GB2031812A - Mobile containers - Google Patents

Abstract

A mobile container, e.g. a caravan, has headroom for a person to walk within the container when the container is at rest but with a lower internal height when travelling. This is achieved by a floor portion 31 which can be lowered when the container is at rest to give the headroom, thus allowing the height of the remainder of the container to be reduced to reduce wind resistance on the container when it is travelling. The floor portion may be raised and lowered by a cable mechanism or by a rack-and-pinion mechanism. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Mobile containers One form of mobile container of known type is shown in Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings which is a side elevation of a part of a car, shown in chain-dotted line, and of a mobile container in the form of a caravan, shown partially broken away.

The caravan 10 comprises a chassis 11 mounted on wheels 1 2. A flat floor 1 3 is carried on the chassis and is surrounded by walls 1 4 and covered by a roof 1 5 connected to the walls. A door (not shown) is provided in the rear of the walls 1 4 for access to the interior of the caravan10.

It will be appreciated that it is desirable that the height of the roof 1 5 is sufficient to allow persons to walk upright within the caravan in comfort. In order to provide this headroom, the front of the caravan 10 must have a particular height which gives the caravan 10 a large frontal area above the level of the roof of an average car 16, shown in broken line in Fig. 1. Thus, when the car 1 6 is towing the caravan 10, considerable air resistance is encountered from this frontal area as shown by the arrows 1 7 in Fig. 1. This results in increased fuel consumption by the car and reduced acceleration and speed from the car.

In addition, the height of the sides of the walls 1 4 makes the caravan 10 unstable in high cross-winds.

It will be appreciated that a similar problem exists in other mobile containers within which a person may enter whether they be drawn by a car or include a chassis carrying a cab and engine.

It is an object of the invention to mitigate these disadvantages.

According to the invention, there is provided a mobile container for travel on roads and for entry by a person, the container comprising a chassis mounted on wheels, a floor carried on the chassis, surrounded by walls and covered by a roof connected to the walls, and an entrance provided in the walls for access to the interior of the container, the height of the roof from the floor being insufficient to give a person within the container headroom thus allowing the overall height of the container to be reduced in comparison with containers in which headroom is provided, the floor including a portion which is lowerable relatively to the remainder of the floor, when the container is at rest, to give, in a lowered position, a height from the said floor portion to the roof which provides a person within the container with headroom.

The following is a more detailed description of one embodiment of the invention, by way of example, reference being made to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 2 is a side elevation of a part of a car, shown in broken line, and a caravan towed by the car, part of the caravan being broken away for clarity and floor portion of the caravan being in a raised position, Figure 3 is a similar view to Fig. 2 but with the floor portion lowered, Figure 4 is a section on the line IV-IV of Fig. 2, Figure 5 is a section on the line V-V of Fig.

3, Figure 6 shows in solid line a transverse section of the floor portion of the caravan of Figs. 2 to 5 with the floor portion held in raised position by first form of raising and lowering the mechanism, the lowered position being shown in broken line, Figure 7 shows a similar view to Fig. 6, but with a second form of mechanism for raising and lowering the floor, and Figure 8 shows a drive arrangement for the raising and lowering mechanism of Fig. 7.

Referring first to Figs. 2 to 5, the caravan 20 comprises a chassis 21 mounted on wheels 22. A floor 23, described in greater detail hereinafter, is carried on the chassis and is surrounded by a front wall 24, two side walls 25 and an end wall 26. The walls are provided with windows 27 as required. A roof 28 covers the floor 23 and is connected to the walls 24, 25 and 26. The front wall 24 is of lesser height than the rear wall 26 so that the roof 28 slopes down to the front wall 24, the upper edges of the side walls 25 being profiled accordingly. As seen in chain dotted line at 29, in Figs. 2 and 3, the slope of the roof 28 may be increased to allow a further reduction in the height of the front wall 24 and a corresponding reduction in the frontal area of the caravan.

The rear wall 26 includes a door 30 (see Fig. 4).

