GB2116937A

GB2116937A - A dual control arrangement for vehicular implements in particular cranes

Info

Publication number: GB2116937A
Application number: GB08306565A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Jonas Lindkvist
Original assignee: Hiab Foco AB
Current assignee: Hiab Foco AB
Priority date: 1982-03-23
Filing date: 1983-03-10
Publication date: 1983-10-05
Also published as: JPS58167385A; CA1211028A; FI71715C; FI830957L; GB8306565D0; JPH0615399B2; IT8320142A0; GB2116937B; AT385265B; IT1160739B; NL8300942A; NL189180C; FI830957A0; DK125083D0; DK150899B; NL189180B; FR2523941B1; DE3307995A1; DK150899C; FR2523941A1

Abstract

A dual control arrangement for vehicular cranes comprises two control units (5, 6) placed at opposite sides of a vehicle (2) each of said units including a plurality of manually actuated control members arranged sequentially in a substantially horizontal row and arranged to actuate, as required, a corresponding number of valves determining the functions of the crane. The control members of the two units are interconnected in pairs in such manner that a certain operating member is actuated irrespective of whether one or the other control member of a pair of control members is manually actuated. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A dual control arrangement for vehicular implements, in particular cranes This invention relates to a dual control arrangement for vehicular implements, in particular cranes, comprising two control units placed at opposite sides of a vehicle, each of said units including a plurality of manually actuated control members arranged sequentially in a substantially horizontal row and arranged to actuate, as required, a corresponding number of operating members e.g. hydraulic valve plungers, determining the functions of said implement, the control members of the two units being interconnected in pairs in such a manner that a certain operating member is actuated irrespective of whether one or the other control member of a pair of control members co-operating with the operating member is manually actuated.

Dual control arrangements of the abovementioned art are commonly used in at least heavy and medium-sized cranes of the type which are mounted immediately behind the driver's cab of vehicles such as lorries. In practice each control unit may include 4 to 8 individual control members which by actuating the associated valve plungers are capable of activating various functions of the crane, for instance, rotating the post of the crane, raising or lowering one or more hoisting arms, rotating a rotator, hauling in a winch hook, etc.In the previously known dual control arrangements for this purpose the various control members consist of swinging levers which are interconnected in pairs by means of ordinary rods which are articulately connected to the levers and extend in parallelism between the two control units while interconnecting the levers which are opposite to each other in the two units. The advantage of arranging the levers sequentially in a horizontal - and not a vertical row is that the connecting rods are assembled in a horizontal plane, which results in an exceedingly small built-in height for the arrangement in its entirety.

When the lorry driver or crane operator handles the crane he will most often do this from the side of the vehicle at which the driver's seat is placed. He is then able to directly use the control unit which is mounted closest to the door through which he gets out of the cab and he does not have to go round the vehicle. In practice the control unit placed closest to the driver's seat door is therefore used in 70 to 90% of all cases of use. This means that the driver after having used the crane a short time will learn the pattern which is mutually formed by the various levers included in the control unit positioned closest to the driver's door. Usually the pattern in question become so ingrained that the operator is able to reliably operate the crane without any need of thoroughly reflecting upon each individual operation.It is obvious what effect this one-sided use has on the operator on the rather rare occasions when he has to use the control unit at the opposite side of the vehicle. By the fact that the opposite control levers of the two units are interconnected in pairs, the pattern, which the levers mutually form, shifts in such a way that the function e.g. the leftmost lever in one of the rows of levers viewed from one side of the vehicle is to be found at the rightmost lever in the row of levers which is viewed from the opposite side of the vehicle and vice versa. This means that the operator finds it much more difficult to operate the control unit which is mounted on the side of the vehicle opposite the driver's seat and in delicate situations he may easily perform incorrect manipulations. These may in turn lead to serious accidents.

The object of the present invention is to eliminate the above-mentioned deficiencies of the previously known dual control arrangements of this type and provide an arrangement which the operatior can operate in a manner which will always be reliable irrespective of which control unit he uses.

The present invention consists in a dual control arrangementforvehicular implements, in particular cranes, comprising two control units placed at opposite sides of a vehicle, each of said units including a plurality of manually actuated control members arranged longitudinally and sequentially in a substantially horizontal row and arranged to actuate, as required, a corresponding number of operating members, e.g. hydraulic valve plungers, determining the functions of said implement, the control members of the two units being interconnected in pairs in such a manner that a certain operating member is actuated irrespective of whether one or the other control member of a pair of control members co-operating with said operating member is manually actuated, wherein an arbitrary control member located in a certain numerical position from the foremost control member of one unit is connected to a control member of the other unit having the same numerical position from the rearmost control member of that unit, whereby the two control members positioned, respectively on opposite sides of the vehicle and co-operating with a common operating member having the same position in relation to the other control members in a row of control members irrespective of from which side of the vehicle the row is viewed.

