EP0284788B1 - Interconnection container lock and method for securing together the corner fittings of two cargo containers - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a coupling piece for the detachable connection of corner fittings of adjacent containers, in particular containers stacked one above the other on ships, according to the preamble of claim 1. Furthermore, the invention relates to a method for locking corner fittings, preferably stacked containers, according to the preamble of claim 12 and a Method for unlocking corner fittings, in particular containers stacked one above the other, according to the preamble of claim 14.

In technical jargon as "twistlock" dome pieces of the type mentioned here are predominantly during used to transport containers on ships. The coupling pieces should on the one hand reliably prevent ship-side relative displacements of the containers and, on the other hand, displacements of the containers from one another.

The invention is based on a coupling piece, as described for example in DE-A-22 04 915, namely a so-called three-function twistlock. In this coupling piece, the opposite crossbars are arranged on the locking bolt with an angular offset to one another and can be brought into three different coupling positions. In an unlocked position, the upper cross bar is in an open position when the lower cross bar is pre-locked, for insertion in the lower corner fitting of an upper container. After inserting it into the corner fitting of the upper container, the coupling piece can be pre-locked with the upper cross bolt locked and the lower cross bolt open. In this position, the upper container with the coupling piece can be inserted into a corresponding upper end fitting of a lower container. The crossbars can then be brought into their locking position, in which a connection of the two containers takes place through the coupling piece.

A disadvantage of this known coupling piece is that a manual intervention is required several times to assemble and disassemble it, firstly for pre-locking the coupling piece and secondly after placing the containers on top of each other for final locking. The last locking section in particular poses particular difficulties in practice, since this has to be done after the containers have been stacked on top of one another, as experience has shown that access to the coupling pieces is made more difficult. In addition, the final locking of the coupling pieces brings with it dangers for the person commissioned with it, because they have to climb on or between several container stacks.

From FR-A 2 084 265 a coupling piece is known which can be pre-locked manually on a corner fitting of a container and automatically assumes its locking position after the containers to be connected have been moved together. For this purpose, the coupling piece is biased by a spring in the locking sense and provided with a release pin that blocks the spring-loaded locking bolt. The release pin is pressed into the coupling piece by the weight of the moved containers, whereby the locking bolt is released. This can then move into the locked position due to its spring preload. A disadvantage of this known coupling piece is the release pin and the associated mechanics. Both are susceptible to damage and corrosion. This can result in malfunctions that impair reliable automatic locking of the known coupling piece. Since such malfunctions cannot be identified, there is a risk of inadequate locking of the containers on board ships, which can have devastating consequences at sea.

The invention has for its object to provide a coupling piece and a method for unlocking or locking the same between corner fittings of adjacent containers, which ensures a reliable connection of stacked containers with little manual effort.

To achieve this object, the coupling piece according to the invention has the features of claim 1. The spring preload of the locking bolt and the special design of at least one cross bolt ensures that the final locking of the coupling piece takes place automatically after the containers have been placed on top of each other, i.e., in contrast to the coupling piece according to DE-A-22 04 915, no manual intervention for the final locking of the Coupling pieces after the container has been put on is more required and the release pin according to FR-A-2 084 265 can be dispensed with
The locking bolt is advantageously pretensioned by at least one spring arranged between the latter and the housing. The arrangement of the spring is such that it is fully biased when the coupling piece is unlocked and, after the coupling piece has been inserted, the locking bolt is twisted into the locking position due to its pretension, with support on the housing.

The coupling piece according to the invention also has an actuating lever arranged on the locking bolt. However, in deviation from the three-function coupling piece according to DE-A-22 04 915, this can only be brought into two different end positions, namely into an unlocking and a locking position. Accordingly, a (central) pre-locking position is missing, according to which the operation of the coupling piece according to the invention is also simplified in this respect. In order to be able to pre-lock the coupling piece on the lower corner fitting of the upper container, the unlocking position falls together with the pre-locking position. As a result, the upper cross bar is always in the pre-locking position in the unlocked position of the actuating lever, while the lower cross bar is in an unlocked position due to its offset from the upper cross bar.

