AU2006201696A1

AU2006201696A1 - Freight restraint

Info

Publication number: AU2006201696A1
Application number: AU2006201696A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Gregory Alan Brown
Original assignee: Transtech Research Pty Ltd
Current assignee: Australian Trailer Solutions Group Property Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2006-04-24
Filing date: 2006-04-24
Publication date: 2007-11-15
Anticipated expiration: 2026-04-24
Also published as: AU2006201696B2

Description

P/00/011 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT

ORIGINAL

TO BE COMPLETED BY APPLICANT Name of Applicant: TRANSTECH RESEARCH PTY LTD Actual Inventor: GREGORY ALAN BROWN Address for Service: CALLINAN LAWRIE, 711 High Street, Kew, Victoria 3101, Australia Invention Title: FREIGHT RESTRAINT The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us:- 24/04/06,rr 15651.spec, I The present invention relates to a freight restraint for trucks and trailers and more particularly to a two position restraint for movement laterally between two spaced lateral positions relative to the load. The restraint is particularly adapted for use on large curtain sided semi-trailers but may be used in many other situations such as truck bodies and other containers.

In curtain sided semi-trailers for example, the curtains are not sufficiently strong to prevent loads from falling laterally off the trailer during transit and regulations require additional restraints for this purpose. It has long since been known to use fixed gates along the side of the trailer to provide lateral load restraint.

The gates have "spades" at the bottom edge that fit into pockets in the floor to retain the gates in position, and in order to provide access to the load it is necessary to lift the gates off the trailer. This cumbersome task of lifting the gates off the trailer was addressed in the late 1980's by hinging the gates to sliding side post spaced along the side of the trailer.

The sliding side posts were well known at the time and initially used as roof supports on longer trailers. The posts have a "knee joint" towards the bottom of the post which enables the post to be detached from a locating slot in the floor (side coaming), and a carriage at the top which runs in a rail along the roof of the trailer.

By disconnecting the post at the bottom the post is able to move along the rail to an end of the trailer to provide clear access to the load or load space. This hinging of the gates avoided the need to lift the gates from the trailer but it was not all that convenient to slide the post towards an end of the trailer with the hinged gates thereon. This problem has been addressed more recently by providing the gates as a rigid structure on the post. In other words the gates become fixed wings on either side of the "knee joint" post and the restraint can be readily slid to an end of the trailer to provide clear access to the load space.

The problem of restraining narrower loads have long since been recognised and for this purpose the original fixed or lift out gates were able to be located in a second set of pockets inboard of the first so that the restraints could be located against the narrower load.

It is an object of this invention to provide a load restraint in the form of a rigid frame on a sliding side post, which restraint is adapted for location in either an 24/04/06,rr 15651 .spec,2 -3inner or outer position relative to the load space and is readily moveable therebetween.

Accordingly, one broad form of the invention that may be preferred provides a load restraint for an open sided container such as a curtain sided semitrailer, said restraint comprising a rigid frame supported by a post, the upper end of the post being attached by a dual pivotal connection to an underside of a roof structure of the container on an open side thereof, the axes of said dual pivotal connection each being vertically oriented and relatively spaced, whereby pivotal movement of said connection displaces said load restraint between inner and outer positions relative to the container, and the lower end of said post being adapted for detachable engagement with a floor of the container in either of two positions corresponding to said inner and outer positions whereby said frame assumes a generally vertical orientation in either position.

Preferably said pivotal connection comprises first and second pivotal members rigidly connected together and spaced apart, said first pivotal member being connected to said roof structure and said second pivotal member being connected to said restraint.

Preferably said roof structure includes a rail extending along said open side and a carriage for moving along said rail and supporting said restraint.

Preferably said first pivotal member is connected to said carriage and said second pivoltal member is connected to said post.

Preferably said second pivotal member is a shaft mounted in a bearing on said post, said shaft having a handle thereon for controlling said pivotal movement and latching said restraint in either of said positions.

