WO1995018732A1

WO1995018732A1 - Trailer for carrying car polishing machines and their use on the trailer

Info

Publication number: WO1995018732A1
Application number: PCT/CH1994/000209
Authority: WO
Inventors: Werner Willimann
Original assignee: Werner Willimann
Priority date: 1994-01-06
Filing date: 1994-10-24
Publication date: 1995-07-13

Abstract

The proposed device for carrying a polishing machine (1) is in the form of a twin-axled trailer. With the polishing machine (1), which is about 4 metres long , in use, the overall width of the trailer is some 4 metres and its overall length is about 8 metres. The polishing machine (1) is fitted transversely to the longitudinal axis of the trailer. The width of the trailer is reduced to about 2.5 metres for transport. This is done using a hydraulically raisable and rotatable carriage (9) and hinged side-boards (13). For transport purposes, the polishing machine (1) can be rotated through 90° from its transverse position so that its longitudinal axis runs parallel to that of the trailer.

Description

TRAILER FOR THE TRANSPORT OF AUTOPOLISHING MACHINES

AND THEIR USE ON THE TRAILER

The invention relates to a trailer for the transport of car polishing machines and their use on the trailer according to the preamble of claim 1.

In order to optimally maintain the painted surfaces of car bodies, they should not only be washed regularly with water and cleaning agents, but also treated with specially developed car waxes. These car waxes not only give the painted surfaces of automobiles a beautiful sheen, they also protect them. The thin wax film is water and dirt repellent. Among other things, this is shown very nicely by the fact that the water drips off the painted surfaces after they have been treated with wax.

The treatment of the painted surfaces with car wax comprises two or three steps: First, the car wax is applied as regularly as possible to the painted surfaces of the car body. Afterwards you may have to let the applied car wax dry for a certain time. Finally, the car wax is mechanically rubbed into the painted surfaces and the wax residue is removed at the same time. In order to achieve an optimal connection between the surfaces and the wax and a nice shine, it is important that there is sufficient frictional contact between the wax and the surfaces for rubbing in.

According to the current state of the art, various devices and methods for polishing painted car body surfaces are known:

For example, it is known that the polishing work is carried out by hand. The car wax is made by hand applied with a sponge to the painted body surfaces. In the last step, the wax is rubbed in again by hand using a polishing cloth or polishing threads and the wax residue is removed.

This hand polishing is both time consuming and not thorough enough. Namely, the physical strength and endurance of the arm and hand of a person polishing an automobile is severely limited.

Hand polishing is therefore not profitable and is therefore not suitable for large-scale marketing. Small hand machines are also known for polishing body surfaces. Such hand machines are able to reduce human manual labor somewhat and to speed up polishing somewhat; However, the use of such hand machines requires great dexterity and skill to avoid damaging the paint surfaces. Such hand machines generally work with rotating polishing disks or vibrating polishing plates, which can heat up the paint and thereby damage it if the application pressure is not metered precisely. Furthermore, even with such hand-held machines, the effort for polishing is too great for marketing autopolishing to a large extent to be worthwhile. For this purpose, automatic car washing and polishing systems have been developed.

Car washing and polishing machines in the form of car washes are known. The automobiles are moved through these car washes and washed, dried and polished at various work stations. Such car washes take up a lot of space. Most of the time, when installing a car wash, a separate building has to be built to house the car wash.

Since this space is not available everywhere, a space-saving polishing machine was developed. Such a polishing machine is described, for example, in US Pat. No. 4,009,303 (publication date February 22, 1977). It has a carriage which is equipped with rotating polishing brushes and can be moved back and forth on a pair of rails. The distance between the two rails is chosen such that there is space for an automobile between the rails. The car has the shape of an arch. He preferably carries three polishing brushes. One of these brushes runs along one of the lateral, vertical supports of the carriage arch. Each of these side brushes is attached to a laterally displaceable rotating axis. The side brushes are used to polish the vertical surfaces of the car body. A third brush runs along the arch roof. It is attached to a horizontal rotating axis, which can be moved vertically. This horizontal brush is used to polish the upper surface of the body.

