GB1591094A

GB1591094A - Towable transporter

Info

Publication number: GB1591094A
Application number: GB4693876A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1977-11-10
Filing date: 1977-11-10
Publication date: 1981-06-17

Description

(54) AN IMPROVED TOWABLE TRANSPORTER (71) 1, ALEXANDER LEWIS WILSON ADAMS, a British subject of Ash Villa, Old Deer, Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, do hereby declare the invention, for which I pray that a Patent may be granted to me and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: This invention relates to a towable transporter, and in particular, but not exclusively, a bale transporter intended for towing behind an agricultural machine and for handling relatively large, cylindrical bales.

According to the invention, a towable transporter comprises a frame provided with ground wheels or runners and carrying or defining an enclosure for receiving articles to be transported, the enclosure having an opening therein, a power-actuated pivoting mechanism which, when the transporter is hitched behind a towing vehicle, is pivotable, with respect to the frame, between a lowered, ground-engaging position and an elevated position, and a poweractuated tilting mechanism, actuable independently of the pivoting mechanism, for tilting said frame to facilitate unloading of articles from the enclosure, whereby an article is loaded into the enclosure by positioning the pivoting mechanism beneath the article to be loaded when the pivoting mechanism is in its lowered ground-engaging position and subsequently pivoting the pivoting mechanism into its elevated position to lift the article and pass it through said opening into the enclosure, the pivoting mechanism, when in its elevated position, closing the said opening.

Suitably the tilting mechanism is actuable to tilt the enclosure downwardly towards the said opening. Typically the tilting mechanism comprises a fluid actuated ram engageable either directly with the ground or with a sub-frame (e.g. a drawbar for connection to an agricultural machine) pivotally connected to the frame.

During actuation of the tilting mechanism in which the frame is moved into its fully tilted position, the wlieels or runners may be lifted off the ground, the frame being supported on the ground by skids which are clear of the ground when the frame is in its untilted position.

The pivoting mechanism may comprise at least two lifting forks mounted on a carrier member, the carrier member being pivotally mounted to the frame. Each lifting fork is suitably freely pivoted to the carrier member for movement between first and second positions relative thereto. The lifting forks are normally biased by their own weight (and during a bale or other article loading operation also by the weight of a bale supported thereon) into their first positions, but may be pivoted into their second positions, or into positions intermediate their first and second positions, on engagement with the ground.

The carrier member is pivotally moved by means of a fluid actuated ram. If the transporter is to be drawn behind an agricultural machine having a hydraulic supply, for example a tractor, it is convenient for the ram to be hydraulically actuated so that the ram can be operated from the agricultural machine.

The invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the drawings accompanying the provisional specification, in which: Figure 1 is a side elevation of a transporter according to the invention, Figure 2 is a plan from above of the transporter shown in Figure 1, Figures 3 and 4 are rear and front elevations, respectively, on an enlarged scale, of the transporter shown in Figure 1, Figure 5 is a side elevation of the transporter shown in Figure 1 in a position for unloading bales, Figure 6 is a side elevation of the rear end of the transporter shown in Figure 1, on an enlarged scale, with the pivoting mechanism in an elevated position, Figure 7 is a side elevation on an enlarged scale, of part of the pivoting mechanism of the transporter shown in Figure 1, Figures 8 and 9 are side and front elevations, respectively, on an enlarged scale, of part of the tilting mechanism of the transporter shown in Figure 1, and Figure 10 is a detail, on an enlarged scale, of the connection of a ram. to the pivoting mechanism of the transporter shown in Figure 1.

Figures 1 to 6 show a towable bale transporter, generally designated by the reference numeral 1, comprising an elongated wheeled carriage 2 having a drawbar 3 pivotally connected to its underside by means of a pivot pin 4 and pivoting mechanism generally designated by the reference numeral 5, pivotally connected to the rear end of the carriage.

The carriage 2 comprises a pair of longitudinally extending steel tubes 6, 7 which are connected by a transversely extending member 8 at their front ends, by a transversely extending axle 9, carrying a pair of ground wheels 10, 11 adjacent their rear ends, and a further transversely extending member 12 intermediate their ends. Further frame members (13, 14), (15, 16) and (17, 18) extend upwardly from opposite ends of the members 8, 12 and axle 9, respectively; the upper ends of the frame members 15, 17 being connected to a longitudinally extending rail 20, and the upper ends of the frame members 13, 14 being connected to a cross rail 21. The two rails 19,20 have forward ends, generally designated 22, 23, respectively, which are connected by the cross rail 21, and rearward ends, generally designated 24, 25 respectively, which are not connected directly together but which are connected to the base of frame members 17,18, respectively, by means of struts 26, 27, respectively. The parts 13-27 thereby define an enclosure, generally designated 28, above the tubes 6, 7 which is closed at its front end (by frame members 13,15 and 17 (and 14,16 and 18) and rail 19 (and 20)), but which is open at its rear end.

