US3404653A - Trolley for brushing and rubbing-down ships' hulls in dry dock - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 8, 1968 C. SIERRA ET AL TROLLEY FOR BRUSHING AND RUBBING-DOWN SHIPS HULLS IN DRY DOCK Filed May 9, 1966 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS Q Char/29 S/erra z/ A 1/ ,l I'll/1111a l a/fig 'p Oct. 8, 1968 SERRA ET AL 3,404,653

TROLLEY FOR BRUSHING AND RUBBING-DOWN SHIPS BULLS IN DRY DOCK Filed May 9, 1966 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS HULLS IN DRY DOCK Oct. 8, 1968 c. SIERRA T -DOWN SHIPS TROLLEY FOR BRUSHING AND RUBBING 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed May 9, 1966 INVENTQRS Char/es 5m pier/e Pmce OCt. 8 1968 c SERRA ET AL 3,404,653

TROLLEY FOR BRUSHING AND RUBBING-DOWN SHIPS HULLS IN DRY DOCK Filed May 9, 1966 e Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTORS' Char/as 5 119/712 pier/e P/ace Oct. 8, 1968 c, SERRA ET AL 3,404,653

TROLLEY FOR BRUSHING AND RUBBING-DOWN SHIPS HULLS IN DRY DOCK Filed May 9, 1966 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTORS (liar/es Srrfia Pier/e T /hoe Oct. 8, 1968 Q SERRA ET AL 3,404,653

TROLLEY FOR BRUSHING AND RUBBINGDOWN SHIPS HULLS IN DRYDOCK Filed May 9, 1966 1 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 INVENTORS Char/e5 5 raw/1a p/er/"e P/mce United States Patent 3,404,653 TROLLEY FOR BRUSHING AND RUBBlNG-DOWN SHIPS HULLS IN DRY DOCK Charles Sierra, 24 Square Belsince, and Pierre Pince, 60 Blvd. Testaniere, both of Marseille, France Filed May 9, 1966, Ser. No. 586,311 Claims priority, appliclatioizlfrance, May 10, 1965, 6 4

9 Claims. (31. 114-222 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present invention relates to a trolley for brushing and rubbing-down the hulls of ships in dry clock. It relates more precisely to improvements in a brushing and rubbingdown trolley in which the brushing and rubbing-down tool is a circular brush movable in rotation about an axis perpendicular to the working surface of the brush, and carried by a moving arm by which the brush can be brought into contact with the surface to .be cleaned and permitting the brush to be progressively moved from left to right or from right to left over this surface during the brushing operation.

This type of trolley makes it possible in particular to brush and rub-down in dry dock the part of the surface of a ships hull which is located below the bilge keels, in other words, the brushing and rubbing-down of the outside of the bottom of a ship, including the rounded portions.

This brushing operation is carried out step by step over successive areas. To brush-down one area, the operator brings the brush into contact with the surface to be brushed, holds the trolley stationary and sets the brush in rotation, while at the same time he pivots the arm which carries it, for example through 180, in order to move the brush over a certain area of the surface to be worked. The brush thus cleans an area which has the form of a part of a ring, the width of the area depending on the diameter of the brush and its length depending on the pivotal angle of the arm, the portion of ring being for example a half-ring for a pivotal movement of 180".

After brushing an area of this kind, the operator must displace the trolley in order to bring the brush into a position such that it will be able to sweep a new area adjacent to the first. He then stops the trolley and sets the brush in rotation, at the same time causing the arm to pivot in order that the brush can clean the new area, and so on.

Such an operation of the brushing machine makes it necessary for the trolley to be provided with means for controlling the movement of the trolley and means permitting the control of the pivotal movement of the arm which carries the brush.

