AU2779200A - Apparatus and method for loading a shipping container - Google Patents

Description

P/00/011 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 r r o rr i r u u

ORIGINAL

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT Invention Title: "APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR LOADING A SHIPPING CONTAINER" The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: I- 1 2 Title "An Apparatus and Method for Loading a Shipping Container" Background of the Invention This invention relates to an apparatus and method for loading a shipping container.

In particular the invention relates to an apparatus and method for loading a shipping container with compressible material.

More specifically, the invention relates to effective loading of a container with cotton seed though the apparatus may be used with other 10 compressible materials.

Cotton seed, as a by product of the cotton industry, is a valuable natural resource. Often raw cotton seed needs to be transported large distances for processing, usually to produce cotton seed oil and animal feedstuffs. Domestically, cotton seed is usually transported by road in bulk 15 transporter. For export, cotton seed is usually transported in 20 tonne shipping containers, either bagged or in bulk.

The cost in transporting a container is substantially the same whether the container is full or empty. Therefore, for economic reasons, containers should be filled to their maximum weight capacity.

Cotton seed has a very low bulk density and as such it is difficult using conventional bagged seed or bulk loading of containers to load the shipping container to its maximum weight capacity of 20 tonnes. Whether in bagged or bulk form, current container loading methods, apart from being very labour intensive, only achieve a loading rate of about 14 tonnes of seed in a 20 tonne shipping container.

With bagged seed, palleted loads can be placed in a shipping container by fork lift vehicles however, apart from the non-effective weight of the pallets, it is very difficult to fully utilize the interior space of the container.

Bagged cotton seed can be loaded manually into containers to more effectively utilize the interior volumetric space however this is extremely labour intensive and still cannot exceed a loading rate of about 15-16 tonnes ""in a 20 tonne container.

One proposal to overcome these deficiencies is to elevate a shipping logo 10 container by a crane to an upright position and load bulk cotton seed through open end doors of the container. When the container is filled, a hydraulic ram is then used in an endeavour to compress the mass of seed to enable a greater mass to be loaded.

Again, apart from the relatively labour intensive nature of this 15 procedure, it has not hitherto been possible to load a shipping container to its maximum weight capacity as that portion of seed immediately below the compression foot compacts to form a "plug" which then prevents compression of the major volume of the cotton seed mass.

It is not possible to use excess hydraulic ram pressure to combat the friction between the "plug" and the container walls as such excess pressure physically damages the cotton seeds leading to spoilage.

Moreover, as the structure of a shipping container is not designed to withstand internal pressure, severe damage can be inflicted on the container by using excessive hydraulic ram pressures and this may then necessitate unloading the damaged container which is no longer fit for its intended purpose.

Summary of the Invention It is an object of this invention to overcome or at least alleviate some of the above disadvantages or provide the consumer with a useful or commercial choice.

In one form the invention resides in an apparatus for loading a shipping container, the apparatus including: i ~a breech chamber to accommodate material to be loaded into a So...o 10 container; at least one access port in said breech chamber; loading means associated with said access port to load material into said breech chamber; an outlet port at one end of said breech chamber, said outlet port, in 15 use, communicating with an open end of a shipping container; and .ooo o transfer means to transfer said material from said breech chamber to the interior of said shipping container.

The access port may comprise an upper hatchway in an upper wall of said breech chamber.

The access port may comprise a closeable hatch in a side wall of said breech chamber.

Preferably said apparatus includes both an upper hatch in the upper wall and a closeable hatch in the side wall of the breech chamber.

The loading means associated with said at least one access port may comprise a loading hopper associated with said upper hatchway.

Alternatively or additionally, the loading means may comprise a displaceable member spaced from said closeable hatch, said displaceable member, in use, being operable to push a quantity of material from a loading deck into said breech chamber in a direction transverse to a longitudinal axis of said container.

The outlet port may have associated therewith retaining means releasably connectable to a shipping container to retain the container during transfer of material from the breech chamber of the interior of said container.

10 If required, the outlet port may include selectively actuable closure means to provide, in use, a removable barrier between the breech chamber and the interior of said shipping container.

The transfer means suitably comprises a selectively displaceable wall member adapted to reciprocate along an axis substantially parallel to a longitudinal axis of said shipping container.

If required, said closure means and said transfer means may be selectively actuable to effect compression of material located therebetween.

Preferably, the apparatus includes shipping container support means, said support means, in use, permitting longitudinal displacement of said container relative to said breech chamber and alignment of a container opening with said outlet port.

