CA1239121A

CA1239121A - Device for handling and moving cylindrical units

Info

Publication number: CA1239121A
Application number: CA000455601A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Bengt Lindell
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1984-05-31
Filing date: 1984-05-31
Publication date: 1988-07-12

Abstract

CANADIAN PATENT APPLICATION
OF
BENGT LINDELL
FOR
DEVICE FOR HANDLING AND MOVING
CYLINDRICAL UNITS

Abstract of the Disclosure A device for handling and moving generally cylindrical loads, such as cable reels, rolls of paper, sheet metal, and the like, comprising a frame supported by wheels or the like and provided with vertically pivotable, laterally movable telescoping arms for retentive engagement with the load to move said load toward and away from a load-supporting sur-face of said frame.
The device is characterised in that said load-supporting surface is a part of a cradle having a wedge-shaped roll-on/
roll-off portion at its free edge and a downwardly curved surface portion forming the actual load-supporting surface;
that said cradle is tiltable about a shaft, mounted beneath the downwardly curved portion between a position in which its wedge-shaped portion connects to the floor, and a trans-port position in which it is spaced from said floor; and that said arms are individually or jointly telescopically movable past and beyond said cradle and are provided with engagement means adapted to engage with the load, the cable reel or the like during loading and unloading thereof.

Description

I

The present invention relates to a device for handling and moving generally cylindrical loads, such as gable reels, rolls of paper, sheet metal, and the like, comprising a frame supported by wheels or the like and provided with vertically pivot able, laterally movable telescoping arms for retentive engagement with the load to move said load toward and away from a load-supporti.ny surface of said frame.
Moving large cable reels, rolls of paper, sheet metal and the like causes much difficulty in narrow spaces or other premises where conventional materials handling de-vices cannot be used. The object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for simply and conveniently moving cable reels or the like also in passages insignifi-gently larger than the reel itself To achieve this object, the device according to the invention is essentially characterized in that said load-supporting surface is a part of a cradle having a wedge-shaped roll-on/roll-off portion at its free edge and a downwardly curved surface portion forming the actual load-supporting surface; that said cradle is liftable about a shaft, mounted beneath the downwardly curved port lion, between a position in which its wedge shaped portion connects to the floor, and a transport position in which it is spaced from said floor; and that said~arms~are individually or jointly telescopically movable-past and beyond said cradle and are provided with engagement means adapted to engage with the load, the cable reel or the like during loading end unloading thereof An embodiment ox the invention will be described Lo .: , : ,. :
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:; ;:~ , '' ' ' more detail below, reference being had to -the accompanying drawings in which:
Fig. 1 is a top plan view of the device according to the invention;
Fig. is a lateral view of the device; and Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the said device.
Mounted on a frame 1 are arms 2 and and a cradle 3.
The frame is supported by a number of wheels 4 or the like which may be of the castor type or may otherwise permit steering of the device in any desired direction.
One end portion S of the frame is provided with guides for brackets 7 in which the arms 2 are pivot ably mounted, and with corresponding guides for hydraulic piston and Cal-inter assemblies 8 (Fig 2 ! controlling the pivotal move-mint of said arms.
Extending from said end portion 5 are a pair of frame beams 9 with bearings for a shaft 10 about which the cradle 3 is liftable.
The arms 2 are telescopically mounted and can be ox-tended and retracted by means of piston and cylinder asset bites not shown. Fixed or axially displaceable pins 11 or the like are provided at the outer ends of said arms for engaging with, for example, the center hole of a cable reel X. Instead of a pin, there may be provided at each arm end transverse rollers or the like for engaging with the periphery of a sheet metal roll or the like having no-pronounced center hole suitable for the pin.
The telescopic arm movement may be synchronized such that the free ends of said arms move in unison with the I
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same speed. Separate actuation of each piston and cylinder assembly is also possible so that the arm ends will be disk placed relative to one another, thereby to facilitate grip-ping of cable reels standing at an angle to the handling device so that they can be turned right prior to loading.
The cradle 3 has a planar portion 12, the free edge 13 of which tapers in the form of a wedge so that it can hug the base on which the device is standing, and an arcuately curved portion 14 forming the supporting surface and having a radius of curvature which is at least equal to the radius of the largest unit to be moved.
The shaft 10 of the cradle 3 is mounted near the deepest part of the curved portion 14 so that but a slight force is required to tilt the cradle when a cable reel or the like has been pulled up to the curved portion 14 by means of the arms 2. To tilt the cradle, piston and Cal-inter assemblies 15 are used.
The requisite propulsion motors, hydraulic pumps etc.
are accommodated by the frame portion 5 which may also house the controls.
In its preferred embodiment, the device according to the invention is self-propelled, although it may, of course, also be towed by another vehicle.
When a unit, such as a cable reel, is to be loaded for transport, the device is driven up to the reel, as shown in jigs. 1 and 2.
Depending upon the position of the reel relative to the cradle 3, the arms 2 are displaced in one or the other direction so that they can be extended on either ,',' , ' , ,' .', , , , ' , ' ' ` .
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side of the reel, whereupon they are moved together such that the pins 11 extend in-to the center hole of the reel.
The arms 2 are then retracted by means of the synchronized piston and cylinder assemblies, and the reel X which, if necessary, has first been correctly aligned, is rolled up on the cradle 3 which has already been tilted into the position shown in Fig. 2 in which the edge 13 engages the floor. When the reel reaches the downwardly curved portion 14, the arms are relieved because the reel will then remain in position without assistance, The cradle is now tilted into the broken-line position illustrated in Fig. 3 by Myers of the piston and cylinder assemblies 15, and the device is now freely movable.
Unloading is carried out in-the reverse order. First the cradle is tilted so that its edge 13 engages the floor, whereupon the reel is pushed away from the cradle by means of the arms 2.
The piston and cylinder assemblies 8 serve to set the arms in correct vertical position for fitting the pins 11 into the center holes. When this is done, the piston and cylinder assemblies 8 may be deactivated be-cause the arms will then be controlled by the engage-mint of the pins 11 with the center hole. However for handling units without center holes, vertical control of the arms is required.
By suitable dimensioning of the piston and cylinder assemblies 8, the arms 2 and the pins 11, the device according to the invention may be utilized also for lit-in rolls of paper and the like.

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Claims

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A device for handling and moving generally cy-lindrical loads, such as cable reels, rolls of paper, sheet metal etc., comprising a frame supported by wheels and provided with vertically pivotable, later-ally movable telescoping arms for retentive engage-ment with the load to move said load toward and away from a load-supporting surface of said frame, charac-terised in that said load-supporting surface is a part of a cradle having a wedge-shaped roll-on/roll-off portion at a free edge of the cradle and a down-wardly curved portion forming the actual load suppor-ting surface; that said cradle is tiltable about a shaft, mounted beneath the downwardly curved portion between a position in which the cradle connects to the floor, and a transport position in which the cra-dle is spaced from said floor; and that said arms are individually or jointly telescopically movable past and beyond said cradle and are provided with engage-ment means adapted to engage with the cable reel during loading and unloading thereof.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that control means, preferably in the form of hy-draulic piston and cylinder assemblies, are mounted between the cradle and the frame; and that said cradle is mounted between two freely extending beams of the frame.

3. A device as claimed in claim 1, c h a r a c -t e r i s e d in that the shaft about which said cradle is liftable, is located adjacent the vertical plane extending through the center of a cylindrical load resting on said downwardly curved load-supporting surface.

4. A device as claimed in claim 1, c h a r a c -t e r i s e d in that telescoping movement of said arms is accomplished by means of piston and cylinder assemblies that can be operated individually or jointly.