GB2090798A

GB2090798A - Double decker goods vehicle

Info

Publication number: GB2090798A
Application number: GB8138747A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1980-12-26
Filing date: 1981-12-23
Publication date: 1982-07-21
Also published as: CA1181783A; FR2497168B1; JPS57186586A; GB2090798B; IT8168669A0; NL8105857A; PT74201B; IT1145610B; AU7878381A; JPS59177564U; BE891593A; BR8108393A; DE3150850A1; FR2497168A1; AU541706B2; DE3150850C2; GR77324B; ES508335A0; CH644071A5; MX153610A

Abstract

A goods vehicle, e.g. the trailer of an articulated vehicle, has two loading decks. The upper deck (17) extends over the entire useful length of the vehicle, while the lower deck (15) is disposed at substantially the same height above the ground as the centers of the back wheels (34). The front portion of the lower deck is fitted with refrigerated compartments (18). The low height of the lower deck is achieved by using independent suspension in the form of pivoted arms associated with suspension and damping units. By virtue of the way the lower deck is low slung, it is possible to have two loading decks each with man-sized head-room, and still drive the vehicle under most bridges. The invention is particularly applicable to transporting goods to supermarkets. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Double decker goods vehicle The present invention relates to a vehicle for transporting goods, and in particular goods loaded on pallets, or on castor-mounted trollies or containers, e.g. for supplying supermarkets or other stores.

When goods for transport are loaded onto pallets, or onto castor trollies or containers, the pallets or trollies cannot be stacked on top of each other for transport in a vehicle, and so they are simply placed side by side on the floor of the transport vehicle. Generally speaking, loaded pallets or trollies on castors are not nearly as high as the available loading space in the vehicle, resulting in only a small part of the vehicle's loading volume being used, and hence reducing transport profitability.

To remedy this drawback, double-decker transport vehicles have been proposed with two superposed loading decks. However, the design and construction of such vehicles present several problems which have not all been resolved.

Thus, in order to run on the roads and pass under bridges, such vehicles must have an overall height that is less than some fixed values (usually about 4.3 meters). It has been observed that starting from a conventionally designed vehicle (e.g. an articulated trailer) whose overall height that is less than the said fixed value, and then adding an intermediate horizontal deck to provide two superposed loading levels, one obtains two levels neither of which has enough head-room for people to move about freely or to receive normally loaded pallets or standard sized castor trollies (which are about 1.7 meters high), whence considerable difficulties in loading.

It has also been observed that in practice there is little point in providing a doubledecker goods vehicle with two decks of differing head-room. Nor is there much point in using lightly loaded pallets or trollies of reduced height to load a vehicle having two loading decks of reduced head-room; this is because the loading itself is difficult and because of the need to have a stock of nonstandard trollies or containers.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention provide a goods vehicle, in particular a trailer for an articulated vehicle, which avoids the above-mentioned drawbacks and considerably increases the profitability of transporting goods on pallets or on castor trollies or containers of standard height.

Preferred embodiments of the invention provide a double-decker goods vehicle, both of whose decks can receive normally loaded pallets and castor trollies or containers of standard size.

The present invention provides a doubledecker goods vehicle comprising a chassis, superposed lower and upper loading decks, a roof above the upper loading deck, side walls and at least back wheels, wherein both of said loading decks have substantially the same useable head-room, with the upper deck having constant head-room extending over substantially the entire loadable length of the vehicle, and the lower deck being disposed at substantially the same height above the ground as the centers of the back wheels, each of the back wheels being connected to the chassis of the vehicle by an independant wheel arm which is mounted to pivot about a horizontal shaft mounted on the chassis and which is associated with suspension and damping means provided between said arm and the chassis.

This combination of features makes it possible to provide a goods vehicle, o.g. the trailer of an articulated vehicle, with two superposed loading decks, each of which has a useable height of about 1.7 to 1.75 meters while keeping the overall height of the vehicle to less than 4.3 meters, with a preferred height of about 4.20 meters.

