GB2025361A

GB2025361A - Device for tipping bulk-handling containers, such as railborne vehicles or buckets

Info

Publication number: GB2025361A
Application number: GB7921470A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Liebherr Hydraulikbagger GmbH
Current assignee: Liebherr Hydraulikbagger GmbH
Priority date: 1978-07-18
Filing date: 1979-06-20
Publication date: 1980-01-23
Also published as: FR2431456B1; DE2831586C2; FR2431456A1; DE2831586A1; GB2025361B

Abstract

A device 4 for holding and tipping bulk-handling containers, comprising a crosshead 5 which can be suspended from a jib 2 of an excavator or crane 1 and comprises extensible and retractable end members guided in an intermediate member, downwardly extending members 6, 7 are secured to the end members of the crosshead 5 and extend substantially at right angles thereto, holders 8 for positively engaging opposite ends of a container 40 to be tipped are pivoted to said members 6, 7 at their free lower ends on horizontal axes, a hydraulic cylinder is pivoted to at least one member 6, 7 and has a piston rod that is pivoted to levers for pivotally moving the holders 8 about their pivots. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Device for tipping bulk-handling containers, such as rail borne vehicles or buckets This invention relates to a device for receiving and tipping bulk-handling containers or bucket cars, skips or the like.

It is known that railborne bulk-handling cars can be emptied by means of hydraulic tipping devices which are attached to mobile industrial handling equipment, such as fork lift trucks. It is a disadvantage that it is often difficult to move the fork lift truck close to the bulk-handling car which is two be tipped and that a large overhang cannot be achieved during the dumping operation so that the known device has only a restricted field of application. Besides, the attachment of the separate hydraulic tipping devices to an existing fork lift truck takes a long time.

It is also known that particularly relatively large bulk-handling cars can be emptied by being turned over. That method of emptying is dangerous and results in a considerable wear of the cars. It is also necessary to collect and transfer the dumped material by special means; this requires additional operations.

Stationary tipping-devices are known but they involve a high investment and can be used only with restrictions because they are bound to a specific location.

According to the present invention thee is provided a device for receiving and tipping bulkhandling container devices, such as containers or bucket cars,skips or the like, comprising a crosshead having an intermediate coupling for enabling the crosshead to be suspended from a jib of a lifting device or crane, and extensible and retractable end members guided in an intermediate member, downwardly extending members secured to the end members and extending substantially at right angles thereto, holders for positively engaging opposite ends of a bulk-handling container device to be tipped being pivoted to said downwardly extending members at their free lower ends about horizontal axes, and the cylinder of a piston and cylinder device being pivoted to at least one leg and the piston rod thereof being pivoted to levers for pivotally moving the holders about their pivots.

The device according to the present invention can be secured to the jib of an excavator or crane, preferably to an existing turning drive provided on said jib, so that the utilization of the excavators or cranes is increased by this additional use. Owing to the large overhang of the jib arm by which it is carried the device can be used with special advantages as an emptying device at such locations to which the dumped material could otherwise be transferred only by time-consuming reloading or shifting operations. The device according to the invention can be secured to the jib quickly and in a simple manner and thus constitutes a highly effective attachment, which increases the field of use particularly of excavators and thus decreases the capital expenditure.

When it is desired to take hold of the buckets or bulk .handling cars, the downwardly extending members can be moved towards each other until the holders secured thereto positively engage the ends of the container cars or buckets, like tongs.

The holders may be provided at their upper ends with abutments for engaging the upper rims of the containers to be tipped and may be provided at their lower ends with jaws, which are pivotally movable towards each other like tongs. Such a device, with the jaws swung out, is lowered over the container or car until the abutments engage the upper rims of the containers. The jaws are then swung towards each other like tongs to engage the lower portions of the container and to firmly force the rims thereof against the abutments. The container which is thus held can then be reliably tipped by rotating the holders in order to empty the container.

