AU699788B2

AU699788B2 - Vehicle load cover

Info

Publication number: AU699788B2
Application number: AU62097/96A
Authority: AU
Inventors: George Peter Formosa
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1995-08-17
Filing date: 1996-08-15
Publication date: 1998-12-17
Anticipated expiration: 2016-08-15
Also published as: AU6209796A

Description

P/o00/001 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990

ORIGINAL

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT Invention Title: VEHICLE LOAD COVER The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to the applicant:- This invention relates to the transportation in rail cars, road trucks or trailers of the kind having an open topped, rectangular, box-like body of non-cohesive or fragmented loads of solid materials, such as, fo r example, domestic or other rubbish comprising miscellaneous items and fragments, or powdery, granular or other particulate materials.

It is well known that it is desirable, indeed in some jurisdictions it is mandatory, to cover the top of the vehicle body, so as to prevent the escape of load material in transit. Thus it is commonplace to lash or otherwise secure a pliable mesh or fabric cover sheet over the top of the S 1: 1o vehicle body.

Putting such a cover sheet in place, and removing it, are time consuming and labourious operations and, as a result, various devices have been proposed for furling and unfurling cover sheets so as either to Ir l-r 2 store them at one end of the body or extend them over the open top of the body respectively.

Therefore, more advanced proposals provide for the cover sheet to be furnished with a plurality of supporting battens, which extend transversely of the vehicle body and all of which, except for a fixed end batten, have ends that are slidably engaged in guide rails extending along the top edges of the side walls of the vehicle body. In such proposals haulage means are provided whereby a movable end batten may be drawn from a furled position near one end of the body to an unfurled io position at the other end of the body. When the moveable end batten is in the furled position, all of the battens are disposed side by side near one end of the body and the cover sheet hangs in folds from the battens.

When the moveable end batten is in the unfurled position, it is at the other end of the body, the battens are rmore or less equally spaced apart along 15 the body, and the cover sheet is more or less tautly stretched from batten to batten.

*s 4 Those haulage means may comprise a single cable having flights extending along the top edges of the body side walls between tail pulleys at one end of the body and head pulleys at the opposite end, to which flights the moveable end batten is secured, and a capstan pulley that may be turned to cause the cable to advance or retract that batten. In an alternative prior proposal the haulage means comprise two endless cables, one each side of the body, riding about head and tail pulleys, with •at least the two pulleys at one end of the body being mounted on a single shaft, and manually operable drive transmission means to rotate that shaft. The leading end batten is secured to one flight of each cable, and it will be apparent that rotation of the shaft will cause the cover sheet to be furled or unfurle(.6 as the case may be. Such prior known expedients P 3 are widely used, are well known to persons skilled in the art and require no further description herein.

All of the above described prior art proposals suffer from the serious deficiency that, when the cover sheet is being unfurled, the leading batten may strike heaped load material protruding above the top edges of the body walls even though the battens are usually arched upwardly as much as practicable to reduce the likelihood of such obstruction occurring. Notwithstanding such arching of the battens obstruction does occur, and it is by no means uncommon for a person unfurling the cover sheet to have to climb up and redistribute the load with a shovel or the like to enable it to be covered.

It is a primary object of the present invention to avoid the last mentioned disability of the prior proposals. A further object is to do so without increasing the complexity of the apparatus unduly.

15 The invention consists in covering means for a vehicle body of the kind comprising two end walls and two side walls, which covering means comprise a pliable cover sheet, a movable batten supporting and spreading one end of the cover sheet and extending transversely of the body, two guide means respectively associated with the side walls and I 20 each extending along its associated side wall, two strut support elements respectively associated with the guide means and each adapted to travel along its associated guide means, two tiltable struts respectively associated with the support elements and each extending from its associated support element to a respective end of the batten, and haulage means to haul the support elements, struts and batten along the body from a furled position wherein the batten is near one end of the body and the sheet is accumulated at said one end of the body, to an I unfurled position wherein the batten is at the other end of the body and the sheet covers the top of the body; said struts being able to be deflected between an erect position wherein the batten is spaced above the top of the body to a more nearly horizontal position wherein the strut extends towards said other end and the batten is substantially at or near the same level as the top of the body.

