US2971662A

US2971662A - Box rotator attachment

Info

Publication number: US2971662A
Application number: US706025A
Authority: US
Inventors: Elmer J Dunham
Original assignee: Clark Equipment Co
Current assignee: Doosan Bobcat North America Inc
Priority date: 1957-12-30
Filing date: 1957-12-30
Publication date: 1961-02-14
Anticipated expiration: 1978-02-14

Description

Feb. 14, 1961 Filed Dec. 30, 1957 FIG. I

E. J. DUNHAM 2,971,662

BOX ROTATOR ATTACHMENT 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

ELMER J. DUNHAM ATT Y.

Feb. 14, 1961 DUNHAM 2,971,662

BOX ROTATQR ATTACHMENT Filed Dec. 30, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 1 36 1 v IIILEUIIJ rfi 37,

FIG. 6

INVENTOR.

ELMER J. DUNHAM ATTY.

Feb. 14, 1961 E. J. DUNHAM BOX ROTATOR ATTACHMENT 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Dec. 30, 1957 FIG. 5

INVENTOR.

ELMER J. DUNHAM Y M 5% v 8 ATTY.

UnitedStates Patent O BOX ROTATOR ATTACHMENT Elmer J. Dunham, Battle Creek, Mich., assignor to Clark Equipment Company, a corporation of Michigan Filed Dec. 30, 1957, Ser. No. 706,025

1 Claim. (Cl. 214313) This invention relates, in general, to mobile material handling equipment such as industrial lift trucks and, in particular, to a new and improved box rotator attachment for such trucks whereby a box, such as loaded fruit boxes and the like, may be picked up and transported to a selected location, to be rotated to dump its contents.

Accordingly, a general object of this invention is the provision of a new and improved box rotator attachment for industrial lift trucks.

Still another general object of this invention is a new and improved box rotator attachment for industrial lift trucks whereby the attachment enables the picking up and transporting of loaded fruit boxes and the like from one location to another and rotating the boxes to dump their contents.

I propose to accomplish these general objects by the provision of a U-shaped box rotator attachment for an industrial lift truck having adjustable arms for handling boxes of different sizes, each of which is provided with a rotatable box handling means. Such rotatable box handling means cooperates with a box to be lifted such that when the box is lifted by the box rotator attachment, the box may be locked in its elevated position and may be rotated to dump its contents in a pro-selected location. The handling means are further provided with a means tending to pull the arms toward one another as the box is lifted, thus holding the box in its elevated position safely, and is further provided with a means permitting the drainage of any foreign matter from the handling means which might otherwise collect therein.

Accordingly, still another object of my invention is the provision of an improved box carrier equipment adapted to be attached to an industrial lift truck and having complementary parts by means of which through power control from the lift truck, a box or the like may be lifted, rotated, etc., with facility.

Still another object of my invention is the provision of a box rotator attachment for an industrial lift truck having rotatable handling means for lifting a box, locking and rotating it when lifted, to dump its contents in a selected location.

Another and more specific object of my invention is the provision of a safety means in lifting devices of this type whereby the arms of a box rotator attachment tend to be pulled towards one another as the box is lifted to safely secure the box when elevated.

Still another object of my invention is the provision of a means permitting the drainage of the foreign matter from the handling means of a box rotator attachment for an industrial lift truck.

Other and more particular objects of my invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description and drawings forming a part hereof and wherein:

Fig. 1 is a semi-schematic elevational view of the box rotator attachment mounted on a conventional lift truck constructed in accordance with the teachings of my invention and illustrating to advantage a box elevated and rotated to dump the contents of the box;

Fig. 2 is a respective view, partially broken away, illustrating to advantage the details of my box rotator attachment;

Fig. 3 is a plan view illustrating to advantage the positioning of my box rotator attachment with respect to a box to be lifted;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged side detail view of one of the arms of my box rotator attachment as illustrated in the preceding figures, showing to advantage the details of the rotatable box handling means;

Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional plan view of the enlarged detail showing of Fig. 4, taken along line 55 of Fig. 4, and looking in the direction of the arrows; and

Fig. 6 is a front elevational view of the box rotator means.

Turning now to Fig. 1 of the drawings, there is illustrated my new and improved box rotator attachment,

illustrated in its entirety as 10, suitably attached to, the vertical upright or mast 11 of a wheel mounted lift truck 12 having suitable means to raise, lower and hold the box rotator attachment 10 as well as to adjust upright 11 about its vertical axis. Since the details of the construction of the truck 12 and upright 11 are known and can be conventional, no further detailed description hereof is deemed necessary herein; such construction being merely illustrated for the purpose of showing to advantage the typical installation of my box rotating attachment in a mobile material handling device.

Turning now to Figs. 2 and 3, where my box rotator attachment 10 is illustrated in more detail, my attachment can be seen to comprise a U-shaped member having a pair of

adjustable arms

13 and 14 separated by a crossbar means 15 includes means illustrated schematically as 16 in Fig. 3 for mounting the attachment 10 to the upright 11 illustrated in Fig. l, and further includes a pair of oppositely acting power actuated pistons 17, actuated from the power available in the lift truck (one shown), suitably seated on the cross-bar means 15 and operatively connected to

arms

13 and 14 to move the arms outwardly or inwardly with respect to each other, thus adjusting the separation of the arms according to the width of the box to be lifted such as for box 18 as illustrated in Fig. 3. To provide stability for the arms and to movably attach the same to the cross-bar means 15,

arms

13 and 14 and cross-bar means 15 are provided with a

telescopic channel member

20 and 21.

