GB2168028A - Unloading vehicles - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a vehicle (for gritting roads) comprising a body 14 and a door 24 which closes an opening in the body. Attached to the door is a scraper device 34 which, when the door is opened, scrapes over the floor of the body to facilitate the discharge of material contained within the body. The floor of the body is preferably sloped at an angle of 45 DEG . The vehicle may be a refuse collection vehicle or one used to handle bulk flowable material eg powder, grain, and can be used for gritting. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Improvements relating to apparatus for handling bulk, flowable material This invention relates to an apparatus for handling bulk, flowable material, and in particular concerns an apparatus comprising a body for receiving a quantity of said bulkflowable material, and which is provided with an openable door or flap to enable the material to be discharged from the body.

The invention has specific although not exclusive application to a trailer body which is for receiving bulk flowable material in the form of grit, refuse and debris of the nature normally picked up by road sweeping machines, and typically the body may comprise a receiving container of such a machine, the body having a rear door which can be swung open to permit the bulk material to be discharged from the body. The body may or may not be tippable although, as will be explained herein, in the preferred case it is a non-tippable body.

Although reference is made herein mainly to vehicle bodies and the collection of refuse, it is to be mentioned that the invention can be applied in any circumstances requiring the handling of a flowable material, such as a granulated powder, or grain, or aggregate which although bulk material in that which is made up of solid pieces or particles, nevertheless in bulk behaves as a flowable material.

In conventional street sweeping apparatus, a motor vehicle is provided with a container body and brushing and suction equipment. As the motor vehicle is driven along the road, so the brushing and suction unit operate to dislodge and such waste material from the road surface, and to charge it into the vehicle body.

Normally, the vehicle body is tpipable and has a rear door which can be opened, so that by a combination of opening the rear door and tipping the body, the collected waste material can be discharged.

It sometimes happens that the waste material, although it is flowable, forms a bridge in the interior of the vehicle body so that even when tipping takes place, the material does not discharge, and it is necessary for an operator, for example using a shovel, to make a break in the bridge which results in the material then discharging through the open rear door.

The present invention comprises the provision of a means to avoid this disadvantage, and in accordance with the present invention there is provided a means mounted on the vehicle body which is movable internally of the body for dislodging and/or discharging the waste material in the body when the discharge door is open.

Preferably, the said means comprises a member operatively coupled to the rear door so that the said member will be moved in the body when the rear door is opened, as a result of the movement of the door relative to the body in moving from the closed to the opened position.

The member may comprise for example a Ushaped frame with the free ends of the limbs of the frame connected to the rear door, and the base or cross piece of the frame lying inside the vehicle body so as to travel over the floor thereof when the rear door is opened. To enable this to be done, the frame in the vicinity of said cross piece or base member may be provided with rollers to facilitate the travel of the frame over the body floor.

In conventional apparatus of this type, the body is, as indicated herein, tippable between a transport position and discharge position. In the transport position, the floor of the body is substantially horizontal, whilst when the body is in the discharge position, the floor is at a steeply inclined angle, for example of the order of 45".

In a specific embodiment of the present invention, having an objective to make the apparatus lighter and therefore less expensive than conventional apparatus, the container body is fixed i.e. is nontippable, but is provided with a floor which lies at a discharge angle relative to the horizontal when the apparatus is in use, so that this sloping floor will induce the material to discharge by gravity when the discharge door is opened. A combination of such an arrangement and of the displacement member which can be moved over the body floor provides a means of ensuring that in every case the contents will discharge when the rear door is opened, especially when the said member is the form of a U-shaped frame operatively coupled to the rear door.

It wil! be appreciated that the invention can be applied to apparatus of forms other than motor vehicles. For example, the arrangement could be adapted for use in static installations comprising hoppers from which it is required to discharge bulk, flowable material. The invention could be embodied in apparatus which is mobile but not necessarily self-propelled, or indeed in any instance requiring the discharge of bulk, flowable material from a body containing such material.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:- Figure lisa sectional side elevation of the rear end of a motor vehicle embodying the present invention; and Figure 2 is a sectional end view of a portion of the arrangement shown in Figure 1.

