AU2002100902B4 - Counterbalanced barrier - Google Patents

Description

Regulation 3.2 AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION INNOVATION PATENT Name of Applicant: CHERRY CONSTRUCTIONS PTY. LTD. Actual Inventor(s): TERRY GEORGE MORGAN Address for Service: SANDERCOCK & COWIE 69 ROBINSON STREET DANDENONG VIC 3175 Invention Title: COUNTERBALANCED BARRIER - 1 - - la TITLE: COUNTERBALANCED BARRIER FIELD OF THE INVENTION 5 This invention concerns barriers for loading bays on mezzanine and first floors. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Many warehouses and factories have a floor above ground level which is supplied with Copyright. All rights reserved.

-2 goods from a forklift on the ground floor. The edge of the floor is skirted by a personnel barrier and a gap in the barrier defines the loading station at which the forklift puts up and puts down pallets. The gap is protected by a tilting guard which is the subject of factory regulations. Once the pallet is at the mezzanine loading station, the gap proposes 5 no danger to personnel. When the pallet is taken down to the ground floor, the gap reappears and the guard must descend and extend across the gap. Biassing the guard to return to the safe position is desirable. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 10 This invention provides a tilting barrier of the type intended to protect elevated loading bays, having an arm which tilts about a horizontal axis with a barrier at each end of the arm, wherein the arm is hollow and has a port for the introduction of liquid into the interior of the arm. 15 Preferably, the arm has a drainage port. The arm may have an internal flow restrictor. The flow restrictor may be adjustable in order to vary the response time for the liquid to produce the counterbalancing effect. Water containing rust inhibitor suffices, but we prefer a mobile mineral oil. 20 In practice, when multiple layers are added to the pallet, the load may reach a height where it collides with the barrier as it tilts downwards to close the gap and give access at the opposite side to the goods stacked on the pallet. Accordingly, one of the barriers may be capable of hinging open to admit loads higher than those for which the guard is 25 designed to overlie. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Certain embodiments of the invention are now described by way of example with 30 reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a diagrammatic side view of the apparatus. Copyright. All rights reserved.

-3 Figure 2 is a diagrammatic perspective of the apparatus with the leading barrier hinged open. DETAILED DESCRIPTION WITH RESPECT TO THE DRAWINGS 5 Stanchions 2 support mezzanine floor 4. Hand rails 6 skirt the edge of the floor 4 but are broken by gap 8 which is wide enough to admit pallet 10. A pair of posts 12 stand in the gap and support a pair of tilting, hollow, steel, box-section arms 14 joined at the trailing end by a rectangular barrier 16 and supporting at the opposite leading end a pair of half 10 gates 18. The barriers/gates lie at 450 to the plane of the arms. Both of the arms has a fluid filler port 20 and a drainage port 22. Both parts are threaded to receive a plug 24 and 0-ring. Pulleys 26, 28 guide a line 30 strung between the barriers which line hangs down to the 15 ground floor for operation at that level. In use, about 10kg of hydraulic oil is poured into the arm. This assumes the level L in Figure 1 and retains the leading barrier DOWN until the pallet is raised. The rope is pulled and the oil runs to the descending end of the arm allowing the pallet to move 20 between the posts. The arms remain in this position until the operator is ready to unstack the pallet. When the pallet is empty and the outer barrier tilted DOWN, the operator pulls the trailing barrier DOWN a little and the oil flows in the arm completing the reversing movement. 25 The bias is adjusted by releasing oil from the drain plug 22. A baffle 32 modifies the response and is optional. Stops 34 bring the arms to their rest positions. In Figure 2, the barrier half gates 18 hinge open and closed to avoid colliding with the goods 36 on the pallet which may otherwise hold the arms in an unsafe intermediate 30 position. We have found the advantages of the above embodiments to be: Copyright. All rights reserved.

-4 1. No additional springs are required. 2. Bistable action is adjustable and maintenance free. 5 The claims, illustrations, photographs and drawings, if any, form part of the disclosure of this specification as does the description, claims, illustrations, photographs and drawings of any associated provisional or parent specification or of any priority document, if any, all of which are imported hereinto as part of the record hereof 10 Finally it is to be understood that various alterations, modifications and/or additions may be incorporated into the various constructions and arrangements or parts without departing from the spirit and ambit of the invention. Such a modification would be the provision of a hollow tube with a liquid entry for attachment to an arm. Copyright. All rights reserved.

Claims (5)

1. A tilting barrier of the type intended to protect elevated loading bays, having an arm which tilts about a horizontal axis with a barrier at each end of the arm, 5 wherein the arm is hollow and has a port for the introduction of liquid into the interior of the arm.

2. A tilting barrier as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the arm has an internal flow restrictor at or near the centre of the arm. 10

3. A tilting barrier as claimed in Claim I or 2, wherein the barrier beneath which the goods pass in use, is capable of hinging open to admit loads higher than those which the guard is designed to overlie. 15

4. A tilting barrier as claimed in any one of Claims 1-3, wherein a drain plug is located at or near one end of the arm.

5. A tilting barrier substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. 20 Dated this 14* day of November, 2002. SANDERCOCK & COWIE PATENT ATTORNEYS FOR 25 CHERRY CONSTRUCTIONS PTY. LTD. Copyright. All rights reserved.