At the outer end of each adjusting

arm

13 and 14, there is provided a rotatable handling means 22 and 23, each having an

arm

24 and 25 extending upwardly beyond the upper edge of the

arms

13 and 14 and having another arm 26 and 27 extending outwardly beyond the ends of the

arms

13 and 14, to thus form an L-shaped member wherein

arms

24 and 25 form stop members and arms 26 and 27 form guide means; the arms 26 and 27 being conveniently curved outwardly as illustrated at 23 and 30 to guide the arms with respect to the box 18 as illustrated in Fig. 3.

At the apex of each of the L-shaped stop and guide arms 24, 26-25, 27, there is provided a circular rotator, as illustrated in Fig. 2 in connection with handling means 23, of the same thickness as the stop and guide arms and rotatable in a substantially circular slot 32 opening at the top as illustrated at 33. Rotator 31 is provided with a square locking slot 34 opening at one end as illustrated at 35 to receive a trunnion 36 of the box 18 as will be explained. The trunnion 36, being substantially cubical or of a substantially parallelepiped configuration, is suitably afiixed to the side 37 of the box 18 and centrally thereof for the purpose of being received in the locking slot 34, handling means 22 being also provided with a 3 locking slot to cooperate with trunnion 38 afiixed to the side 40 opposite to side 37.

Thus, in operation, the box rotator attachment 10 is lowered by the operator to substantially ground level or at least below the level ofthe trunnions .36 and 38, and preferably slightly spaced from the sides of the box as illustrated in Fig. 3. Movement of the attachment 10 to the right as shown in Fig. 3 will cause the

stop arms

24 and 26 to engage the

trunnions

36 and 38. Lifting of the attachment upwardly will cause the trunnions to seat in the locking slots of each of the

arms

13, 14; the locking slots each being chamfered as illustrated at 41 in connection with slot 34 to effect theseating of the trunnion in the slots, at which time the truck 12 is free to transport the box from place to place. 'When the truck reaches a pre-selected location, the rotators will rotate the box as illustrated in Fig. 1 so that the contents thereof may be dumped.

Turning now to Figs. 4, and 6 which illustrate an arm 14, it can be seen that the arm 14 is provided with a power actuated piston means 42 actuated by power available in the lift truck, the piston rod 43 of which is radially connected to one end of a curved crank arm 44 which in turn, is fixedly mounted on a rotatable shaft 45 by any suitable means as by a bolt coupling means 46.

The crang arm 44, being radially disposed outwardly of the center of the shaft as illustrated in Fig. 4, will cause rotation of the shaft 45 upon extension of a piston rod 42 as illustrated in the dotted lines of Fig. 4 and since one end of the shaft is fixedly attached to the rotator 31, rotation of the shaft causes rotation of the rotator as previously explained. Suitable bearing means, such as illustrated, may be provided for the shaft.

As hereinbefore mentioned, one important feature of .this invention is the ability of the

adjustable arms

13 and 14 to move inwardly in response to the inward movement of the side walls of the box which movement may happen in the event the box is heavily loaded. To accomplish this safety feature, each locking slot is provided with inwardly

beveled edges

47, 48, respectively, as illustrated in Fig. 6 to correspond with similarly beveled edges on the base of the

trunnions

36, 38, as illustrated at 50, 51, respectively. According to the invention, the arm actuating piston means 17 are de-energized or relieved of pressure after the trunnions are received in the locking slots, whereby the arms are then free to move toward and away from one another as may be dictated by movement of the trunnions, the cooperating and complementary beveled or wedge surfaces of the trunnions and slots causing the arms to follow the trunnions. In this manner, the movement of the sides of the box inwardly will cause movement of the

arms

13 or 14 inwardly, as a safety feature, when the box is elevated so that the trunnions a 4 will not slip off the arms in the direction transversely of the arms.

Also, as mentioned, another important feature of this invention is the means of draining the locking slots of foreign material or matter to effect eflicient operation of this device. To perform this function,

drainage slots

52, 53, each having a beveled edge such as 54, 55, are provided in the base of each of the locking slots as illustrated in Figs. 4 and 6. The beveled edges 54, are inclined toward the box thus permitting foreign matter to be drained out of the locking slot.

Wherein the various parts of my invention have'been referred to as located in a right or left or an upper or lower or an inward or outward position, it will be understood that this is done solely for the purpose of facilitating description and that such references relate only to the relative positions of the parts as shown in the drawmgs. v

- Also, it is to be understood that many changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention and the invention is defined and comprehended solely by the appended claim which should be construed as broadly as the prior art will permit.

I claim; a

In material handling means comprising a box having trunnions on its sides, a lift truck including laterally movable arms disposed to opposite sides of thebox and having trunnion receiving members thereon, means for moving said arms toward'and away from one another for engaging said members with said trunnions, and means for rotating said members for dumping the box, the improvement comprising that said means for moving said arms is normally de-energized when said trunnions are positioned in said members, said trunnions at the lower sides thereof are inclined downwardly and outwardly relative to the box, and the trunnion receiving members at their upper sides have an inclination complementary to that of the lower sides of the trunnions thereby defining complementary wedge surfaces between each trunnion and its receiving member for causing said arms to move conjointly with said trunnions upon deflection of the sides of said box and for preventing the trunnions from dropping off the arms in a direction transversely of the arms.

,References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,413,661 Stokes Dec. 31, 1946 2,812,089 Purpura Nov. 5, 1957 2,823,061 Pottorf Feb. 11, 1958 2,860,797 Wilcox Nov. 18, 1958