WO2003076325A1

WO2003076325A1 - Loader

Info

Publication number: WO2003076325A1
Application number: PCT/FI2003/000188
Authority: WO
Inventors: Esa-Tapio SEPPÄLÄ
Original assignee: Brandmark Tm Oy Ltd
Priority date: 2002-03-11
Filing date: 2003-03-11
Publication date: 2003-09-18
Also published as: FIU20020104U0; FI5644U1; AU2003209801A1

Abstract

A loader for the loading and unloading of load spaces, said loader comprising an elongated and substantially horizontal frame (1); a lifting means (2) at a first end of the frame for raising and lowering the frame between a lower position and an upper position; a supporting frame (3) placed at a second end of the frame and having some vertical length; in connection with the supporting frame, a bearer means (4) supported on the ground; a freight handling element (5) extending from the supporting frame to the opposite side of the frame; and in the supporting frame an actuator (6) for raising and lowering the freight handling element relative to the supporting frame between a lower position and an upper position.

Description

LOADER

The present invention relates to a loader for the loading and unloading of load spaces . In particular, the invention relates to the loading and unload- ing of freight spaces of trucks, of separate containers used in them, and of railway carriages and corresponding containers used on them.

Today, the loading, transportation and unloading of goods constitutes an increasingly signifi- cant proportion of the activities in the overall world economy. Goods need to be transported fast and efficiently from producer to consumer to avoid unnecessary costs. Due to the speed, freight is increasingly transported in containers, and these are transported on trucks . The dimensions of the freight spaces and containers impose certain restrictions regarding the loading equipment used. Typically, containers and other freight spaces are loaded using fork-lift trucks, by means of which the objects to be loaded are lifted and moved into place.

However, fork-lift trucks have several limitations retarding and encumbering the process of loading and unloading of objects. For fork-lift trucks, a loading platform is always needed when trucks or rail- way carriages are to be loaded, and in the case of containers as well unless the containers are separately lowered to the ground level . When heavy loads are to be handled, the fork-lift truck does not always have a sufficient load bearing capacity, or if the fork-lift truck is big enough, it is too large to enter into the freight space, and consequently the load has to be left at the entrance of the freight space. Therefore, the freight space is not utilized effectively, which means obvious transportation losses. The object of the present invention is to overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks. A specific object of the invention is to disclose a new type of loader that allows loads to be loaded and unloaded accurately in the entire freight space regardless of the size of the fork-lift truck or equivalent used or substantially regardless of its load-bearing capacity. It is also an object of the invention to enable trucks and railway carriages at a normal transportation and transfer height to be loaded and unloaded without separate loading platforms .

As for the features of the invention, refer- ence is made to the claims.

The loader of the invention for the loading and unloading of freight spaces comprises an elongated and substantially horizontal frame; a lifting means at a first end of the frame for raising and lowering it between a lower position and an upper position; at a second end of the frame a supporting frame having some vertical length; in connection with the supporting frame, a bearer means supported on the ground; a freight handling element extending from the supporting frame to the opposite side of the frame; and in the supporting frame an actuator for raising and lowering the freight handling element with respect to the supporting frame between a lower position and an upper position. The loader of the invention can be used in connection with various types of lifting means. Thus, the lifting means on which the elongated horizontal frame of the loader is supported or mounted may be a moving vehicle, such as a fork-lift truck or equiva- lent, on whose forks or in place of whose forks the first end of the frame is mounted. Instead of a fork- lift truck, it is also possible use other different wheeled loaders, tractors or equivalent provided with a front-end loader and having lifting arms or other lifting means by means of which the first end of the frame can be raised and lowered between a lower position and an upper position. In an embodiment of the invention, the lifting means is a fixed, stationary lifter, on which the first end of the frame is supported or mounted.

The frame of the loader of the invention preferably comprises a length adjustment system that allows the length of the frame to be changed during the loading process, especially when a load is being moved to or removed from the extreme areas of the freight space. The length adjustment is preferably i - plemented as a telescopic structure, i.e. two or more frame sections movable within each other or in an overlapping arrangement with respect to each other to allow the length of the frame to be changed and adjusted. The supporting frame at the second end of the frame preferably consists of an upright structure of beams, rails, tracks or a corresponding structure extending vertically, designed to support the freight handling element arranged to be movable between the upper position and the lower position by means of the actuator.

