GB2197296A - Freight containers lifting means - Google Patents

Abstract

A hook-lift vehicle provided with a hydraulically-operated lifting mechanism on its chassis is adapted to handle freight containers having conventional corner fittings, by an adaptor frame (2) for attachment to the lifting mechanisms and including twistlocks for securing with the end corner fittings of a container. The twistlocks are secured to a rigid part (4) of the frame, provided with a hook lift bar (6), and to a pair of telescopic arms (12) pivoted to the rigid part. A pair of spaced support surfaces (18) are located on an outrigger (16) and pivotal about an axis transverse of the chassis at the rear end thereof whereby, subsequent to securing the adaptor frame (2) to the front of a container on the ground and an actuating the lifting mechanism, the front of the container is drawn upwardly onto the chassis until the outer lower side regions of the container engage the support surfaces (18), continued actuation of the lifting mechanism drawing the container over the pivoting surfaces (18) and onto the chassis. The surface may be low friction blocks or a high friction continuous belt. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Freight container lifting means This invention relates to freight container lifting means and more particularly to such means for lifting and transporting I.S.O. freight containers without the need to pre-load the containers onto a dedicated intermediate supporting system prior to loading of the container onto transportation vehicles Freight containers are produced in a series of standard sizes, usually 8 feet in width by 20 feet, 30 feet or 40 feet in length and of height between 4 feet and 8.5 feet, and are known as I.S.O. containers.

These containers are provided with corner fittings in the faces of which are formed generally rectangular openings in which can be received releasable securing means, commonly known as twistlocks, whereby the containers can be secured together or secured to a chassis or platform of a transporting vehicle, it being well-established practice to transport a plurality of such containers on a common platform provided with appropriately located securing means for co-operation with the corner fittings of the containers thereon.

There may, however, be a requirement to transport individual freight containers, for example for munitions purposes, and it would clearly be impractical to utilise multi-container transport means for such purposes.

It is, however, well established practice to provide various types of hook-lift, self-loading and unloading vehicles, commonly known as 'swap-body' vehicles, that are capable of loading, unloading and transporting various shapes and sizes of skips and like containers.

More particularly, such a vehicle is provided with a hydraulically-operated lifting mechanism that includes a hook adapted to be attached to a suitably-positioned lifting bar or recess on the container to be handled, whereby said container can be raised onto or unloaded from the vehicle chassis without the necessity for an intermediate pailet or platform.Such containers must therefore be provided with the appropriate hook-receiving means thereon before they can be loaded or unloaded by such lifting mechanisms.

Further, and if there are no intermediate pallets involved, the underside of the floors of such containers are provided with longitudinally extending strengthening rails or the like which co-operate with rollers on the rear end of the vehicle chassis during loading and unloading of the containers onto the chassis, the loading forces being exerted through said rails and rollers.

Conventional I.S.O. containers are not provided with attachment means suitable for receiving the hooks of such lifting mechanisms, nor are they provided with such longitudinallyextending rails on the undersurfaces thereof.

Thus the existing hook-lift vehicles are not immediately suited to handling I.S.O. containers other than through intermediate pallets.

It would be desirable to be able to utilise conventional hook-lift vehicles to handle I.S.O.

containers without the necessity of altering the containers themselves and without having to provide an intermediate loading pallet or platform.

According to the present invention there is provided means for adapting a hook-lift vehicle, having a hydraulically-operated lifting mechanism on the chassis thereof, to load and unload freight'containers having conventional corner fittings at the corners thereof, the means comprising an adaptor frame for attachment to, to be movable by, the lifting mechanism, said adaptor frame including releasable securing means thereon for co-operation with the corner fittings of one end of a freight container whereby said frame can be secured to said container, and a pair of laterally-spaced support surfaces for location at or adjacent the rear end of the vehicle chassis one to each side of said chassis, said surfaces being pivotal about a substantially horizontal axis extending transversely of the chassis and being spaced apart by a distance substantially equal to the width of the container, the arrangement being such that, subsequent to securing of the adaptor frame to the front end of a container on the ground and on actuation of the lifting mechanism, the front end of the container is drawn upwardly and forwardly relative to the vehicle chassis until the outer side regions of the floor of the container engage said opposed support surfaces, the floor of the container and the support surfaces making an acute angle with the horizontal, continued actuation of the lifting mechanism drawing the container over said pivoting surfaces and onto the chassis.

Preferably the adaptor frame comprises a body portion including means thereon for attachmnet of the hook of the lifting mechanism, and a pair of opposed, releasable securing means, conveniently twistlocks, for co-operation one with each of the two lower corner fittings of the one end of a freight container, the frame further comprising a pair of telescopic arm members one end of each of which is pivotally attached to the body portion and the other end of each of which carries a further releasable securing means, again conveniently a twistlock, for co-operation one with each of the two upper corner fittings at the one end of said container.