Furthermore, according to the invention the actuating lever is designed differently from that of DE-A-22 04 915 and is mounted in the housing. For this purpose, the actuating lever of the coupling piece according to the invention has a (central) axle section which is rotatably mounted in the housing with a longitudinal axis directed transversely to the longitudinal central axis of the locking bolt. Thus, in deviation from known coupling pieces of this type, the actuating lever is not arranged directly on the locking bolt.

The locking bolt is rotated by the actuating lever by means of a switching cam arranged on the end of the axle section located in the housing. This is designed as an elongated switching nose, which runs transversely to the longitudinal axis of the axle section. When the actuating lever is rotated about its axial section, the switching lug is pivoted from a direction parallel to the longitudinal central axis of the locking bolt in a direction transverse to the longitudinal central axis due to this design of the actuating lever. On account of this design of the actuating lever, when the same is pivoted around, the locking bolt is rotated by the switching lug arranged therein, which engages in a form-fitting manner on the locking bolt on the locking bolt. When the actuating lever is put down from the locking position into the unlocking position, that is to say when the coupling piece is released, the spring is tensioned at the same time due to the twisting of the locking bolt. When pivoting the operating lever in the opposite direction, that is from the unlocking position into the locking position, on the other hand there is no positive entrainment of the locking bolt. Rather, when the actuating lever is in the locking position, it can be automatically turned into the locking position by the spring or a plurality of springs if required.

An advantageous development of the invention provides for the actuating lever to be spring-loaded in the unlocked sense, preferably by means of a torsion spring mounted on the axle section. This ensures that the actuating lever cannot automatically move into the locking position, that is to say the free pivoting of the locking bolt is prevented.

The procedural solution to the problem with regard to unlocking the coupling pieces according to the invention has the measures of claim 12. Accordingly, manual intervention is only for pre-locking the Coupling piece on the lower corner fitting of the upper container necessary. The final locking of the two containers, however, takes place without any manual movement of the operating lever.

The pre-locking of the coupling piece on the lower corner fitting of the upper container is also carried out in a special way. For this purpose, when the operating lever is in the unlocked position, in which the upper cross bolt is already in the pre-locking position, the locking bolt on the lower cross bolt is rotated by hand against the pressure direction of the spring until the upper cross bolt is in an unlocked position in which the Dome piece can be inserted into the lower corner fitting of the upper container. By releasing the lower cross bar after inserting the coupling piece, the upper cross bar then automatically reaches its pre-locking position due to the spring preload.

After the coupling piece has been pre-locked in this way on the upper container, the actuating lever is pivoted around into the locking position. The container can now be stowed, that is to say it can be lowered onto a container located underneath, with the lower cross bar already in the locked position. This can be threaded through its screw-like configuration through the weight of the coupling piece and the upper container in the corner fitting of the lower container by taking back the pre-locking position without taking the actuating lever for threading and from this by the pre-tensioned spring after the complete removal of the upper container on the lower container automatically in the locking position.

The procedural solution for unlocking the coupling piece has the measures of the claim 14 on. Accordingly, the two containers are first unlocked in a conventional manner, namely by pivoting the actuating lever from the locking position into the unlocking position. The containers can then be released because the lower cross bar is in an unlocked position when the actuating lever is in the unlocked position.

To remove the coupling piece from the lower corner fitting of the upper container, only the lower cross bar against the bias of the spring needs to be turned so far that the upper cross bar comes from the pre-locking to the unlocking position.