The bearer means at the second end of the frame may be comprised in the frame or in the supporting frame. It preferably consists of one or more wheels, rollers or rolls supporting the second end of the frame together with the load and the other structures on the ground or on the floor of the freight space, depending on the stage of the loading process. The bearer means preferably comprises a steering ar- rangement, in other words, the wheels or equivalent are swivellable to allow the loader to be steered laterally as well while being pushed or pulled.

The freight handling element, i.e. the device placed at the second end of the elongated frame and supported by the supporting frame is preferably a lifting fork or truck fork that is capable of lifting and moving various loading pallets and loads placed on them. However, in respect of its construction and operation, the freight handling element may vary widely depending on the goods or bulk to be loaded, unloaded and handled. Thus, it may consist of or comprise a suitable lifting and lowering platform, it may be provided with various hooks or other hanging means or it may be a bulldozer blade primarily designed for pushing objects into a desired space. It is likewise possible that the freight handling element is a bucket or equivalent applicable for moving, lifting, transporting and tipping bulk goods. The lifting forks may also be fixedly mounted, non-raisable, in which case they can be used to push objects to a large distance on a given plane . The actuator preferably comprises one or more hydraulic cylinders or other corresponding power means for raising and lowering the freight handling element and possibly for tipping it, i.e. turning it about a transverse horizontal axis. Thus, the supporting frame may be provided with a separate hydraulic pump electrically controlled from the lifting means, or hydraulic hoses may be provided between the lifting means and the supporting frame . Other power means, power transmission methods and control methods known in themselves may also be used in connection with the invention.

The loader of the invention has several significant advantages as compared with prior art. The loader of the invention provides versatile and flexi- ble possibilities for loading and unloading freight without expensive loading platform structures. In addition, the loader allows accurate loading of load spaces so that the entire useful capacity of the load space can always be effectively utilized. The invention further provides the possibility of loading and unloading loads significantly exceeding the load-bearing capacity of the fork-lift truck or equivalent being used. Thus, large and heavy loads can be loaded even in spaces too narrow for fork-lift trucks having a sufficient load-bearing capacity to drive in. As the dead weight of the loader of the invention is substantially smaller than that of fork- lift trucks and equivalent normally used in freight spaces, the floors of these spaces are subjected to clearly smaller loads than when the loading is per- formed using currently existing devices. The manufacturing costs of the loader of the invention are only a fraction as compared to a fork-lift truck having the same power .

If a suitable machine, such as e.g. a bucket loader or a tractor provided with a front loader is already available, then, in addition to the acquisition cost of a fork-lift truck, savings will be also made in loading platform or loading bridge costs because no additional structures are required for the loader of the invention to be usable. Since the weight of the goods to be handled is entirely borne by the device of the invention, it can be used together with a small fork-lift truck for handling consignments that would normally require the use of a large fork-lift truck having a high lifting capacity. The invention is also well applicable for use in other types of lifting work, such as e.g. the handling of containers at harbors, because the auxiliary lifting device of the invention, assisted by the long frame acting as a lever arm and the wheels, is able to lift loads considerably larger than the fork-lift truck alone can lift.

Other embodiments, special features and detailed operation of the invention are visualized in the following drawings, wherein the invention will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings , wherein Fig. 1 presents a loader according to the invention at an initial stage of a loading operation,

Fig. 2 presents the loader of Fig. 1 with a container lifted to the loading level, Fig. 3 presents the loader of Fig. 1 lifted to the loading level,

Fig. 4 presents the loader of Fig. 1 with the container pushed into a load space,

Fig. 5 presents the loader of Fig. 1 with the con- tainer pushed to the rearmost area in the load space, and

Fig. 6 presents the loader of Fig. 1 when the loader is being pulled out of the load space.

A loader according to the invention as pre- sented in the drawings comprises an elongated and horizontal frame 1 supported at its first end 9 on the forks 8 of a fork-lift truck 7. Provided at the second end 10 of the frame is a telescopic extension 11, which allows the frame to be extended to a length larger than the basic length of the frame 1.

At the second end 10 of the frame 1 there is a supporting frame 3 fixed to the telescopic extension 11 and having wheels serving as bearer means 4 supporting this second end 10 of the apparatus on the ground. Mounted on the supporting frame on the opposite side of the frame 1 are lifting forks serving as a freight handling element 5. The lifting forks can be raised and lowered between a lower position and an upper position by means of an actuator 6 provided in the supporting frame 3. The actuator consists of a hydraulic pump and a hydraulic cylinder, which are controlled electrically from the fork-lift truck 7.

