GB2384768A

GB2384768A - Releasably locking containers to vehicles

Info

Publication number: GB2384768A
Application number: GB0200356A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Alan John Cartwright
Original assignee: Cartwright & Sons S
Current assignee: Cartwright & Sons S
Priority date: 2002-01-09
Filing date: 2002-01-09
Publication date: 2003-08-06
Anticipated expiration: 2022-01-09
Also published as: GB2384768B; GB0200356D0

Abstract

A road transport vehicle has a load-carrying body mounted on a wheeled chassis. Support legs (14) are provided on opposite sides so that the body can be supported above the chassis to enable the chassis to be removed. The legs (14) can be retracted to lower the body on to the chassis. The body is locked relative to the chassis by engagement of projections (22) on the legs with apertures (ends of beams 6) in the chassis when the legs are retracted. The body is located on the chassis by interengagement of tapered projections (25) on the chassis with tapered recesses (24) on the underside of the body.

Description

ROAD VEHICLES This invention relates to load-carrying bodies for road transport vehicles of the kind having a load-carrying structure with extendable ground-engageable legs on opposite sides.

Vehicle bodies of this kind are mounted for transport purposes on a wheeled chassis with the legs retracted and moved inwardly into stowed position. When desired, e. g. for loading or unloading or storage, the legs are moved outwardly and then extended so as to engage the ground surface and lift the body off the chassis. The chassis can then be removed leaving the body supported by the legs at an elevated position.

In the case of ground-loader bodies, the legs can then be retracted to lower the body to a position on or slightly above the ground surface.

It is necessary to provide a mechanism which can hold the body securely on the chassis for transport yet which can be readily released to permit separation of the body and chassis when desired. A known mechanism comprises twist-locks which are mounted at a number of positions on the chassis and which can be rotated into and out of interlocking engagement with twist-lock receiving structures on the underside of the body. Twist locks can be effective but can be inconvenient to operate and can be readily overlooked whereby there is the risk that the vehicle may be driven with the body in the correct position on the chassis but not locked in such position.

An object of the present invention is to provide a locking

mechanism for a vehicle body which is convenient to operate and with which locking can be readily checked.

According to the invention therefore there is provided a loadcarrying vehicle body for mounting on a wheeled chassis of a road transport vehicle, said body comprising a load-carrying structure with extendable support legs on opposite sides movable between operational and stowed positions characterised in that at least one leg has associated therewith a locking member adapted to engage a cooperable configuration on the chassis in the stowed position thereby to lock the body relative to the chassis.

With this arrangement, movement of the legs to their stowed positions corresponds with locking of the body relative to the chassis. Accordingly, locking can be effected in a particularly convenient manner and in so far as the locking condition is signalled by the positioning of the legs it is less likely that locking of the body relative to the chassis prior to transport will be overlooked.

There may be two legs on each of two opposite sides of the body and each leg may be provide with a respective locking member for interengagement with a respective configuration on the chassis.

The (or each) locking member may comprise a projection engageable with a receiving aperture.

Most preferably, the legs are movable into and out of the stowed position by movement inwardly towards and outwardly away from the

body. In this case, the arrangement may be such that the (or each) locking member is correspondingly moved inwardly and outwardly into and out of locking interengagement with the respective cooperable configuration on the chassis.

Movement of the legs inwardly and outwardly is preferably by way of linear movement, although alternatively pivotal movement may be used.

Movement of the legs inwardly and outwardly may be effected hydraulically or pneumatically e. g. with a ram. Also, extension and retraction of the legs may be effected pneumatically or hydraulically with a ram.

Preferably also, locating configurations may be provided respectively on the body and the chassis to ensure correct positioning of the body on the chassis. These configurations may be of the kind conventionally used and thus may comprise one or more tapered projections on one (e. g. on the chassis) and one or more tapered receiving recesses on the other (e. g. on the underside of the body) so that the tapered configurations act to centre the body relative to the chassis. The tapered configurations may be conical or wedge-shaped.

With regard to the (or each) locking configuration on the chassis, this may be constructed in any suitable manner. In a particularly preferred embodiment the chassis has at least one transverse beam with apertures at its end providing the locking configurations.

The invention will now be described further by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which :Figure 1 is a diagrammatic side view of a road transport vehicle with a load carrying body in accordance with one embodiment of the invention; Figure 2 is a detail to an enlarged scale of part of one leg of the body of Figure 1 showing it in stowed position locked relative to a chassis of the vehicle; and Figure 3 is a detail of a locking arrangement for locating the body relative to the chassis; Referring to Figure 1, a load-carrying road transport vehicle has a wheeled chassis 1 comprising a chassis structure 2 mounted via a suspension on axles 3 carrying road wheels.

At one end 4 the chassis 1 is adapted for pivotal connection to a tractor unit or cab (not shown).

In conventional manner, the chassis structure 2 is constructed with elongate steel I-beams 5 interconnected by transverse box-section beams 6.

A load-carrying body 7 is mountable on the chassis 1. The body 7 has a base structure 8 or platform with upstanding rectangular side walls 9, a roof 10, a front end wall 11, and a rear periphery 12 with hinged doors.

The two rectangular side walls 9 have two inset vertical open

channels 13 at spaced apart positions respectively towards the front and rear peripheries of the walls 9. The channels 13 on one side wall 9 are respectively aligned with the channels 13 on the opposite side wall 9.

Within these channels 13 are mounted respective leg structures 14.

Each such leg structure 14 comprises a vertical hydraulic ram 15 connected to a tubular steel leg member 16 terminating at its lower end in an enlarged foot 17.