In some embodiments the nature of the struts is such that each may deflect in both directions from its erect position. In that event each support element is preferably connected by tie means to an adjacent :lo edge of the the cover sheet, so as to haul directly on the cover sheet during the ubfurling thereof and relieve the load upon the strut.

Se In some embodiments further battens are provided spaced at intervals along the length of the cover sheet. In such instances those further battens may also be supported by struts extending from further strut support elements engaged with the guide means, and all of the Nstruts are caused to tilt in concert.

In all such embodiments each guide means may comprise a rail, ur for example a length of metal channel or the like, secured to or integral with the corresponding side wall, at or adjacent the top edge of the wall 20 and extending there along from one end to near the other end thereof.

0 04 Each strut support element may comprise a saddle or the like adapted to slide along the rail, or may comprise a carriage or roller trapped to the rail with an axle protruding therefrom, or other movable support element adapted to ride along the rail.

SAccording to one embodiment each of the struts is a rigid arm 25 According to one embodiment each of the struts is a rigid arm 1~ lglls~ s~I~ __Y hinged at one end to a corresponding support element. The other end of the strut is fixed to a corresponding end of the batten. The hinge axis extends in the transverse direction of the body, that is to say the hinge axis is substantially parallel to the longitudinal direction of the batten, and so the strut may swing upwardly and downwardly in a vertical plane substantially coinciding with the plane of the side wall on which it is mounted.

The angle through which each strut may freely swing about its hinge axis is preferably limited by stops or the like to about 70 0 The arrangement is such that the struts may normally extend more or less horizontally from the support element towards said other end of the body but may be deflected upwardly from that position through said angle.

In such embodiments the batten is furnished with one or more heavy roiers or skids adapted to contact and ride upon the load to be 15 covered. Thus if the batten meets heaped load material during an 9° 9 unfurling operation it may be deflected upwardly and ride over the heaped load without requiring levelling of the load surface. In this embodiment the haulage means act directly on the strut support elements. Once the batten is over the hump of the load it may fall and the cover sheet may slide upon the load material. This is of little consequence as there is little resistance to ongoing movement once the leading edge of the sheet (as Sv defined by the batten) is clear of the load.

In other, more preferred, embodiments the struts are biassed, either inherently or by virtue of loading means, towards an erect position, so that the leading edge of the cover sheet is held clear of the load while unfurling proceeds, and during the last stages of an unfurling operation the haulage means overcome the bias and cause the struts to tilt in the r*:ce 6 direction of travel of the batten to thereby advance the cover sheet into its fully unfurled position and simultaneously lower its periphery into substantial contact with the upper edges of the body walls.

For example, pivotally mounted, counterweighted struts may be caused to tilt to effect the final unfurling by contact of the counterweight with an appropriately positioned fixed stop below the guide rail. In another instance the counterweight may be replaced by a loading spring urging the strut into its elevated position, for example, a spiral clock spring associated with the pivotal connection between the saddle and the strut.

By way of example, a preferred embodiment of the above described invention is described in more detail hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a side elevation of covering means according to the invention shown in the furled condition when in place on a vehicle body.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of an end portion of the covering means z: of figure 1 shown towards the finish of an unfurling operation.

S

.Figure 3 is a view similar to figure 2 showing the end portion of the covering means at a later stage of the unfurling operation.

20 Figure 4 is view similar to figure 3 showing the end portion of the covering means at the end of the unfurling operation.

Figure 5 is an end elevation of one side portion of the covering means of figure 1.

7 Figure 6 is an enlarged sectional detail view taken on line 6-6 of figure 2.

The drawings show an exemplary embodiment of the invention mounted as in use on a truck body. In this instance the truck body is in the form of an open topped, rectangular container comprising side walls 7, a front end wall 8 and a rear end wall 9. The upper edges of the body walls are stiffened by hollow flanges The flanges 10 of the side walls 7 are furnished with longitudinally extending guide means comprising angle sectioned raiis having an upright rail flange 11 and an inwardly projecting, preferably downwardly inclined, rail flange 12 (see Figure 6).

