WO1992000234A1

WO1992000234A1 - Sheet material handling assembly

Info

Publication number: WO1992000234A1
Application number: PCT/GB1991/001051
Authority: WO
Inventors: John Purdy Stanley
Original assignee: Abracad Systems Limited
Priority date: 1990-06-29
Filing date: 1991-06-28
Publication date: 1992-01-09
Also published as: GB9014568D0; AU8181391A

Abstract

A sheet material handling assembly comprises an L-shaped sheet receiving member (10) consisting of an upright stanchion (12) and a base (24) projecting from the stanchion. This is cradled in a sheet receiving attitude in a stand which also provides a guide behind the member for a binding strap. The assembly also has removable lifting means. By separating the stand and the lifting means from the sheet receiving member the weight of that part of the assembly which accompanies the sheets is considerably reduced. Furthermore, because the stand and the lifting means remain on site, less investment in these portions is required than if they were transported with the sheet receiving member.

Description

SHEET MATERIAL HANDLING ASSEMBLY

This invention relates to a sheet material handling assembly. The invention is particularly applicable to such an assembly for handling sheets of glass or the like.

Various forms of sheet material handling frame have been proposed. For example, in international patent application WO89/02407 there is disclosed a sheet material handling frame comprising a set of vertical metal stanchions, each provided with a base or foot making an angle of about 93 degrees to the stanchion. The stanchions are held in their relative positions by cross-bars. The frame is able to stand on the feet and glass is stacked on them and bound to the frame and feet. In this particular form of sheet material handling frame the structure relies upon the rigidity of the bound stack of sheets to make it transportable. The use of the inherent rigidity of the stack of sheets allows the frame structure to be considerably lighter than would be the case if the frame simply carried the sheets.

While the above arrangement has proved to be a significant advance over previously known frames for the purpose, it has been realised that it would be beneficial if the amount of material bound to the glass was kept to a minimum. When sheets of, for example, glass are distributed the cost of unreturned frames can be considerable. Furthermore, it is also advantageous if the weight of the frame can be reduced as far as possible. According to the present invention there is provided a sheet material handling assembly comprising at least one sheet receiving member, having a stanchion and a base projecting from the stanchion, against which the sheets are stackable, and a stand adapted removably to hold the sheet receiving member in a sheet receiving attitude.

The member itself is thus reduced to a minimal amount of material by separating the means to which the sheet is bound from the means of holding the frame in a sheet receiving attitude.

Preferably, the member is made of a hollow-section foam filled plastics material, such as NORYL, or any other suitable rigid plastics material which is known for its impact strength and lightness. In the case of a plastics or other mouldable material, it is desirable to manufacture the assembly as a hollow, sectioned item to provide the requisite strength and lightness.

Advantageously, the stand supporting the member is formed with a guide which is adapted to direct a binding strap underneath the base and along the opposite side of the stanchion to that on which the sheets are stacked. While it is still possible to feed the strap in some other manner to bind the member to the stack, the use of a guide, for example, an elongate recess in a channel opposite the stanchion and the base, is a particularly quick and effective means of achieving this.

In one form of the invention, the stand comprises at least one upright strut and a platform projecting from this strut forming a cradle for the member. A strut and/or platform may have locating pins to ensure the member is held in the correct sheet receiving position in relation to the stand. Also, the strut and the platform may have flared sidewalls to encourage the member to be located properly within the cradle.

In one particular form of the invention the assembly comprises a plurality, for example 3, stands secured together by a cross-bar arrangement to hold them in correct orientation.

The invention may also comprise lifting means which are also removably secured to the member by which the bound stack of sheets may be transported. The lifting means may comprise a frame to which the member can be secured. The frame preferably extends above the stanchion and is formed with a lifting bar extending over the base of the member. The frame may also extend under the base of the member and be secured to the stanchion as well.

It is also possible to arrange for two such members mounted on respective lifting means to be secured back-to-back so that two stacks of sheets may be lifted together.

One significant advantage of the present invention is that the transported stacks can be left at their destination with only the sheet receiving member having to be left behind. This can represent a considerable saving to the sheet distributor in a reduced investment in lifting means and any potential loss thereof.

The present invention can be put into practice in various ways one of which will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective illustration of a stacking member for use in the assembly of the present invention; Figures 2(a), (b) and (c) are side, plan and front views of a stacking member stand for use in the assembly of the invention;

Figures 3(a) and (b) are side and front views of a lifting gear for use in the assembly of the invention; and

Figures 4(a) and (b) are views of a retaining sleeve for securing the stacking member to the lifting gear.

Referring to Figure 1, a stacking member 10 comprises an upright stanchion 12 defining a recess which is occupied by stiffening webs 14 and 15 extending across the channel between sidewalls 16. The upper portion of the back wall 18 of the stanchion is formed with an elongate slot 20. The stiffening members 15, in the region of the slot 20, are truncated so as not to interrupt the slot. Further stiffening L-shaped flanges 22 extend along the sides of the stanchion 12.

