AU739214B3

AU739214B3 - Vehicle load cover

Info

Publication number: AU739214B3
Application number: AU28054/01A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Allan Ross Green
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2001-03-16
Filing date: 2001-03-16
Publication date: 2001-10-04
Anticipated expiration: 2007-03-16

Description

2937B

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A PETTY PATENT

ORIGINAL

Name of Applicant: Actual Inventor: Address for Service: Invention Title: ALLAN ROSS GREEN ALLAN ROSS GREEN HODGKINSON OLD McINNES Patent Trade Mark Attorneys Level 3, 20 Alfred Street MILSONS POINT NSW 2061 VEHICLE LOAD COVER The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me:

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TECHNICAL FIELD This invention relates to a covering for a vehicle load receptacle of the type found in road trucks, trailers and railcars.

BACKGROUND

It is common practice to cover road trucks that have an open-topped, rectangular, box-like body which carry a non-cohesive or fragmented load of solid materials, such as for example, domestic or other rubbish comprising miscellaneous items and fragments, or powdery, granular or other particulate materials. In some jurisdictions, it is mandatory, to cover the top of the vehicle load receptacle, so as to prevent the escape of load material in transit.

Generally, this is achieved by securing a pliable mesh or fabric cover sheet over the top of the vehicle's load receptacle.

Putting such a cover sheet in place, and removing it, are time consuming and laborious operations and, as a result, various devices have been proposed for furling and unfurling cover sheets so as to either to store them at one end of the vehicle load receptacle or extend them over the open top of the load receptacle respectively.

One such device is described in Australian patent application No. 62097/96. The device comprises a covering means for a truck body which is in the form of an open-topped, rectangular container comprising two side walls, a front wall and a rear end wall. The covering means comprises two rails each of which sit on the upper edges of respective side walls. A batten which supports the cover sheet extends transversely of the body and is connected to two spaced-apart saddles each of which are slidably engaged with the respective rail. A rope is able to be used to drag the saddles and batten along the rails from a furled position wherein the batten is near one end of the body and the sheet is accumulated to an unfurled position wherein the batten is at the other end of the body and the sheet covers the top of the body. A problem associated with this device is that the rails which are fitted to the upper edges of the side walls are prone to damage during the loading and unloading of the vehicle, particularly from materials handling devices such as conveyors, forklifts, front end 2937B loaders and other devices used to load vehicles. The placement of the rails on the upper edges of the side walls also increases the height of the vehicle and therefore in some instances is undesirable for certain applications.

The present invention seeks to ameliorate the disadvantages of the prior art by providing a covering for a vehicle load receptacle.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION According to a first aspect the present invention consists in a covering for a vehicle load receptacle of the kind comprising two end walls and two side walls, said covering including a pliable cover sheet, a plurality of movable battens extending between the side walls and adapted to support and spread said cover sheet, two channelled rail sections each respectively associated with and extending along one of said side walls, each batten has two roller assemblies are slidably engaged with a respective channelled rail section characterised in that each of said roller assemblies has an upper set of two rollers disposed substantially above a lower set of two rollers and each of said channelled rail sections has a pair of lower J-sections and a pair of upper inverted J-sections, and said lower set of two rollers are adapted to travel along said lower J-sections and said upper set of two rollers adapted to travel along said upper inverted J-sections.

Preferably both said channelled rail sections are disposed below the top edge of their respective side walls.

Brief Description of the Drawings By way of examples, preferred embodiments of the above described invention are described in more detail hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the covering means according to the invention shown in %the furled condition when in place on a vehicle load receptacle; FIGURE 2 FIGURE 3 FIGURE 4 is a perspective view of the covering means shown in an unfurled condition; is an exploded sectional view of the guide rail and the wheeled support assembly of the covering means shown in Figure 1; is a partial perspective view of the front end of the vehicle load receptacle of Figure 1 showing the haulage means for moving the battens of the cover sheets; is a partial perspective view of the guide rail and haulage means at the rear end of the vehicle load receptacle; is an alternate embodiment of the guide rail assembly; is an alternate embodiment of the drive means of the covering means.

FIGURE 5 FIGURE 6 FIGURE 7 Mode of Carrying Out the Invention Figures 1 to 5 show a first embodiment of the present invention mounted as in use on the load receptacle of a truck. In this instance, the load receptacle is in the form of an open-topped, rectangular container comprising side walls 1, a front end wall 2 and a rear end wall 3. The upper edges of the side walls 1 are stiffened by longitudinally extending hollow lips 4.

Longitudinally extending guide means in the form of a channelled rail section 5 is mounted below lip 4. The rail 5 comprises lower J sections 6 and upper inverted J sections 7 and central flanges 8.