According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a first method of loading a shipping container, said method comprising the steps of:- 6 aligning an open end of a shipping container against the outlet port of a breech chamber of the abovedescribed apparatus; placing, on a loading platform adjacent an open side access port of the breech chamber, a quantity of material to be loaded into said container; actuating said displaceable member to push said material into said breech chamber; and actuating said transfer means to transfer the material into the interior of the container.

~According to yet a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a S: 10 second method of loading a shipping container, said method comprising the steps of:- •go:*aligning an open end of a shipping container against the outlet port of a breech chamber of the abovedescribed apparatus; loading a quantity of compressible bulk material into the breech 15 chamber via the loading hopper; actuating said transfer means to compress said material between the closeable hatch and the displaceable wall member; opening said closeable hatch; and, actuating said transfer means to transfer the compressed material into the interior of the container.

Suitably, the above method steps are repeated as required to load the shipping container with a plurality of compressed masses of material.

Brief Description of the Drawings In order that the invention may be more clearly understood and put into practical effect a preferred embodiment of the invention and its methods of use will now be described with reference to the following figures in which: FIG. 1 is a sectionalized side elevation of a compactor for compressing cotton seed according to an embodiment of the invention FIG. 2 is a sectionalized top plan view of the compactor for compressing cotton seed according to FIG 1.

FIG. 3 is a partial front elevational view of a hopper closure of the .compactor.

1 10 FIG. 4 is a sectional end view of a guided container track.

FIG. 5 is a sectional side view of a unguided container track.

FIG. 6 shows an alternative embodiment to the apparatus of FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 shows a sectionalised top plan view of the embodiment of o FIG. 6.

15 Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment For the sake of clarity, FIGS. 1 and 7 employ like reference numerals for like features.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show a container loading apparatus adapted for use with bagged and bulk materials.

The apparatus 10 includes a breech chamber 12 from which materials loaded therein may be transferred into the interior of a shipping container.

The internal dimensions of the breech chamber 12 may be chosen such that breech chamber 12 has a similar or smaller volumetric capacity than the container 11. The cross sectional shape and dimensions of the interior of 8 the breech chamber 12 are substantially identical to those of the interior of the container 11.

A side inlet 13 is formed in a side of the breech chamber 12. The side inlet port 13 is closeable by a pivotal side door 14 which is moveable between an open and closed position by a side hydraulic door actuator A hydraulic door lock 16 is provided on door 14 to lock the door in a closed position. Alternatively an hydraulically powered slidable side door may be employed. The side inlet port 13 allows access for stacked or bagged materials from a planar loading platform (not shown), or which can otherwise 10 be loaded into the breech chamber 12 on pallets using a forklift.

A top inlet port 17 allows communication between a hopper 18 and the breech chamber 12. A top sliding door 19 as shown in FIG. 3 can be moved between an open and a closed position to allow material into the breech chamber 12 through the top inlet 17 from the hopper 18. A top hydraulic door actuator 20 is used to open and close the top sliding door 19.

A movable ram plate 21 forms an end wall of the breech chamber 12.

Ram plate 21 is slidably mounted on two sets of horizontal tracks 22 located on opposites side of the compression chamber 12. Hydraulic transport cylinders 23 are used to advance and withdraw the ram plate 21 from the breech chamber 12.

An outlet port 24 is located on the front of the breech chamber 12.

The outlet port 24 allows compressed material to be moved from the breech chamber 12 into the container 11. A retractable door 25 forms a closure for outlet port 24, which door 25 can be moved between an open and a closed 9 position by means of hydraulic door actuator 26. The breech chamber and associated actuation mechanism is mounted on skids 12a to facilitate transportation.

A container trolley 27 is located in front of the outlet port 24 and includes a platform 28 which supports the container 11. Locating lugs 29 on the trolley 27 locate the container 11 on the platform 28. The platform 28 is mounted to wheels 30 which are positioned on rails 31. One of the rails 31a S•is V-shaped, when viewed in transverse cross section as shown in FIG. 4, to provide a guide for the platform when the platform is moved. The other oooo ;10 rail 31B is substantially planar as shown in FIG. 5 although it too could be V-shaped.

ooo* A platform hydraulic actuator 32, connected to the platform 28, is used reciprocate the container toward and away from the outlet port 24.

Hydraulic clamps 33 are used to engage upper locating apertures 34 on the 15 container 11 to hold the container 11 adjacent the outlet port 24.

The apparatus 10 can be used to fill a container 11 with bulk compressed material or bagged material.