Preferably said bearing is an elongate tube fixed to said post and said shaft is adapted to rotate in said tube.

Preferably said first pivotal member is a cylindrical tube fixed to said shaft in spaced parallel relationship, said cylindrical tube being mounted to pivot on a pivot pin suspended from said carriage.

Preferably said frame comprises separate gate frames on each side of said post in a co-planer relationship.

24/04/06,rr 1565 l.spec,3 -4- Preferably said handle is adapted to pivot 1800, from a position where it is able to latch to one said gate frame, to a position where it is able to latch to the other said gate frame.

Preferably said post is a "knee joint" post for detachable engagement in either of two spaced slots in said floor.

In order that the invention may be more readily understood one particular embodiment will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein: Figure 1 is a front elevation of a freight restraint according to the invention, Figure 2 is a sectional view on the line C-C of Fig. 1, Figure 3 is an enlarged view of the top end of the restraint as shown in the circle on Fig. 2, Figure 4 is an enlarged view of the part of the restraint enclosed within the circle on fig. 1, Figure 5 is a sectional view on the line B-B of fig. 1, Figure 6 is a photocopy of a photograph showing the top part of the restraint in an outer position on a semi-trailer, Figure 7 is similar to figure 6 but shows the restraint in an inner position, Figure 8 is a photocopy of a photograph showing the bottom part of a restraint on a semi-trailer in the inner of its two positions, Figure 9 is similar to fig. 8 but shows the restraint in the outer position, and Figure 10 is a photocopy of a photograph showing the side of a curtain sided semi-trailer 'with a number of restraints spaced therealong.

The restraint 10 consists essentially of a post 11 having gate frames 12 on opposites sides thereof to extend in a co-planer relationship longitudinally of a trailer on which the freight restraint is to be used. The post is suspended from a carriage 13 having rollers 14 for running along a rail (not shown) along the underside of the trailer roof (not shown).

The post is essentially a conventional "knee joint" type post but has a tubular member 15 extending over most part of the length of the post above the "knee joint". The tubular member is welded to the main part of the post and forms a bearing for a shaft 16 which extends within the tubular member 15. The tubular 24/04/06,rr 1565 1.spec,4 member has a gap 17 (fig. 4) towards its bottom end and a short distance above the "knee joint" and a handle 18 is rigidly attached to the shaft 16 within the gap 17. The handle may by latched to either of the gate frames 12 by latches 19 and assumes either of two positions as shown in figure The bottom end of the post 11 requires little further explanation as it is essentially a conventional "knee joint" type post. Suffice to say a lever 20 may be actuated to allow the post to flex at the "knee joint" whereby a lug 21 may be disengaged fiom either of two laterally spaced slots 26 (fig. 9) in the floor coaming or the floor itself. Latches 27 at the outer bottom corners of the respective gate frames 12 latch the corners to the trailer floor by engaging in further suitable slots 28 (fig. 8) either in the floor coaming (not shown) or the floor itself.

Turning now to the top of the post and as shown more clearly in figure 3, the shaft 16 at its top end is welded to a juxtaposed pipe 22. The pipe 22 is mounted for pivotal movement on a post 23 that is located in tubular member 24 fixed to and extending down from the carriage 13. The post 23 is a circular section where it passes through the pipe 22 and is of square section at the top where it enters the tubular member 24. The post 23 is pivotally connected to the carriage 13 by pin which passe:s through the tubular member 24. This pivotal connection allows a small amount of pendulum movement of the restraint in a direction longitudinal of the trailer so that the carriage does not jam when the bottom of the post is disengaged and pulled longitudinally of the trailer. An upstanding plate 29 on top of the post 11 acts as a curtain deflector.