Preferably, the chassis comprises at least one (preferably two) central longitudinal beams associated with crnss-members spanning the entire width of the vehicle, except in between the wheel arches of the back wheels.

Said wheel arms may be rotatably mounted on some of said cross-members, or on the longitudinal beams.

This arrangement of the vehicle chassis makes it possible to bring the lower deck closer to the ground, and hence reduce the overall height of the vehicle for a given headroom above the decks.

An embodiment of the invention is described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a diagrammatic elevation of a vehicle embodying the invention; Figure 2 is a partial diagrammatic elevation showing the suspension of the back wheels; and Figure 3 is a plan view of the portion of the vehicle shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 1 shows an articulated vehicle comprising a trailer 10 with a raised front portion 11 for coupling to a tractor 1 2 in conventional manner.

The back of the trailer 10 has doors 1 3 which extend over the full height of the vehicle, i.e. between a lower loading deck 1 5 and a roof. The doors may be double folding doors, or a roll-up door, etc., and a fold-up lifting platform 14 is provided for raising pallets or castor trollies or containers from ground level upto one of two loading decks in the trailer 10. The platform 14 can also be used for stacking pallets. In an alternative construction, the back opening could be closed in part by the platform 14 in its folded up position, and in part by a fold-down flap folding down from the roof.

The lower loading deck 1 5 is mounted on a chassis 30 (see Figs. 2 and 3) of the trailer 10 and extends from the back of the vehicle up to the vicinity of its raised front portion 11. The width of the lower deck 1 5 at floor level is slightly reduced in between arches 16 for the back wheels. A second, or upper, loading deck 1 7 is located half way up the trailer 10 and extends over its entire length.

There is a loading volume of reduced headroom in the front portion of the trailer 10, situated in between the upper deck 1 7 and the raised front portion 11. This volume of reduced head-room is arranged in the form of one or more compartments 18, and preferably in the form of three refrigerated compartments for transporting frozen foods, or fresh food that needs keeping cool. The compartments 18 are provided with side doors 1 9 for access from either side of the trailer.

A refrigerator unit 20 is mounted on the front of the trailer 10, substantially at the same level as the refrigerated compartments 18, and is arranged to be powered either from the tractor 12, or from an electricity generator set 21 mounted at the upper front end of the trailer. It is also possible to arrange for the refrigerator unit 20 to be directly connectable to a mains power point.

Likewise, the lift portion platform 14 is powered by the generator set 21 or by any other appropriate means.

The loading decks 1 5 and 17 are made up of steel sheets surrounded by sheet steel kicking boards occupying a certain height from the loading deck. The inside surfaces of the side walls of the trailer are fitted with a system of horizontal rails having wheeled or slidable runners mounted thereon. The runners are fitted with means for locking them to the rails and they have straps for stowing the goods during transport.

The overall height of the trailer 10 above the ground is 4.20 meters, and the usable head-room in each loading volume above the decks 1 5 and 1 7 is about 1.75 meters, thereby leaving room for a man to move upright and to load castor-mounted trollies and containers of standard size, i.e. about 1.70 meters high. In the example shown in Fig. 1, the trailer 10 is 1 3 meters long overall and can transport a useful load of 23 tonnes (i.e. metric tons) for a total laden weight of 32 tonnes.

Reference is now made to Figs. 2 and 3, which show the connection between the back wheels and the chassis in diagrammatic form, together with a portion of the chassis structure.

The main components of the vehicle chassis 30 are two central longitudinal beams 31, e.g. I-section beams, which run parallel to the longitudinal axis 32 of the vehicle and which are a few tens of centimeters apart from each other. The longitudinal beams 31 extend horizontally over the entire length of the lower deck 15, i.e. from the back of the vehicle upto the raised front portion 11. Two central longitudinal beams are also provided in the raised front portion 11, extending horizontally from the front of the trailer 10 to the back of the raised front portion 11.