Fig. 1

eine Seitenansicht des Kuppelstücks,

Fig. 2

eine Ansicht eines unteren Querriegels des Kuppelstücks von der Unterseite her,

Fig. 3

eine Draufsicht auf das Kuppelstück gemäß der Fig. 1,

Fig. 4

eine Seitenansicht des an einem unteren Eckbeschlag eines oberen Containers vorverriegelten Kuppelstücks,

Fig. 5

eine Seitenansicht des Kuppelstücks in der Verriegelungsstellung zwischen zwei benachbarten Eckbeschlägen aufeinandergesetzter Container,

Fig. 6

ein Horizontalschnitt VI-VI durch das Kuppelstück gemäß der Fig. 1,

Fig. 7

einen Teilschnitt VII-VII durch das Kuppelstück im Bereich eines sich in der Verriegelungsstellung befindlichen Verriegelungsbolzens gemäß der Fig. 6,

Fig. 8

einen Teilschnitt gemäß der Fig. 7 in Entriegelungsstellung des Verriegelungsbolzens,

Fig. 9

eine Grundrißdarstellung eines Betätigungshebels,

Fig. 10

den Betätigungshebel in einer Ansicht X gemäß der Fig. 9, und

Fig. 11

den Betätigungshebel in einer Ansicht XI gemäß der Fig. 9.

An embodiment of the coupling piece according to the invention is explained in more detail below with reference to the drawings. Show it:

Fig. 1

a side view of the coupling piece,

Fig. 2

a view of a lower cross bar of the coupling piece from the bottom,

Fig. 3

2 shows a plan view of the coupling piece according to FIG. 1,

Fig. 4

2 shows a side view of the coupling piece pre-locked on a lower corner fitting of an upper container,

Fig. 5

a side view of the coupling piece in the locking position between two adjacent corner fittings, containers placed one on top of the other,

Fig. 6

2 shows a horizontal section VI-VI through the coupling piece according to FIG. 1,

Fig. 7

6 shows a partial section VII-VII through the coupling piece in the area of a locking bolt in the locked position according to FIG. 6,

Fig. 8

7 shows a partial section according to FIG. 7 in the unlocked position of the locking bolt,

Fig. 9

a plan view of an operating lever,

Fig. 10

the actuating lever in a view X according to FIG. 9, and

Fig. 11

the actuating lever in a view XI of FIG .. 9

The coupling piece of the present exemplary embodiment has a housing 20, a locking bolt 21 and an actuating lever 22. The locking bolt 21 and the actuating lever 22 are rotatably mounted in or on the housing 20.

The housing 20 of this coupling piece is formed in two parts, namely consists of two housing halves 23 and 24 screwed together. The facing end faces of the housing halves 23 and 24 form a vertical parting plane which essentially divides the housing 20 in the middle. The exterior of the housing 20 is divided into three sections, namely a central abutment 25, which comes to rest when containers are stacked on top of one another between adjacent corner fittings 26 and 27 as spacers, and two middle pieces 28 and 29 opposite the abutment 25, which fit into corresponding elongated holes 30 and 31 opposite corner fittings 26, 27 occur.

Inside the housing 20 is a vertical, continuous one Housing bore 32 is arranged, the longitudinal center axis 33 of which extends centrally through the housing 20, that is to say coincides with the division plane formed by the two housing flanges 23 and 24. In the housing bore 32, the locking bolt 21 is rotatably mounted about the upright longitudinal central axis 33.

The locking bolt 31 has a central part 34 which is mounted in the housing bore 32 and cross bolts 35 and 36 which are arranged at opposite ends thereof and which are located outside the housing 20 and at the same time can be rotated relative to the central part 34.

The crossbars 35 and 36 have dimensions in plan that correspond approximately to the plan of the center pieces 28 and 29 of the housing 20, namely are approximately rectangular and, if necessary, can be made to coincide with the center pieces 28 and 29 by correspondingly turning the locking bolt 21 the crossbars 35 and 36 are designed differently. The upper cross bar 35 is provided in the usual way with bevels extending towards the free end, that is to say of a truncated pyramid shape. The opposite (lower) cross bar 36 is provided according to the invention with relatively pronounced roundings towards its free end, which are helically wound (FIGS. 1 and 2). The slope of this winding is dimensioned such that the cross bar 36 can be brought automatically from the locked position into the unlocked position when inserted into the (upper) corner fitting 27 of the container assigned to it, for threading this cross bar 36 into the corner fitting 27. Furthermore, the cross bar 35 and 36 are arranged with an offset to one another on the central part 34, which in the present exemplary embodiment is approximately 60 °. This ensures that in the area of the unlocking and locking position of the (lower) cross bar 36 the (upper) Crossbar 35 with its base surface can not cover the (upper) middle piece 28 of the housing 20.

