AU599781B2 - Canopy for transport vehicles - Google Patents

Description

599781 COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA PATENTS ACT 1952 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION

(ORIGINAL)

Form FOR OFFICE USE t tt t ti t Application t I i t Class Int. Class Number: Lodged: tI I tt It Complete Specification-Lodged: S Accepted, Published: Priority: Related Art: This documZnent contains the amendmnts made uider Section 49 and is correct for printing.

Name of Applicant: Address of Applicant: Actual Inventor: Address for Service: TO BE COMPLETED BY APPLICAiNi MAXI-CUB3E PTY. LTD.

31 Hallam South Road, HALLAM, VIC. 3803,

AUSTRALIA.

JAMES ROBERT CURTIS SANOERCOCK, SMITH BEADLE 207 Riversdale Road, Box 410) Hawthorn, Victoria, 3122 Complete Specification for tha invention entitled: CANOPY FOR TRANSPORT VEHICLES The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me:- -2 1 The present invention relates to a canopy for transport 2 vehicles and more particularly to a canopy suitable for use 3 with road transport vehicles such as tray trucks and 4 trailers of articulated trucks. of course the canopy may be used on other forms of transport vehicles and is therefor 6 not limited to use with the aforementioned road transport 7 vehicles.

8 A problem exists with deliveries of goods particularly 9 in the metropolitan area when the goods are of a kind which 0 04 o 11 A good example involves the delivery of packaged beverages 12 such as beer which is packaged ith cardboard cartons 13 requiring protection from rain. It. is usual fto havie a ::14 canvas canopy over a load whereby the driver caa partly remove tl_- canopy by a small amount when only a fLew cartons 16 require off-loading. Since a load comprises different types 17 of beer it is convenient to be able to remove the canopy, 18 along the side or at the end of the load, at the point where 19 the required goods are located but even so it wrore often results in at least part of the remain~ing load becoming wet 21i tis raining at the time.

22 Various types of fixed covers exist such as the typical 23 covered tray or trailer with rear o-,z side doors. The 24 problem with such existing fixed covers is access to the goods and for this purpose a walk-way must be provided so.

26 that the person loading or unloading the goods has access to 27 all parts of the load and this is inefficient use of space.

28 Furthermore, such fixed covers do not faciliLuate loaling of 29 goods on pallets using a fork-lift since there io, not: 880,413, ipsspe.007,maxi spe, -3- 1 sufficient access to all parts of the tray of the truck or 2 trailer and/or there is insufficitnt head-room for efficient 3 packaging. It should be realized that deliveries of 4 packaged beer, for example, often require the delivery vehicle to pass under low clearance awnings such as when 6 delivering to drive-in bottle shops. Thus the height of the 7 canopy is a critical consideration and any existing canopies 8 which are sufficiently low to pass under the low clearance 9 awnings do not provide for efficient storage of goods in a 10 manner where all goods are readily accessible, or in a 11 manner facilitating loading of the goods on pallets.

12 Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to 13 provide an improved canopy for transport vehicles which S 14 overcomes one or more of the oforementioned problems.

The invention therefore provides a canopy for transport 16 vehicles, said canopy comprising a support frame including 17 an upper central support beam extending longitudinally a 18 load supporting surface of said vehicle, that is, in a 19 fore/aft direction, and lower lateral support members extending along each side of said, load supporting surface in 21 said longitudinal direction, a plurality of canopy members 22 each comprising a side member and top member connected in a 23 generally mutually perpendicular mannar so as to extend 24 between a r~spective said lateral support member and said support beam such that at least two canopy members on each 26 side of said vehicle combine to span the length of said 27 surface, said canopy members being mcunted for longitudinal 28 movement on said support beam and a respective said lateral 29 support member and adjacent canopy members bieing adapted to 880413, !psspe.007,maxi.spe, 4 1 telescope one under the other to provide an access opening.

2 In order that the invention may be more readily 3 understood, one particular embodiment will now be described 4 with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein: FIGURE 1 is a schematic side elevation of an 6 articulated road transport vehicle incorporating a canopy 7 according to the present invention; 8 FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the vehicle shown in FIGURE 9 1; FIGURE 3 is a section taken on the line B-B of FIGURE 11 2; 12 FIGURE 4 is a ,r view of the vehicle shown in FIGURE 13 1; 14 FIGURE 5 is a section along the line C-C of FIGURE 1, and 16 FIGURE 6 is a section along the line A-A of FIGURE 2.

17 As shown, the road transport vehicle includes a trailer 18 10 which is a drop frame trailer wherein the major portion 19 of the tray 11 is at a lower level than the portion 11a which connects to the prime mover. The drop frame enables a 21 low-line trailer which is suitable for delivering beer, wine 22 and like products as it is able to pass underneath awnings 23 and the like such as appear at drive-in bottle shops.

24 A continuous weather-proof canopy covers the entire tray 11 including the portion 11a and consists of a number 26 of movable canopy members 12 which are adapted to move in a 27 fore/aft direction as shown by the arrows in FIGURE 1. It 28 will be noted adjacent canopy members 12 telescope one under 29 the other as a result of such fore/aft or longitudinal 880413, psspe.007,maxi.spe, 7 1 2 3 4 6 7 8 H 9 11 12 i 13 if 14 16 17 18 19 21 'ii 22 fi 23 24 26 27 28 29 .ccYxr~ 5 movement. Each canopy member extends between a lower support along either side of the tray 11/11a and an upper longitudinally extending support beam 13 arranged centrally and comprises a vertically extending side member 14 and a top 15. The side members 14 and tops 15 are formed as conventional sandwich type panels as used in constructing canopies for transport vehicles. The side members 14 and top members 15 are connected together by angled brackets which are not shown in any detail in the drawings.