The chasssis 30 further includes horizontal cross members (only one of which 33 is visible in Fig. 3) which are supported by the longitudinal beams and which extend over the entire width of the vehicle except for the portion in between the wheel arches 16. In a preferred embodiment of the vehicle,the cross members (e.g. 33) pass through the central beams 30.

In the example shown, the vehicle has four back wheels 34, each mounted on an independent wheel arm 35. Each wheel arm 35 is pivoted about a horizontal shaft 36 fixed to the chassis 30 and is free to move in a substantially vertical plane parallel to the longitudinal axis 32 of the vehicle. For example, the front end of each arm may be mounted to pivot about the shaft 36 held in a fork 37 itself mounted on one of the cross members (e.g. 33) and/or one of the beams 31. In conventional manner, the back end of each wheel arm 35 bears a horizontal spindle 38 on which one of the wheels 34 is mounted to rotate.

Suspension means 40 are mounted between the back end of each wheel arm 35 and the chassis 30. The suspension means 40 include damping means, preferably of the pneumatic or hydro-pneumatic type, and advantageously the suspension and damping means are arranged to be of a controlled adjustable height so that the chassis 30 can be kept at a constant height above the ground both when loaded and when empty.

The use of independent wheel arms 35 and suspension and damping means 40 makes it possible to do without the transversal axles that pass underneath the chassis of a conventional trailer to support its back wheels. The present chassis 30 can thus be at a lower level between the back wheels 34, and it is feasible for it to be lowered down to substantially the level of the axes about the wheels rotate, or under this level, thereby enabling the overall height of the vehicle above the ground to be reduced.

Claims

1. A double-decker goods vehicle comprising a chassis, superposed upper and lower loading decks, a roof above the upper loading deck, side walls and at least back wheels, wherein both of said loading decks have substantially the same useable head-room, with the upper deck having constant head-room, extending over substantially the entire loada ble length of the vehicle, and the lower deck being disposed at substantially the same height above the ground as the centers of the back wheels, each of the back wheels being connected to the chassis of the vehicle by an independent wheel arm which is mounted to pivot about a horizontal shaft mounted on the chassis and which is associated with suspension and damping means provided between said arm and the chassis.

2. A vehicle according to claim 2, wherein each suspension and damping means is of the pneumatic or hydro-pneumatic type.

3. A vehicle according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the chassis comprises at least one and preferably two, central longitudinal beams, associated with cross members extending over the entire width of the vehicle, except in between the back wheels.

4. A vehicle according to claim 3, wherein said wheel arms are pivoted on particular ones of said cross members.

5. A vehicle according to any preceding claim, said vehicle being a trailer for an articulated vehicle, said trailer having a raised front portion for coupling to a tractor, wherein the trailer includes a transport volume of reduced head-room between its raised front portion and the upper deck, said reduced head-room volume being arranged in the form of at least one enclosed compartment, separate from the loading volumes above the upper and lower decks.

6. A vehicle according to claim 5 wherein the or each of said enclosed compartments is

7. A vehicle according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the or each of said enclosed compartments is provided with access doors providing access thereto through the or both side walls of the vehicle.

8. A vehicle according to any preceding claim, provided with a lifting platform and back doors that open over the entire height between the lower deck and the roof.

9. A vehicle according to any preceding claim, provided with a fold-up lifting platform that serves as a door over a lower portion of the back of the vehicle, and a fold-down flap that serves as a door over the remaining upper portion of the back of the vehicle.

10. A vehicle according to any preceding claim, comprising means for stowing goods during transport said means comprising a system of horizontal rails mounted along the inside of the vehicle walls with runners that are movable along the rails and lockable in position thereon, said runners being provided with goods-stowage straps.

11. A vehicle according to any preceding claim, wherein the overall outside height of the vehicle is less that of equal to 4.30 meters, with the useable head-room above each deck being about 1.75 meters.

1 2. A vehicle according to claim 11, wherein the overall height of the vehicle is about 4.2 meters.

13. A double-decker goods vehicle substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.