US3260353A

US3260353A - Carrying element

Info

Publication number: US3260353A
Application number: US369991A
Authority: US
Inventors: Bajulaz Roger
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1963-05-30
Filing date: 1964-05-25
Publication date: 1966-07-12
Anticipated expiration: 1983-07-12
Also published as: DE1906225U; BE648574A; USRE27283E; GB1043632A; CH398946A

Description

July 12, 1966 R. BAJULAZ CARRYING ELEMENT 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 25, 1964 Arr-x July 12, 1966 R. BAJULAZ CARRYING ELEMENT 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 25, 1964 n Enm MWMWMMWMM WMMMMWW I] I'Tllll III I PM hnil I JWPW- m EMEM III-r AWE/WM iffy.

United States Patent CARRYING ELEMENT Roger Bajulaz, 13 Chemin Pierre Grisse, Genthod, Geneva, Switzerland Filed May 25, 1964, Ser. No. 369,991 Claims priority, application Switzerland, May 30, 1963,

1 Claim. (Cl. 198-156) The present invention has for its object a carrying element for a storage installation support in which a load is transferred from a first to a second support by the passage of these supports one through the other, characterized by the fact that this element comprises a bearing surface which seen from above shows parts offset on either side of the longitudinal symmetry plane of this carrying element.

The accompanying drawing shows diagrammatically and by way of example a few possible embodiments of the carrying element.

FIG. 1 is a partial view from above of a support provided with carrying elements.

FIG. 2 is a partial view in side elevation of the support shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a detail on a larger scale showing carrying elements of FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 4 is a detail on a larger scale showing a first variant of the carrying elements.

FIG. 5 is a detail on a larger scale showing a second variant of the carrying elements.

FIG. 6 is a detail on a larger scale showing a third variant of the carrying elements.

FIG. 7 shows partially a mechanical garage installation equipped with carrying elements, according to the invention.

The carrying elements which are the object of the present invention are adapted to be employed in storage installations comprising supports provided with carrying elements in which loads are transferred from a first support onto a second support by the passage of these supports one through the other. An installation of this type is for example that described in Patent No. 3,204,785 (application No. 146,872, filed on October 25, 1961).

In this type of installation specially envisaged for the parking of motor vehicles the production of these carrying elements presents particularly difficult problems. One must in particular produce carrying elements of sufficient resistance for a single element to be able to carry a quarter of the weight of the heaviest vehicle taken into account, to which are added the safety factors, but having nevertheless a small width so that the distance separating two adjacent carrying elements be small. This is particularly difficult to carry out for heavy loads, such as cars weighing up to about 4900 lbs. (2200 kg.). Moreover, it is necessary that the distance between the adjacent carrying elements be small so as to be able to carry loads resting on small surfaces which is the case of the tires of motor vehicles.

Moreover an additional requirement appears when it is desired to carry cars on such supports. Indeed, it is necessary that in whatever way the car is placed, the tires of said car should rest on a sufficient surface so that they do not sink or fold in a dangerous manner. In fact, when the tread of a tire folds too much there is a great risk that its cord be damaged.

As a matter of fact in present installations the two fol lowing concepts are to be found:

(a) Utilization of carrying elements of large dimensions to impart thereto a sulficient resistance, but this necessarily leads to large spaces between the elements, so that if a tire rests between two elements thus disposed it is deformed and engages itself strongly between these two elements thus producing an inadmissible jamming.

(b) Utilization of elements of small dimensions which permits of reducing the distance between two adjacent elements. In this case if a tire rests solely on one element said element sinks into the tread and deforms the tire to an exaggerated extent, which only rests on this element along one contact line.

The present invention relates to a new type of carrying elements for mechanical garage installations tending to remove the above mentioned serious disadvantages.

The carrying elements 1 according to the invention are rigidly or mechanically fixed, parallel one to the other, by one of their ends along side-members 2 forming part of the frame of a support for the mechanical storage installation. Each of these side-members 2 provided with its carrying elements thus presents the general shape of a comb, which can moreover be found in existing installations.

However, the originality of the present invention resides in the structure or the conception of the various carrying elements 1. Indeed, these carrying elements 1 comprise a bearing surface 3 which, seen from above, has parts offset on either side of the longitudinal symmetry plane of the said element. This essential particularly permits of producing strong carrying elements, having a proper small thickness, which permits of disposing them at a short distance one from the other, but the carrying area of which is very large. This carrying area is defined by a horizontal plane passing through the bearing surface 3 but limited laterally by lines connecting the most distant points of the symmetry axis of the element situated on either side of this axis respectively.

One thus produces all the characteristics of a carrying element necessary for a faultless operation of a mechanical garage installation, i.e.:

(a) Large bearing area of each carrying element.