In an approximately central region of the middle part 34, the locking bolt 21 is provided with a constriction in the form of a shifting gate 37 and opposite projections 38 and 39 (FIG. 6). The projection 38 on the central part 34 of the locking bolt 21 serves to receive one end of a spring, namely an eyelet 40 of a tension spring 41. This is arranged transversely to the longitudinal central axis 33 of the locking bolt 21 in a clearance 42 in a housing half, namely in the housing half 23 and connected to the housing half 23 with an opposite eyelet 43. The second projection 39 of the middle part 34 is in contact with the actuating lever 22 described in more detail below.

The actuating lever 22 shown in detail in FIGS. 9 to 11 has three sections, each offset by approximately 90 ° to one another, namely a (central) axle section 44 serving to mount the actuating lever 22 in the housing 20, and a switching lug adjoining one end thereof 45 and a handle 46 arranged at the opposite end of the axle section 44. The switching lug 45 and the handle 46 are angled by approximately 90 ° with respect to the longitudinal direction of the axle section 44 and additionally offset from one another by approximately 90 °.

At the free end of the handle 46 there is an angled nose 47 which is intended to facilitate pivoting of the actuating lever 22 by placing an appropriate aid on the end nose 47 of the handle 46.

The switching lug 45 is dimensioned such that it is approximately in the locking position of the actuating lever 22 runs parallel to the longitudinal central axis 33 of the locking bolt 21, that is to say it lies longitudinally against a contact surface 48 of the second projection 39 (FIG. 7). In the unlocked position of the actuating lever 22, the switching lug 45 assumes an approximately transverse position with respect to the longitudinal central axis 33 of the locking bolt 21 (FIG. 8). During the pivoting movement of the switching lug 45 from the locking position into the unlocking position, it takes the locking bolt 21 with it in a form-fitting manner to rotate it.

8 shows a recess 49 in the contact surface 48, in which a part of the rounded end of the switching lug 45 engages in a form-fitting manner to secure the actuating lever 22 in the unlocked position.

The actuating lever 22, namely the axle section 44, is mounted in the housing half 23 of the housing 20. For this purpose, this has a corresponding bearing clearance 50, into which the actuating lever 22 with its axle section 44 can be inserted from the parting plane of the housing 20. The actuating lever 22 is held in the bearing clearance 50 of the housing half 23 by a corresponding projection 51 in the parting plane of the opposite housing half 24.

To secure against axial displacement in the bearing clearance 50, the axle section 44 of the actuating lever 22 is assigned a circumferential collar 52 which is positively held on the one hand between a corresponding limitation of a clearance 53 in the housing half 23 and on the other hand a retaining lug 54 on the housing half 24 (FIG. 6).

In the exemplary embodiment shown here, a torsion spring is on the axle section 44 of the actuating lever 22 55 arranged, one end of which is supported on the projection of the housing half 24, while the opposite end of the torsion spring 55 is held with a bent end in a groove 56 in the collar 52 of the axle section 44. The spring direction of the torsion spring 55 is selected such that it holds the actuating lever 23 in the locked position.

3 to 8, the procedure for locking or unlocking the coupling piece according to the invention is explained below. Here, the specified angles relate to the relative positions of the crossbars 35 and 36 to the centerpieces 28 and 29 of the housing 20 with respect to the long center lines 57 of the crossbars 35 and 36 on the one hand and the long centerlines 58 of the centerpieces 28 and 29, which approximately with the parting plane of the housing halves 23 and 24 coincide, on the other hand. The specified angles apply to the present exemplary embodiment of the coupling piece 24, other angle values being conceivable insofar as the function of the coupling piece is retained as a result.