At the foot of the member 10 the stanchion is formed into a projecting base 24. The angle between the two is about 93 degrees. The underneath of the base is formed as a foot 28 and side flanges 29. The side flanges 29 are again stiffened by means of webs 26 to either side of the foot 28 beneath the base 24. It will be seen that the foot 28 is hollow, but again stiffened by internal webs 30. The sheets of, for example, glass to be stacked are placed on the base 24 and rested on the flanges 26 of the stanchion 12. A metal binding strap (not shown) is passed through a lower central open-ended aperture defined by the internal webs 30 in the foot 28, around the outside of the stanchion 12, through the elongate slot 20 and over the stacked glass 31 (See Figure 2a) . A strap guide (not shown) , retained in the slot, is located between the binding strap and the glass stack. The strap guide is similar to that described in the previously mentioned international patent application number W089/02407. The strap guide bears on the top edges of the glass to hold them in place.

Referring now to Figures 2(a), (b) and (σ) it will be seen how the stacking members 10 are mounted on a stand. The stand allows two sets of stacking members 10 to be mounted back-to-back. A cradle is formed by the stand by means of a locating well 32 adapted to receive the foot 28 of the stacking member. The well is formed with a floor 34, having locating pins 36 and flared sidewalls 37 which entrain the foot 28 of the stacking member to be correctly located in the well. The well 32 projects from the bottom of an upright strut 38 which is terminated, at its upper end, in a locating prong 40. The stacking member 10 is located in place by arranging the prong 40 so that it projects through the elongate slot 20. The member 10 is then dropped down so that the locating pins 36 are received in complementary recesses in the bottom of the foot 28. When this is done and the prong 40 is above the end of the slot, so holding the stanchion relative to the strut, the stacking member is held in position.

As will be seen in Figures 2(b) and (c) the stand comprises two sets of three struts secured back-to-back by means of spacing bars 42 and 43 at two locations between the top and bottom of each strut. The struts of each set are spaced from one another by top and bottom crossbars 44 and 45. Each strut 38 defines a guide in the form of a channel behind a mounted stanchion. The metal binding strap (not shown) is fed along the channel through the elongate slot 20 in the mounted stanchion 10 and is urged through the central aperture in the heel of the hollow foot 28 of the stanchion 10 by means of a turned end on the bottom of the channel which guides the strap across the stand. The strap is then brought up over the stack 31 of glass and secured so that the member 10 is bound tightly to the stack.

In an alternative form it is possible to dispense with the central member 10. The outer members are sufficient, in certain applications, to hold the stack together. The central member 10 may then be replaced by a simple binding strap passed around the exposed faces of the glass to resist any flexing between the end members.

Once the stack is thus bound at 3 positions corresponding to the stacking members 10, it can be moved and the stands can be left in place awaiting the next set of stacking members to receive a further batch of sheets. For moving the bound stack lifting gear (illustrated in Figures 3(a) and (b) ) is used which comprises a hollow upright 50, a lower projecting hollow platform 52 and an upper lifting bar 54. The join between the upright 50 and the platform 52 is strengthened by a web 56.

The lifting gear is secured to the outer stanchions of a bound set by sliding the platform 52 underneath the laterally extending outermost side flange 29 of the base 24 of the stanchion 10. The lifting gear is then raised until the web 56 touches the heel of the foot 28. A clamp sleeve 58 (shown in Figures 4(a) and (b) ) is then slid over the top of the upright 50. The sleeve 58 has an insert 60 which becomes engaged with the back wall 18 of the stanchion as the sleeve 58 is lowered. In this position a hole 62 in the sleeve 58 is in registry with a corresponding hole 64 in the upright. Into these registering holes is received an L-shaped locating pin (not shown) which is kept in place by a lynch pin (not shown) .

By separating the constituent parts of the sheet material handling frame it is possible both to lighten the transported item and to reduce the costs of the members distributed with the sheets. Furthermore, less numbers of stands and means for lifting the sheet receiving members are required as the same set can be used on more than one set of sheet receiving members. This represents a further saving in the costs of manufacturing the handling assembly.

Claims

1. A sheet material handling assembly comprising at least one sheet receiving member, having a stanchion and a base projecting from the stanchion, against which sheets are stackable, and a stand adapted removably to hold the member in the sheet receiving attitude.

2. An assembly as claimed in Claim 1 in which the sheet receiving member is made of a plastics material, for example NORYL, and/or the stand is made of metal.

3. An assembly as claimed in Claim 1 in which a plurality, for example 3, stands are secured together by means of crossbars.

4. An assembly as claimed in Claim 1 in which the stand is formed with a guide which is adapted to guide a binding member for binding the stack together around the stanchion and base remote from the stacked sheets.

5. An assembly as claimed in Claim 4 in which the guide is a channel.

6. An assembly as claimed in claim 1 in which the stand comprises an upright strut and a platform, projecting from the strut, on which the base of the sheet receiving member rests.

7. An assembly as claimed in Claim 6 in which the platform has flared sidewalls arranged to guide the base into a sheet receiving position on the stand and/or the strut has a prong projecting upwardly and outwardly over the platform which engages an aperture in the stanchion.

8. An assembly as claimed in claim 1 including lifting means, also removably secured to the sheet receiving member, by which the bound stack of sheets may be transported.

9. An assembly as claimed in Claim 8 in which the lifting means comprise a support post for the sheet receiving member and a lifting bar projecting over the base of the stanchions.

10. An assembly as claimed in Claim 9 in which the support post includes means for supporting the base of the stanchion and means for securing the stanchion to the support post.