(b) Small distance separating two adjacent carrying elements.

These two characteristics, united for the first time, are in fact absolutely necessary to prevent any excessive deformation of the tires of a car resting on such elements. Since the carrying area is large, the tire will not undergo any excessive deformation when it rests on a single element.

Furthermore, the distance separating two carrying areas relative to two adjacent elements is less than the pitch or the distance separating these two elements. This is possible due to the outline of each element. In this way the deformation of a tire resting on two adjacent elements is also small. In practice, the deformation of the tire, in whatever way said tire rests on the carrying elements, is comparable to the deformation which it undergoes when it is in contact with the flat ground.

FIGS. 1 to 3 and 7 show very partially a mechanical garage installation which comprises supports 4, including side-members 2 provided with carrying elements 1, movable horizontally along rails 5. This installation further comprises a lifting appliance the platforms of which are constituted by second supports 6 provided with carrying elements 1, identical to those carried by the supports 4. These supports 4 and these second supports 6 are arranged in such a way that when they are alined vertically one relative to the other, the second supports 6 pass during their vertical movement through the support 4. As a matter of fact, when the second support 6 passes through the support 4 the carrying elements 1 and 1' are interposed and each passes into the space provided between two elements carried by the other support.

In this embodiment, the carrying elements 1 and 1' are all constituted by fiat bars bent zigzag and one of whose a lateral edges forms the bearing surface 3. The strength and rigidity of the elements may be increased at will by increasing the width of the bar which in no way changes the structure of the element seen from above, that is to say perpendicularly to the bearing surface. Due to this original outline it is possible to produce supports, for example by means of flat bars of a thickness of about 0.4 in., having a carrying area of a width of about 2 to 4 in., whereas the adjacent elements are also separated by about 3 to 6 in. This distance between adjacent elements could even be still more reduced, and in fact it is determined solely by the accuracy of the positioning of the first supports relative to the second supports. Now, an accuracy of :06 in. is easily obtained which means that it is necessary that the distance between two adjacent carrying elements must be, at a minimum, equal to 1.2 in. in addition to the thickness of the element, which in the present case would thus be from 2 to 2.4 in. Moreover, it is obvious that the wave length of the zizag of the elements must be equal to or less than the width of a tire, that is to say about 4 to 6 in. As a matter of fact, in this case, even if a tire should rest only on one element, the carrying surface would be equal to the width of the tire multiplied by the width of the carrying area of the carrying element, this due to the fact that the tread of a tire does not have the same possibility of deformation along a V-shaped line as along a straight line.

The few dimensions given above by way of example clearly show that a tire, which presents a surface of contact with a flat surface which is a minimum of 4 by 6 in., is in contact with a support provided with carrying elements according to the invention over a surface at least as large as the said surface of contact, which could not be obtained up to the present.

It is quite obvious that the carrying elements 1, 1 may have, seen from above, shapes differing from that of a broken line without departing from the scope' of protection claimed. In particular, the sinusoidal and trapezoidal shapes shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 respectively are also possible and permit of obtaining the same results as the embodiment described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3 and 7.

The last modified form of the carrying elements according to the invention, shown in FIG. 6, also has a bearing surface comprising parts offset on either side of the longitudinal symmetry plane of the element.

In this modified form each carrying element is constituted by a central core 7 carrying cross-pieces 8 projecting from either side of this core 7. Each carrying element thus has the general shape of a ladder.

By way of example the following dimensions may be given: Width of the core 1.6 in.; width of the cross-pieces 4.8 in.; distance separting two elements 6.4 in. Here again, it is easy to see that a tire resting on such a support has a carrying area at least equal to its surface of contact with a flat surface.

By way of example and to illustrate the way in which a tire rests on a support provided with the carrying elements described, the surface of contact which a tire would have with a flat tread has been drawn in dot and dash lines in FIGS. 3, 4, 5 and 6. Following the position which a tire may occupy relative to the carrying elements, the carrying surface a is more or less large. However, this carrying surface a is always at least equal to the width of the tire multiplied by the width of the carrying area of a carrying element. This minimum carrying surface a is still quite sufficient to ensure a small deformation of the tire. Moreover, due to the closeness of the adjacent carrying elements it is impossible for the tire to jam between two of these carrying elements.

I claim:

A car storage installation comprising a first and second support having interfingering portions, means for vertically moving one of said supports to transfer a load from either support to the other support, said interfingering portions when seen in plan view having a general shape of zigzag line.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,274,385 8/1918 Colburn 198189 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,311,260 10/1962 France.

EVON C. BLUNK, Primary Examiner.

RICHARD E. AEGERTER, SAMUEL F. COLEMAN,

Examiners.