In a known form of construction, these control means are reduced to a push-bar which an operator pushes to move the trolley and a lever actuated by the operator to cause the arm to pivot which carries the brush. Under these conditions, the operator can move the trolley as he wishes and can cause the arm to pivot, and he must be particularly attentive in carrying out these movements in such manner that the displacement of the trolley corresponds to the diameter of the brush, so that the new working position of the brush is effectively contiguous to its former working position and that there is no unbrushed surface of the hull between two brushed surfaces, and in such manner that the movement of the brush in an area is progressive and smooth.

This results in practice in the serious drawbacks that the quality of the brushing depends to a large extent on the attention and skill of the operator and that the efliciency of the brushing machine is reduced by the idle times devoted to checking the successive positions occupied by the brush and to their correction when so required.

A first object of the invention thus relates to a brushing trolley equipped with simple and robust operating means, adequate to control precisely the displacement of the trolley in dependence on the diameter of the brush.

According to the invention, these operating means comprise essentially two systems with hand-wheels and gears suitably mounted on the trolley and in kinematic coupling with the arm carrying the brush on the one hand and with the driving wheel or wheels of the trolley on the other.

The invention is also directed to another feature intended to improve the work of the operators by providing easier observation of the brushed surface.

According to the invention, the brush is equipped with a surrounding member which protects the operators from the materials detached by the brush -firom the wall on which it is working.

This anti-projection surrounding member may be a kind of oval or polygonal mat mounted round the brush so as to be applied against the wall, round the zone of action of the brush but Without interfering with the operation of this latter.

The surrounding member may be fixed on a plate arranged under the brush, so as to form a sleeve which surrounds the brush.

In order to prevent the accumulation of material between the rotating brush and its surrounding member, the invention provides, in the appropriate portion of the plate, orifices permitting the evacuation of the materials detached from the brushed area and caught by the surrounding mat.

The materials pass through these orifices at a low speed which depends essentially on the pressure of accumulation, and are not subjected to the action of the centrifugal force generated by the rotation of the brush. For this reason, they are not projected through the orifices of the plate but pass through them substantially as if they were passing through the meshes of a sieve.

According to a further particular feature of the invention, a bag or other receptacle may be arranged under the plate so as to receive the materials detached.

It is clear that such protection for the operators is particularly valuable during the brushing of hulls which have received surface applications of poisonous anti-fouling paints, since failing special precautions such as the 0perators wearing masks, the latter would be exposed to poisoning by the projection of certain parts of the poisonous coating detached and reduced to dust during the brushing-down operation.

In fact, the invention results in a brushing trolley which is easy to use and reliable in operation and which can be entrusted to operators without any special training.

The description which follows below will make it easier to understand how the invention may be carried out in practice, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic side view of a known type of brushing trolley;

FIG. 2 is a side view of a brushing trolley of the same general type as that shown in FIG. 1, but which is pro- 3 vided with mechanical controls and a brush surrounding member in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the trolley shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a view of the interior of the mechanical control station, the viewing plane being vertical and parallel to the width of the trolley;

FIG. 5 is a cross-section of this station taken along a horizontal plane passing through the line V-V of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a cross-section of this station taken along a vertical plane passing through the line VI-VI of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a view of the underside of the trolley of the invention in the region of the rear wheels located under the control station;

FIG. 8 is a longitudinal section taken along the axis of the driving shaft providing the pivotal movement of the carrier-arm of the brush;

FIG. 9 is a vertical section showing the mounting of the arm pivot on the trolley; and

FIG. 10 is a view of the underside of the trolley in the region of the front wheels.

FIG. 1 shows a side view of a brushing trolley of a known type described in French Patent No. 1,393,901 filed on May 11, 1964.

This trolley comprises a chassis I mounted on wheels and carrying a pivot 2 which is rotatable about a vertical axis and at the extremity of which is articulated an arm 3 which carries a fork 4, on which is suspended a motor 5 and a circular brush 6 mounted on the motor shaft. The arm 3 rests on a cradle 7 when the brushing machine is not working and it can be lifted by pivotal movement about the horizontal shaft 8 by means of a jack 9 which is supported on the rear of the pivot 2.

The jack is hydraulically operated from a pump which forms part of an operating group 10.

