EP0259230B1 - Device for handling bulk container bags filled with powdered or granular material - Google Patents

Abstract

Device for maneuvering large capacity bags filled with powdered or granular materials wherein a square 6 formed from four tubes 11-14 is placed on the bag, the cross-pieces 9 formed by the ends of the tubes being engaged in the straps 2-5 of the bag. The forks of a forklift truck can be inserted in two parallel tubes enabling the bag to be maneuvered without risk of overturning, without the truck driver leaving his seat and without the help of another person. Equipped with an annular accessory 18 forming a support for the funnel 21 of a bag 20 which can be locked onto the inner sides of the tubes so that is inscribed in the square, one of the major applications of the device according to the invention is the robotization of the emptying and filling of flexible containers.

Description

The present invention relates to a device for facilitating the handling of objects such as large capacity bags filled with a wide variety of materials: for example, but not limited to, bags of powdered or granular products such as those described in French patent 2,564,440.

The bags which are to be handled are generally provided with belts. straps, handles or suspenders used to attach the hooks to hoists, cranes or other handling equipment. This requires the intervention of an agent, other than the one who drives the handling machine, or, if it is the same, he must get off his machine.

The invention relates more particularly to the handling of such bags by forklifts. The driver may not engage the forks in the bag gripping straps without the assistance of an auxiliary, or without getting off his station. if you place the forks under the bag, you risk overturning it

Patent application GB A 2 150 538, which corresponds to the preamble of claim 1, describes an equipment comprising four metallic elements, two long elements joined in scale by two short elements. The latter are fitted with hooks for hanging the straps of a bag. One can pass under the long elements the teeth of a forklift, to lift said equipment with the bag.

The present invention relates to a device for gripping bags by a forklift, without any intervention from the driver, in much better conditions.

With a view to achieving this result, the present invention relates to a device for handling large capacity bags filled with pulverulent or granulated materials, provided with straps for lifting them, comprising a rigid element of generally substantially flat shape comprising in its thickness at least four bars with means for hanging the straps and leaving between them a surface allowing normal filling of a bag, characterized in that comprises four tubes arranged in a square and intersecting two by two, their ends projecting from the square. formed allowing the hooking of the bag straps, and in that the tubes are open at their two ends so as to be able to receive the teeth of a forklift while leaving between them sufficient surface to allow normal filling of a bag, the length of the opening between two parallel bars being appreciably greater than the lengths of the two bars added together.

The surface of the rigid planar element will correspond substantially to the horizontal section of a bag to be lifted apart from the ends of the tubes which protrude to ensure secure attachment.

In one embodiment of the invention, the rigid element is associated with a rigid toroid-shaped accessory whose outside diameter is slightly less than that of the central opening of said rigid element, a latching means being provided for allow said accessory to be kept inscribed in said central opening of said rigid element.

The term "torus" is understood here to mean a "surface of revolution generated by a curve which turns around an axis situated in its plane and not passing through its center". Said torus is a priori arbitrary, but is advantageously open, that is to say such that said curve is not closed, thus being able, for example, to form by turning a circular gutter -annular- with substantially concentric edges, and of different diameters. This latter configuration has, among other advantages, that of being able to stack such accessories one inside the other. We will see later how this can be interesting in the use of the device of the invention.

Said accessory is intended to facilitate the filling and emptying operations of a bag of the type described above and provided in its upper part with a flexible chute in the form of a sleeve, said sleeve extending from the upper edge of the bag. , between its straps, and ending with an advantageously circular opening, with a diameter slightly greater than the inside diameter of the central opening of said accessory in the form of an annular gutter.

Said latching means may comprise a groove or a recess provided circumferentially on the radially outer part of said accessory, and cooperating with protuberances in the form of bumps formed on the inner part of said element and extending radially inwards. Advantageously, said accessory has substantially the same height as said rigid element, and practically does not protrude therefrom when it is in place, inscribed in the central opening of said rigid element.

It is thus possible to snap said accessory inside said rigid element if bumps are formed on the internal lateral surfaces of the tubes of said rigid element, the external diameter of said accessory being adapted to the internal dimensions of said rigid element.

When a bag provided with a chute as described above, and whose opening has a diameter slightly greater than the inside diameter of said rigid accessory, has its straps passed around the protruding ends of the tubes of said element provided with a such an accessory, the flexible chute is passed inside the central opening of said accessory, and the upper edge of the chute is circumferentially folded into said annular gutter.

One can even wedge the upper edge of the groove between a first and a second identical rigid accessories of the type described above. To do this, the first accessory being already in place with the upper edge of said chute folded circumferentially in its gutter, the two accessories are imbricated one in the other by bringing them together after having superimposed them according to their plans by making their axes of revolution.

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will appear during the description which follows, given by way of nonlimiting examples with reference to the attached drawings, and which will make it clear how the invention can be implemented.

• la figure 1 est une vue d'un genre de sac auquel peut s'appliquer l'invention,
• la figure 2 est une vue en perspective, d'un sac du type de la figure 1, équipé d'un dispositif selon l'invention,
• la figure 3 est une vue en plan d'un exemple de dispositif selon l'invention,
• la figure 4 est une vue en coupe, suivant la ligne IV-IV de la figure 3, et
• la figure 5 est une vue en plan d'une variante,
• la figure 6 est une vue en plan d'un autre exemple de réalisation du dispositif de l'invention,
• la figure 7 est une vue en coupe du dispositif de la figure 6 selon l'axe V-V,
• la figure 8 est une section agrandie partielle issue de la figure 7,
• la figure 9 est une vue en coupe en élévation d'un dispositif selon l'invention utilisé pour le remplissage d'un sac muni d'une goulotte.