Each rail has a strut support element in the form of a saddle 13 associated with it. Each saddle 13 conforms to its associated rail and comprises an upright saddle flange 14, an inclined saddle flange 15 and a hooked saddle flange 16 extending along the free edge of the inclined ::saddle flange 15 and engaging over a margin of the rail flange 12. For preference, the saddle 13 further comprises tough, wear resistant, low friction pads 17 adhered to the respective saddle flanges and sandwiched between those flanges and the corresponding rail flanges. It will be 20 apparent that the saddles 13 are trapped to the respective rails and may slide therealong.

Each saddle 13 further comprises a tubular socket 18 in which a strut 19 is fixed. Each strut 19 is in the form of a close-coiled helica I spring and normally projects vertically upwardly.

Preferably each saddle 13 carries a brush 41 to clear the rail of grit

-C.

8 or dirt ahead of the saddle during each unfurling operation.

A rigid batten 20 extends between sockets 21 sleeved upon the top ends of the struts 19 and a pliable cover sheet 22 has one end secured to, and spread by, the batten Bodily movement of the saddles 13, struts 19 and batten 20 in the end to end direction of the truck body is effected by haulage means comprising, in this instance, a manually rotatable driving pulley 23 mounted on the front wall 8, a driven pulley 24 and an endless V belt riding about those pulleys. The driven pulley 24 is fixed on a head shaft 25 extending from side to side of the truck body. Two rope head sheaves (not shown) are also fixed to the head shaft 25 in respective alignment with tail sheaves 26, and endless cables or wire ropes 27 ride

I

about the respective pairs of head and tail sheaves. The upper flights of the ropes 27 are respectively attached to the struts 19 by attachment means 31 comprising a sleeve 28 (see Figure 6) surrounding the strut, which sleeve is rotatably mounted on a carrier plate 29 fastened to the cable 27. The sleeve 28 is rotatable about a generally horizontal axis of a headed stem 30 extending diametrically through the sleeve 28 *vintermediate its ends.

*e~ 0 *4* Thus, when the struts 19 are erect the hauling rope 27 is attached ."oto the strut at a point some short distance above its junction with the saddle 13.

U

The guide means for the saddles 13 effectively terminate in a buffer 32 some distance short of the rear end of the body. Thus each 25 saddle 13 is halted in its unfurling movement when each of them arrives at the corresponding buffer 32.

I

~13- C L1Cll~ I 9 When the saddles 13 come to the end of their travel, continued movement of the ropes 27 causes the struts 19 to deflect and the rotational mounting of the sleeve 28 permits it to align itself with the strut as it deflects so as to ride along the strut towards the tip or free end thereof, all as clearly shown in Figures 2, 3 and 4. For preference the carrier plate 29 is furnished with stabilising means, for example a rigid link 43 fixed to the plate and enclosing the lower flight of the rope 27, to prevent the plate from twisting substantially from the vertical plane.

This facilitates the smooth movement of the sleeve 28 along the strut 19.

Thus, at the end of the rope movement, the tips of the struts are securely held in close proximity to the rope to prevent the struts from lifting under the influence of wind loads on the cover sheet as the covered vehicle is travelling along.

For preference the side edges of the cover sheet are held to the upper rope flight by loose eyelets 33 or the like, and, in embodiments such as the present wherein the struts could deflect towards the front end of the truck body, the end eyelets 33 nearest the saddles 13 are preferably secured to the saddles by pliable ties 43 to ensure that the hauling force is applied directly from the saddle to the cover.

i In other embodiments additional battens may be provided intermediate the ends of the cover sheet. Those additional battens are preferably supported by struts from saddles in the same manner as the .moving edge batten 20. In such instances the cover sheet may be relied upon to transmit the hauling force to the intermediate battens. Of course the saddles have to be halted simultaneously at the positions where it is required that the struts tilt forwardly. This may be effected by linking the saddles together by a pliable tensile element, for example, a light chain, a multi-St rand wire cable or a fibre rope. extending to and fastened to the front end of the body.

*49.