Preferably, each pair of control members cooperating with the common operating member are interconnected by means of an elongate connecting member, the connecting members of each pair of control members intersecting each other at a point located approximately half-way between the two control units.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a crane structure mounted on a vehicle and having a dual control arrangement according to the present invention; Figure 2 is a side-elevation of the dual control arrangement shown in Figure 1; Figure 3 is a plan view of Figure 2; Figure 4 is an enlarged side-elevation of the detail shown at the left in Figure 2; Figure 5 is a similar enlarged side-elevation of the detail shown at the right in Figure 2; Figure 6 is an enlarged side-elevation of the middle portion of the dual control arrangement shown in Figure 2; Figure 7 is an enlarged plan section through a detail of the arrangement according to the invention; Figure 8 is a perspective view of a disengaged dual control arrangement according to the present invention; and Figure 9 is an enlarged perspective view of a connecting member shown in Figure 8.

In Figure 1 a crane structure 1 is mounted in known manner on a lorry 2. The crane structure 1 includes, in addition to a carrier 3 having two supporting legs 4, also a dual control arrangement according to the present invention. The control arrangement includes two control units 5 and 6 respectively and in each of the units 5,6 six individual control elements are included which upon manual actuation thereof, are capable of activating a similar number of functions of the crane, such as rotating the crane post, rocking the jib lever, raising and lowering the hoisting lever, projecting the extension arm, rotating and manoeuvring the lifting tool, etc.

Referring now to Figures 2 to 9 which illustrate the dual control arrangement as can be seen from Figures 2 and 3, the individual control members 7 of the unit as well as the corresponding members 8 of the unit 6 consist of levers which are mounted to swing in a manner described in more detail hereinafter. These levers 7,8 are interconnected in pairs by way of connecting members 9 in the shape of drawing elements.

Figures 4 and 8 clearly show that the levers 7 of the unit 5 are pivotallyjournalled along a common shaft 10 supported between two side flanges 11 which project downwardly from an angular attachment plate 12 which in turn is fastened to the underside of the above-mentioned carrier3 of the crane structure 1. Each lever has a fork 13 at the end thereof connected to the shaft 10, the fork supporting between the two arms 14 thereof (see also Figure 7) a pivot pin 15 located at a certain level above the shaft 10, the connecting member 9 being articulately connected to the pivot pin 15.

As seen from Figures 5 and 8 a housing 16 is associated with the control unit 6, the housing accommodating a number of directional valves corresponding to the number of control levers, each of the valves being actuated by individual operating members in the form of plungers 17 projecting from the housing. These plungers may advantageously be spring-loaded or otherwise arranged to adopt a neutral or resting position if they are not manually actuated by the control levers in question. Each lever 8 included in the unit 6 is rigidly connected to a base member 18 pivotally connected to the housing 16 by way of a first articulation point 19. The associated valve plunger 17 is articulately connected to the base member 18 by way of a second articulation point 20 located above the first actuation point 19.A third articulation point or pivot pin 21 connects the base member 18 to the associated connecting member 9.

This third articulation point 21 is located below the first articulation point 19. From the description above it will be seen that pivoting down one of the two levers 7,8 of one and the same pair of levers causes the plunger 17 to be drawn outwardly from the housing 16 whereby it opens the corresponding valve therein so as to activate the desired crane function.

Referring again to Figure 3 which illustrates how the connecting members 9 have been arranged in such a way that they intersect each other at a point 22 located approximately half-way between the two units 5, 6, this arrangement means that the foremost lever 7A of the unit 5 forms a pair with the rearmost lever 8A of the unit 6, that the next lever 7B of the unit 5 forms a pair with the next lever 8B of the unit 6 and and so forth. Thus, those two levers (e.g. 7B and 8B) which co-operate with one and the same valve plunger 17B always have the same position in relation to the other levers irrespective of whether the row of levers is viewed from the left side of the vehicle or from the right side.The crane operator can accordingly learn a pattern of levers which is identical on both sides of the vehicle and therefore he does not have to rethink the procedure when he goes over from one of the control units to the other.

The connecting members 9 consist of tubes which are flattened in the area of the point of intersection 22 and all of the connecting tubes 9 which extend between the two control units 5,6 have exactly the same standard length and shape. Such a tube is shown enlarged in Figure 9, where the flattened portion at the middle of the tube is designated 23.