The loader presented in Fig. 1-6 works as follows . When a container 12 is to be loaded into the load space 13 of a truck, it is first lifted clear of the ground by means of the lifting forks 5 of the supporting frame 3. Using a fork-lift truck 7, the loader together with the container 12 is moved to a position close to the open rear of the load space 13 and lifted by means of the lifting forks 5 into the rear part of the load space . After this, the forks 8 of the fork-lift truck 7 are raised and the forks 5 supported by the supporting frame 3 are lowered at the same speed with respect to the supporting frame 3 while forks 5 remain under the container 12 in the load space 13. Forks 5 are thus supported on the floor of the load space 13 while the frame 1 and the supporting frame 3 rise up to the level of the floor of the load space 13 as shown in Fig. 3.

Next, the container is pushed inwards into the load space 13 by the fork-lift truck 7 at least until the wheels 4 come onto the floor of the load space 13, whereupon the container 12 can be lifted with the forks 5 while the wheels 4 are supported on the floor of the load space. In this way, the con- tainer can be pushed into the load space 13 to a distance determined by the length of the frame 1 as illustrated in Fig. 4. If this distance is insufficient to bring the container 12 to the extreme end of the load space, then the length of the frame 1 is in- creased by means of the telescopic extension 11 provided at its end. In this way, a sufficient total length of the frame 1 is achieved and the container 12 can be pushed right to the inner end of the load space 13. The forks 5 are then lowered and the container re- mains in place when the telescopic extension 11 is retracted into the frame 1.

Next, the loader is pulled away from the load space 13 to allow a new container to be loaded. Depending on the length and weight of the loader and the weight and lifting capacity of the fork-lift truck used, the loader can be removed from the load space in the reverse order relative to that described above, or it can be lowered directly onto the ground from the position shown in Fig. 6 to the position shown in Fig. 1, from which the loading of a new container is started.

In the foregoing, the invention has been described by way of example with reference to the attached drawings while different embodiments of the invention are possible within the scope defined in the claims .

Claims

1. Loader for the loading and unloading of load spaces, characterized in that the loader comprises an elongated and substantially horizontal frame (1); a lifting means (2) at a first end of the frame for raising and lowering the frame between a lower position and an upper position; a supporting frame (3) placed at a second end of the frame and having some vertical length; in connection with the sup- porting frame, a bearer means (4) supported on the ground; a freight handling element (5) extending from the supporting frame to the opposite side of the frame; and in the supporting frame an actuator (6) for raising and lowering the freight handling element relative to the supporting frame between a lower position and an upper position.

2. Loader according to claim 1, characterized in that the lifting means (2) is a moving vehicle, on which the first end of the frame is sup- ported or mounted.

3. Loader according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the lifting means is a fork- lift truck or a corresponding working machine, on whose forks or in place of whose forks the first end of the frame is mounted.

4. Loader according to claim 1, characterized in that the lifting means is a fixed, stationary lifter, on which the first end of the frame is supported or mounted.

5. Loader according to any one of claims 1 -

4, characterized in that the supporting frame consists of a vertical set of beams with rails along which the freight handling element is arranged to be movable between the upper position and the lower posi- tion by means of the actuator.

6. Loader according to any one of claims 1 - 5, characteri zed in that the bearer means consists of one or more wheels, rollers or rolls.

7. Loader according to claim 6, charac- teri z ed in that the bearer means comprises a steering arrangement to allow the loader to be steered laterally as well while being pushed or pulled.

8. Loader according to claim 1, characteri z ed in that the freight handling element is a lifting fork, a lifting and lowering platform, a bulldozer blade, a bucket or an equivalent device applicable for moving, lifting and transporting bulk goods.

9 . Loader according to claim 1, characteri z ed in that the actuator comprises one or more hydraulic cylinders for raising and lowering the freight handling element and possibly tipping it, i.e. turning it about a transverse horizontal axis.

10. Loader according to any one of claims 1 - 9, characterized in that the frame comprises a length adjustment system, such as a telescopic structure, to allow the length of the frame to be changed and adjusted during freight handling.