The jaws may consist of two-armed levers, which are pivoted to the holders and have arms which face each other and constitute gripping members whereas their outer arms are pivoted to piston rods associated with hydraulic cylinders which are pivoted to the holders. In this embodiment, two hydraulic cylinders are required to actuate the tong jaws of each holder. In a preferred embodiment, links am pivoted to the outer arms of the jaws and at their other ends are pivoted to the outer arms of bell-crank levers pivoted to the holders, so that two four-bar linkages are formed, and the inner arms of the bell-crank levers are pivoted to a hydraulic cylinder and the associated piston rod, respectively.To ensure that the jaws will open and close uniformly, the bell-crank levers are desirably interconnected by a coupling link, which at one end is pivoted to one of the bell-crank levers in such a manner that a pivotal movement of the bell-crank lever causes the pivots of the hydraulic cylinder and of the coupling link to revolve in opposite directions, and said coupling link at its other end is pivoted to that arm of the other bell-crank lever to which the hydraulic cylinder is pivoted.

An effective and rapid emptying of the bulkhandling cars and buckets can be ensured if they are tipped through an angle of up to 145 . A large tipping angle can be achieved in another preferred embodiment in which the piston rod associated with the hydraulic cylinder for pivotally moving the holders is pivoted to a lever, which is pivotedto one of the tegs and which at its pivotally movable end is linked by a coupling liink to the lever for pivotally moving the holders or to a pin, which is secured to one holder at a distance from its pivotal axis.This embodiment comprises a lever system which permits of a large angular movement A uniform extension and retraction of the crosshead which carries the holders is permitted in another embodiment of the invention, in which extensible end carriers guided in the intermediate carrierof the crosshead are interconnected buy a piston-cylinder unit, links of equal length are pivoted to each of the end carriers at opposite ends thereof, said links are pivoted to respective ones of the end carriers at those ends thereof which are remote from each other, and the other ends of said links are pivoted to respective ends of a two-armed lever, which has arms of equal length and is centrally pivoted to the intermediate carrier.

To minimize the expenditure required for actuating the hydraulic cylinders, the swinging cylinder or cylinders and/or the gripping cylinders are connected by a valve block, a directional valve and the connecting conduits to respective conduits, which by another directional valve are connected to the pressure fluid source or pressure fluid container. This arrangement affords the advantage that there is no need for additional sliding valves in the basic implement as well as for hydraulic conduits from the basic implement to the swinging device, and that additional movements can be controlled via an electric control lead, which extends from the control station via a rotary bushing to an electrically controlled sliding valve.The valve block desirably consists of a twoway valve, which is incorporated in a conduit which connects the two conduits leading from the swinging cylinders, and two check valves, which are arranged behind the junctions between the connecting conduit and the conduits leading from the swinging cylinders.

Some embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of examples, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view showing a mobile lifting device having a jib to which a swinging device according to the present invention is attached, Figure 2a is a side elevation showing a holder that is pivoted to one downwardly extending member of the swinging device, Figure 2b is a view of the holder shown in Figure 2a taken in the direction of the arrow shown in Figure 2a, Figure 3 is a diagrammatic view showing the end members which carry the legs and which are longitudinally slidabie in an intermediate member of the crosshead, Figure 4 shows in a view that is similar to that of Figure 2b another embodiment of the holder provided with tong-like jaws, Figure 5 shows jaws suitable for gripping tubs, and Figure 6 is a diagram of the hydraulic system in which the hydraulic cylinders to be actuated are incorporated.

The device 1 which is diagrammatically shown in Figure 1 may be a modified excavator and comprises a jib 2, which is provided with a turning drive 3, to which a tipping device 4 is secured. The tipping device 4 comprises a crosshead 5, which is provided at each end with downwardly extending members 6 and 7, to which holders 8 (Figure 1) are pivoted, which are provided at their lower ends with tong-like jaws.

The crosshead 5 (Figure 3) comprises an intermediate member 10 and end members 11 and 12, which are telescopically received in the intermediate member 10 and londitudinally slidable therein. A hydraulic cylinder 13 is pivoted to the end member 11 and the associated piston rod 14 is pivoted to the end member 12. To ensure that the end members 11 and 12 will be uniformly extending and retracted, a constraining linkage is provided.The linkage comprises links 1 5 and 1 6 which at one end are respectively pivoted to the end members 12 and 11 and at their other ends are pivoted to the ends of a two-armed lever 1 7. The lever 1 7 is pivoted at its centre to a bolt 18, which is centrally mounted on the intermediate member 10.

Holders 20 (Figures 2a and 2b) are pivoted to the members 6, 7 on pivots 19. Jaws 21,22 are pivoted on pins 23, 24 respectively to the mutually opposite lower ends of the plate-like holders 20 and can be pivotally moved like tongs.