The vehicle stops when polishing. In a first step, it is covered with car wax. Then the carriage is moved back and forth several times on the rail. The carriage arch moves several times over the vehicle, with the rotating brushes polishing the body surfaces.

Small washing centers, however, cannot afford such expensive polishing machines because they cannot be used enough.

To solve this problem, portable car washing and polishing machines have been developed, which can be shared by several small car washing centers. The transportable car washing and polishing machines known today, however, all have significant disadvantages.

For example, US Pat. No. 5,133,100 (publication date July 28, 1992) proposes a portable car washing machine which consists of a brush mechanism arranged on a small car. The car has via its own drive. A major disadvantage of this car washing machine is that it has to be moved around the vehicle to be washed so that the entire painted body surface can be washed. The car washing machine must be controlled by an additional worker, which increases the labor costs significantly. In addition, the small car is not suitable for transporting the car washer over long distances.

Furthermore, a transportable device for cleaning stationary vehicles is described in the patent specification WO 89/06614 (publication date 07/27/1989), which has a bridge which carries one or more rotating cleaning devices. The bridge is pivoted on a vertical axis. The axis is attached to a carrier slide. This carrier carriage can be moved along a rail which is attached to a mobile device and runs longitudinally to it. The mobile device can take the form of a truck, a trailer or a railroad car. So that the cleaning devices can be positioned correctly, they are slidably attached to rails.

This car wash has the disadvantage that it takes up a lot of space during use. Because both the mobile device that carries the bridge and the swing-out bridge need space.

Furthermore, a complex, expensive construction is necessary for the pivoting mechanism of the bridge.

The object of the invention is to create a device which enables a polishing machine to be transported to different, small car wash centers even over large distances. The device should also be of simple construction and require as little space as possible while the polishing machine is in use. The object is achieved with the aid of the features according to the invention according to the characterizing part of patent claim 1. Advantageous developments of the invention are the subject of the dependent claims.

The proposed device for transporting a polishing machine is in the form of a two-axle trailer. When using the approximately 4 meter long polishing machine, the trailer has a total width of approximately 4 meters and a total length of approximately 8 meters. The polishing machine runs across the longitudinal axis of the trailer.

The width of the trailer is reduced to around 2.5 meters for transport. This is achieved with the help of a hydraulically liftable and rotatable stool and with the help of foldable side drawers. The polishing machine can be rotated by 90 ° from its transverse position so that its longitudinal axis runs parallel to the longitudinal axis of the trailer.

The invention is explained, inter alia, in the drawings. Show it:

Fig. 1 supervision of the trailer without polishing machine in the operating state;

Fig. 2 side view of the trailer without polishing machine in the operating state;

Fig. 3 cross section of the trailer in the operating state in

Area of an axis;

Fig. 4 supervision of the trailer without polishing machine in

Transport condition;

Fig. 5 side view of the trailer without polishing machine in transport condition; 6 cross-section of the trailer in the transport state in the region of an axle;

Fig. 7 side view of a trailer with a polishing machine in the transport state;

Fig. 8 side view of a trailer with a polishing machine in the operating state;

Fig. 9 side view of a trailer in the operating state on which an automobile is being polished.

The proposed trailer is suitable for the transport and use of a polishing machine 1 of the type of training described in US Pat. No. 4,009,303. It is therefore an arc-shaped polishing machine 1, which is equipped with rotating brushes and is moved back and forth on two rails 2.

During use, the polishing machine 1 stands transversely on the trailer and moves on rails 2 in the longitudinal direction of the trailer. The automobile 3 to be polished stands lengthways on the trailer (see FIGS. 1 and 9).

The embodiment of the trailer described below is suitable for a polishing machine 1 with a length of 4 meters. For smaller or larger polishing machines 1, the trailer is dimensioned correspondingly smaller or larger.

In the operating state, the width of the trailer must correspond to the length of the polishing machine 1, that is also 4 meters. With such a large width, the trailer cannot be transported on the road. It is therefore designed in such a way that its width can be reduced to a maximum of 2.5 meters for transport. This is achieved with the help of the following facilities:

The bridge 4 of the trailer is divided into three in the longitudinal direction. With a total length of the trailer bridge 4 of 8 me tern is the width of the rear 5 and front 6 bridge part about 2.8 meters and the width of the middle bridge part 7 about 2.4 meters. The bridge parts 5, 6, 7 adjoin each other with their long sides 8. The length of each bridge part 5, 6, 7 is 3.5 meters and thus corresponds to the width of the overall bridge 4.