To lock the container, the coupling piece has an initial position shown in FIG. 4. Here, the handle 46 of the actuating lever 22 is in an approximately vertical position parallel to the longitudinal central axis 33 of the locking bolt 21. In this unlocked position, the upper cross bar 35 encloses an angle of approximately 20 ° to the center piece 28, while the lower cross bar 36 is in Cover with the middle piece 29 is located (0 °). The position of the switching lug 45 in the switching link 37 corresponds here to the illustration in FIG. 8.

By turning the locking bolt 21 on the lower cross bar 36, starting from this for coupling the coupling piece to the lower corner fitting 27 of the upper container, the upper cross bar 35 is to cover with the Centerpiece 28 brought. After connecting the coupling piece to the lower corner fitting 27, the lower cross bar 36 is released, whereby the tension spring 41 automatically rotates the locking bolt 21 back into the starting position, in which the upper cross bar 35 encloses an angle of 20 ° to the middle piece 28, while the lower cross bar 36 again coincides with the center piece 29, as shown in FIG. 4.

The actuating lever 22 is now brought into the locking position with the handle 46, that is to say pivoted into the plane of the abutment 25, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5. The switching nose 45 is then in the position shown in FIG. 7. The upper cross bar 35 encloses an angle of 80 ° to the center piece 28, while the lower cross bar 36 extends at 60 ° to the center piece 29. When lowering the upper container onto the lower container, the upper corner fitting 26 of the lower container is then rotated back into the pre-locking position shown in FIG. 4 by the helical spiral of the lower transverse bolt 36 together with the locking bolt 21 against the bias of the tension spring 21, until the upper container is completely lowered onto the lower container, as a result of which the tension spring 41 rotates the locking bolt 21 back into the locking position in which the upper cross bar 35 encloses an angle of 80 ° to the center piece 28 and the lower cross bar 36 at 60 ° to the center piece 29 runs. This switching position of the coupling piece is shown in FIGS. 3, 5, 6 and 7.

To unlock the coupling piece, it is necessary to manually move the actuating lever 22 back into the unlocking position according to FIG. 4 by means of the handle 46. In this way, the lower cross bar 36 coincides with the center piece 29, while the upper cross bar 35 is still offset to the center piece 28 runs, namely at an angle of 20 °.

In this switch position, which corresponds to the pre-locking position of the coupling piece, the upper container with the coupling piece can be lifted off the lower container to release the connection. The coupling piece is loosened from the lower corner fitting 27 of the upper container by turning the locking bolt 21 on the lower cross bar 36, namely by 20 °, whereby the upper cross bar 35 comes to coincide with the middle piece 28 for pulling out the coupling piece from the lower corner fitting 27 of the upper container.

After releasing the locking bolt 21, the coupling piece is again in the starting position according to FIG. 4, and is thus prepared for the next locking operation.

Claims (15)

