GB2478410A

GB2478410A - Load Protector for a Fork Lift Truck

Info

Publication number: GB2478410A
Application number: GB1103340A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Peter James Kimberley; Roy Warren Waterfield
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2010-03-04
Filing date: 2011-02-28
Publication date: 2011-09-07
Anticipated expiration: 2031-02-28
Also published as: GB201103340D0; GB2478410B; GB201003569D0

Abstract

A load protector 10 for attachment to the arm (29, fig. 5) of a fork lift truck comprises a resilient body with a C-shaped cross section. The body comprises a central portion 11 defining a base surface 17 for bearing against the front of the vertical section of the arm, and a pair of side portions 12, each one defining a side face 16 for confronting a side face of the arm. Each side portion of the body has at each end a retainer locator such as a through passage 25 whereby a retainer such as a strap (26, fig. 5) may interconnect between the two location positions and extend over a rear face of the support arm. Each side portion may have a lip that extends towards the other side portion and lies, in use, at the rear of the support arm. Preferably the retainer locators are positioned at each end region no further from an end than 25%, and more preferably 15%, of the length of the load protector. The base surface may be relieved, preferably with two or more grooves (20, fig. 2), to provide an additional cushioning effect.

Description

I

LOAD PROTECTOR FOR A FORK LIFT TRUCK

This invention relates to a load protector for a fork lift truck and to an assembly, and a method of assembly, of a load protector and a support arm of a fork lift truck.

Fork lift trucks commonly are employed to move goods which have been loaded onto a pallet, and the pallet is effective generally to prevent damage to the goods from contact with a ground surface. However, and particularly if a pallet is loaded in a manner in which the goods overhang the boundary of the pallet, especially a pallet side edge which is to receive the outwardly extending forks of the support arms, there is a risk of the goods being damaged by contact with the vertically extending sections of the support arms.

In some cases damage will be immediately apparent. But in other cases damage will be apparent only at a later point in time when the goods are being used at a location which may be remote from where they have been transported by the fork lift truck. Particularly in this case significant costs can arise in replacing the goods, as well as potential damage to the good reputation of a supplier of those goods.

The present invention seeks to provide means whereby the risk of damage may be reduced. The invention seeks also to provide a method in which the support arms of a fork lift truck may be adapted readily in a manner which enables the risk of damage to be reduced.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention a load protector for attachment to the support arm of a fork lift truck comprises an elongate body of resilient material, said body being substantially C shaped in transverse cross-section and comprising a central portion which defines a base surface for bearing against the front face of the vertically extending section of a support arm and a pair of side portions each of which defines a side face for confronting a respective side face of the support arm, each side portion of the body having at at least each end region a retainer locator whereby at each end of the body a retainer may interconnect between the two location positions and extend over a rear face of the support arm.

Preferably each side portion of the body has a longitudinally extending lip formation which extends, as considered in transverse cross-section, in a direction towards the other side portion whereby, in use, the lip formations lie at the rear of the support arm such that the load protector partly encircles the support arm.

The invention further provides an assembly of the load protector of the invention and a fork lift truck support arm wherein said base surface and side faces bear resiliently against confronting surfaces of the support arm. If the resilient elongate body comprises side portions having lip sections, said lip sections may bear resiliently against the rear face of the support arm.

The load protector may be fitted to a support arm by sliding the protector lengthwise over the end of the support arm either prior to fitting the support arm to a truck or, in a retro fit situation, whilst a support arm is temporarily removed from the truck mechanism.

Preferably, however, the load protector is sufficiently flexible to allow it to be fitted to a support arm by causing the side portions to move outwards away from one another such that the spacing therebetween defines an elongate mouth region through which the support arm can be introduced, in a direction perpendicular to the length of the arm. This therefore allows the load protector readily to be retro fitted to a support arm whilst secured to a fork lift truck, thus avoiding the need to remove the arm from the truck mechanism.

Suitable materials for the load protector include a blend of styrene butadiene rubber and natural rubber.

The retainer may be in the form of a flexible strap, such as a flexible metal strip. The retainer locators may be comprised by apertures provided in and extending through the side portions through which the retainer extends.

Optionally the apertures may be provided with protective inserts which protect the resilient material from a possibility of localised damage by the retainer, e.g. from damage by any relatively sharp edges of a metal strip type retainer.

