification 561,235, [Group XXIV], and comprises a pair of oppositely-rotating friction rollers 43, 44, Fig. 8, mounted on shafts 24, 37 and situated within a friction drum 46 fixed to a shaft 30 which is mounted in eccentric bearings 32 and drives the wheels 12 through chain gears 48, 54. The bearings 32 are rotatable by means of a pedal 18 so that either of the rollers 43, 44 can be brought into engagement with the interior of the drum 46 to drive it in either direction.' In an' intermediate position of the pedal 18, in which neither roller engages the drum, a brake block 69 automatically engages the drum as described in Specification 561,236, [Group XXXIV], and prevents it from rotating thus acting as a brake on the road wheels 12. The pedal is rocked forwardly for forwards drive and rearwardly for rearwards drive, and when released is returned to its central or neutral position by a spring 68, as described in Specification 561,234, [Group XXXI]. The crane winch-drum shaft 29 may be driven through similar friction reversing gearing comprising the driving shaft 28, two friction rollers 43, 44 and a friction drum 45 on the shaft 29 which is mounted in eccentric bearings 31 controlled by a hand lever 19 having a raising position, a lowering position, and an intermediate neutral position in which a brake is automatically applied as described in Specification 561,238, [Group XXXIV]. Alternatively, the reverse drive may be omitted, the load being lowered by its own weight when the driving roller is disengaged and the brake on' the drum 45 is released. In this case the hand lever 19 has three positions, in (1) the driving gear is engaged, in (2) the driving gear is free, and in (3) the eccentric movement of the drum shaft 29 brings the drum against a fixed brake block 82. The last position of the lever is its normal one to which it is brought by a weight 81. The steering wheel 16 steers the front wheels 11 in the usual manner, and the front wheels are braked by means of a pedal 17. The gearing is enclosed by a casing 20. The crane may have a short straight jib instead of the curved one shown. A number of crane jibs of different sizes may be used, or the jib may be replaced by (1) a scoop or bucket as described in Specification 561,239, or (2) by a platform hoist having a platform raised and lowered along vertical guides or posts secured to the vehicle chassis at 8 and 9, the posts being hinged near the middle so as to fold down over the top of the vehicle when the vehicle is being moved about unloaded.