Reference should now be made to FIGURE 3 which is a detailed sectional view of the central upper support beam 13. The beam 13 is shown to comprise' a C-shaped section 16, a central T-shaped section 17 and a lower U-shaped section 18 which are all welded together to form a rigid support beam with a number of upright webs or flanges 19 welded to the base of the U-shaped section 18. Alternatively the beam 13 could be an aluminium extrusion which is likely to be the more favourable form of construction. Wheels or rollers are arranged on axles which extend between adjacent webs or flanges 19 or between a web 19 and an upright side of the Ushaped section 18 as is evident in the drawings. The wheels or rollers 20 are spaced uniformly along the longitudinal length of the support beam 13. A thin metal weather cover 21 is affixed to the C-shaped section 16 and extends along the length of the support beam 13 and has flexible aprons 22 extending along either side to provide a weather seal with the tops 15 of the canopy members 12. As can be seen in FIGURE the aprons 22 are able to flex upwardly when one canopy member 12 is moved longitudinally over an adjacent 880413,!psspe.007,maxi.spe, 6 1 inner canopy member 12 so as to provide an opening in the 2 covered tray. Nylon guides 23 are arranged at spaced 3 intervals along the underside of the C-shaped section 16 to 4 provide a retaining surface for the outer canopy members 12 on the wheels or rollers 6 Still referring to FIGURE 3, it can be seen that the 7 upper edges of the canopy members 12 are provided with a 8 longitudinally extending channel 24 formed of aluminium or 9 other suitable material which is affixed to the sandwich panels by riveting or by other means. The chanyiels 24 fit 11 over the wheels or rollers 20 to provide the support thereon 1 2 for the upper edge of the canopy members 12.

13 As is evident in FIGURE 6, a channel 25 similar to the 14 channel 24 extends along the transverse edges of the tops

I

of the canopy members 12. The channels 25 provide 16 additional strength to the canopy members 12 and also 17 provide, in combination with similar channels (not, shown) 18 along the vertical edges of the side members 14, a run off 19 for water deposited on the roof of the canopy, A further flexible weather apron 26 pfeveiits water entering -the 21 underside of the canopy at the point where adjacent canopy 22 members 12 overlap.

23 FIGURE 5 is a section showing the lower edges of the 24 canopy members 12 supported on wheels or rollers 27 similar to the wheels or rol .1rs 20 which support the upper edge 26 thereof. A fabricated metal section 28 is provided to 27 extend. along each side of the tray 11. The metal section 28 28 supports pairs of the rollers 27 which are arranged in 29 jutxtaposition and spaced -long the length of the tray. The 880413, Lpsspe.007,maxi.sce, 7 1 bottom edges of the side members 14 are provided with U- 2 shaped aluminium or steel channels 29 as shown which provide 3 rigidity to the bottom edges of the canopy members 12. The 4 aluminium channels 29 bear on the wheels or rollers 27 and are retained thereon by the weight of the canopy member 12.

6 Nylon guides 30 are spaced along the aluminium channels 29 7 to prevent undue transverse movement of the canopy members 8 and provide a bearing surface. The metal section 28 is 9 welded or otherwise attached to beams 31 which constitute part of the tray 11.

S 11 The rear end of the trailer 10 may be permanently 0 12 closed or may have doors of any known form (not shown).

13 In use, the canopy members 12 may be moved in a 14 longitudinal direction to form an opening eq,,iivalent in length to approximately the length of a canopy member 12 16 merely by rolling one canopy member over or under the 17 adjacent canopy member. In the case of the present S18 embodiment, this exposes an opening in the covered trailer ooo~ 19 capable of accepting two pallets side by side. When the pallets are stacked with cartons of packaged beer, the 21 height of the qcanopy is such as to allow a number of cartons 22 to be stacked tO the top of the canopy without any waste ii23 space. The canopy men,,ber 12 may then be .lid or rolled back 24 into place and the next canopy member may be opened to allow further loading, When a delivery is being made, the person 26 unloading the trailer need only open a canopy member 12 at 27 the particular point to expose the product required and in 28 the case of small deliveries, it ruay only be necessary to 29 open a canopy member 12 a short distance to allow one or two $80413, !psspe.007,maxi~spe, C- -I 8 1 cartons to be removed. It will also be evident that access 2 is possible to any part of the load merely by moving one 3 canopy member 12 and thus the likelihood that other parts of 4 the load will be exposed to adverse weather conditions has been removed. The canopy according to the invention allows 6 for loading of pallets using a fork-lift truck and unloading 7 using either a fork-lift truck in cases where a large S* 8 portion of the load is to be removed, or unloading by hand S, 9 where only a small portion of the load is required to be I 10 removed. Furthermore, the invention provides a relatively 11 inexpensive canopy which, if required, can be readily 12' removed from the trailer. Clearly it is not necessary to 13 provide a central passageway in the load as all goods are 14 accessible from the outside of the trailer when a canopy member is slid to an open position because the transverse 16 dimension of the trailer is also equal to the dimension of 17 two pallets.

18 Whilst the embodiment disclosed shows an articulated 19 transport vehicle with a drop down trailer, it could clearly be applied to a normal tray truck. In the embodiment shown, 21 the front szction has a reduced height relative to the rear 22 sections aut clearly this feature does not constitute part 23 of the invention.

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