GB2285963A - Container handling - Google Patents

Abstract

One or more containers such as barrels 20 are stacked on to a pallet (19, Fig 3) by being: rolled on their sides on to a support or rack 2; retained at the rack 2 by catch arm 3 and feet 16 when the support is then moved to orientate the barrels 20 in a substantially upright position; the support is then displaced to a position at a pallet; and the barrels released on to the pallet. The pallet may be the top pallet of a stack of pallets. Preferably the barrels are raised onto the support by a cradle (1, Fig 4) and loaded in three's onto the pallet. The support is preferably vertically and horizontally movable as well as rotatable e.g. on a carriage 5. <IMAGE>

Description

Container Handling This invention relates to handling of containers and particularly, though not exclusively, to loading and unloading barrels on to and from pallets.

In order to facilitate transportation and storage, a plurality of individual barrels and/or other containers are often arranged together on a single pallet. The loaded pallet may then be transported, for example using a fork lift truck, and one loaded pallet may be stacked on top of the barrels and/or other containers on another pallet for storage and/or transportation.

Manual positioning of individual containers on a pallet is time consuming and requires much physical exertion.

This is especially so when large and heavy containers are to be arranged. Furthermore, it can be difficult to manually lift or roll a container on to a pallet, especially if the container is to be raised a significant height before being placed on the pallet.

Known barrel and container stacking machines have suffered from a number of disadvantages. For example, they have been large bulky structures taking up considerable floorspace (a typical size being 9m x 12m x 2.5m); they have been unable to handle more than one specific size or form of barrel; they have been complex, the level of complexity increasing the risk of component failure; they have been capable of dealing with only one size of pallet; and, they have been incapable of unloading barrels from a pallet.

According to a first aspect, the present invention provides apparatus for positioning a container comprising a rack configured to accept and to support the container when orientated in a first non-upright orientation, reorientation means for moving the rack so as to move the container supported thereby from its first orientation to a second substantially upright orientation, support means arranged to support the container at the rack in its second orientation and displacement means for displacing the rack with the container supported thereby from a first position to a second position.

The first position may be a position at which the container is accepted at the apparatus and the second position may be at a pallet on to which the container is to be loaded. The second position may be horizontally and/or vertically remote from the first position. It may be transversely remote from the first position. The displacement means may be adapted to displace the container horizontally and /or transversely and/or vertically.

The container may be a barrel.

In its first orientation, the container may be supported on the rack; it may be supported on its side.

The apparatus is preferably configured to position a plurality of containers simultaneously. It may be configured to accept more than one container, for example, two, three, four, five, six or more containers, at a time on to the rack and to reorientate and displace each container at the same time.

Movement of the or each container from its first nonupright orientation to its second substantially upright orientation may comprise rotation about an axis passing substantially through the centre of the or each container.

The apparatus may include a catching arm which, in use, co-operates with the or each container to prevent it becoming substantially separated from the rack, for example, by falling away from the rack during displacement of the container. In use, the catching arm need not be in contact with the container; it may only contact the container, and thus prevent the container becomng detatched from the rack, when the container has been separated a small distance from the rack, for example, by tipping away from the rack under the force of gravity. The catching arm may be moveable; it may be moveable from a disengaged position to an engaged position.

The catching arm may be configured such that it is effective for use with a variety of sizes and/or forms of container.

The apparatus may include lifting and/or lowering means to facilitate loading of a container onto the rack from a level below or above the rack.

The apparatus may include one or more stops, holding arms or container engaging members, which may be situated on, at, or proximate to the rack, and the positioning of which may determine and/or stabilise the position of the or each barrel at the rack.

Preferably, the apparatus is mounted on a base. The base may include wheels, castors or other means to facilitate relocation of the apparatus and these may be removable, detachable or retractable, for example, to prevent them affecting stability of the base when the apparatus is in use. Preferably, the base remains substantially stationary, with respect to a surface on which it stands, during operation of the apparatus.

The displacement means, and/or the reorientation means may be power operated and may be operated and/or provided by rams; one or more of the rams may be a hydraulic ram.

In use of the apparatus, one or more containers may be rolled on to the rack such that the or each container lies on its side in a first orientation on the rack; the rack and the containers thereon may then be raised vertically by the displacement means, reorientated so that the containers are moved to a substantially upright second orientation, moved horizontally to a second position, for example above a pallet onto which the containers are to be loaded, and then lowered. The rack may then be withdrawn to leave the containers upright in a desired position on the pallet, and the rack may then be returned to a position suitable for accepting further containers.

According to a second aspect, the present invention proves a method of loading a container onto a pallet in which: the container is positioned at a rack in a first, non-upright orientation at a rack such that it is supported by the rack; the rack is moved by reorientation means so as to move the container supported thereby from its first orientation to a second substantially upright orientation in which it is supported by support means; and, the container is displaced from a first position to a second position at which it is released onto the pallet.

