AU624344B2 - Improvements relating to motor vehicles - Google Patents

Description

4A COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1952-1 969 Form COMPLETE SPECIFICATION (ORIGINAL) 694344 FOR OFFICE USE: Class Int. Class Application Number: Lodged: Complete Application No.

Specification Lodged Published *Priority: ,,,,elated art: TO BE COMPLETED BY APPLICANT t t~ Name of Appllcunt: BORIS FEDCESEN Address of Ap,llIcant: 75 Gloucester Avenue, Salisbury East, state of South Australia, commonwealth of Australia kctual Inventor: BORIS FEDCESEN

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Address for Service:, COLLISON Co., Patent Attorneys, 117 King William Stroet, Adelaide, South Austia, 500Jo Complete Specification for the Invention entitled:;1POEET EAIGT OO The following statement. Is a full description of this Invention, Including the best method of performln6 IL, known to me:

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1 2 This invention relates to a support arrangement for motor vehicles and, in particular, proposes an adjustable support system which has particular advantage in transporting motor vehicles on the trailer part of semi-trailers.

It is conventional to provide for a fixed structure by which at least two tiers of motor vehicles can be supported for transport purposes.

The problem relates, however, to the difficulty that such a frame structure is not then convenient for filling with other types of goods for a return journey.

This, of course, makes it very difficult c--cnomically to transport motor vehicles 1 0 from a central location of manufacture to an outlying delivery point when normal goods are not easily loaded back into the fixed frame structure.

s.o Such ordinary goods certainly, however, include shipping containers.

0 In accord with this invention then, there is proposed a support arrangement for 1 'motor vehicles incuding a chassis including supporting ground engageable 15 wheels, the chassis having secured therewith an upper support frame, a front structure secured to thi chassis, the upper support frame being adjustable in position with respect to the chassis such thiat in a first position it is locptble in a raised position relative to the chassis and in a second position it is locatable in a lowered position relative to the chassis and in which the upper support o• 20 frame is adjustatlep in position so that it can assume a further third position in which a front of the upper support frame is locatable in a raised position relative to the chassis and a rear of the upper support frame is locatable in a lowered position relative to the chassis, and the upper support frame being adjustably secured at a front end of the upper support frame to the front 25 structure so as to be able to be raised or lowered with gripping engagement relative to the said front structure.

In this way, the motor vehicle for the second tier can be driven up the upper support frame while in the inclined position, and in the rear of the upper support frame can be relatively lifted for the location of the remainder of the motor vehicles on the lower tier.

3 One of the problems with providing for an adjustably positionable upper support frame, however, is that it then becomes necessary to provide that this is sufficiently supported especially for longer trips so that there is no way that any of the load would dislodge or the frame will collapse.

In preference, there is accordingly provided a front structure secured to the 1 0 chassis and the upper support frame is adjustably secured at a front end of this upper support frame to the front structure.

Such a front structure can be provided by a very strong supportive frame 1 system which can thereby provide both strong and, indeed, rigid support and 15 resistance against forward to aft movement of the upper support frame and also side to side sway.

These and other features, however, will be better understood when the invention is described with reference to preferred embodiments which shall 20 now be described with the assistance of drawiris in which:- FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment showing an upper support frame in a raised position relative to a chassis, FIG. 2 is a view of the same embodiment as in FIG, 1, showing an upper support frame having a front end in a raised position and a rear end in a lower position providing for loading of motor vehicles onto the upper support frame.

h' 1/ 4 FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the same embodiment as in FIGS. 1 and 2 showing, however, the upper support frame in a lowered position, FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a rear end of the same embodiment as shown in the preceding FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 showings these, however, in greater detail including the hydraulic ram and a pair of legs which are secured together to provide for interconnecting support between the upper support frame and the lower support frame, FIG. 5 is a side elevation of the embodiment as shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 4, FIG. 6 is a side elevation of a second embodiment in which the front S 15 structure is more rearwardly located to provide for support of a first motor vehicle in an elevated position on a fixed structure relative to the chassis, FIG. 7 is a plan view of a roller assembly as used in the embodiments as shown in precedings FIGS. 1 through 6, and, SFIG. 8 is a side elevation of the roller assembly as shown in FIG. 7.

it Referring in detail to the drawings and, in particular, to the first S* 25 embodiment being described in FIGS. 1 through 5 toge'har with the roller assembly in FIGS. 7 and 8, there is provided a seni-trailer 1 which includes chassis 2 and secured and supported by this chassis 2 an upper support frame 3.

