Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
  • B60P—VEHICLES ADAPTED FOR LOAD TRANSPORTATION OR TO TRANSPORT, TO CARRY, OR TO COMPRISE SPECIAL LOADS OR OBJECTS
  • B60P1/00—Vehicles predominantly for transporting loads and modified to facilitate loading, consolidating the load, or unloading
  • B60P1/64—Vehicles predominantly for transporting loads and modified to facilitate loading, consolidating the load, or unloading the load supporting or containing element being readily removable
  • B60P1/6418—Vehicles predominantly for transporting loads and modified to facilitate loading, consolidating the load, or unloading the load supporting or containing element being readily removable the load-transporting element being a container or similar
  • B60P1/6445—Vehicles predominantly for transporting loads and modified to facilitate loading, consolidating the load, or unloading the load supporting or containing element being readily removable the load-transporting element being a container or similar the load-transporting element being shifted only vertically

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a towing vehicle with a front axle carrying at least one wheel, and a rear axle, the wheels of which are steerable and driveably connected to the vehicle driving means, a coupling means carried by the vehicle frame and implemented to provide a substantially rigid interconnection of the vehicle frame and an object to be towed, and a lifting means adapted to allow lifting the front wheels from the substructure when the coupling means is in engagement with said object.
• Towing vehicles of this kind are intended, inter alia, for moving containers, or trailers etc in terminus areas.
• the principles for the type of container handling intended here are well known and appear from the Swedish patent 7808448-0, for example. The occurrence of ramps having different slopes and configurations causes. special problems in this container handling.
• the object of the present invention is to provide a towing vehicle of the kind mentioned in the introduction, allowing a very flexible adaption to such ramps of different slopes and configurations.
• Figures 1 and 2 schematically illustrate in plan view and side view a towing vehicle in accordance with the invention
• Figure 3 in a view in the direction of arrows Ill-Ill in Figure 1, schematically illustrates a means for enabling taking up mutual torque stresses vertically between the vehicle and container.
• the vehicle on the drawings has a rigid frame 2 carrying a driver's cabin 4 and a driving engine unit 6.
• the vehicle has front wheels 8 and rear wheels 10.
• the rear wheels 10 are steerable and drivably connected to the driving unit 6.
• the vehicle carries a coupling means in the form of a rectangular frame 12 with coupling members for a container, trailer etc. 14, which is to be moved with the aid of the vehicle and which is carried by wheels at its end not visible in Figure 1.
• the coupling members may be adapted for attaching the frame 12 to the corner fittings of the container etc. in a conventional manner.
• the frame 12 is carried by two U-sectioned brackets 18, which in turn, between their legs, are pivotably carried at 20 by each a side beam 22. Between the forward ends the side beams 22 are pivotably mounted at 24 in mountings 26 carried by the vehicle frame 2.
• the brackets 18 are joined together by a cross-beam 28 and the side beam 22 by a cross beam 30. Between pivot attachments 32 located low in brackets 34 connected to the frame 2 and pivot attachments at the cross beam 30 two hydraulic lifting cylinders 36 act. By means of the lifting cylinders 36, the side beams 22 may be lifted from a position substantially on level with the frame 2 to the position illustrated in Figure 1, by pivoting around the pivots 24.
• Two hydraulic rams 42 act between lower pivot attachment 38 ⁇ in the frame 2 and pivot attachments 40 carried by the cross beam 28. More specifically, the brackets 18 and thereby the frame 12 can be forced to assume different angular positions relative the side beams 22 by means of the hydraulic cylinders 42.
• the vehicle For coupling the described towing vehicle to a container etc. resting on the substructure 50 the following measures are taken.
• the vehicle is backed towards the end wall of the container 14 with the brackets 18 and frame 12 in the position illustrated by dashed lines in Figure 1.
• Coupling the frame 12 to the container 14 may be performed conventionally.
• the forward end of the container etc. 14 is lifted up by operating the hydraulic cylinders 36.
• the container 14 is thus now carried at its forward end by the frame 12 and at its rear end by said wheels.
• the front end of the vehicle is subsequently lifted by pulling the hydraulic cylinders 42 to the position illustrated in Fig. 1, such that the front wheels 8 are clear from the substructure 50.
• the towing vehicle can now be used for transporting the container 14, the back wheels 10 then serving as driving and steering wheels.
• the front wheels of the vehicle are always kept sufficiently clear from the substructure 50 to allow said steering and driving functions of the rear wheels. This means that if the vehicle and the container are to travel up a ramp after having travelled on a substantially horizontal substructure, the front end of the vehicle may need to be raised still more by the hydraulic cylinders _ 2 to keep the front wheels clear from the ramp at the beginning.
• the hydraulic cylinders 36 and 42 With the aid of the hydraulic cylinders 36 and 42 a very far-reaching adaption to different slopes and configurations of ramps can be attained without the risk of the goods container 14 ' or the front wheels 18 being brought into contact with any part of the ramp. For .example, if the vehicle and the . container are to pass a hump on a ramp it may be necessary for avoiding contact between the container and the hump, to raise the front end of the container, primarily with the aid of the cylinders 36, with simultaneous adjustment by means of the cylinders 42.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Transportation (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Vehicle Body Suspensions (AREA)
• Vehicle Cleaning, Maintenance, Repair, Refitting, And Outriggers (AREA)
• Automatic Cycles, And Cycles In General (AREA)
• Steering-Linkage Mechanisms And Four-Wheel Steering (AREA)

Priority Applications (3)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=20346483

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (6)

Citations (4)

• 1982
  • 1982-04-07 SE SE8202215A patent/SE8202215L/ not_active Application Discontinuation
• 1983
  • 1983-03-28 EP EP19830901244 patent/EP0105310B1/en not_active Expired
  • 1983-03-28 JP JP58501306A patent/JPS59500959A/ja active Pending
  • 1983-03-28 WO PCT/SE1983/000115 patent/WO1983003591A1/en active IP Right Grant
  • 1983-03-28 DE DE8383901244T patent/DE3370952D1/de not_active Expired
  • 1983-12-07 FI FI834472A patent/FI77415C/fi not_active IP Right Cessation

Patent Citations (4)

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