It will be appreciated that the provision of such pivotal and telescopic members enables the securing means carried thereby to co-operate with corner fittings at various locations, thus enabling the adaptor frame to be secured to containers of differing heights.

The pivotal support surfaces are conveniently mounted on outriggers adapted to be secured to the vehicle chassis such that said surfaces are laterally spaced each to receive thereon the associated edge regions of the floor of the container being handled whereby the load of said container is distributed over said surfaces during drawing of the container onto the vehicle chassis.

Each surface may comprise a low friction slider plate over which the container moves as it is drawn onto the vehicle chassis, or, alternatively, said surface may comprise the upper run of a continuous belt, preferably of high friction material, and adapted to move with the container on said drawing of the container onto the vehicle.

Preferably the adaptor means includes releasable securing means associated with each support surface such that, with a container loaded on the vehicle chassis and with the rear end of the container located on said surfaces, said releasable securing means, conveniently twistlocks, can be moved to an operative position projecting through said surfacesand co-operating with the lower corner fittings of the rear end of the container to secure said end of the container to the chassis.

The adaptor means may further comprise a pair of laterally-spaced support surfaces fixed at or adjacent the front regions of the chassis and adapted to receive thereon the front end of a container in its loaded position on the vehicle chassis.

The fixed support surfaces may be apertured whereby associated releasable securing means, conveniently twist-locks can extend therethrough to co-operate with the lower corner fittings of the front end of the loaded container to secure said end of the container to the chassis.

By way of example only, an embodiment of the invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings of which: Fig. 1 shows an adaptor frame of adaptor means according to the invention; Fig. 2 is a view inthe direction of arrow A of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a view in the direction of arrow B of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is an end view of a support surface and associated mechanism of adaptor means according to the invention, and Fig. 5 is a side view of the support surface of Fig. 4.

Referring to the drawings, the illustrated adaptor means comprises an adaptor frame indicated generally at 2 and including a rigid body portion 4 having a lifting hook bar 6, a hook guide and container protection plate 8 and a pair of lower, opposed corner fitting twistlocks fitted with guide plates 10, these twistlocks being spaced 8 feet apart for cooperation with the lower corner fittings of any standard I.S.O. container.

The upper part of the frame 2 includes a pair of pivotal, telescopic arms 12 the free ends of which are each fitted with a twistlock 14. The twistlocks 14 are each provided with side alignment and locking plates and are pivotal in a vertical plane as indicated in Fig. 3 so that the combination of this pivotability and the telescopic nature of the arms 12 permit the location of the twistlocks 14 at positions which align with the upper corner fittings of an I.S.O. container of any standard height.

The adaptor means further comprises a mirror image pair of outrigger side plate assemblies as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, one for location to each side df the rear end of the chassis of the associated transportation vehicle.

The illustrated assembly includes an outrigger 1 6 which is designed to suit the particular vehicle, the outer ends of the opposed outriggers being spaced apart to accept the standard 8 foot width of I.S.O. container. Each outrigger is fitted with a container support mechanism 1 8 pivotal relative to the outrigger on a shaft 20, the support mechanism including a slider plate 22 forming a support surface of low friction material such as NYLO TRON GS (trade mark). The slider plate 22 is thus pivotal relative to the outrigger 16 and vehicle chassis about an axis extending transversely of said chassis to accommodate the loading angle of the container as will be detailed below.

The outer edge of the slider plate 22 is equipped with an upright guide plate 24 which ensures proper alignment of the container during loading and unloading.

The surface of the slider plate 22 may comprise low friction material, or may comprise a roller or ball race or a flat belt or the upper run of a continuous belt of high friction material, all such as to allow loads imposed by the combined weight of the container and the carrying vehicle to be spread along the bottom edge of the bottom side rails of the I.S.O.

container without deforming or damaging said side rails.

The support mechanism is equipped with a fully retractable twistlock 26 which can be engaged in the bottom aperture of the rear lower corner fitting on the container thereby fully to secure the container to the hook-lift vehicle after the loading operation is completed.

The described apparatus operates as follows. The two rear support mechanisms 18 are manually affixed to the rear outrigger 16 on the vehicle. The adaptor frame 2 is engaged onto the vehicle lift-hook by means of the lifting bar 6 and the lifting mechanism is activated whereby the frame 2 is brought into contact with thefrontend of a container to be loaded resting on the ground, the frame being automatically aligned by the lower corner fitting twistlock guide plates 10.