Referring particularly to Figs. 4 and 5, the floor 23 is flat and includes a movable rectangular portion 31 with a shorter side across the doorway 30 and with longer sides extending parallel to the direction of travel of the caravan 20. This floor portion 31 thus provides a walkway extending from the doorway 30. The floor portion 31 has three upstanding side panels 32 extending from the two longer side edges and the front edge of the floor portion 31; the side edge extending across the door 30 being without side panel.

The floor portion 31 is movable by a pneumatic or hydraulic or electrical or mechanical mechanism between the raised position shown in Fig. 4 and the lowered position shown in Fig. 5, in which the upper edges of the side panels 32 are level with and abut the remainder of the floor 23. In the raised position shown in Fig. 4, the height from the floor 23 to the roof 28 is insufficient to provide a person within the caravan with headroom.

However, in the lowered position, shown in Fig. 5, the height from the floor portion 31 to the roof gives such headroom along the walkway provided by the floor portion 31.

The provision of the floor portion 31 thus allows the overall height of the caravan 20 to be reduced, in comparison with fixed floor caravans offering the same headroom at rest, by the amount by which the floor portion 31 can be lowered. Thus the frontal area of the caravan 20 is reduced in comparison with fixed floor caravans offering the same headroom at rest and this reduction lowers the wind resistance of the caravan 20 when towed by a car 33 because the air flows smoothly over the caravan as shown by the arrows 34 in Fig. 2. This decreases the fuel consumption and improves the performance of the car 33. In addition, the side area of the carvan 20 is reduced in comparison with fixed floor caravans offering the same headroom at rest thus stablizing the caravan 20 in high cross-winds.

In the lowered position shown in Fig. 5, the floor portion 31 can be used to stabilize the caravan 20 on the wheels 22 although mounting legs (not shown) may also be provided for this purpose.

Referring next to Fig. 6, the mechanism shown in this figure for raising and lowering the floor portion comprises a pair of cables spaced apart along the length of the floor portion 31, one cable being shown at 35.

One end of each cable 35 is connected to the under-surface of the remainder of the floor 23 at one side of the floor portion 31 and then runs beneath the floor portion 31 on two pulleys 36 mounted on the floor portion 28 before being wound on a winch 37 mounted on the remainder of the floor 23 at the other side of the floor portion 28. The two winches 37 are operated by a single drive shaft 38 and the drive shaft 38 can be turned manually by a handle or key (not shown) fitted on a square end of the drive shaft 38. Guides 39 carried on the floor 23 engage with co-operating flanges 40 on the side panels 32 to constrain the floor portion 31 to vertical movement between the raised and lowered positions.

From the raised position shown in full line in Fig. 6, turning of the drive shaft 38 in an anticlockwise direction as shown in Fig. 6 unwinds the cables 35 together and lowers the floor portion 31 to the chain-dotted-line lowered position shown in Fig. 6. Reverse winding winds up the cables 35 together to raise the floor portion 31 to the full line position shown in Fig. 6.

The manual operation of the winches 37 can be replaced by operation using an electric motor (not shown) driven by a battery of the towing car 33 or of the caravan 20.

Referring next to Figs. 7 and 8, a second mechanism for raising and lowering the floor portion 31 comprises two pairs of rack and pinion mechanisms. Each pair of rack and pinion mechanisms comprises two pinions 41 mounted at opposite sides of the floor portion 31 and engaging with vertical racks 42 mounted on the side walls 32. The other pair of rack and pinion mechanisms is similarly arranged and is spaced from the first pair along the length of the floor portion 31.

The pinions 41 to one side of the floor portion 31 are driven by a common first shaft 43 and the pinions 41 to the other side of the floor portion 31 are driven by a common second shaft 44. Referring particularly to Fig.

8, the ends of the shaft carry respective sprockets 45 which are engaged by a chain 46. The chain also passes round an idler sprocket 47. The second drive shaft 44 has a square end which is engageable by key or handle (not shown) to rotate the second shaft 44 and this rotation is transferred to the first shaft 43 by the chain 46. The rotation of the two shafts rotates 43, 44 the pinions 41 together to move the racks 42, thus raising and lowering the floor portion 31.