The chassis includes a lower support frame 4 a well 5 rearwardly located supporting ground engageable wheels 6 and a front structure 7.

The front structure 7 includes two vertically extending sections 8 and 9 which includes upwardly extending eye beams 10 and 11.

Further, there is a strengthening leg 12 and 13 which is adapted together with gussets 14 arid 15 to provide substantial forward to rearward supporting strength fo' tha adjust of the secured of the support frame 3.

The upper support frame 3 is secured in an adjustable and, in fact, slidable manner to the front structure 7 by roller assembly 16 which is shown in greater detail in FIGS. 7 and 8.

The upper support frame 3 is adjustable in position by reason of a plurality of hydraulic rams 18, 19, 20 and 21, these being arranged so that the pair 18 and 19 are arranged toward a front end of the frame 3 and one to each side and 20 and 21 are arranged one to each side in 15 toward a rear of the frame 3.

0 0, *.to Each of the hydraulic rams is a three section ram and is secured at both end by pivot connections such as that a6 shown at 22 or 23 at the of: respective locations to provide lifting support.

The bottom of the respective hydraulic rams 18, 19, 20 and 21 are all tlocated in a well 5 so that in the retracted position, the frame 3 can be S ,fully collapsed and yet in this position, when required, the hydraulic rams can be operated with maximum pressures to provide adequate lifting if, in fact, motor vehicles or such equivalent heavy loads are on tC Cthe frame 3.

t ig Further, however, the well 5 is adapted to have a motor vehicle located therein also for transport purposes so that a maximum stacking capacity of the assembly is achievable.

In order to keep the upper support frame 3 in an elevated position for transporting vehicles, there are provided interlocking legs 24 and which are located in pairs which are integrally secured together so that there is a pair of legs 24 located toward the front of the assembly and a pair of legs 25 integrally secured together at the rear of the assembly.

9-- 6 The respective legs are each supported by an uppermost pivotal connection such as is shown at 26 and 27 so that when the support frame 3 is raised, the legs 24 and 25 will hang downwardly and, in fact, slide along an upper surface of the side frame 28 as the frame 3 rises and eventually locate in an appropriate depression which is not shown but, of course, such that the hydraulic rams are fully extended and then lowered slightly to allow these to interlock in the separating position as shown specifically in FIGS. 1, 4 and The advantage of having very strong integral structure as shown in that, while this allows for motor vehicles to be located between and below the legs, the legs nonetheless with such framing strength straddle such motor vehicles which are to be supported and there is, fuirthermore, *substantial resistance against side sway that otherwise m ght occur t41@ particularly with the elevated upper support frame 3.

When the upper support frame 3 is to be lowered, each of :ne hydraulic rams 18, 19, 20 and 21 is caused to extend lifting their respective legs a a 24 and 25 from the respective sockets and these are then swung manually to the inclined position so that as the upper support frame 3 is then lowered, the legs will slide along and eventually located as shown tt

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particularly in FIG. 3, t The location of the upper support frame 3 as shown in FIG. 3 is such that, at the very least, a shipping container can be located thereon and in such a supported position, the shipping container will come within the reasonable constraints of external road transport vehicle dimensions required by the appropriate regulatory authorities.

Referring now to the roller assembly 16 which is shown more particularly in FIGS. 7 and 8, this includes a set of rollers 29 and where the rollers 29 engage the medial web portion of the eye beam typically 9 and the rollers 30 engage the external ends of the end webs 31 once again of the eye beam 9.

There are in the case of each of the rollers 29 and 30, two sets of these one upper set 32 and a lower set 33.

iL C 1 up and down the respective members 8 and 9.

This then describes the first embodiment and af brief description of the The second embodiment which is shown generally schematically in FIG. 6 includes a chassis 34 supporting ground engaging wheels and an upper support frame 36 which is secured to a front structure 37 by a roller assembly 38.

up Hydraulic ram 39 and 40, are respectively located with a lowermost This then de15 end pivotally supported within a well 41 in one case and a rearward well 42 in the second and are each peripherally secured at an upper by a roller assembly 38.

S, Hydraulic rams 39 and 40, are respectivelygs located as in integral pairsth a lowermost45 and 2015 end46 pivotally supported within a well 41 in on the casupper support frame 36and a rearward Ssystem of the chassis 34.

In this case, however,42 in the second andifferences are eah peripherally sec front structured at an upper 25 loendat 44.