The means for controlling the movement of the trolley and the pivotal rotation of the pivot 2 are reduced in this known type of trolley to an arm 11 which serves to push the trolley, and to an arm 12 which is moved from left to right or vice-versa in order to rotate the pivot 2 and in consequence the arm 3 which carries the brush.

Such control means have the disadvantages which have already been described above, and the present invention provides for their replacement by other controls which will be described below with reference to FIGS. 2 to 10.

In FIGS. 2 and 3, which show this trolley respectively in side view and in plan, the parts which correspond to parts of the trolley of FIG. 1 are indicated by identical numerical references followed by a prime.

Thus there are again seen in FIGS. 2 and 3 the pivot 2 mounted on the chassis 1' so as to be able to pivot about a vertical axis, the arm 3 articulated on the pivot so as to be able to pivot about a horizontal axis, a stirrup member 4 at the extremity of the arm 3 so as to be able to rotate about the axis of the arm, a motor 5' carried by the stirrup 4' so as to be able to pivot about an axis defined by the stirrup, and a brush 6 carried by the motor 5' which can drive it in rotation about an axis which is in principle perpendicular to the working surface of the brush.

As distinct from the trolley of FIG. 1, the jack 9' mounted between the pivot 2 and the arm 3 is supported in front of the pivot which leaves free the part of the trolley located behind the pivot and makes it possible to install in this position a driving set 22 serving as the primary source of energy for actuating the pump or pumps for pressurizing and circulating the driving fluid for operating the jack and the hydraulic motor which rotates the brush. In the known arrangement, the mounting of the jack did not permit the provision of a driving set of this kind, and the energy necessary for the operation of the hydraulic pump was brought in by electric cables from a source of electrical energy external to the trolley, these cables having the disadvantages of limiting the complete freedom of movement of the trolley.

in FIGS. 2 and 3 it can also be seen that the brush 6' is surrounded according to the invention by a protection ring 22 fixed to a plate 15 which is fixed with respect to the motor but which is pierced at its centre to provide a passage for the shaft of the brush. In addition, this plate 15 is pierced with a plurality of orifices 14 for the evacuation through the plate of the material detached from the wall to be cleaned by the brush during the course of working of the said brush.

The brushing machine is provided according to the invention with a station of manual controls located at the rear of the trolley and of which FIG. 3 shows the casing 16 and three operating hand-wheels 17, 18 and 19, which are at the disposal of two operators for which the seats 20 and 21 have been provided.

In the form of construction shown, the left-hand operator is responsible for the manual control of the sweeping by the rear left-hand hand-wheel 17, while the right-hand operator operates the manual control of the movement of the trolley by the right-hand side hand-wheel 19 (with the right hand) and the manual operation of the direction of movement of the trolley by the rear right-hand handwheel 18 (with the left hand).

The left-hand hand-wheel 17 provides the control of the pivotal movement of the brush 6 so as to cause this brush to describe an arc of a circle about the vertical axis of the pivot 2', the brush then sweeping out a ring-shaped zone, a part of which is indicated at 23 in FIG. 3.

This control is effected by means of a transmission which will now be described with reference to FIGS. 4, 5, 8 and 9.

As can be seen from these figures, the hand-wheel 17 rotates a shaft 24 (FIG. 5) which carries a pinion 25, the end of the shaft being suitably mounted in a bearing 26 bolted on the casing of the manual control station.

The pinion co-operates with the links of a chain 28 (FIG. 4) which also passes into the interior of the manual control station over a pinion 29 suitably arranged for that purpose. The chain passes out of the station by an orifice 30 pierced in the base wall of the station and passes round the pinion 31 (FIG. 8) located under the station, and which is thus rotated by the chain in response to the action of the hand-wheel 17. This pinion 31 is rigidly fixed to one extremity of a shaft 32 held in position by several bearings, and the other extremity of which carries a screw 33 which engages the horizontal toothed wheel 34 rigidly fixed to the pivot 2' (FIG. 9).