The method may be carried out using apparatus in accordance with the first aspect of the invention.

The pallet onto which the container is loaded may be stacked on top of one or more other pallets.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 shows a top view of apparatus for positioning containers in accordance with the present invention; Fig. 2 shows a side view of a rack and catching arm mechanism of Fig. 1; Fig.3 shows a side view of the apparatus from the opposite aspect to that shown in Fig.2; Fig. 4 shows and end view of the apparatus with barrels loaded onto the rack.

The apparatus shown in the accompanying drawings is designed to load and unload American barrels 20 or Dump Hogheads 22, on to pallets. Each pallet can accomodate six barrels. The barrels may be picked up from any height between ground level and transport trailer floor level (approximately 1.5m). The barrels 20 are of a standard size having a diameter of 25 inches (approximately 0.635m) BLGE and a height of 34 inches (approximately 0.889m). They may be wooden barrels used or destined for use, for example, for containing a beverage or other liquid.

In use of the apparatus, a first barrel is rolled manually in a horizontal configuration on to a lifting and lowering means in the form of a loading cradle 1 (shown in Fig. 4). The loading cradle 1, which is hydraulically powered in this embodiment, is then operated to lift the barrel to the height of a barrel rack 2. The barrel is then rolled over a raised support 15 and over the rack 2 from an open end thereof so that it assumes a first orientation (which is substantially horizontal in this case) and is supported on and at one end of the rack 2. Second and third barrels are then positioned on the rack 2 in a similar fashion.

The loading cradle 1 may be used to lift and/or lower barrels from floor level or, as shown in Fig. 4, from a surface raised above floor level.

The rack 2 forms part of a moveable carriage 5 and is fabricated from a pair of spaced supports 10, 11, each of which is provided in this embodiment by steel box section tubing, and which are joined by struts 13 at spaced intervals. The struts 13 are positioned below the top surfaces of the supports 10, 11 such that barrels with convex sides may be easily rolled along and supported by the rack 2 (as shown in Fig. 2).

Once three barrels have been positioned on the rack 2, a stop 14 is raised from a retracted position to a projecting position (shown in Fig. 4) in which it prevents the barrels rolling off the open end of the rack 2.

A single catching arm 3, which is pivotally connected at one side of the rack 2, is moved from a retracted position (shown in full lines on Fig. 2) to an engaging position (shown in broken lines in Fig. 2) at which it engages a side portion of each of the three barrels.

The catching arm 3 may be used with barrels having a range of diameters and forms; when small diameter barrels are loading on to the rack, the catch arms 3 will simply pivot further from its retracted position to engage a side portion of each barrel. Fig. 2 shows a standard American barrel 20 loaded on the rack 2 and the outline of a Dump Hogshead 22 loaded on the rack.

In the latter case, a spacer plate may be inserted as indicated at 23.

Support means in the form of individual holding arms 16 are provided at the rack 2 for each of the three barrels by plates welded to and spaced from the rack 2 on an opposite side of the rack from the support arm 3.

The carriage 5 and the rack 2 with the barrels thereon is raised by means of a hydraulic lift ram 17, which forms a part of displacement means of the apparatus, guided by a guiding mechanism 18. The carriage 5 and rack 2 in this embodiment may be raised by up to 40 inches (approx. lem); this is sufficient to allow the barrels 20 to be raised above the height of a stack of a number of pallets.

A hydraulic rotating ram 21, which provides reorientation means, is pivotally attached at one of its ends to the rack 2 and at its other end to a part of the carriage 5. The rotating ram 21 is used to rotate the rack 2 and the barrels through approximately 90 such that the barrels are moved to a second, substantially upright position. In this second position, an edge of the base of each barrel is supported by its respective holding arm 16 and prevented from tipping away from the rack 2 by the catching arm 3. Both of these elements thus provide support means. The barrels are rotated about an axis passing substantially through the centre of each barrel.

The carriage 5 (along with the rack 2 and the barrels supported thereon) is then moved horizontally from the first position at which the barrels have been loaded onto the rack 2 to a second position over a stack of empty pallets 12 by means of a travel mechanism 24 which forms a part of the displacement means and is provided in this embodiment by a low speed hydraulic motor with a chain drive to a rack and pinion. The lift ram 17 is then used to lower the barrels on to the top pallet of the stack 19 where they are released from the rack 2 by movement of the catching arm 3 to a disengaged position.The barrels may be released on to the pallet by orientating the barrels by means of the rotating arm such that the front leading edge of each barrel (ie the edge opposite the holding arms 16) is horizontally the lowest point of the barrel, lowering the barrels in this orientation on to the pallet so that the barrel is supported on the pallet at its front leading edge in a forwardly tipped position, releasing the catching arm 3 and then withdrawing the carriageway 5 so that the holding arms 16 are moved rearwardly out from underneath the barrels. The barrels will then tip backwards under gravity to an upright position on the pallet.