Further, there are interlocking legs located as in integral pairs an elevatend 46 pivotally secured at an uppermost end to the upper support frame 36 and interlocking with appropriate depressions in the lower frame Smo. system of the chassis 34.

In this case, however, the differences are that the front structure 37 is 25 located somewhat rearward of the front most part of the chassis, the purpose of this, of course, being to reduce the overall length of the upper support frame 36 to that which does match the length of the 9 shipping container while at the same time providing a fixed structure forwardmost to which motor vehicles can bo located both in an elevated position and a position within the structure.

There is an adjustable frame support system 47 controlled by ram 48 which has, for its purpose, to, in the one case, provide a support position for the member 47 to allow an uppermost car to be located thereon by driving from an end and, in the other case, to provide a for a most appropriate transport position.

1 i 8 Nonetheless, the overall systenm then is ,the same and the method of operation is such that the upper support frame in either case, that is 3 or 36, can be either positioned with the front end raised and a rearward end lowered for loading purposes and it can be raised for transport purposes or fully lowered for efficient carrying of loads other than motor vehicles.

The significance of the whole assembly is that this provides a very efficient method by which savings for long distance transport of motor 1 0 vehicles can be achieved.

The arrangement has achieved this in a very significant way and, accordingly, is a significant development in the art.

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Claims (5)

1. A support arrangement for motor vehicleps including a chassis including supporting ground engageable wheels, the chassis having secured therewith an upper support frame, a front structure secured to the chassis, the upper support frame being adjustable in position with respect to the chassis such that in a first position it is locatable in a raised position relative to the chassis and in a second position it is locatable in a lowered position relative to the chassis and in which the upper support frame is adjustable in position so 1 0 that it can assume a further third position in which a front of the upper support frame is locatable in a raised position relative to the chassis and a rear of the upper support frame is locatable in a lowered position relative to the chassis, and the upper support frame being adjustably secured at a front end of the S 1 upz.er support frame to the front structure so as to be able to be raised or 1 5 lowered with gripping engagement relative to the said front structure, *o999

2. A support arrangement for motor vehicles as in the last preceding claim further characterlsed in that the front end of the upper support frame includes a roller assembly providing the gripping engagement of the front structure. 20 3. A support assembly for motor vehicles as In the last preceding claim in which there is a pivot connection providing for relative pivotal freedom Sabout a substantially horizontal axis of the roller assembly relative to a remainder of the upper support frame, 4, A support trame for motor vehicles as In any one of the preceding claims in which there are lifting means extending between the chassis and the upper support frame which includes hydraulic rams, A support assembly for motor vehicles as In the last preceding claim in which each of the hydraulic rams extends from a well position to below a first tray level on the chassis, to the upper support frame. t 1 t

6. A support arrangement for motor vehicles as in any one of the preceding claims further characterised in that there are interlocking legs positionable between the chassis and the upper support frame which legs are positioned and adapted to provide in one position for retention of the upper support frame in a raised position relative to the chassis.

7. A support arrangement for motor vehicles as in the last preceding claim further characterised in that the interlocking legs comprise a first pair of legs secured together to provide for substantial resistance to sideways pressures against the thus supported upper support frame.

8. A support arrangement for motor vehicles as in the last preceding claim further characterised in that there ar© two pairs of interlocking legs, a first of the pairs being located for support of the upper support frame relative to Sj ^the chassis toward a rear of the support frame, and a second pair of legs 1 15 located toward a front of the support frame, I 9. A support arrangement for motor vehicles as in the last preceding t| claim further characterised in that each pair of legs Is Integrally secured one with respect to the other where each such integrated leg pair Is pivotally I ,supported about a substantially horizontal axis with respect to the upper support frame. A support arrangement for motor vehicles as In any one of the l preceding claims In which this is a part of a semi-trailer transport system, S11. A support arrangement substantially as described In this Sspecification with reference to and as Illustrated by FIGS, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8 of the accompanying drawings ,*p A^ (I MIV 11 1 2. A support arrangement for motor vehicles as described in this specification with reference to and as illustrated by FIGS, 6, 7 and 8 of the accompanying drawings. Dated this 19th day of February 1992 BORIS FEDCESEN By his P12atent Attorneys COLLISON CO. 8* *4 8 9 9 8#84 8 84 84 4 *0 8 84 .4 8@ 8 84 4 848 48 88 8 84 9 8849 99 4 88 88 8 #9 8 44 8 48 4 8 8889 *8 8 #4 *4 88 8 8 88 9 18 I 8 2-