GB2564384A

GB2564384A - Apparatus and method for handling articles

Info

Publication number: GB2564384A
Application number: GB1710145.2A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Evans Barry
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2017-06-26
Filing date: 2017-06-26
Publication date: 2019-01-16
Also published as: GB201710145D0

Abstract

A system comprising a trolley with load-carrying bars 20, 40, 50, 52 and multiple rollers 26, (36, Fig. 2). The spacing between the rollers 26, (36, Fig. 2) may be adjustable so that the trolley can move along structures of different dimensions. The invention also comprises a method for creating a structure: placing a piece of the structure on a surface, placing a trolley on this piece, loading at least one piece onto the trolley, moving the trolley and the additional piece(s) to the end of the installed structure, and installing an extra piece. This method may also comprise repeating the last two steps until there are no more pieces left on the trolley in which case, the trolley may be loaded with more pieces. The trolley may be pushed via a handle 14, which may be insulated to provide electrical isolation to a user. The method may comprise moving and installing concrete troughs 60 used to house railway signalling cables, which may be U-shaped and have flat lids (62, Fig. 1).

Description

Apparatus and method for handling articles

This invention relates to apparatus and a method for handling articles. It has particular, but not exclusive, application to handling concrete components for containing cables such as railway signalling cables.

Lifting heavy items presents considerable risk of personal injury. This risk is increased through repetition, and in uncontrolled environments (such as when working outdoors, onsite), where a person undertaking a lifting operation may have to adapt to variations in their environment, such as the ground on which they are standing. Lifting is particularly hazardous where heavy object must be lifted to or from ground level, since this can involve bending. While mechanical lifting equipment, such as cranes, hoists and jacks are known, they are often unsuited to ad-hoc tasks, such as installing multiple objects in various conditions on site.

In the following description, reference will be made to the installation of cable troughs, but it must be understood that the invention is not limited to that application.

Cables essential to the operation of signalling equipment run alongside railway lines, often for great distances. Since these cables are critical to the safe operation of the railway, they must be protected from harm. This can be achieved by installation of concrete troughs of U-shaped cross-section into which the cables are laid. The troughs are subsequently covered by concrete slab lids. These troughs are constructed from sections of typically lm in length, which can weigh over 100kg. Many thousands of these sections have to be moved many km during the installation of a major signalling system, often to locations where manual handling of them is required due to environmental conditions. Achieving such a task using safe operating procedures is a lengthy and therefore costly task.

An aim of this invention is to provide apparatus and a method for moving and handling articles in a situation as described above or similar to it

To this end, from a first aspect, this invention provides a system for constructing an installation of sectional articles, comprising a trolley that has load carrying members upon which sectional articles can be carried and a plurality of rolling elements, which elements are spaced and dimensioned to support the trolley upon an installed sectional article such that the trolley can be moved along an installation of a plurality of sectional articles.

The completed installation can, therefore, be used as a support over which the trolley can travel in order to deliver additional sectional components to a point of installation.

Preferably, the trolley can be configured such that the spacing between rolling elements can be chosen to correspond to the relevant dimension of the articles to be installed.

From a second aspect, the invention provides a method for installing elongate sectional articles to create a continuous installation comprising: a. installing a sectional article on a supporting surface; b. placing a trolley on the installed article, which trolley has rolling elements in contact with the sectional article that facilitate movement of the trolley along the sectional article; c. loading onto the trolley one or more additional sectional articles; d. transporting the sectional additional sectional articles to a location adjacent to an end part of the continuous installation; and e. installing an additional sectional article so as to extend the continuous installation.

Thus, the completed part of the continuous installation is used as a track along which the trolley can be moved in order to supply additional sectional articles to a location at which they are to be installed.

Typically, steps d and e are repeated until the supply of additional articles on the trolley is exhausted, whereupon the trolley is returned along the continuous installation to a place at which more sectional articles can be loaded onto it by (repetition of step c followed by one or more repetitions of steps d and e).

The sectional articles are typically concrete articles. They are typically of a weight that is in excess of that which a person can safely lift without restriction.

In typical applications, the sectional articles include U-shaped trough components. They may additionally include flat lid components.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described in detail, by way of example, and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figures 1 and 2 are side views of a trolley being an embodiment of the invention carrying concrete articles;

Figures 3 and 4 shown the trolley of Figures 1 and 2 during installation of elongate sectional articles; and

Figure 5 shows a detail of the trolley of Figures 1 and 2.

With reference to the drawings, a trolley embodying the invention comprises a side frame 10 fabricated from square-section steel tube. The side frame 10 has two spaced parallel uprights 12 interconnected by a crossmember 14. A respective spigot 20 projects from a surface of each of the uprights 12, positioned a short distance from the end of the upright 12 remote from the crossmember, the spigots being parallel to one another and at right-angles or the crossmember 14. A plurality of through holes 22 extend through each spigot 20 in a direction parallel to the crossmember 14. A guide member 24 is carried on each upright 12 close to the end of remote from the crossmember 14 and on the surface from which the spigot 20 projects. The guide member 24 has a central portion that is parallel to the crossmember and end portions that are angled away from the spigot 20. A roller 26 is carried on each spigot 20. The roller 26 is free for rotation about an axis that is parallel to the length of the spigot 20 and is disposed between the spigot and the guide member.

