GB2317160A - Lift for cellars and the like - Google Patents

Abstract

A lift, for use in confined spaces 2 and particularly for use in cellars of public houses for lowering and lifting of crates or barrels of beverages 8, comprises a platform 18 which can be moved along guide means 14 between the opening of the cellar 10 and the cellar floor 16. The guide means may either depend vertically from the opening or at an angle inclined to the vertical (Fig 2) or some combination of vertical and inclined. The platform is preferably provided with drive means mounted thereon which drive either pinions engaging a rack disposed within the guide means or sprockets engaging a chain also disposed within the guide means. In this way the apparatus is self-contained. The drive means may be either electric or hydraulic. The guide means may be constructed so that they can be extended in use possibly in a telescopic manner so that they extend beyond the opening. They may additionally be constructed so they may be dismantled completely when not in use. The platform when not in use may either be raised to a position flush with the opening into the cellar when it may form the closure for said opening or it may be lowered to a position flush with floor. The platform may also include barrel locating means.

Description

Lifting Apparatus The invention which is the subject of this application relates to lifting apparatus for use principally but not exclusively to move articles from one level of a building to another and particularly for use in moving articles from ground level into a cellar. It is envisaged that the lifting apparatus is of particular advantage and use with regard to use in moving barrels, kegs or crates of beverages such as beer or lager or soft drinks into and from a cellar of a public house when fitted in already existing access openings from ground level either within the public house or on the pavement externally of the same into the cellar where the goods are stored and from where the beverages are supplied to the pub for consumption.

Conventionally, beverages are supplied to public houses from the breweries in kegs or barrels, or in bottles in crates hereinafter referred to as kegs. The kegs are transported to the public house by lorry and are then simply dropped from the lorry onto landing mats on the ground and then rolled by the operators of the vehicles to the access trap door into the public house cellar,. From there, typically they are again dropped onto a landing mat into the cellar or alternatively may be lowered manually by one operator to another operator within the cellar but in any case, manual movement of the keg is required. When one considers that kegs are extremely heavy articles, and relatively inconvenient to lift and lower, it will readily be understood that considerable manpower hours are lost by the brewery operators through injuries caused to the operators who lift and lower the kegs by physical strains and/or more severe injury if the kegs accidentally land on them. The possibility of using lifting devices has been discussed for many years and indeed lifting devices are already in use in public houses in the form of lifting devices for food between floors and/or lifts in hotels but to date no suitable system is available for use in cellars due to the restriction in space available and, furthermore the need for expenditure to install conventionally expensive equipment.

The problem with kegs is further exacerbated by the need on occasion for kegs which may have had their seal broken or in which contaminated beverages are contained to be raised from the cellar to the ground level to be returned to the brewer and obviously this lifting requirement provides yet further manual strain on the operators.

The aim of the present invention is to provide lifting apparatus for use in a confined space to lower and raise articles from ground level into and from a cellar by automatic means thereby removing the need for operators to manually raise or lower said articles.

In a first aspect of the invention there is provided lifting apparatus to move articles between a first position on the ground surface and a second position in a cellar, or a raised floor, said apparatus comprising a lifting platform mounted for movement along a set of guide means, said set of guide means and lifting platform arranged such that articles can be placed onto and removed from said platform. Typically the apparatus is provided in relation to an access opening into a cellar and the platform provided to allow articles to be placed on and removed from the same through the opening and for lowering and removed from said platform when the platform is lowered to the cellar.

In one embodiment the cellar opening is rectangular or square and the guide means are arranged relative to the opening such that a guide means is mounted at each corner of the opening. In one embodiment the guide means depend downwardly from the opening in the vertical direction; in an alternative embodiment the guide means may be provided to lie at any angle depending downwardly from the opening to suit the requirements of the cellar and the layout of the same so it should be clearly understood that the guide means may be arranged to lie at an any suitable angle so that the platform is movable from the opening to the required position in the cellar for un-loading or loading of the same. In a yet further embodiment the guide means may be arranged to lie in different angles at different stages thereby providing different stages of movement of the platform so that the platform may move, for example, in a substantially vertical direction downwardly in the first stage then move substantially horizontally for a second stage and then again downwardly for a third stage or vice versa when moving from the cellar to the opening.