1. Coupling piece for the detachable connection of corner fittings of adjacent containers, in particular of containers stacked one on top of the other on ships, having a housing and a locking bolt which is mounted in the housing and has opposite latches which can be moved by an actuating lever at least into an unlocking or locking position with regard to the corner fittings of the containers, characterised in that at least one of the latches (36) has a helically wound cone for the automatic rotation of the latch (36) into the unlocking position when inserting the same into the corresponding corner fitting (26) of the container to be coupled, and in that the locking bolt (21) is spring-preloaded in the locking direction for the automatic rotation of the latches (35, 36) into the locking position after the latch (36) is inserted into the corner fitting (26).
2. Coupling piece according to Claim 1, characterised in that at least one spring, in particular a tension spring (41), is arranged between the housing (20) and the locking bolt (21) for the preloading of the locking bolt (21).
3. Coupling piece according to Claims 1 and 2, characterised in that the containers can be uncoupled from one another by means of the actuating lever (22) by rotating at least one latch (36) into the unlocking position.
4. Coupling piece according to Claim 3, characterised in that the actuating lever (22) has a central spindle section (44) which is rotatably mounted in the housing (20) with a longitudinal axis directed transversely to the longitudinal centre axis (33) of the looking bolt (21).
5. Coupling piece according to Claim 1 and one or more of the further claims, characterised in that an and of the spindle section (44) located in the interior of the housing (20) has a control cam for rotating the looking bolt (21) during the pivoting of the actuating lever (22), in particular a control lug (45) which runs roughly transversely to the longitudinal axis of the spindle section (44) and engages in a corresponding control gate (37) of the locking bolt (21).
6. Coupling piece according to Claim 5, characterised in that the control gate (37) is formed in the centre part (34) of the looking bolt (21) in such a way that a positive movement of the locking bolt (21) takes place solely in the unlocked direction against the pressure direction of the tension spring (41).
7. Coupling piece according to Claims 5 and 6, characterised in that, when the control lug (45) runs roughly parallel to the longitudinal centre axis (33) of the looking bolt (21), both latches (35, 36) are located in a locking position, and, when the control lug (45) is directed transversely to the longitudinal centre axis (33), at least one of the latches (36) is located in an unlocking position.
8. Coupling piece according to Claim 5 and one or more of the further claims, characterised in that a contact face (48) of the control gate (37) has a recess (49) in which the free end of the control lug (45) positively engages in the unlocked state of the locking bolt (21).
9. Coupling piece according to Claim 1 and one or more of the further claims, characterised in that on one end of the spindle section (44) of the actuating lever (22), which end is opposite the control lug (45) and is located outside the housing (20), a handle (46) is arranged which is preferably angled relative to the spindle section (44) for rotating the spindle section (44) by pivoting the handle (46) in a plane running parallel to the longitudinal centre axis (33) off the locking bolt (21) while simultaneously pivoting the control lug (45).
10. Coupling piece according to Claim 1 and one or more of the further claims, characterised in that the actuating lever (22) is spring-loaded in the direction of its unlocking position, in particular by a torsion spring (55) mounted on the spindle section (44).
11. Coupling piece according to Claim 1 and one or more of the further claims, characterised in that the actuating lever (22) is mounted in the housing (20) with an axially fixed spindle section (44), in particular by positive locking.
12. Method of locking corner fittings, preferably of containers stacked one on top of the other, by means of a coupling piece having opposite latches, in particular locking a coupling piece according to Claims 1 to 11, the coupling piece being prelocked by one latch to a (bottom) corner fitting of a (top) container, the containers to be connected being placed one on top off the other, and then both latches being rotated into the locking position, characterised in that the latches (35, 36) are springpreloaded in the locking direction by pivoting in the unlocking direction, one of the latches (35) is moved into a prelocking position by partial reduction of the spring preloading after insertion into the (top) container and, after both containers have been placed one on top of the other, the latches (35, 36) are automatically pivoted into the locking position by the spring preloading.
13. Method according to Claim 12, characterised in that, after the prelocking, an actuating lever (22) interacting with the locking bolt (21) is moved with the latches (35, 36) into the locking position, and then the still free latch (36) is inserted into the (top) corner fitting (26) of the bottom container, in the course of which the (bottom) latch (36) automatically twists into the (top) corner fitting (26) by in the meantime occupying its unlocking position and subsequently moving back into the locking position through spring loading.
14. Method of unlocking two corner fittings, in particular of containers stacked one on top of the other, which are preferably connected to one another by a coupling piece according to Claims 1 to 11, in which arrangement at least one latch of the coupling piece can be moved into an unlocking position by an actuating lever in order to move the containers apart, characterised in that, to unlock the (bottom) latch (36), the actuating lever (22) is moved from the locking position into the (opposite) unlocking position.
15. Method according to Claim 14, characterised in that, to release the coupling piece from the (bottom) corner fitting (27) of the (top) container, the (bottom) latch (36) is directly rotated accordingly.

Images