Referring to Figure 1, the rear end of a selfpropelled motor vehicle is shown, the rear wheels being indicated by numeral 10. The vehicle is a road sweeping vehicle, and has suitable means for brushing and sucking up debris from the road surface. The material so sucked up is charged through a supply pipe 12 into a trailer body hopper 14 through an outlet end 16 of the said pipe. A quantity of the material 18 is shown inside the hopper 14.

It will be noticed that the floor 20 of the hopper is inclined sharply, and in this example at an angle approximately 45" to the horizontal 22.

The hopper 14 is closed except that a rear opening thereof is covered by means of a rear door 24 which is pivoted to the body of the hopper at pivot point 26, and can be moved between the closed position shown in full lines, and the fully opened position shown in chain dotted lines by reference numeral 28.

The means for moving the door 24 between the two positions comprises a fluid operated double acting ram 30 which is under the control of the driver of the vehicle by a suitable control means in the cabin.

As shown in Figure 1, the door 24 is wedge-shaped in cross-section, and pivoted to the ends thereof at pivot axis 32 is a U-shaped frame 34. The frame 34 in normal position lies inside the hopper 14. It comprises side limbs 36 of which the free ends are pivoted to the door 24 at axis 32, and a cross bar or base 36 having an edge 38 which rests on the floor 20 at a position slightly below where pipe 12 enters the hopper 14through the floor 20. Lugs 40 at the ends of bar 36 support guide rollers 42 for the guiding of the frame and to facilitate its movement as will be explained.

The apparatus operates quite simply in that if one assumes the apparatus in the position shown in Figure 1, if it is desired to discharge the contents 18 it is simply a matter of operating the ram 30 which swings the door in the closed position to the position shown at 28. This action causes the frame 34 to be pulled outwardly through the rear opening to the position shown by numeral 44. As the frame so moves, the edge 38 scrapes along the surface of floor 20 until the intermediate position of the frame 34, as indicated by numeral 46 is reached, at which point the rollers 42 commence engagement with the floor surface. During this movement of the frame, the bar 38 scrapes along the floor displacing the material 18 thereby ensuring that it will be effectively discharged even when there is a tendency of the material 18 to bridge, as the movement of the frame will ensure that the bridge is broken and that effective discharge takes place. It can be seen therefore that a simple and effective means is provided for assisting the discharge of the bulk, flowable material from the hopper. Other embodiments of the invention are possible. For example it may be possible to provide a displacing member which is rigid with the door 24 but which telescopes as its scraping or displacing end rides down the floor to a position of minimum distance from the pivot point 26, or the bulk material displacing member may simply be in the nature of a paddle which moves through the bulk material when the door is opened.

Claims (6)

1. Apparatus for handling bulk, flowable mate riai, comprising a body for receiving a quantity of said bulkflowable material, said body having an openable door or flap to enable the material to discharge from the body, characterised by a means mounted on the vehicle body which is movable internally of the body for dislodging and/or discharging the waste material in the body when the discharge door is opened.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterised in that the said means comprises a member operatively coupled to the rear door so that the said member will be moved in the body when the rear door is opened, as a result of movement of the door relative to the body in moving from the closed to the open position.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2 characterised in that the member comprises a U-shaped frame with the free ends of the limbs of the frame connected to the rear door, and a base or cross piece of the frame lie inside the vehicle body so as to travel over the floor thereof when the rear door is opened.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3, characterised in that the frame in the vicinity of said cross piece or base member is provided with rollers to facilitate the travel of the frame over the body floor.

5. Apparatus according to any preceding claim, characterised in that the body is fixed, i.e. is non-tippable, but is provided with a floor which lies at a discharge angle relative to the horizontal when the apparatus is in use, so that this sloping floor will induce the material to discharge by gravity when the discharge door is opened.

6. Apparatus according to any preceding claim, characterised in that the apparatus is a mobile vehicle.