In a preferred embodiment the lifting platform will include drive powered means therein and mounted as part thereof. Typically the power means will be an electric or hydraulic motor and connected to drive points which are located on drive location means provided in at least one of the guide means thereby allowing the platform to be driven along the said guide means for movement. In one arrangement, the drive location means may be lengths of chain or rack members provided in a fixed relationship along at least part of the guide means and typically along a length equivalent to the length of movement required for the platform.

In one arrangement, the guide means may include telescopic portions thereby allowing the same to be extended in use above the level of the opening.

In a further embodiment the lifting platform may include location means thereon for the location of kegs on the same to ensure that the same are properly anchored during movement of the platform thereby preventing same from falling and possibly causing injury and/or the platform may include railings therearound.

In whichever form it is envisaged that the platform when not in use can be raised or lowered to a position substantially flush with the ceiling or floor of the cellar or alternatively may form the closure of the opening into the cellar. It is also envisaged that various parts of the lifting apparatus can be dismantled or removed when not in use to aid the storage of the same.

Thus it will be readily seen that the lifting apparatus of the invention does not unduly affect the storage space available in cellars where space is already restricted and, is relatively simple to operate and may be provided with remote operation means so that the same can be operated by the operators of the vehicles and therefore does not require additional manpower.

Specific embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: Fig. 1 illustrates a view of a first embodiment of the invention showing the apparatus in a raised position; and Fig. 2 illustrates lifting apparatus in a second embodiment in a lowered position.

In Fig. 1 there is illustrated a first embodiment of the apparatus shown in position in a cellar 2 for a public house 4. As shown, the cellar is accessed from the public house by stairs 6 and includes a plurality of kegs, crates and the like 8 which are held in storage in the cellar and/or connected for the supply of beverage into the public house.

The cellar is accessed for the loading and unloading of kegs, crates and the like 8 by means of an opening 10 which can be provided within the public house but in this embodiment is shown as being provided on the pavement outside the public house. Typically when not in use, the opening is covered by doors 12 which shut in a flush position with the pavement. In this embodiment, the lifting apparatus of the invention is shown with guide means 14 mounted with their upper ends adjacent the opening 10 and depending vertically downward from the opening so that the lower ends are adjacent the floor 16 of the cellar. A lifting platform 18 is provided which is movable from a first raised position as shown to a second lowered position towards the floor 16 of the cellar 2. The platform 18 is shown with kegs 8 positioned thereon, the same having been unloaded from a vehicle and it will readily be appreciated that the kegs can be lowered to the cellar by operating the drive means provided on the platform to drive the drive points along drive locators which are provided along the length of the guide means.

Typically the drive locators may be in the form of lengths of chain provided in a fixed position along the guide means and with which the drive points locate and move along or alternatively may be in the form of rack members or hydraulic rams or pneumatically controlled rams or cables and it will be appreciated that any suitable drive means can be provided. It is preferred that a drive arrangement be used whereby a drive means such as a motor is provided on the lifting platform and connected to drive locators on the drive means via drive points as this reduces the space required for the lifting apparatus. It is also envisaged that the control of the apparatus will be by an electric control unit connected to the drive means via flexible cabling so as to be openable for the pavement and/or cellar.

Thus it will readily be seen that the lifting platform and lifting apparatus according to Fig. 1 does not require significant installation and the guide means can be located against the side walls of the cellar so that for example only two guide means are provided or Alternatively two additional guide means are provided as pillars and to increase support of the platform. Furthermore, the lifting platform when not in use can be moved to a raised or lowered position so that the same is substantially flush with the ceiling or floor of the cellar.

Turning now to Fig. 2, there is illustrated an alternative embodiment of the invention wherein there is again provided a public house 4 with a cellar 2 which is accessed via stairs 6 from the public house.

There is again provided an opening 10 in the pavement adjacent the public house and which is again closed when not in use by doors 12.