If the side portions are of a kind each having a lip formation, the retainer locators may be provided in said lip formation. Preferably, however, the retainer locators are provided in a region of each side portion which lies between a lip formation and the central portion of the body.

Preferably the retainer locators are positioned such that a retainer, for example, in the form of a metal strap, passes through retention apertures in the side portions and extends between opposite edges of the support arm.

The retainer may be in contact with the rear face of the support arm. Thus none of the retainer extends across the front face of the support arm. Ends of the strap may be interconnected thereby to result in a retainer in the form of a loop.

The invention particularly teaches that advantageously the retainers and retainer locators are positioned at each end region of the load protector, preferably no further from an end than 25%, more preferably less than 15%, of the length of the load protector. In consequence it is found that in contrast to providing a retainer solely at a position midway between ends of the load protector, there is an advantageously enhanced resistance to the load protector being displaced from proper alignment with the support arm under the action of any sideways forces that goods on a loaded pallet might impose on the front face of the load protector.

The invention does not, however, exclude the provision of one or more additional retainers, and one or more retainer locators, at, for example, the central section of the length of the load protector.

Preferably said base surface of the central section, i.e. that surface which faces inwards for confronting and bearing against a fork arm, is relieved thereby to provide an enhanced cushioning effect additional to that afforded by the resiliency of the material from which the load protector is formed. That face may be relieved for example by being formed with two or more grooves which extend lengthwise on the load protector. The opposite, outwardly facing surface of the load protector may be grooved or otherwise shaped in a substantially similar manner.

One embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings in which:-Figure 1 is a perspective view of a load protector in accordance with the present invention; Figure 2 is a cross-section on the line AA of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a front view of the load protector in situ on a fork lift truck support arm; Figure 4 is a side view of the protector and support arm of Figure 3, and Figure 5 is a plan view of the protector and part of the support arm of Figures 3 and 4.

A load protector 10 comprises in transverse cross-section as viewed in Figure 2 a central portion 11 and a pair of side portions 12 which extend in the same direction from opposite edge regions of the central portion thereby to define in transverse cross-section a C shaped channel 19.

Each side portion 12 has a lip section 14 at the edge thereof furthest from the central section. The two lip sections extend towards one another and define therebetween an opening 15 which is of a smaller width W than the width of the fork lift truck support arm 29 to which the protector is to be fitted.

In contrast, the spacing X between the inner faces 16 of the side sections is only slightly less than the width of the support arm such that the side faces will tend inherently to bear firmly against sides of a support arm without tending significantly to splay apart.

The inner, base, surface 17 of the central portion 11 is moulded to provide three groove formations 20 which each extend lengthwise between the ends of the load protector. The outwardly facing surface 21 of the central section also is profiled and comprises two longitudinally extending depressions 22 which are substantially aligned with respective rib formations 23 defined by the material between the grooves of the inner face.

Each side portion 12 is provided with a pair of through-passages 25, each through-passage serving as a retainer locator and lying inwards from an end of the load protector by a distance which is approximately 10% of the length of the protector. In this example the load protector has a length of 50cm (20 inches) and the passages 25 lie 5cm (2 inches) from an end of the load protector.

The pair of through-passages 25 at each end region of the protector are employed to receive a retainer in the form of a metal strap 26 which in the assembled condition as shown in Figure 5 extends across the rear face 27 of the support arm 29, through each passage 25 and then around the outer surfaces 28 of the two lip sections 14.

The metal strap 26 is formed integrally with an end clasp 32 which receives a free end 33 of the strap. The clasp incorporates internal locking components that resist removal of the free end and secure the strap against slackening after being formed into a tight loop. A commercially available example of a strap of this type is a stainless steel ball bearing tie, available from HellermannTyton and having a non-releasable locking feature which permits it to be infinitely adjustable in length.

To form the assembly as shown in Figures 3 to 5 the flexibility of the load protector 10 in consequence of the cross-sectional shape, the resiliency of the material from which it is formed, and also the presence of the groove formations 20, 22 allows the spacing W of the lip sections to be slightly increased by forcing apart the side sections so as to allow the support arm to be introduced into the C shaped channel 19 as defined by the load protector in a direction perpendicular to the length of the load protector.