Since the distance between, for instance, the levers 7A and 8A is not the same as the distance between the levers 7B and 8B it is not possible to attach such standard tubes 9 directly to the pivot pins 15 of the various levers, but this is carried out by means of attachments 24 which are clearly shown in Figure 7.

Each attachment 24 consists of a stud which is telescopically inserted in the end of the tube 9 and attached or secured relative thereto by means of a bolt 25 extending through aligned apertures in the tube and intersecting an oblong slot-shaped aperture 26 in the stud 24. When tightening the nut 27 of the bolt 25 the stud 24 is rigidly connected to the tube, the stud 24, by virtue of the elongated aperture 26, being capable of projecting varying distances from the tube 9 depending on the required distance between the pivot pin 15 of the levers 7,8 in an associated pair. At the end remote from the tube 9, the stud 24 has a tapered portion in which a substantially circular aperture 28 is formed, the aperture accommodating a part-spherical member 29 which isjournalled on the pivot pin 15. By this arrangement a pivotal movement of the connecting tube 9 is allowed not only in a vertical plane in relation to the pivot pin, but also in the horizontal plane, this being necessary as the connecting tube 9 extends at a certain angle towards the vertical plane when pivoting.

In order to ensure that the connecting tubes 9 intersecting each other at the point 22 shall not jam when actuated by the control levers and in order not to deflect the rather long and slender tubes downwrdly, the tubes are supported by a bracket 30 at the point 22, the bracket comprising a number of thin inserts 31 made from a material having a low friction co-efficient, for instance nylon, the flattened tube portions 23 each being arranged between a pair of such inserts 31. In practice the bracket 30 may advantageously consist of a U-shaped body attached to the underside of the carrier 3 with the inserts 31 extending horizontally between the two vertical arms of the body.

It will be appreciated that the invention is not limited to the embodiment described above and shown in the drawings. Instead of tubes or other ridged connecting members between the respective levers it is thus possible to use other connections, for instance flexible elements such as wires, or possibly conduits for a hydraulic liquid by means of which the movement of a lever may be transmitted to the other lever in the same pair. Further the dual control arrangement according to the invention is useful not only in connection with cranes but also in combination with other arbitrary working implements which call for two remote control units of the type de scribed. As control members one may also use elements other than levers, such as buttons or plungers. Furthermore it should be pointed out that one of the control units, in particular the unit which is associated with the valve housing 16, may include more members than the other unit, namely in those cases where the additional control members not necessarily need to be dual-controlled.

Claims

1. A dual control arrangement for vehicular im plements, in particular cranes, comprising two control units placed at opposite sides of a vehicle, each of said units including a plurality of manually actuated control members arranged longitudinally and sequentially in a substantially horizontal row and arranged to actuate, as required, a corresponding number of operating members, e.g. hydraulic valve plungers, determining the functions of said implement, the control members of the two units being inter-connected in pairs in such a manner that a certain operating member is actuated irrespective of whether one or the other control member of a pair of control members co-operating with said operating member is manually actuated, wherein an arbitrary control member located in a certain numerical position from the foremost control member of one unit is connected to a control member of the other unit having the same numerical position from the rearmost control member of that unit, whereby the two control members positioned, respectively on opposite sides of the vehicle and co-operating with a common operating member have the same position in relation to the other control members in a row of control members irrespective of from which side of the vehicle the row is viewed.

2. A dual control arrangement accoridng to claim 1, wherein each pair of control members cooperating with the common operating member are interconnected by means of an elongate connecting member, the connecting members of each pair of control members intersecting each other at a point located approximately halfway between the two control units.

3. A dual control arrangement according to claim 2, wherein the connecting members consists of tubes which are flattened in the area of said point of intersection.

4. A dual control arrangement according to claim 3, wherein thin inserts consisting of a material, e.g.

nylon, having a low friction coefficient are arranged between the flattened portions of the tubes.

5. A dual control arrangement according to claim 3 or 4, wheein all of the tubes extending between the two control units are of the same standard length and shape and are connected to the associated control members by telescopic attachments which are attachable in required positions relative to the ends of the tubes.

6. A dual control arrangement according to any one of claims 2 to 5, wherein the control members consist of swinging levers each of which is articulately attached to the associated connecting member by a substantially horizontally disposed pivot pin extending between the spaced arms of a fork and the connecting member is connected to said pivot pin by means of a part-spherical member mounted thereon, the latter allowing the connecting member to be pivoted not only in a vertical plane, but also in a horizontal plane.

7. A dual control arrangement substantially as described with reference to, and as illustrated in, the accompanying drawings.