By means of the shaft 24, the pinion 25, the chain 28, the pinion 31, the shaft 32, the screw 33 and the wheel 34, the hand-wheel 17 rotates the pivot 2', and, in the example shown, the teeth and the chain are chosen in such manner that four revolutions of the hand-wheel 17 cause a pivotal movement of the pivot 2' over an :arc of about 180, or 90 on each side of the axis of the trolley. This pivotal movement of the pivot obviously produces a corresponding pivotal movement of the brush 6' which is coupled to the pivot by the arm 3'.

Col-relatively to this control of the pivotal movement of the brush, a control is provided for the movement of the trolley such that two revolutions of the hand-wheel 19 permit the trolley to be moved by a length equal in principle to the diameter of the brush, this diameter being about 600 mm. in the case of the trolley illustrated.

This control of the movement of the trolley by the righthand side hand-wheel 19 is effected by means of a transmission which will now be described with reference to FIGS. 4, 5, 6 and 7.

As can be seen from these figures, the hand-wheel 19 (FIG. 5) rotates a first shaft 35 which carries a first toothed wheel 36. This wheel drives a second toothed wheel 37 carried by a second shaft 38 on which is fixed a third toothed wheel 39 which drives a fourth toothed wheel 40 fixed on a third shaft 41 which carries a pinion 42. The pinion 42 serves to drive a chain 43 (FIG. 6) which also passes into the manual control station over a further pinion 44. The various shafts are of course suitably carried by bearings.

The chain 43 passes out of the casing of the control station through perforations 45 and 46 (FIG. 6) and passes round a pinion 47 (FIG. 7) rigidly fixed to a shaft 48 carried by appropriate bearings, and on which are mounted the rear wheels 49 and 50 of the trolley.

By means of the shaft 35, the toothed wheel 36, the toothed wheel 37, the shaft 38, the toothed wheel 39, the toothed wheel 40, the shaft 41, the pinion 42, the chain 43, the pinion 47 and the shaft 48, the right-hand side hand wheel rotates the rear wheels of the trolley and the ratios of the various gears together with the length of the chain are chosen in such manner that two revolutions of the hand-wheel 19 cause a movement of the trolley over a length corresponding to the diameter of the brush, as has already been stated.

The operator who controls and regulates the movement of the trolley by turning the hand-wheel 19 can also regulate the direction of the movement by acting on the hand-wheel 18 which is placed in front of him. This handwheel 18 rotates a shaft 51 (FIG. 5) which carries a disc 52 arranged to act on a transmission cable contained in a sheath 53 (FIG. 4) and which actuates a system of rotating members (FIG. comprising a disc contained in a casing 54 and on which the cable acts, a shaft 55 which rotates with the disc, an endless screw 56 which rotates with the shaft 55, a toothed crown wheel 57 driven by the screw 56 and which acts in turn on the steering of the front wheels 58 and 59 by means of a mechanical transmission of a type known per se for the control of the steering of the two wheels of a set of wheels.

In addition to the purely mechanical controls of the movements, the brushing trolley is further provided with controls for the operation of the jack 9' (FIG. 9) and of t the hydraulic motor 5 which drives the brush. Knobs located on the rear dash-board of the trolley enable the operators to regulate the conditions of circulation of the driving fluids which circulate in various conduits which are shown on the drawings.

In the preferred example of construction which is described and illustrated, the trolley is provided with a diesel engine of 11 HP. (3,000 r.p.m.) adapted to drive a pump which delivers oil under a pressure of 100 kg./sq. cm. This oil is utilized on the one hand to actuate the jack and on the other to operate the hydraulic motor of the brush, the oil then circulating in a closed circuit. A flow regulator at the pump outlet enables the appropriate ranges of oil pressure to be obtained for the operation of the jack and for the hydraulic motor. A trolley thus equipped is a perfectly independent operating unit.