The jaws 21, 22 consist of two-armed levers. The piston rods associated with hydraulic cylinders, 28, 29 are pivoted at 26, 27 to those lever arm portions of jaws 21, 22 which are opposite to the gripping portions of the jaws. The hydraulic cylinders 28, 29 are pivoted at 30, 31 to the upper portions of the holders 20 on the side thereof. The upper portions of the holders 20 are formed with bores 34, 35, in which claws 32, 33 are fitted, which form abutments. An abutment may alternatively consist of a. pivoted cross-member 47, which can be connected to the holder 20 by a second pin. This will eliminate the need for carrying loose parts along. The claws 32, 33 can be adjustably positioned by means of the bores 34, 35.

A hydraulic cylinder 36 is pivoted to the member 6 and serves to swing the holders 20 by means of a piston rod, which is pivotably connected to a lever 37, which in turn is pivoted to the member 6. A coupling link 38 is pivoted at one end to the lever 37 and at the other end to a lever 39, which serves to swing the holder 20 about the pivot 19.

To allow a bulk-handling car 40 (Figure 1 ) to be received by the swinging device 4, the tong-like jaws 21, 22 are swung out to such an extent that the swinging device 4 can be lowered over the bulk-handling car 40 until the claws 32, 33 engage the upper side edges of the body of the bulk-handling car 40. The hydraulic cylinders 28, 29 are then actuated so that the jaws 21, 22 move about their pivots 23, 24 and engage the lower side portions the body of the bulkhandling car 40 and force the same against the claws 32, 33. When the bulk-handling car 40 is thus held by the claws 32, 33 and jaws 21, 22, the hydraulic cylinder 36 is actuated to swing the bulk-handling car 40 in order to empty the same.

Another embodiment of a holder 8, shown in Figure 4, can be actuated with only one hydraulic cylinder 45. Links 41,42 are pivoted to the outer lever arms of the jaws 21, 22 and at their other end are pivoted to bell-crank levers 43, 44, which are pivoted to the upper side portions of the holder plate 20. The inner arms of the bell-crank levers 43, 44 are pivoted to the hydraulic cylinder 45 and the associated piston rod, respectively. To ensure a uniform opening and closing of the jaws 21 and 22 which are to be actuated, the bell-crank levers 43, 44 are interconnected by a coupling link 46, which at one end is pivoted to one bell-crank lever 44 in such a manner that a pivotal movement of that bell-crank lever causes the pivots of the hydraulic cylinder and of the coupling link 46 to revolve in opposite directions.At its other end, the coupling link 46 is pivoted to the other bell-crank lever 43 at that arm thereof to which the hydraulic cylinder 45 is pivoted.

Figure 5 shows another embodiment of a holder which is particularly suitable for gripping, e.g. tubs. The jaws 48 and 49 are provided with recesses 50,51 which are particularly suitable for engaging the rim of the tub, and are pivotally movable by a hydraulic cylinder 52, to which they are directly pivoted.

As the holders 8 carried by the members 6, 7 are similar, only one holder 8 has been described fully.

To minimize the expenditure involved in the means for actuating the hydraulic cylinders carried by the tongs, the tipping device comprises a hydraulic system in which an existing hydraulic supply conduit is used which serves to supply one or more consumers. To that end, the pressure fluid is supplied to the tongs through a rotary bushing and is fed to the respective cylinders via an electrically controlled valve, which is controlled in turn through a rotary bushing for an electric lead.

This is shown in Figure 6.

When the "rotating" cylinder 52 has reached its position of rest, i.e. when it is fully extended or fully retracted, the hydraulic pressure in conduit 57 is applied also to a valve block consisting of a two-way valve 54 and two check valves 55 and 55a and is transmitted via an electrically controlled directional valve 56 to the gripping cylinder 53. When the directional valve 56 is in the position shown on the drawing, the pressure applied to the cylinder 53 will cause the piston rod to be retracted so that the oil volume on the piston side flows through the directional valve 56, the check valve 55 and the conduit 58 to the reservoir. The directional valve 56 can be shifted so that the gripping cylinder 53 extends its piston rod. The actuation of the cylinder 53 is terminated by a shifting of the directional valve 59. The same result will be obtained when the conduit 58 is the pressure conduit and the conduit 57 is the return conduit leading to the reservoir. the check valve 60 in conduit 58 prevents a retracting of the piston rod associated with the gripping cylinder 53 unless the piston rod associated with the swinging cylinder 52 has been retracted. In Figure 1 the extended position of the legs of the swinging device 4 are indicated in chain-dotted lines at 6', 7'.