*4SS 4* I. 4 .4D44 44.94 *4 4 4, *4 .a 9 4 .4 4 4 *4(9 *4*4 4.4 4 .4 4 4 .4 9 4444 .9 44 .44 4

Claims

1. Covering means for a vehicle body of the kind comprising two end walls and two side walls, which covering means comprise a pliable cover sheet, a movable batten supporting and spreading one end of the cover sheet and extending transversely of the body, two guide means respectively associated with the side walls and each extending along its associated side wall, two strut support elements respectively associated with the guide means and each adapted to travel along its associated ,o.guide means, two tiltable struts respectively associated with the support o elements and each extending from its associated support element to a respective end of the batten, and haulage means to haul the support :o 4elements, struts and batten along the body from a furled position wherein the batten is near one end of the body and the sheet is accumulated at :.:.osaid one end of the body, to an unfurled position wherein the batten is at the other end of the body and the sheet covers the top of the body; said struts being able to be deflected between an erect position wherein the batten is spaced above the top of the body to a more nearly horizontal position wherein the strut extends towards said other end and the batten is substantially at or near the same level as the top of the body. 20

2. Covering means according to claim 1 wherein each guide means comprises a rail secured to or integral with the associated side wall, at or Sadjacent the top edge of the wall and extending therealong.

3. Covering means according to claim 2 wherein each strut support element comprises a saddle trapped to and adapted to slide along its associated rail. _1 12

4. Covering means according to claim 3 wherein said saddle incorporates tough, wear resistant, anti-friction pads for contacting the rail.

Covering means according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the struts are biassed, either inherently or by virtue of loading means, towards an erect position, so that the batten is held clear of the load while unfurling proceeds, and wherein during the last stages of an unfurling operation the haulage means overcome the bias and cause the struts to tilt in the direction of travel of the batten to thereby advance the t¢ cover sheet into its fully unfurled position.

6. Covering means according to claim 5 wherein each strut is a close-coiled helical spring fixedly secured at one end to its associated strut support element and wherein the haulage means are connected to r:i the struts by attachment means spaced along the strut from its associated strut support element.

S7. Covering means according to claim 6 wherein said attachment Ok 4means comprise a sleeve slidable along the strut connected to the haulage means by means permitting the sleeve to turn about a transverse 0 axis intermediate the sleeve ends. @0*4 4.20

8. Covering means according to claim 1 further comprising at least one further batten supporting the cover sheet intermediate its ends, at least two further strut support elements respectively associated with the guide means and each adapted to travel along its associated guide means, at least two further tiltable struts respectively associated with the further support elements and each extending from its associated support 13 element to a respective end of the further batten.

9. Covering means according to claim 8 further comprising means to cause all of the struts to be deflected in concert. Covering means according to claim 1 wherein each strut is a rigid arm hinged to its associated strut support means such that the strut may swing upwardly and downwardly in a vertical plane substantially coinciding with the plane of the side wall with which it is associated.

S.

11. Covering means according to claim 10 wherein the batten is furnished with one or more heavy rollers or skids adapted to contact and S 10 o ride upon the load to be covered. oo.. a. Ia 4 SR 1a *3 aS U

12. Covering means substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings. Applicant Attorney GEORGE PETER FORMOSA ROBERT G. SHELSTON F.I.P.A.A. of CARTER SMITH BEADLE Date 15th. August 1996 a. a I I 414 a 6 *44* a a1 *4 a *4 4 a *l a ABSTRACT Covering means for a vehicle body of the kind comprising two end walls and two side walls comprise a pliable cover sheet a movable batten (20) supporting and spreading one end of the cover sheet and extending transversely of the body, two guide rails (11,12) respectively extending along the side walls, two saddles (13) slidable along respective rails, and two close-coiled helical spring struts (19) respectively carried by the saddles and each extending to a respective end of the batten, and haulage means including a rope (27) to haul the saddles, struts and batten along the body from a furled position wherein the batten is near one end of the body and the sheet is accumulated at said one end of the body, to an unfurled position wherein the batten is at the other end of the body and the sheet covers the top of the body. As the saddles draw near the other end of the body, a buffer (32) stops their movement and continued hauling deflects the struts into a substantially horizontal position whereby the batten is brought down into substantial coincidence with the top of the rear wall. Figure 3. *o ft S 64 S 4 WW C'