When bulk material such as cotton seed is to be loaded into the container 11, the material is placed in hopper 18 and the top sliding door 19 is then opened via the top hydraulic door actuator 20 allowing compressible material to fall from the hopper 18 into the compression chamber via the top inlet 17. The top sliding door 19 is then closed, and the cylinders 23 are then extended moving the ram plate 21 forward to compress the cotton seed.

Once that charge of the compressible cotton seed is compressed, ram pressure is released and sliding door 25 is opened by hydraulic door actuator 26.

The transport cylinders 23 are then further extended to push the wad or plug of compressed material from the breech chamber 12 into the container 11. In the embodiment shown, the breech chamber 12 is sized so that the volume of the wad or plug of compressed cotton seed is equivalent to half the volume container 11. The method steps are repeated one more time to entirely fill the container 11 with compressed cotton seed without applying any compressive force to the side walls of the container. The lell container 11 can then be transported in the normal manner.

Alternately, when the material to be shipped is packaged in bags, the o .bags are first stacked on a smooth planar loading platform (not shown). The stack is then pushed into the compression chamber 11 through the side inlet port 13 with a transversely acting pusher plate (not shown) powered by an 15 hydraulic ram or the like.

Side access door 14 is closed and cylinders 23 are then extended to transfer the stack into container 11 and the process is repeated as required to load the required amount of material into the container with the minimum of labour required.

After the container 11 is loaded, clamps 33 are released and hydraulic cylinder 32 is actuated to move the container 11 away from breech chamber 12 to permit the end doors (not shown) of container 11 to be closed.

Container 11 may then be loaded onto a transport vehicle by conventional means.

11 It will be readily apparent to a skilled addressee that many modification and variations may be made to the invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof.

For example although the operative elements of the above described apparatus have been described as hydraulically actuated, any mechanical or electromechanical actuator may be substituted as required.

Similarly, although the apparatus has been described with an upper °.•hopper for loading of bulk material, it will be clear to a skilled addressee that a side hopper could be employed to load the breech chamber 12 via side 10 access 13.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show an alternative embodiment of the apparatus .''.shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

In FIGS. 6 and 7 movable ram plate 21 is fitted with a secondary ram plate 50 actuated by four hydraulic cylinders 51 mounted on the rear face of ram plate 21 via mounting flanges 52. The free ends of hydraulic cylinders 51 are supported by bracing members 53.

The ram shafts 54 of cylinders 51 are slidably supported in tubular guides 55 which extend through ram plate 21 and serve to support the ram shafts 54 in an extended position.

As shown in FIG. 6 the lower end of secondary ram plate 50 is supported on rollers 56 which travel over the floor of the breech chamber 12 and the floor of container 11 when cylinders 57 extend or retract.

Also as shown in FIG. 6, secondary ram plate 50 may be adapted to incline forwardly, either by a fixed mounting with a predetermined angle of 12 inclination or alternatively by selective actuation of respective upper and lower pairs of hydraulic cylinders 51.

In use, a compressible feed material such as cottonseed or cottonseed husks is fed into hopper 18 via a vibratory screen (not shown) associated with the hopper. This removes large contaminant materials. If required, a magnetic separator can be positioned above the conveyor belt feeding material into the hopper or alternatively the vibratory screen may be magnetized to collect metallic contaminants.

As with the arrangement shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a charge of 10 cottonseed is loaded into breech chamber 18 and door 19 is then closed.

With door 25 closed, ram plate 21 and secondary ram plate 50 are urged toward door 25 by rams 23 to compress a charge of cottonseed having a mass of 9.5 tonne and a volume of 22 m 3 down to a volume of about 16.5 m 3 Secondary ram plate 50 has an angle of inclination of about 5' such that when the ram plates 21/50 are removed from the compacted mass of cottonseed, the exposed face of the compacted wad of material does not collapse.

With rams 21/50 retracted slightly to relieve pressure on the compacted mass of material door 25 is opened and ram plate combination 21/50 is actuated by rams 23 to push the compacted mass into container 11.

When rams 23 reach the limit of their stroke, ram plate combination 21/50 is just inside the open end of container 11. The hydraulic circuits of rams 23 and 51 are coupled by relief valves (not shown) whereby as the 13 cylinder pressures of rains 23 increase at the end of their stroke, the relief valves bypass pressurized hydraulicoil to rams 51 which then push the wad of compacted material right to the end of the container 11. On the return stroke, rains 51 retract fully followed by rams 23 to reposition ram plate combination 21/50 at the end of breech chamber 12.