The cleaning tool is generally a circular brush, as in the case of the example shown, but provision is made for the replacement of this brush by any other kind of cleaning tool which would be mounted on the extremity of the trolley arm under conditions similar to those of the present brush, the movement of the trolley being then such as to correspond to a movement of the tooth which brings the latter to work in a zone contiguous with that which has already been cleaned.

Finally, without thereby departing from the scope of the present invention, modifications of detail may be made to the mechanical transmission which has been described by way of examples which are preferred because they are reliable, robust and easily adjusted.

What we claim is:

1. A mobile cleaning trolley for mechanically cleaning walls, especially for cleaning the outer surface of the hull of a ship, by means of a rotating cleaning tool, said trolley comprising: a chassis mounted on wheels, a pivot mounted on said chassis so as to be capable of rotating about an axis, an arm articulated on said pivot, a rotary cleaning tool carried by said arm, a hand-wheel adapted to rotate said pivot, transmission means between said pivot and said hand-wheel, a further hand-wheel adapted to move said trolley and a further transmission mean: between said further hand-wheel and at least certain 01 the wheels of said trolley.

2. A trolley as claimed in claim 1, in which said trans mission means comprises a shaft coupled to said handwheel, a pinion fixed on said shaft, a chain driven by said pinion and adapted to drive another pinion, anothe1 shaft driven in rotation by said other pinion, an endless screw rotating with said other shaft, and a toothed crown wheel driven by said endless screw and rigidly fixed to said pivot.

3. A trolley as claimed in claim 1, in which said further transmission means comprises a train of gears rotated by said further hand-wheel and comprising a pinion driving a chain, said chain driving another pinion so as to rotate a shaft carrying the rear wheels of said trolley.

4. A trolley as claimed in claim 1, in which said rotary cleaning tool detaches material from the wall being cleaned and propels the material radially outwardly, a ring surrounding and fixed with respect to said tool, said ring being radially spaced fro-m the periphery of said tool and said ring serving to deflect the material propelled by said tool, and a plate beneath and displaceable with said tool, said plate carrying said ring and having orifices for evacuation of the material detached from the wall by said tool and deflected by said ring.

5. A mobile brushing trolley for mechanically cleaning walls, especially for cleaning the outer surfaces of the hulls of ships by means of a rotary brushing machine, said trolley comprising: a chassis mounted on wheels, a pivot mounted on said chassis so as to be capable of rotation about a vertical axis, an arm articulated on said pivot about a horizontal axis, a jack mounted between said pivot and said arm, a circular brush carried by said arm and adapted to be rotated about an axis perpendicular to the working surface of said brush, a hand-wheel adapted to rotate said pivot about said vertical axis, transmission means between said pivot and said hand-wheel, a further hand-wheel rotation of which causes the movement of said trolley, and transmission means between said further hand-wheel and at least certain of the wheels of said trolley.

6. A trolley as claimed in claim 5, in which said transmission means comprises a shaft coupled to said handwheel, a pinion fixed on said shaft, a chain driven by said pinion and driving another pinion, another shaft rotated by said other pinion, an endless screw rotating with said other shaft and a toothed crown wheel driven by said endless screw and rigidly fixed to said pivot.

7. A trolley as claimed in claim 5, in which said further transmission means comprises a train of gears rotated by said further hand-wheel, and comprising a pinion driving a chain, said chain driving another pinion so as to rotate a shaft which carries the rear wheels of said trolley.

8. A trolley as claimed in claim 5, in which said brush is surrounded by a ring fixed with respect to said brush and which prevents lateral projection of the material detached by the brush from the wall which it cleans, said ring being carried by a plate displaceable with the brush and provided with orifices for the evacuation of the material detached from the wall by said brush.

9. A trolley as claimed in claim 5, in which said brush is rotated by a hydraulic motor also carried by said arm, the operation of said motor being effected by a pump carried on the chassis and which also effects the operation of said jack.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 854,188 5/1907 Weber 280-250 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,393,901 2/1965 France.

EDWARD L. ROBERTS, Primary Examiner.

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