The carriage 5 is then returned to the first position where the empty barrel rack 2 is rotated back through approximately 900 and lowered to its starting height ready to be loaded with the next three barrels. These barrels are then taken across and set down on the pallet as before at a position on the pallet in front of the first set of three barrels which have already been positioned. The pallet with six barrels can now be removed using a fork lift truck, exposing the pallet underneath, which now becomes the top pallet, ready for loading.

Eight pallets may be stacked on top of each other and placed into the pallet stack 19.

The apparatus has a base frame 3, 3m wide by 4m long (approximately) fabricated from 203 x 152mm steel beams, and has 4 retractable wheels 20 which can be hydraulically powered down to raise the apparatus and allow it to be towed away, for example, after use. A tow hitch bracket 30 is provided to facilitate this.

The apparatus is thus readily moveable and transportable but, when the wheels 20 are retracted for use of the apparatus, the apparatus sits stably on its base.

The apparatus requires only one operator, 25, who rolls the barrels to the apparatus, and operates the lift, clamp and traverse functions, from an operator's control panel 25. The controls are semi-automatic in that some of the operations will require the operator to pull a lever or push a button. Other operations are sequenced or automated. For example, the loading cradle 1 will feed in a barrel as soon as its weight is placed on the cradle (unless there are already 3 barrels in the rack) and will return to its ready position when the barrel has rolled or been rolled into the barrel rack.

A safety feature ensures that barrels cannot be released unless they are in the correct position relative to the current top pallet.

The apparatus can operate in a space which is significantly smaller than that required for known barrel stacking machines. It can handle barrels of a variety of different sizes, for example, standard American barrels and hogshead barrels. The apparatus may be provided with adaptors to enable it to handle further types- of barrels and/or a greater variety or types of barrels.

The illustrated embodiment is intended to be used with a stack of at least eight empty pallets each of which may be 1.92m x 1.29m x 0.115m high. The approximate dimensions of the apparatus are: length x 4.3m, width y 3.3m and height z 2.6m. The horizontal distance between the first position at which barrels are loaded on the rack 2 and a second position at which they are unloaded at a far side of a pallet is approximately 2.5m. It should be noted that the pallet on to which the barrels are to be loaded remains stationary until all of the barrels have been loaded. The apparatus positions the first set of three barrels at a far side of the pallet and a second set of three barrels at a near side of the pallet before the pallet is removed and the next pallet exposed.

The avoidance of complicated mechanisms in the apparatus is intended to contribute towards reliability. Manual hydraulic control valves and limited switches may be used where appropriate and may be used in preference to electrical components.

The apparatus may be used to unload one or more barrels from a pallet, for example, by reversing the described operating sequence; it may be modified and/or fitted with a modification or adapter to facilitate this.

The ability to handle a plurality of barrels at a time contributes towards efficiency of the barrel handling operation.

Claims (10)

Claims

1. Apparatus for positioning a container comprising a rack configured to accept and to support the container when orientated in a first non-upright orientation, reorientation means for moving the rack so as to move the container supported thereby from its first orientation to a second substantially upright orientation, support means arranged to support the container at the rack in its second orientation and displacement means for displacing the rack with the container supported thereby from a first position to a second position.

2. Apparatus in accordance with Claim 1 in which, in its first orientation, the container is supported on its side on the rack.

3. Apparatus in accordance with Claim 1 or Claim 2 in which the apparatus is adapted to accept a plurality of containers simultaneously.

4. Apparatus in accordance with any preceding claim in which movement of the or each container from its first non-upright orientation to its second substantially upright orientation comprises rotation about an axis passing substantially through the centre of the or each container.

5. Apparatus in accordance with any preceding claim in which the support means comprises a catching arm which, in use, cooperates with the or each container to ensure its retention at or on the rack.

6. Apparatus in accordance with any preceding claim in which the apparatus includes lifting and/or lowering means to facilitate the loading of a container on to the rack from a level below or above the rack.

7. Apparatus substantially as described herein with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.

8. A method of loading a container on to a pallet in which: the container is positioned at a rack in a first, non- upright orientation such that it is supported by the rack; the rack is moved by reorientation means so as to move the container supported thereby from its first orientation to a second substantially upright orientation in which it is supported by support means; and the container is displaced from a first position to a second position at which it is released on to the pallet.

9. A method in accordance which Claim 8 in which the pallet on to which the container is released is stacked on top of a second pallet.

10. A method substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.