The process is then repeated to fill the container with a second wad of cottonseed, also having a mass of 9.5 tonne and a volume of 16.5 m 3 to substantially fill the container with its optimum transport mass.

I" °In the case of cottonseed, 20 tonne of uncompacted material occupies 10 44m 3 whereas with the apparatus according to the invention, approximately tonne of material can be compacted into a standard 20 tonne shipping container having an internal volume of about 34m 3 With cottonseed, the shipping cost savings are approximately 75% of Ow~ the cost of shipping uncompacted cottonseed.

It will be clear to a person skilled in the art that the compaction I&se properties of differing compactible materials will differ widely whereby it may be necessary to load a shipping container with more than two compacted charges.

The present invention allows for a great variation in the size of the breech chamber by hydraulically varying the retracted stop position of ram plate combination 21/50 and thereby varying the compacted charge volume as required.

The employment of secondary ram plate 50 to position the compacted charge as far into the container as possible avoids the prospect of forming 14 "plugs" which might otherwise occur when a first compacted charge is urged into the container by a second or further compacted charge.

As some shipping containers may have a less robust construction than others, some bulging of the sides and end of the container may occur during compression of the bulk material in the container. To resist this tendency, retractable hydraulically actuable reinforcing frames (not shown) may be urged against the side and end walls of the container during compression of the bulk material.

So...

Claims (14)

1. An apparatus for loading a shipping container, the apparatus including: a breech chamber to accommodate material to be loaded into a container; at least one access port in said breech chamber; a loading mechanism associated with said access port to load material into said breech chamber; °°l.ll .:an outlet port at one end of said breech chamber, said outlet port, in use, communicating with an open end of a shipping container; and a transfer mechanism to transfer said material from said breech chamber to the interior of said shipping container.

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the access port comprises an upper hatchway in an upper wall of said breech chamber.

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the access port comprises a closeable hatch in a side wall of said breech chamber.

4. An apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim wherein said apparatus includes an upper hatch in the upper wall and a closeable hatch in the side wall of the breech chamber. 16 An apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the loading mechanism associated with said at least one access port comprises a loading hopper associated with said upper hatchway.

6. An apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 3 to 5 wherein the loading mechanism comprises a displaceable member spaced from said closeable hatch, said displaceable member, in use, being operable to push a quantity of material from a loading deck into said breech chamber in a direction transverse to a longitudinal axis of said container.

7. An apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the outlet port has associated therewith a retaining mechanism releasably connectable to a shipping container to retain the container during transfer of material from the breech chamber to the interior of said container.

8. An apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the outlet port includes a selectively actuable closure to provide, in use, a removable barrier between the breech chamber and the interior of said shipping container.

9. An apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the transfer mechanism comprises a selectively displaceable wall member adapted to reciprocate along an axis substantially parallel to a longitudinal axis of said shipping container. An apparatus as claimed in claim 8 wherein if required, said closure and said transfer mechanism may be selectively actuable to effect compression of material located therebetween.

11. An apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim wherein, the apparatus includes a shipping container support, said container support, in use, permits longitudinal displacement of said container relative to said breech chamber and alignment of a container opening with said outlet port.

12. A method of loading a shipping containerwith an apparatus according to claim 1, said method comprising the steps of:- aligning an open end of a shipping container against the outlet port of said breech chamber; placing, on a loading platform adjacent an open access port in a side of the breech chamber, a quantity of material to be loaded into said container; actuating said loading mechanism to push said material into said breech chamber; and actuating said transfer mechanism to transfer the material into the interior of the container.

13. A method of loading a shipping container with an apparatus according to claim 1, said method comprising the steps of:- aligning an open end of a shipping container against the outlet port of said breech chamber; 18 loading a quantity of compressible bulk material into the breech chamber via a loading hopper; actuating said transfer mechanism to compress said material between a closeable hatch and a displaceable wall member; opening said closeable hatch; and, actuating said transfer mechanism to transfer compressed material into the interior of the container.

14. A method as claimed in claim 13 wherein said steps are repeated as required to load the shipping container with a plurality of compressed masses of material. msse An apparatus for loading a shipping container substantially as :i hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

16. A method of loading a shipping container substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5 of the accompanying drawings.

17. A method of loading a shipping container substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7 of the accompanying drawings. DATED this Fourteenth day of April 2000. HALDILKA PTY LTD By its Patent Attorneys FISHER ADAMS KELLY