In the drawings,

• FIG. 1 is a view of a type of bag to which the invention can be applied,
• FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a bag of the type of FIG. 1, equipped with a device according to the invention,
• FIG. 3 is a plan view of an example of a device according to the invention,
• FIG. 4 is a sectional view, on the line IV-IV of FIG. 3, and
• FIG. 5 is a plan view of a variant,
• FIG. 6 is a plan view of another exemplary embodiment of the device of the invention,
• FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the device of FIG. 6 along the axis VV,
• FIG. 8 is a partial enlarged section taken from FIG. 7,
• Figure 9 is a sectional elevational view of a device according to the invention used for filling a bag with a chute.

In different types of industries, flexible containers or bags 1 of the type shown in FIG. 1 are used to move, store, evacuate, etc., all kinds of powdery or granular products such as earth, sand, gravel , fertilizers, chemicals, seeds, etc. These bags have gripping straps 2, 3, 4, 5, in which crane hooks, forklift trolleys, etc. can be passed.

When a bag is full, it generally appears as shown in Figure 1. A priori it is not possible to pass a hook or fork in the straps without manual intervention.

According to the invention, there is in the straps of the bag a square forcing 6, having the shape of four tubes 11, 12, 13, 14, of rectangular section arranged in a square in the same plane, orthogonal to each other . The tubes extend so that their ends 7, 8 (FIG. 3) extend the sides of the square beyond the vertices, so as to form cross-shaped nuts 9 depending on the square by zones 10 of narrow section ( Figure 3) so as to constitute an attachment zone. The dimensions of the square 6 correspond substantially to the horizontal dimensions of the bag 1. The tubular sides of the square are released from one end to the other on each side and open at the two ends.

The device of the invention is used in the following manner. Place the square 6 on top of a filled bag, and pass the straps 2, 3, 4, 5, over the braces 9, in the throttles 10, as shown in Figure 2. It is then simple to engage in the tubes 11 and 13, or 12 and 14, by one end or the other, the forks of a handling carriage, the spacing of which has been previously adjusted appropriately. The bag can then be conveniently handled by the operator, without having to get out of his cart, and without the assistance of any other person.

Figure 5 shows in plan another embodiment of a square with braces according to the present invention.

The device of the invention can be made of any suitable material: metal wood, plastic. The latter having the advantage of low cost price. It will be noted that the material of the spider practically does not work in operation. Only the upper part of the throttle 10 is stressed in compression between the strap 2, 3, 4, 5, and the fork of the carriage engaged inside the tube 11, 12, 13, 14, constitutive. The lower surface of the brace does not support any effort during the handling of the bag (the upper part and the lower part are identical, the brace having neither above nor below, to maintain the simple use). The lower part with the sides is mainly used for guiding the forks and assists in keeping them in place correctly during handling.

It is understood that the handling device has at least two parallel tubular conduits, and the square shape with four tubes is very suitable. A shape with 6 or more sides would not bring any appreciable advantage, and would complicate the manufacture.

In Figures 6, 7 and 8 is illustrated another embodiment of the present invention. We find a rigid element 16 resembling that shown in Figure 5, but further comprising four elongated bumps 17 provided substantially in the middle of the inner side faces of said tubes arranged in a square, a bump on each tube. The large dimension of each bump is aligned with the longitudinal axes of said tubes. A rigid accessory 18 in the form of an annular gutter open upwards and with concentric edges can be snapped into the central opening of said rigid element 16 by means of a groove or a recess 19 provided circumferentially on the external part of said accessory, and cooperating with said elongated bumps formed on the internal part of said rigid element. To snap said accessory into said element, it suffices to present it axially above said element and to force it into it.

In FIG. 9, a bag 20 provided with a chute 21 is suspended by its straps 4, 5 from the arms 22 of a lift truck - not shown in the figure - by means of a rigid element 16 as described above with reference to Figures 6, 7 and 8. We also recognize a first and a second rigid accessories 18ʹ and 18ʺ both identical to that described with reference to the same figures. The two accessories 18ʹ and 18ʺ are engaged one inside the other, and wedge between them the upper edge of the chute 21. This greatly facilitates the filling of the bag 20 with material 23.

We also realize that the device of the invention promotes stacking or "stacking" of the bags; it suffices to leave said rigid element in the straps of the bag.

Furthermore, it becomes possible, notably thanks to said accessory, to robotize the filling of flexible containers. This is one of the most interesting applications of the present invention.

Claims (5)

1. A device for maneuvering large capacity bags (1) equipped with lifting straps (2, 3, 4, 5), filled with powdered or granular materials, comprising a generally substantially flat rigid element (6) including at least four bars disposed in its thickness, said bars having means for hanging said straps, and said bars leaving between them a surface area sufficient to enable the normal filling of a bag, characterized in that it includes four intersecting tubes disposed in a square, the ends of said tubes extend beyond said square to enable the straps of the bags to be hanged to them, and the tubes are open at opposite ends for receiving fork elements of a forklift truck, said tubes leaving between them a surface area sufficient to enable the normal filling of a bag, the width of the opening between two parallel bars being substantially more than the sum of the widths of two bars.
2. A device according to claim 1, characterized in that it is made of plastic material.
3. A device according to anyone of the preceding claims, characterized in that it further includes a rigid toroidal accessory (18) having an outer diameter slightly less than that of the central opening of said rigid element, and blocking means enabling said accessory to be held inscribed in said central opening of said rigid element.
4. A device according to claim 3, characterized in that said tore is open around the circumference thereof to define an annular groove having substantially concentric sides of different diameters.
5. A device according to claim 3 or claim 4, characterized in that said blocking means comprises a circumferential groove or recess defined in a radially outer part of said accessory, cooperating with protuberances in the form of elongated bulges coplanar with said element, formed on the inner side thereof, and extending radially inwardly.

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