Claims

1. A device for receiving and tipping bulkhandling container devices, sich as containers or bucket cars, skips or the like, comprising a crosshead having an intermediate coupling for enabling the crosshead to be suspended from a jib of a lifting device or crane, and extensible and retractable end members guided in an intermediate member, downwardly extending members secured to the end members and extending substantially at right angles thereto, holders for positively engaging opposite ends of a bulk-handling container device to be tipped being pivoted to said downwardly extending members at their free lower ends about horizontal axes, and the cylinder of a piston and cylinder device being pivoted to at least one leg and the piston rod thereof being pivoted to levers for pivotally moving the holders about their pivots.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1, in which the holders are provided at their upper ends with abutments for engaging the upper rims of the container device to be tipped, and at their lower ends are provided with jaws which are pivotally movable towards each other like tongs.

3. A device as claimed in claim 2, in which the jaws consist of two-armed levers, which are pivoted to the holders and have arms which face each other and constitute gripping members whereas their outer arms are pivoted to piston rods associated with hydraulic cylinders which are pivoted to the holders.

4. A device as claimed in claim 2, in which links are pivoted to the outer arm portions of the jaws and at their other ends are pivoted to the outer arms of bell-crank levers pivoted to the holders, so that'two four-bar linkages are formed, and the inner arms of the bell-crank levers are pivotably connected to a hydraulic cylinder and the associated piston rod, respectively.

5. A device as claimed in claim 4, in which the bell-crank levers are interconnected by a coupling link, which at one end is pivoted to one of the bellcrank levers in such a manner that a pivotal movement of the bell-crank lever causes the pivots of the hydraulic cylinder and of the coupling link to revolve in opposite directions, and said coupling link at its other end is pivoted to that arm of the other bell-crank lever to which the hydraulic cylinder is pivoted.

6. A device as claimed in claim 2, in which the jaws consist of two-armeci levers, which are pivoted to the holders and each of which has one arm formed with recesses for gripping the rim of a tub.

7. A device as claimed in claim 6, in which a hydraulic cylinder is directly pivoted to the other arms of the jaws.

8. A device as claimed in any of claims 1 to 7, in which the piston rod associated with the hydraulic cylinderforpivotally moving the holders is pivoted to a lever, which is pivoted to one of the downwardly extending members, and said lever at its pivotally movable end is linked by a coupling link to the lever for pivotally moving the holders or to a pin which is secured to one holder at a distance from its pivotal axis.

9. A device as claimed in any of claims 1 to 8, in which the holders consist of plates.

10. A device as claimed in any of claims 2 to 8, in which the abutments consist of claws or crossmembers, which are arranged to be secured to the holders at different elevations above the jaws.

11. A device as claimed in claim 8, in which the holders are provided with spaced apart bores for receiving the claws or cross-members.

12. A device as claimed in claim 10, in which the cross-member is pivoted to the holder plate at one end and at its other end is adapted to be pinned to the holder plate.

1 3. A device as claimed in any of claims 1 to 12, in which the extensible end members guided in the intermediate member of the crosshead are interconnected by a piston-cylinder unit, links of equal lengths being pivoted to each of the end carriers at opposite ends thereof, said links being pivoted to respective ones of the end carriers at those ends thereof which are remote from each other, and the other ends of said links are pivoted to respective ends of a two-armed lever, which has arms of equal length and is centrally pivoted to the intermediate carrier.

1 4. A device as claimed in any of claims 1 to 13, in which the swinging cylinder or cylinders and/or the gripping cylinders are connected by a valve block, a directional valve and the connecting conduits to respective conduits, which by another directional valve are connected to the pressure fluid source or pressure fluid container.

1 5. A device as claimed in claim 14, in which the valve block consists of a two-way valve, which is incorporated in a conduit which connects the two conduits leading from the swinging cylinders, and two check valves, which are arranged behind the junctions between the connecting conduit and the conduits leading from the swinging cylinders.

1 6. A device for receiving and tipping bulkhandling container devices, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.