GB2318347A - A storage system for a ship's cargo - Google Patents

Abstract

A storage system for a ship's cargo comprises at least one pair of guide rails 5, one of each pair mounted on opposite sides of the ship's hold. A plurality of pallets 10 have sliding means to enable them to slide on the guide rails, and a lift 4 is used to convey the pallets 10 vertically. There are preferably more than two pairs of guide rails 5 which are mounted on vertical posts mounted against the side walls of the ship's hold. The lift 4 may be situated amidships and formed from a cubic structure which slides on a pair of telescoping frames and may be compacted when not in use. Actuating means are provided to move pallets from the lift 4 onto the guide rails 5. The whole system, or separate parts of it, may be removable.

Description

2318347 The present invention relates to a storage system which has

particular applications for storing cargo on ships.

Many items of cargo cannot be stowed with great space efficiency directly on a ship as they are too fragile to be loaded on top of one another. Such items include motor vehicles, boxed electronic goods, parts for manufacturing processes, and so called "swap bodies" or flexible sided containers.

It has been the practice to load some of these items of cargo into standard sized rigid containers which are strong enough to be stowed efficiently on top of one another in or on a ship, but some items of cargo are not appropriate for containers for commercial and other reasons.

An alternative has been to load such items (when they do not have their own wheels) onto trailers which are then pulled or pushed onto decks in so-called roll-on, roll-off ships, otherwise known as ro-ro ships. Motor vehicles are also loaded into ro-ro ships using their own wheels rather than a trailer. In either case, the space taken up around the motor vehicles or trailers necessary to move or lash them into position constitutes wasted space, which adds to the cost of transport or could be used to increase the revenue earning capacity of the ship.

2 The invention provides a storage system which allows cargoes to be stowed in closer proximity to one another than has hitherto been possible, and which provides added versatility to conventional box cargo vessels by giving them ro-ro capability.

According to the present invention there is provided a storage system for ships comprising: a) at least one pair guide rails, one rail of each pair being mounting along one side wall of the cargo hold of a ship and the other rail of each pair being mounted along the opposite side wall of the cargo hold of the ship, b) a plurality of pallets, c) sliding means to enable the pallets to slide on the Ode rails, d) a fift to convey pallets to the or each pair of guide rails.

Preferably there are at least two pairs of guide rails. Preferably the guide rails are mounted on vertical posts mounted against the side wafts of the cargo hold of the ship.

The pallets andlor guide rails andlor vertical posts and/or lift may be removable.

In one embodiment the lift is mounted amidships in the hold and pairs of guide rails extend forward and afl of the lift.

3 Preferably a pallet storage area is provided adjacent the lift. The pallet storage area may include a rack for storing the pallets.

In one embodiment of the invention the sliding means are wheels or rollers mounted on the ends of the pallets which slide in tracks in the guide rafis. The guide rafis may be substantially C-shaped in cross section to create a C-shaped track to receive the wheels or rollers of the pallets.

Preferably releasable coupling means are provided to connect to pallets together.

Preferably an actuating means is provided to move pallets from the lift onto the rails and to remove the pallets from the rails onto the lift.

Preferably the lift compacts, when not in use, into the cargo area of the ship. The lift may be formed from a cubic structure which slides on a pair of telescoping rectangular frames on either side of the ship.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 shows a longitudinal cross-section view of part of a storage system in part of the hold of a ship, 4 Figure 2 shows a perspective view of a pallet, guide rails and sliding means, and Figure 3 shows a perspective view of the lift.

Referring to Figure 1 there is shown part of a ship 1 having a hull 2 with a pair of opposing side walls 2a,2b (only one side wall 2a shown) and a hatch covers 3, with a cargo hold being formed in the space between the hull and hatch covers.

At the centre of the cargo hold is a lift 4 described more fully below. Forward of the lift 4 are seven horizontal guide rails 5 mounted on vertical posts 6 to side wall 2a of the hull 2. Mounted on the side wall 2b on vertical posts, but not shown, are seven horizontal guide rails opposite the guide rails 5 to form seven pairs of guide rails, each pair being at substantially the same height. Aft of the Iffi 4 are are seven horizontal guide rails 7 mounted on vertical posts 8 to side wall 2a of the hull 2. Mounted on the side wall 2b on vertical posts, but not shown, are seven horizontal guide rails opposite the guide rails 7 to form seven pairs of guide rails, each pair being at substantially the same height.

Mounted on a rack 9 are a plurality of pallets 10. Rack 9 forms a pallet storage area adjacent the fift 4.