It will be appreciated that the second shaft 44 may be driven by an electrical motor (not shown) driven from a battery of the towing car 33 or of the caravan 20.

It will also be appreciated that the door 30 may be conveniently sited in a side wall 25 with the floor portion 31 extending from such a side door. It will further be appreciated that the floor portion 31 need not be rectangular, it could be L-shaped or T-shaped or any other convenient shape.

Claims (14)

1. A mobile container for travel on roads and for entry by a person, the container comprising a chassis mounted on wheels, a floor carried on the chassis, surrounded by walls and an covered by a roof connected to the walls, and entrance provided in the walls for access to the interior of the container, the height of the roof from the floor being insufficient to give a person within the container headroom thus allowing the overall height of the container to be reduced in comparison with containers in which headroom is provided, the floor including a portion which is lowerable relatively to the remainder of the floor, when the container is at rest, to give, in a lowered position, a height from said floor portion to the roof which provides a person within the container with head room.

2. A mobile container according to claim 1 wherein the floor portion is shaped to fit closely within a cut-out portion in the remainder of the floor.

3. A mobile container according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the floor portion extends from said entrance into the interior of the container.

4. A mobile container according to claim 3 wherein the entrance is at the rear of the container and wherein the floor portion is rectangular in plan with one shorter side extending across the entrance and the longer sides parallel to the direction of travel of the container to provide a walkway within the container.

5. A mobile container according to claim 3 or claim 4 wherein upstanding side panels extend from the sides of the floor portion around all the periphery of the floor portion, with the exception of said one shorter side extending across the entrance, the side panels having upper edges which are level with and which abut the remainder of the floor when the floor portion is in said lowered position.

6. A mobile container according to any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein a mechanism is provided for lowering and raising the floor portion, the mechanism comprising two or more cables, each cable having one end fixed relatively to the chassis and then passing beneath and in contact with the floor portion before winding on a winch, the winches for the two or more cables being operable together through drive means to unwind the cables together to lower the floor portion or to wind-up the cables together to raise the floor portion.

7. A mobile container according to claim 6 wherein each cable runs over pullies carried on an under-surface of the floor portion.

8. A mobile container according to claim 6 or claim 7 wherein a single drive shaft is provided on which the winches are mounted, the drive comprising a manually operable member of a motor engaging one end of the drive shaft for rotation of the drive shaft and operation of the winches.

9. A mobile container according to any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein a mechanism is provided for lowering and raising the floor portion, the mechanism comprising two more rack-and-pinion mechanisms, one part of each mechanism being fixed relatively to the chassis and the other part of each mechanism being mounted on the floor portion, the pinions being operable together to lower or raise the floor portion.

10. A mobile container according to claim 9 wherein the racks are mounted vertically on the floor portion and the pinions carried beneath the remainder of the floor.

11. A mobile container according to claim 9 or claim 10 wherein at least one pinion is mounted to one side of the floor portion and at least one pinion is mounted to an opposite side of the floor portion, said least one pinion being mounted on one drive shaft and said at least another pinion being mounted on a second drive shaft, the two drive shafts being rotatable together by drive means through a single chain which engages respective drive sprockets mounted on the drive shafts.

1 2. A mobile container according to claim 11 wherein the drive means comprises a manually operable member or a motor which engages one end of one drive shaft for rotation of the one drive shaft, the chain transmitting said rotation to the other drive shaft.

1 3. A mobile container according to claim 8 or claim 1 2 wherein the drive means comprise an electric motor operable to rotate the or said one drive shaft to lower and raise the floor portion.

14. A mobile container according to any one of claims 1 to 1 3 wherein the container is rectangular or substantially rectangular in plan with a front wall, two side walls and a rear wall.

1 5. A mobile container according to claim 14 wherein the front wall is of less height than the rear wall, the roof sloping downwardly to the front wall to provide the mobile container with reduced wind resistance when travelling.

1 6. A mobile container according to any one of claims 1 to 1 5 wherein the container is a caravan.

1 7. A mobile container substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figs.

2 to 5 or to Figs 2 to 5 modified by Fig. 6 or by Figs. 7 and 8 of the accompanying drawings.