Guide plates 29,30 which diverge away from each other in the rearward direction, are fixed to the ends 24,25, respectively of the rails 19, 20. In addition a frame 31 (shown in chain lines in Figures 2 and 3) may optionally be fixed to the ends 24,25, the frame carrying a plurality of lights 32.

The pivoting mechanism 5 consists of a pair of lifting forks 33,34 pivotally connected to a rigid frame, generally designated by the reference numeral 35 (see Figure 7). The frame 35, which is substantially rectangular in plan and triangular in side elevation, comprises a horizontally disposed channel section cross member 36 having upper and lower glanges 38, 39 disposed on either side of a web 37. The lower flange 39 is joined, e.g. welded, to one of the ends of three longitudinally extending, spaced apart members 40,41 and 42, and the upper flange 38 is joined, e.g. welded, to a horizontally disposed, transversely extending tube 43. A cross member 44, spaced apart from, and parallel to, the cross member 36, connects the other ends of the members 40,41 and 42 and is joined, e.g. welded, via spaced apart, parallel and longitudinally extending bracing members 45, 46 to opposite ends of the tube 43. A horizontally disposed and transversely extending tube 47 is also connected, e.g.

welded to the member 44. Finally, the frame 35 has a pair of channel section members, generally designated 50,51, connected to a central region of the cross member 36. Each member 50 (51) has a web 50a (5 la) interconnecting a pair of spaced apart flanges 50b, 50c (slob, sic), the flanges 50b, 51b being connected, e.g. welded, to the web 37 so that the webs 50a, 51a are positioned back to back in spaced parallel relationship.

The forks 33, 34 to pivot freely. The forks 33,34 are connected to the rod 52 towards their forward end so that they are biased, by their own weight, into the position shown in Figure 1 in which their forward ends abut against stops 53, 54 connected to the members 40,42 respectively.

The tube 43 surrounds, and is turnable relative to, a rod 55 (see Figure 2) positioned between the rear ends of the tubes 6, 7. In this way the pivoting mechanism 5 is turnable relative to the carriage 2. In order to effect pivotal movement of the mechanism 5, a ram, generally designated 56, is connected between the axle 9 and frame 35. The ram 56 consists of a cylinder 57 pivotally connected to the axle 9 at 58, anda piston rod 59 (see Figure 10) pivotally connected to the frame 35 by means of a pivot pin 60 positioned within openings 61 in the webs 50a, 51a of the members 50,51 respectively (only the opening 61 provided in the web 51a can be seen in Figure 7). Actuation of the ram 56 enables the mechanism 5 to pivot in an arc from a groundengaging or lower position (shown in Figure 1) to an elevated position (shown in Figure 6).

A two stage tipping ram, generally designated by the reference numeral 62, is connected between the carriage 2 and the drawbar 3. The ram 62 comprises a cylinder part 63 and a piston part 64, the cylinder part 63 being pivotally connected via a pivot pin 65 to brackets 66 mounted on the carriage 2, and the piston part 64 being pivotally connected via a pivot pin 67 (see Figures 8 and 9) to brackets 68 mounted on the drawbar 3. A pair of catches 69, which are also mounted on the pivot pin 67, are movable between a position of engagement with the member 8 (as shown in full lines in Figure 8) and a position of disengagement from the member 8 (as shown in dotted lines in Figure 8) by the actuation of a rope 70 connected to the catches 69.

In order to load large, cylindrically shaped bales 71 into the transporter 1, the lifting forks 33, 34 are firstly lowered to the ground by retracting the piston 59 into the cylinder 57 and pivoting the mechanism 5 about the axis of the tube 43. The transporter, which is hitched behind an agricultural vehicle (e.g. a tractor), is then reversed so that the forks 33, 34 are passed under a bale to be lifted. The pivoting mechanism 5 is then pivoted upwardly by operation of the ram 56 into its position shown in Figure 6. This causes the bale to be lifted and guided between the guide plates 29, 30 into the enclosure 28. The bale in fact rolls off the pivoting mechanism 5 on to the tubes 6, 7, the momentum gained by the bale carrying it towards the closed, front end of the enclosure 28. By repeating this procedure four bales 71 may be loaded into the transporter 1.

When the transporter 1 is loaded with bales 71 ,,the pivoting mechanism is moved into (or retained in) its elevated position to close the rear end of the enclosure 28 and the transporter 1 may be moved to any desired location for unloading.

In order to unload the bales 71 from the transporter 1, the ram 56 is actuated to pivot the mechanism 5 into its position shown in Figure 1, the catches 69 are released, and the ram 62 is actuated to pivot the carriage 2 relative to the drawbar 3.

During movement of the ram 62 into its fully extended state (see Figure 5), the wheels 10, 11 are raised off the ground so that the carriage 2 is supported at its rear end by a pair of skid plates 72 (see Figures 1, 5 and 6), fixed to the rear ends of the tubes 6, 7, respectively, and the forks 33, 34 are pivoted about the axis of the tube 47. The carriage 2 is tilted upwardly at its forward end and the bales 71 are caused to roll downwardly over the tubes 6, 7 and through the open, rear end of the enclosure 28 on to the ground. The ram 62 is then retracted so that the transporter assumes its normal position as shown in Figure 1.