The lower twistlocks are manually engaged into the front apertures of the bottom corner fittings of the container and are locked therein.

The pivotal telescopic arms 12 are swung up into a diagonal position and the twistlocks 14 thereon are aligned with, engaged into and locked to the front apertures of the upper corner fittings on the container.

The operation of self-loading is then identical with that required for the self-loading of dedicated hook-lift flatracks in that the front end of the container is first of all lifted to a level above that of the slider plates 22 with the container pivoting about is trailing edge.

As the lift-hook continues its arc, the vehicle is steered back under the raised container until the slider plates 22 engage the underside of the container and adopt the angle of the floor of the container, typically about 35". The lifthook continues its arc as the lifting mechanism draws it forward whereby the container is drawn onto the vehicle chassis and slides along the plates 22 said plates pivoting into a horizontal position as the container is finally loaded onto the chassis.

At the completion of loading, the rear of the I.S.O. container is automatically aligned by the guide plates 24, allowing the retractable twistlocks 26 to be manually engaged and locked into the bottom apertures on the lower corner fittings at the rear of the container.

The front of the container is secured to and supported by the vehicle hook-lift assembly.

Alternatively, front outriggers with slider plates and retractable twistlocks may be provided, these units being non-pivotal but in all other respects identical with the rear assemblies.

Claims (12)

1. Means for adapting a hook-lift vehicle, having a hydraulically-operated lifting mechanism on the chassis thereof, to load and unload freight containers having conventional corner fittings at the corners thereof, the means comprising an adaptor frame for attachment to, to be movable by, the lifting mechanism, said adaptor frame including releasable securing means thereon for co-operation with the corner fittings of one end of a freight container whereby said frame can be secured to said container, and a pair of laterally-spaced support surfaces for location at or adjacent the rear of the vehicle chassis one to each side of said chassis, said surfaces being pivotal about a substantially horizontal axis extending transversely of the chassis and being spaced apart by a distance substantially equal to the width of the container, the arrangement being such that, subsequent to securing of the adaptor frame to the front end of a container on the ground and on actuation of the mechanism, the front end of the container is drawn upwardly and forwardly relative to the vehicle chassis until the outer lower side regions of the container engage said opposed support surfaces, the floor of the container and the support surfaces making an acute angle with the horizontal, continued actuation of the lifting mechanism drawing the container over said pivoting surfaces and onto the chassis.

2. Adaptor means as claimed in claim 1 in which the adaptor frame comprises a body portion including means thereon for attachment of the hook of the lifting mechanism, and a pair of opposed, releasable securing means for co-operation one with each of the two lower corner fittings of the one end of a freight container, the frame further comprising a pair of telescopid arm members one end of each of which is pivotally attached to the body portion and the other end of each of which carries a further releasable securing means for co-operation one with each of the two upper corner fittings at the one end of the container.

3. Adaptor means as claimed in claim 2 in which the releasable means for co-operation with the lower corner fittings at the one end of the container each comprises a twistlock.

4. Adaptor means as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3 in which the pivotal surfaces are mounted on outriggers adapted to be secured to the vehicle chassis such that said surfaces are laterally spaced each to receive thereon the associated lower side regions of the container being handled whereby the load of said container is distributed over said surfaces during drawing of the container onto the vehicle chassis.

5. Adaptor means as claimed in claim 4 in which each surface comprises a low friction slider plate over which the container moves as it is drawn onto the vehicle chassis.

6. Adaptor means as claimed in claim 4 in which each surface comprises the upper run of a continuous belt of a material of high friction adapted to move with the container on drawing of the container onto the vehicle.

7. Adaptor means as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6 and including releasable securing means associated with each support surface such that, with a container loaded on the vehicle chassis and with the rear end of the container located on said surfaces, said releasable securing means can be moved to an operative position projecting through said surfaces and co-operating with the lower corner fittings of the rear end of the container to secure said end of the container to the chassis.

8. Adaptor means as claimed in claim 7 in which the releasable securing means associated with each support surface comprises a twistlock.

9. Adaptor means as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 8 and further comprising a pair of laterally-spaced support surfaces fixed at or adjacent the front regions of the chassis and adapted to receive thereon the frontend of a container in its loaded position on the vehicle chassis.

10. Adaptor means as claimed in claim 9 in which the fixed support surfaces are apertured whereby associated releasable securing means can extend therethrough to co-operate with the lower corner fittings of the front end of the loaded container to secure said end of the container to the chassis.

11. Adaptor means as claimed in claim 10 in which the releasable securing means extending through the fixed support surfaces each comprises a twistlock.

12. Means for adapting a hook-lift vehicle substantially as described with reference to and as illustrated by the accompanying drawings.