Each pallet 10 is designed to span substantially the width of the cargo hold between pairs of forward guide rails 5 and pairs of aft guide rails 7. As shown in Figure 2, the pallets may typically be rectangular in shape with sliding means in the form of wheels 11 a, 11 b, 11 c, 11 d at the corners. Guide rails 5 (and 7) may be generally C-shaped in cross section to receive and form a track for the wheels 11 a, 11 b, 11 c, 11 d. A pallet 10 can thus slide in the guide rails. Two pallets 10 may be coupled to slide together by inserting pins 12a, 12b on projecting arms 13a, 13b on one edge of one pallet into apertures 14a, 14b on one edge of another pallet. The pins and apertures form a releasable coupling means for the pallets. Pins 12a, 12b on arms 13 a, 13b are provided on both opposing edges as shown so that coupling can take place between two pallets regardless of the direction of travel of one pallet towards another pallet on the guide rails.

Referring to Figure 3, there is shown in more detail the fift 4. Lift 4 is formed from a cubic structure 15 having a floor 16. The height of the structure 15 is just less than the height of the cargo hold. On the floor 16 is an actuator means in the form of a pair of endless conveyers 17a, 17b. The structure 15 is movable up and down by use of hydraulic rams 18a, 18b and slides on a pair of telescoping rectangular frames 19a,19b and 20a,20b respectively. The lift compacts, when not in use, into the cargo area of the ship.

In use of the storage device, the fift is operated until the floor 16 is just below the height of a pallet on the rack 9. The conveyers are extended under the pallet floor and movement of the 6 conveyer then removes a pallet from the rack onto the floor 16. The lift is then raised until the pallet reaches hatch cover level and the pallet is loaded with cargo such as vehicles. The pallet is then lowered to a desired pair of guide rails and moved by the conveyer onto the pair of guide rails. This process is repeated so that a second loaded pallet is moved onto the same guide rail pair.

As the second pallet is moved onto the pair of guide rails it come in contact with the first pallet and the pins 12a,12b of the second pallet engage with the apertures 14a,14b of the first pallet. The second pallet shunts the first pallet further along the guide rails rather like a train. This process is repeated until all the cargo is loaded. The ship is thus filled with pallets interconnected to create a variety of "decks" When unloading, this process is reversed. It will be apparent that when removing one pallet onto the lift from a row of interconnected pallets on a pair of guide rails, the one pallet will pull the remaining pallets towards the lift so that at any one time there is a pallet adjacent the lift.

Pallets can be stored on different guide rails depending on the height of the cargo. For example half the ships hold could be filled with motor vehicles stored on decks created by interconnected pallets on every other pair of guide rail and half the ships hold could be filled 7 with swap bodies on every third pair of guide rails. Alternatively the forward end of the ship's hold could be filled with pallets, and the rear left empty to receive solid containers or other cargo. In this latter respect, the lift itself could form a storage rack for pallets to make use of the space occupied by rack 9. The storage system of the invention provides a flexible use of the ship's hold.

The pallets and/or guide rails and/or vertical posts and/or lift may be removable. Thus a ship with a standard hold can have the storage system of the invention fitted for a period and then removed to revert the ship to its original design.

The vertical posts may be designed to support the guide rails at variable heights so that the heights of the guide rails and the distance between them can be varied.

The pallets 10 may include fixing points or features to secure cargo thereto, e.g. ribs to create troughs to receive wheels of vehicles. The distance between interconnected pallets may also be adjustable to take diffierent lengths of cargo such as large or small cars, e.g by making arms 13a,13b adjustable in length.

The embodiment in the drawing shows one lift amidships. If desired two or more lifts could be provided. For example two lifts, one near the bow end of the hold and the other near the stern 8 end of the hold, could load pallets onto guide rails extending the length of the hold between the two lifts.

Further modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Claims (10)

1. A storage system for ships comprising at least one pair of guide rails, one rail of each pair being mounting along one side wall of the cargo hold of a ship and the other rail of each pair being mounted along the opposite side wall of the cargo hold of the ship, a plurality of pallets, sliding means to enable the pallets to slide on the guide rails, and a lift to convey pallets to the or each pair of guide rails.

2. A storage system as claimed in claim 1, in which there are at least two pairs of guide rails.

3. A storage system as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, in which the guide rails are mounted on vertical posts mounted against the side walls of the cargo hold of the ship.

4. A storage system as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the pallets andlor guide rails andlor vertical posts andlor lift may be removable.

5. A storage system as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the lift is mounted amidships in the hold and pairs of guide rails extend forward and aft of the lift.

-106. A storage system as claimed in any preceding claim, in which a pallet storage area is provided adjacent the lift the pallet storage area including a rack for storing the pallets.

7. A storage system as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the sliding means are wheels or rollers mounted on the ends of the pallets which slide in tracks in the guide rails, the guide rails being substantially C-shaped in cross section to create a C-shaped track to receive the wheels or rollers of the pallets.

8. A storage system as claimed in claim 7, in which releasable coupling means are provided to connect pallets together.

9. A storage system as claimed in claim 7 or claim 8, in which an actuating means is provided to move pallets from the lift onto the rails and to remove the pallets from the rails onto the lift.

10. A storage system as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the fift compacts, when not in use, into the cargo area of the ship, the lift being preferably formed from a cubic structure which slides on a pair of telescoping rectangular frames on either side of the ship.