The trolley further includes two side members 30. Each side member 30 comprises an upright 32, a guide member 34, a spigot 40 and a roller 36 arranged in substantially the same configuration of the corresponding parts of the side frame 10, albeit with the upright being shorter than that of the side frame 10.

The trolley further comprises a central H-frame 46. The H-frame 46 has a longitudinal member 50 that is substantially the same length as the crossmember 14 of the side frame 10. A respective transverse member 52 extends across the two ends of the longitudinal member to give the central H-frame an overall H-shape. The transverse members 52 are dimensioned to be a close sliding fit into the spigots 20, 40 of the side frame 10 and the side members 30. A plurality of through holes 54 extend through the transverse member 52 in a direction parallel to the longitudinal member 50.

The trolley is assembled by sliding end portions of the transverse members 52 of the central H-frame 46 into the spigots 20 of the side frame 10. A locking pin 58 is then inserted through the holes 22, 54 in the spigots 20 and the transverse member 52. The side members 30 are then connected to the central H-frame 46 by inserting the end portions of the transverse members 52 of the central H-frame 46 into the spigots 40 of the side member 30. A locking pin 58 is then inserted through the holes 42, 54 in the spigots 40 and the transverse member 52. The distance between the side frame 10 and the side members 30 can be adjusted by brining specific holes 22, 42, 54 into alignment prior to insertion of the locking pin 58.

Use of the trolley will now be described with reference to the installation of cable ducts that are used to house railway signalling cables. These cable ducts are formed from two sets of concrete components: U-shaped troughs 60 and flat lids 62. The duct is formed by laying trough components 60 end-to-end on a flat surface, typically the ground, to form an upwardly-open U-shaped trough of arbitrary length. Cables are then laid into trough. Once installation of the cables is complete, the duct is closed by placing the lid components 62 on the trough components 60 thereby enclosing the cables within the duct

Use of the invention is initiated by installing two trough components 60 where required. The trolley is then assembled such that the guide members 24, 34 are spaced apart by a distance just slightly greater than the outside width of the trough component 60. The trolley is then placed onto the installed troughs, with the rollers 26, 36 being supported on upper surfaces of side walls of the trough 60 and the guide members 24, 34 being immediately adjacent to the side walls of the trough, as shown in Figures 3 and 4.

One or more further trough components are then placed on the trolley, being supported on the spigots 20, 40 between the uprights 12, 32 of the side frame 10 and the side members 30, as shown in Figures 1 and 2. The trolley can then be pushed along the installed trough components 60 to the end of the installed length of duct, being guided by the guide members 24, 34. A trough component 60 can then be lifted off the trolley and installed where required. This is repeated until all trough components 60 on the trolley have been installed. The trolley is then returned along the installed length to be loaded with further trough components 60, and the installation process is then repeated as often as necessary to complete the installation.

Lid components 62 can be installed using the trolley in a similar manner.

In this embodiment, the trolley is pushed using the crossmember 14. In an alternative arrangement, an insulated handle may be connected to the crossmember and used to push the trolley. This provides electrical isolation to maintain the safely of a person operating the trolley.

Claims

1. A system for constructing an installation of sectional articles, comprising a trolley that has load carrying members upon which sectional articles can be carried and a plurality of rolling elements, which elements are spaced and dimensioned to support the trolley upon an installed sectional article such that the trolley can be moved along an installation of a plurality of sectional articles.

2. A system according to claim 1 in which the trolley can be configured such that the spacing between rolling elements can be chosen to correspond to the relevant dimension of the articles to be installed.

3. A method for installing elongate sectional articles to create a continuous installation comprising: a. installing a sectional article on a supporting surface; b. placing a trolley on the installed article, which trolley has rolling elements in contact with the sectional article that facilitate movement of the trolley along the sectional article; c. loading onto the trolley one or more additional sectional articles; d. transporting the sectional additional sectional articles to a location adjacent to an end part of the continuous installation; and e. installing an additional sectional article so as to extend the continuous installation.

4. A method according to claim 3 in which steps d and e are repeated until the supply of additional articles on the trolley is exhausted, whereupon the trolley is returned along the continuous installation to a place at which more sectional articles can be loaded onto it by.

5. A method according to claim 3 or claim 4 in which the sectional articles are concrete articles.

6. A method according to any one of claims 3 to 5 in which the sectional articles are of a weight that is in excess of that which a person can safely lift without restriction.

7. A method according to any one of claims 3 to 6 in which the sectional articles include U-shaped trough components.

8. A method according to any one of claims 3 to 7 in which the sectional articles additionally include flat lid components.

9. A method according to any one of claims 3 to 8 in which the trolley on which the articles are placed in step b. is in accordance with claim 1 or claim 2.