The ram 15 is rigidly connected to a plate 18 which is fixed to one end of a double-acting ram arrangement 19 which is disposed horizontally.

There are two such ram arrangements 19, one for each pair of aligned legs 14 on opposite sides of the body 7. Each ram arrangement 19 extends across the body 7 within the base structure 8 and is fixed centrally. The ram arrangement 19 has two rams 20 on opposite sides, such rams 20 being fixed to the plates 18 of the respective two aligned legs 14 on opposite sides of the body 7.

The arrangement is such that by appropriate operations of the ram arrangements 19 the legs 14 can be moved inwardly and outwardly relative to the body 7 between stowed and operational positions.

In the stowed position the leg 14 is contained substantially wholly within its respective channel 13, except for the lower end region and the foot 17 which project downwardly below the bottom end of the channel 13 and below the base structure 8 of the body 7.

Each leg 14 has an additional plate 21 at the bottom end of the respective ram 15 which projects downwardly level with the foot 17. This plate 21 has a rigid projecting peg 22 which is directed horizontally inwardly towards the body 7.

The peg 22 cooperates for locking purposes with an adjacent open end of a respective transverse box-section beams 6 of the chassis 1.

The body 7 has beneath the base structure 8 one or more fixed transverse box-section structures 23 with a wedge-shaped recess 24 in the form of a downwardly open elongate channel of triangular crosssection. There may be a respective such box-section structure 23 for each ram 20, acting as a mounting structure for such ram 20.

The (or each) recess 24 cooperates for location purposes with a respective corresponding upwardly directed elongate solid rib 25 of triangular cross section fixed on the top surface of a transverse boxsection beam 6 of the chassis 1. This beam 6 may be the same beam 6 as that mentioned above providing end apertures for the locking pegs 22.

With the legs 14 moved outwardly to their operational positions so that they are displaced out of their channels 13, the legs 14 can be extended so that the tubular members 16 move downwardly.

When completely extended the body 7 can be supported on a ground surface at a position at which it straddles the wheeled chassis 1, i. e. such that the body 7 is spaced above the chassis 1 and the legs 14 are clear of the chassis 1 on opposite sides.

The wheeled chassis 1 can then be driven from under the body 7.

The legs 14 can now be retracted so that the body 7 is lowered to a position at which the base structure 8 of the body 7 is slightly above the ground surface and is firmly supported on the feet 17. In this position the legs 14 are held displaced outwardly of the channels 13.

The body 7 can now be conveniently loaded and unloaded e. g. via a ramp.

When desired the members 16 of the legs 14 can again be fully extended to lift the body 7 back to an elevated position sufficient to allow the chassis 1 to be driven back beneath the body 7.

The chassis 1 is aligned with the body 7 so that the triangular ribs 25 on the chassis 1 are vertically aligned with the triangular recesses 24 in the body 7.

The body 7 can now be lowered into the body 7 by retraction of the tubular members 16 of the legs 14 until the ribs 25 engage the recesses 24. Any slight misalignment is corrected by the triangular ribs 25 and recesses 24 acting to shift the body 7 horizontally to centre the ribs 25 in the recesses 24.

When the legs 14 are fully retracted the pegs 22 are horizontally aligned with the respective open ends of the transverse box-section beams 6 of the chassis 1.

The ram arrangement 19 can now be actuated to move the legs 14 inwardly into the stowed positions in the channels 13. The pegs 22

thereby engage the beams 6 and lock the body 7 securely relative to the chassis 1.

With this arrangement, locking of the body 7 can be effected in a particularly convenient manner.

Moreover, since locking of the body 7 is effected automatically when the legs 14 are moved from their outwardly projecting operational positions to their inward stowed positions it can be readily seen whether or not the body 7 has been locked to the chassis 1. There is therefore little likelihood'that locking will be overlooked.

It is of course to be understood that the invention is not intended to be restricted to the details of the above embodiment which are described by way of example only.

Claims

1. A load-carrying vehicle body for mounting on a wheeled chassis of a road transport vehicle, said body comprising a load-carrying structure with extendable support legs on opposite sides movable between operational and stowed positions characterised in that at least one leg (14) has associated therewith a locking member adapted to engage a cooperable configuration on the chassis in the stowed position thereby to lock the body relative to the chassis.

2. A body according to claim 1 wherein there are two legs on each of two opposite sides of the body and each leg is provided with a respective said locking member for interengagement with a respective said cooperable configuration on the chassis.

3. A body according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the (or each) locking member comprises a projection engageable with a receiving aperture.

4. A body according to any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein the legs are movable into and out of the stowed position by movement inwardly towards and outwardly away from the body.

5. A body according to claim 4 wherein the (or each) locking member is correspondingly move inwardly and outwardly into and out of locking interengagement with the respective cooperable configuration on the chassis.

6. A body according to claim 4 or 5 wherein movement of the legs

inwardly and outwardly is by way of linear movement.

7. A body according to any one of claims 4 to 6 wherein movement of the legs inwardly and outwardly is effected with a ram.

8. A body according to any one of claims 1 to 7 wherein locating configurations are provided respectively on the body and the chassis.

9. A body according to claim 8 wherein the said configurations comprise one or more tapered projections and one or more tapered receiving recesses.

10. A body according to claim 9 wherein the projections are on the chassis and the recesses are on the underside of the body.

11. A body according to any one of claims 1 to 10 wherein the chassis has at least one transverse beam with an aperture at its end providing the locking configuration.

12. A load-carrying body substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

13. A load-carrying body according to any one of claims 1 to 12 in combination with a wheeled chassis of a road transport vehicle.