In this embodiment, the side wall 20 of the cellar is angled so that the space for operation of the lifting apparatus guide means 14 and lifting platform 18 is more restricted than that in Fig. 1. Thus in this arrangement, the guide means 14 are provided to lie at an angle with their top ends provided in relation to the opening 10 as previously but the bottom ends of the guide means are angled to contact inwardly on the cellar floor from the opening and this therefore still allows the operation of the lifting apparatus within a more confined space. It will further be appreciated that it is also possible that the guide means may be provided to lie at different angles at different stages so that for example in a first stage from the opening the guide means may lie in a vertical position then may lie in the second stage in a horizontal position and in the third position may lie in a vertical position and it will be appreciated that the movements of the lifting platform along the guide means can be tailored to suit specific cellar size constraints so that the lifting apparatus of the current invention is adaptable, easy to install and does not take up valuable storage space. However, the apparatus is sufficiently versatile and resilient to eliminate the need for manual raising and lowering of kegs and other articles from and into cellars, thereby greatly improving the working environment of the operators of the suppliers vehicles and reducing hours lost through injury or strain.

Claims (22)

1. Apparatus for moving articles in a cellar between at least a first position substantially in line with a surface and a second position below or above said first position, said apparatus comprising a platform mounted for movement along a set of guide means, said set of guide means and platform arranged such that articles can be placed onto and removed from said platform at the first position and second position of the same.

2. Apparatus according to Claim 1 wherein the apparatus is located in relation to an access opening into the cellar and the platform is provided to allow articles to be placed and removed from the same at the first position adjacent the opening and to be lowered and raised to and from the second position in the cellar to allow articles to be removed from and placed on said platform.

3. Apparatus according to Claim 1 wherein the platform is of a similar shape as the opening into the cellar but of smaller dimension.

4. Apparatus according to Claim 1 wherein the cellar opening is substantially rectangular or square and the guide means are arranged relative to the opening such that the guide means in the set are mounted at the corners of the opening.

5. Apparatus according to Claim 1 wherein the set of guide means depend vertically downwardly from the opening.

6. Apparatus according to Claim 1 wherein the guide means depend downwardly from the opening at an angle relative to the vertical plane.

7. Apparatus according to Claim 1 wherein the guide means in the set depend from the opening and are arranged so as to depend vertically and/or at an angle to the vertical plane, or any combination of vertical and angled at different stages, between the cellar floor and the opening.

8. Apparatus according to any of the preceding claims wherein the platform includes powered drive means mounted thereon.

9. Apparatus according to any preceding claim wherein the power means is an electric or hydraulic motor and connected to drive points for rotation of the same.

10. Apparatus according to the preceding claim wherein the drive points are provided for location on drive location means provided in at least one of the guide means to allow the platform to be driven along the said guide means.

11. Apparatus according to the preceding claim wherein the drive location means are lengths of chain or rack members provided in a fixed relationship along at least part of the said guide means.

12. Apparatus according to any of the preceding claims wherein the guide means can be extended in use.

13. Apparatus according to Claim 12 wherein the guide means include telescopic portions to allow the same to be extended in use.

14. Apparatus according to any of the preceding claims wherein the platform includes location means thereon for the location of articles to allow anchoring of the same during movement of the platform.

15. Apparatus according to any preceding claim wherein the platform, when not in use, can be raised or lowered to a position substantially flush with the opening into the cellar or the floor of the cellar.

16. Apparatus according to the preceding claim wherein the platform can be moved to a position to substantially form the closure of the opening into the cellar when not in use.

17. Apparatus according to any of the preceding claims wherein the apparatus can be dismantled when not in use to increase the available storage space in the cellar.

18. Apparatus for lifting and lowering articles in a confined space having a floor and an opening in a raised position relative to said floor, said apparatus comprising a set of guide means mounted to lie substantially between said opening and floor and a platform connected to and movable along said guide means, said platform provided to receive said articles.

19, Apparatus according to Claim 18 wherein said articles can be moved on said platform between a first position adjacent said opening for loading and unloading through said opening and a second position adjacent said floor for loading and unloading said articles in the confined space.

20. Apparatus according to Claim 18 or 19 wherein said opening is on the side wall or ceiling of the confined space.

21. Apparatus according to Claim 20 wherein the confined space is a cellar of a public house or other retail premises.

22. Apparatus as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanving drawings.