As should be evident from the drawings and the description hereinabove, in use, when the handle 18 is moved from the position shown in figures 1 and 4, to a position as shown in the left hand side of figure 5, the shaft 16 is rotated through 1800 and the: post moves from a position on the outside of carriage 13 to a position on the inside of carriage 13 as shown in figure 7 for example. In order to move the restraint from one position to the other it is necessary to disconnect the post from the floor of the trailer and unlatch the handle 18 from either of the positions where it is latched to a gate frame 12. Obviously it is also necessary to de-latch the latches 27 from the trailer floor. Once moved to the new position, the post 11 is firstly located in the inner or outer of slots 26 in the trailer floor (as the case may be), latched in 24/04/06,rr 1565 -6position and the latches 27 are also actuated to engage the trailer floor. The freight restraint 10 then assumes its new position.

Since the gate frames 12 are rigidly affixed to the post to form a rigid unitary structure the movement of the restraint from an outer to an inner position, or vice versa, is readily achieved with minimal effort. Furthermore, in order to provide access to the load space the entire restraint is readily moveable lengthwise of the trailer by virtue of the carriage 13 which may be pulled along the rail (not shown) under the trailer roof once the post and gate frames are disconnected from the trailer floor.

Throughout this specification and the claims which follow, unless the context requires otherwise, the word "comprise", and variations such as "comprises" and "comprising", will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated integer or step or group of integers or steps but not the exclusion of any other integer or step or group of integers or steps.

The reference to any prior art in this specification is not, and should not be taken as, an acknowledgment or any form or suggestion that the prior art forms part of the common general knowledge in Australia.

Since modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention may be readily effected by persons skilled in the art, it is to be understood, that the invention is not limited to the particular embodiment, described by way of example hereinabove.

24/04/06,rr 1565 .spec,6

Claims

1. A load restraint for an open sided container such as a curtain sided semi- trailer, said restraint comprising a rigid frame supported by a post, the upper end of the post being attached by a dual pivotal connection to an underside of a roof structure of the container on an open side thereof, the axes of said dual pivotal connection each being vertically oriented and relatively spaced, whereby pivotal movement of said connection displaces said load restraint between inner and outer positions relative to the container, and the lower end of said post being adapted for detachable engagement with a floor of the container in either of two positions corresponding to said inner and outer positions whereby said frame assumes a generally vertical orientation in either position.

2. The load restraint of claim 1, wherein said pivotal connection comprises first and second pivotal members rigidly connected together and spaced apart, said first pivotal member being connected to said roof structure and said second pivotal member being connected to said restraint.

3. The load restraint of claim 2, wherein said roof structure includes a rail extending along said open side and a carriage for moving along said rail and supporting said restraint.

4. The load restraint of claim 3, wherein said first pivotal member is connected to said carriage and said second pivotal member is connected to said post.

The load restraint of claim 4, wherein said second pivotal member is a shaft mounted in a bearing on said post, said shaft having a handle thereon for controlling said pivotal movement and latching said restraint in either of said positions.

6. The load restraint of claim 5, wherein said bearing is an elongate tube fixed to said post and said shaft is adapted to rotate in said tube.

7. The load restraint of claim 6, wherein said first pivotal member is a cylindrical tube fixed to said shaft in spaced parallel relationship, said cylindrical tube being mounted to pivot on a pivot pin suspended from said carriage.

8. The load restraint of claim 7, wherein said frame comprises separate gate frames on each side of said post in a co-planer relationship. 24/04/06,rr 15651.spec,7

9. The load restraint of claim 8, wherein said handle is adapted to pivot 1800, from a position where it is able to latch to one said gate frame, to a position where it is able to latch to the other said gate frame.

The load restraint of claim 9, wherein said post is a "knee joint" post for detachable engagement in either of two spaced slots in said floor.

11. A load restraint substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings. DATED this 2 4 t h day of April, 2006. TRANSTECH RESEARCH PTY LTD By their Patent Attorneys: CALLINAN LAWRIE 24/04/06,rr 1565 1.spec,8