As shown in Figure 3, roller assembly 9 comprising four rollers 10 is adapted to rollably travel along rail 5. The lower rollers travelling along lower J sections 6 whilst the upper rollers engage flanges 8 and travel within upper inverted J sections 7. A hanger rod 12 extends downwardly from roller assembly 9 and is connected to a cylindrical guide 13. An L-shaped support member 14 extends outwardly from cylindrical guide 13. The cylindrical guide 13 is connected to a batten 15 that spans transversely across the load receptacle to a similar rail and roller assembly 9 on the opposite side of the vehicle. The vehicle is provided with a plurality of battens 15 each of which is associated with a pair of roller assemblies each of which hang from respective rails 5. The battens 15 support and spread cover sheet 11 between side walls 1. Bodily movement of the roller assemblies 9 and their associated battens 15 in the end to end direction of the vehicle load receptacle is effected by a haulage means comprising, in this instance, a manually rotatable driving pulley 16 mounted on the front wall 2, a driven pulley 17 and an endless cable 18 riding about those pulleys. The rotatable driving pulley 16 is operable by a removable handle 20. A manually operated ratchet mechanism 21 is used to operably control the direction of travel of cable 18. Cable 18 travels through guide members 22 which project from side walls 1. The cable 18 also passes through cylindrical guides 13 associated with each roller assembly 9. Each of the cylindrical guides 13 are able to slidably move with respect to the cable 18 except for batten 15a whose cylindrical guide 13a is prevented from moving past cylindrical stop 25 secured to cable 18. When the haulage means is actuated, the cable 18 is rotated such that the battens 15, 15a and cover sheet 11 may be moved from a furled position as shown in Figure 1 to an unfurled position as shown in Figure 2.

An advantage of this arrangement is that each rail 5 is situated below the lip 4 on the upper edge of the respective side wall 1, and the roller assembly 9 which travels along rail 5 provides a smooth efficient rolling mechanism for the battens 15, 15a with which they are associated.

By placing each rail 5 below the lip 4 on the upper edge of the respective side wall 1, the rail is less prone to damage which may result by materials handling devices such as conveyors, forklifts, front end loaders engaging with the upper edge during loading of the vehicles.

An advantage of having two upper and two lower rollers 10 mounted directly above each other with parallel axes of rotation on each roller assembly 9, is that each roller assembly 9 can be vertically elongate as shown in Fig. 3. This is advantageous when cover sheet 11 is furled as shown in Fig. 1, as adjacent roller assemblies 9 on each rail 5 occupy less horizontal space, thereby minimising the horizontal furled space occupied by cover sheet 11, which allows for easier access to the load receptacle of the truck.

Figure 6 shows an alternative embodiment in which rail 5 is replaced with a different shaped rail 105 which has a pair of J-sections 107, supporting four rollers 110, disposed horizontally on roller assembly 109, rather than vertically as is the case of roller assembly 9 and rollers in the earlier embodiment. In this embodiment, the hanger rod 7 cylindrical guide 13 Lshaped support members 14 and battens 15 are similar to the earlier embodiment.

Also, in an alternative embodiment as shown in Figure 7, the haulage means may include a rotatable driving pulley 116 which is driven by an electric motor 130. A ratchet mechanism 131 may be used to control the direction of travel of cable 18. In this embodiment, the electric motor may be operated from the driver's cabin or alternatively be controlled by a hand-held remote control unit 132, which the driver can operate from outside the driver's cabin. It should be understood that in a further embodiment electric motor 130 may be replaced by a hydraulic motor which is driven by a conventional hydraulic system fitted to the vehicle.

Also, in another alternative embodiment each of the battens 15 may be telescopically extending with a simple longitudinal spring in the middle, such that the batten may extend and contract in length as the side walls of the vehicle move. This feature is beneficial, where the load receptacle of the truck is made of aluminium or steel, and the truck carries heated loads such as hot mix asphalt. Such heated loads tend to cause the side walls of the truck to bow outwardly and the telescopic feature of the battens allows for this movement.

It will be recognised by persons skilled in the art that numerous variations and modifications may be made to the invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

The term "comprising" herein is used in the inclusive sense of having or including and not in the exclusive sense of consisting only of.

2937B

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Claims

1. A covering for a vehicle load receptacle of the kind comprising two end walls and two side walls, said covering including a pliable cover sheet, a plurality of movable battens extending between the side walls and adapted to support and spread said cover sheet, two channelled rail sections each respectively associated with and extending along one of said side walls, each batten has two roller assemblies are slidably engaged with a respective channelled rail section characterised in that each of said roller assemblies has an upper set of two rollers disposed substantially above a lower set of two rollers and each of said channelled rail sections has a pair of lower J-sections and a pair of upper inverted J-sections, and said lower set of two rollers are adapted to travel along said lower J-sections and said upper set of two rollers adapted to travel along said upper inverted J-sections.

2. A covering for a vehicle load receptacle as claimed in claims 1, wherein both said channelled rail sections are disposed below the top edge of their respective side walls. Dated this 25 th day of July 2001. ALLAN ROSS GREEN By HODGKINSON OLD McINNES Patent Attorneys for the Applicant