It should be realised that the rams 56 and 62 are intended to be hydraulically operated, for example from a hydraulic supply on the agricultural vehicle towing the transporter 1.

The transporter hereinbefore described has been designed to be drawn behind an agricultural vehicle and to unload and load bales from the rear of the transporter. However a transporter according to the invention may be designed so as to be pulled behind an agricultural vehicle in an offset position enabling bales to be loadedlunloaded from the front of the transporter.

Alternatively bales could even be loaded from one end of the transporter and unloaded from the other end, or even a side, of the transporter.

Although designed for the transportation of big bales, a transporter in accordance with the invention can be used in other ways and various modifications can be incorporated in the design illustrated in the accompanying drawings to allow for other uses. Thus, for example, openwork mesh side panels can be provided to allow animals to draw feedstuff through the side panels from a store within the transporter when the latter is parked in a field. The mesh side panels can fit over the existing parts 13-27 or the latter can be removable and replaced by mesh side panels.

The tubes 6, 7 can be of rectangular crosssection and the wheel assembly can be removably mounted on the tubes. To facilitate balance of the carriage under different loading conditions, the axle 9 can be attached at different positions below (or above) the tubes.

Locating the axle 9 above the tubes will lower the tubes 6, 7 relative to the ground and this can facilitate the loading of boxes (e.g. potato boxes) onto the carriage.

A roller conveyor can be incorporated in the base of the carriage and this can be of use in loading rectangular bales (or partially flattened cylindrical bales) into the enclosure 28.

Suitably the roller conveyor is located between the tubes 6 and 7 with the rollers of the conveyor extending above the level of the top of the tubes 6 and 7 at the rear end of the carriage and being flush with the top of the tubes at the front end of the carriage.

Various other alterations may be made to the transporter hereinbefore described. For example the transporter may be provided with a fixed wooden floor fixed to, or provided instead of, the steel tubes 6 and 7. In addition a pair of tipping rams may be provided in place of the tipping ram 62. Furthermore groundengaging runners cbuld be provided in place of the ground wheels of the transporter.

Claims

WHAT I CLAIM IS:

1. A towable transporter comprising a frame provided with ground wheels or runners and carrying or defining an enclosure for receiving articles to be transported,the enclosure having an opening therein, a power-actuated pivoting mechanism which, when the transporter is hitched behind a towing vehicle, is pivotable, with respect to the frame, between a lowered, ground-engaging position and an elevated position, and a power-actuated tilting mechanism, actuable independently of the pivoting mechanism, for tilting said frame to facilitate unloading of articles form the enclosure, whereby an article is loaded into the enclosure by positioning the pivoting mechanism beneath the article to be loaded when the pivoting mechanism is in its lowered, groundengaging position and subsequently pivoting the pivoting mechanism into its elevated position to life the article and pass it through said opening into the enclosure, the pivoting mechanism, when in its elevated position, closing the said opening.

2. A transporter according to claim 1, in which the tilting mechanism is actuable to tilt the enclosure downwardly towards the said opening.

3. A transporter according to claim 1 or 2, in which the tilting mechanism comprises a fluid actuated ram engageable either directly with the ground or with a sub-frame pivotally connected to the frame.

4. A transporter according to any of the preceding claims, in which the positions of said ground wheels or runners are adjustable to enable the height of said frame from the ground to be adjusted.

5. A transporter according to any of the preceding claims, including skids mounted on the frame and which are adapted to support the latter when the frame is moved into its fully tilted position, on actuation of the tilting mechanism, thereby lifting the wheels or runners off the ground, the skids being clear of the ground when the frame is in its untilted position.

6. A transporter according to any of the preceding claims, in which the pivoting mechanism comprises at least two lifting forks mounted on a carrier member, the carrier member being pivotally mounted to the frame.

7. A transporter according to claim 6, in which each lifting fork is freely pivoted to the carrier member for movement between first and second positions relative thereto.

8. A transporter according to claim 7, in which the lifting forks are normally biased by their own weight (and, during an article loading operation, also by the weight of an article supported thereon) into their first positions, but may be pivoted into their second positions, or into positions intermediate their first and second positions, on engagement with the ground.

9. A transporter according to claim 7 or 8, in which the carrier member is pivotally moved by means of a fluid actuated ram.

10. A transporter according to any of the preceding claims, comprising conveying means fixed to said frame for moving articles into, out of, or within the said enclosure.

11. A transporter according to claim 10, in which the conveying means comprises a roller conveyor having an upper flight inclined with respect to article supporting means of said frame so that support of articles conveyed along said upper flight is transferred from the conveyor to the article supporting means.

12. A transporter according to claim 11, in which the article supporting means comprise a pair of spaced apart members, the upper flight of said conveyor extending between said members.

13. A towable transporter constructed and arranged substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in Figures 1 to 10 of the drawings accompanying the Provisional Specification.