The free end of each metal retaining strip 26 is then threaded through one of the through-passages 25 in a direction from the outer surface of a side section to the inner surface, across the rear face 27 of the support arm, and through the other side section from an inner to an outer face 28 thereof. The load protector is slid as required along the vertical section 30 of the support arm 29 to lie at a desired spacing above the fork section 31 and the free end is then turned back around the lip section 14 of a side section and introduced into the end clasp 32 at the other end of the strip and tightened.

It is not essential that the strap bears against a rear face of the support arm or is in the form of a loop. In an alternative configuration a metal or other retainer may extend between the lip sections and be spaced from the rear face of the support arm.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A load protector for attachment to the support arm of a fork lift truck comprises an elongate body of resilient material, said body being substantially C shaped in transverse cross-section and comprising a central portion which defines a base surface for bearing against the front face of the vertically extending section of a support arm and a pair of side portions each of which defines a side face for confronting a respective side face of the support arm, each side portion of the body having at at least each end region a retainer locator whereby at each end of the body a retainer may interconnect between the two location positions and extend over a rear face of the support arm.
2. A load protector according to claim 1 wherein each side portion of the body has a longitudinally extending lip formation which, as considered in transverse cross-section, extends in a direction towards the other side portion whereby, in use, the lip formations lie at the rear of the support arm.
3. A load protector according to claim 2 wherein the retainer locators are provided in said lip formation.
4. A load protector according to claim 2 wherein the retainer locators are provided in a region of each side portion which lies between a lip formation and the central body portion.
5. A load protector according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the retainer locators are comprised by apertures provided in and extending through the side portions.
6. A load protector according to claim 5 wherein the apertures are provided with protective inserts to protect the resilient material from damage by a retainer.
7. A load protector according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the retainer locators are positioned at each end region of the load protector no further from an end than 25% of the length of the load protector.
8. A load protector according to claim 7 wherein the retainer locators are positioned at a distance from a respective end which is less than 15% of the length of the load protector.
9. A load protector according to any one of the preceding claims and comprising an additional retainer locator between said end regions.
10. A load protector according to claim 9 and comprising at least one retainer locator at a central section of the length of the load protector.
11. A load protector according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the resilient material comprises a blend of styrene butadiene rubber and natural rubber.
12. A load protector according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the elongate body has sufficient flexibility to allow it to be fitted to a support arm by causing the side portions to move outwards away from one another such that the spacing therebetween defines an elongate mouth region through which the support arm can be introduced in a direction perpendicular to the length of the arm.
13. A load protector according to any one of the preceding claims in combination with a retainer.
14. A load protector according to claim 13 wherein the retainer extends through retention apertures in the side portions and is in the form of a strap the ends of which are interconnected thereby to provide a retainer in the form of a loop.
15. A load protector according to any one of the preceding claims wherein said base surface of the central portion is relieved thereby to provide a cushioning effect additional to that afforded by the resiliency of the material from which the load protector is formed.
16. A load protector according to claim 15 wherein said base surface comprises two or more grooves which extend lengthwise of the load protector.
17. A load protector according to any one of the preceding claims wherein an outwardly facing surface of the load protector is relieved thereby to provide a cushioning effect additional to that afforded by the resiliency of the material from which the load protector is formed.
18. An assembly comprising a fork lift truck support arm and a load protector according to any one of the preceding claims secured to said support arm.
19. An assembly according to claim 18 wherein said base surface and side faces bear resiliently against confronting surfaces of the support arm.
20. An assembly according to claim 18 or claim 19 wherein the resilient elongate body comprises side portions having lip sections and said lip formations bear resiliently against the rear face of the support arm.
21. An assembly according to any one of claims 18 to 20 wherein the retainer comprises a strap which passes through retention locators in the side portions and extends between opposite edges of the support arm across the rear face of the support arm.
22. An assembly according to claim 21 wherein the strap extends between opposite edges of the support arm in contact with the rear face of the support arm.
23. A method of forming the assembly of any one of claims 18 to 22 wherein side portions of the elongate body are moved outwards away from one another to create an elongate mouth region through which the support arm may be introduced in a direction perpendicular to the length of the arm.
24. A method according to claim 23 wherein retainers are brought into association with the retainer locators at the respective end regions subsequent to introducing the support arm through said elongate mouth region, said retainers being provided in a manner whereby they serve to secure the load protector to the support arm.
25. A load protector according to claim 1 and substantially as hereinbefore described.
26. An assembly according to claim 18 and substantially as hereinbefore described.
27. A method according to claim 23 and substantially as hereinbefore described.