The middle bridge part 7 is lowered with respect to the rear 5 and front 6 bridge part. This creates a depression in the center of the trailer bridge 4 with a rectangular cross section, in which a hydraulically liftable and lowerable stool 9 is arranged. This stool 9 consists of a rectangular plate 10 and a hydraulic cylinder 11 which carries this plate 10. The hydraulic cylinder 11 is arranged in the center of the plate 10. It is fixed in the center of the middle, lower-lying bridge part 7 and extends at right angles to it (cf. FIGS. 1 and 4). The hydraulic pump can also be arranged on this bridge part 7.

The plate 10 is slightly narrower than the middle part of the bridge. It is 4 meters long and thus about 1.5 meters longer than the middle bridge part 7. If the plate 10 runs transversely to the trailer, a trailer width of 4 meters is thereby achieved in the area of the middle bridge part 7.

The plate 10 can be rotated on the hydraulic cylinder 11 by hand or with a motor-driven turntable by at least 90 °. On the top of the slab runs parallel to each of the two slab transverse sides, one track section 12. The distance between a track section 12 and the associated transverse side is approximately 35 cm.

The trailer bridge 4 is only 2.5 meters wide. The width of 4 meters necessary for the use of the polishing machine 1 is achieved in the area of the front 6 and rear 5 bridge parts by means of foldable side drawers 13. Such a side drawer 13 is articulated on each transverse side of the front 6 and rear 5 bridge parts (cf. FIGS. 1, 3 and 5). The length of a side drawer 13 corresponds to the width of the front 6 and the rear 5 bridge part. The width of the shop is 75 cm. The side drawers 13 adjoin one of their long sides to the associated transverse side of the front and rear bridge part.

The drawers 13 are preferably made of aluminum. They are each provided with one or more handles. Each drawer 13 has two fold-out supports (not shown) on its underside. These supports are preferably fastened near the two free corners of the drawers 13. On the top of each shop 13 runs parallel to the long sides of each runway 14. The distance of these runway sections 14 to the free long side of the associated shop 13 is about 35 cm (see FIG. 3). At each of the four corners of the bridge frame, a vertical support 15, which is hydraulically infinitely variable in length, is attached (see FIGS. 2 and 5). With these supports 15, the trailer can be leveled, so that the undercarriage of the polishing machine 1 works without problems at any time. Under the frame of the trailer bridge 4, a compressor, an emergency power group and a container for the polishing liquid (car wax) are attached (not shown).

In bad weather, a rain cover is installed over the trailer. The rain cover can consist, for example, of a sheet which is supported by a plurality of arch-shaped supports which run transversely to the trailer. In strong sunlight, the hood can also serve as sun protection. In addition to the hood, an extendable sun visor (not shown) can be attached to the supports on both sides of the trailer.

To prevent people working on the trailer from falling off, a railing (not shown) can be mounted along the longitudinal edges of the bridge 4. This railing has posts which can be attached to the bridge 4 along its longitudinal edges in a removable manner at regular intervals. For fixing this post, for example, the bridge along its longitudinal edges can be provided with round holes into which the posts can be inserted with their lower end region. A chain or wire rope is stretched from post to post.

On the front and rear end faces 16 of the bridge 4, two access rails or two exit rails 17 can be removably attached (cf. FIGS. 8 and 9). The rails 17 can be provided on their upper end face, for example, with a U-shaped strip which is open at the bottom and which engages in a corresponding U-shaped strip which is attached to the bridge end face 16 and is open at the top (not shown). The rails 17 are preferably made of aluminum.

Now that the structure of the proposed trailer has been described, its functioning can be discussed:

The side drawers 13 are folded vertically upwards during transport. The supports on the underside of the side drawers 13 are in the folded-up state. The polishing machine 1 stands on the plate 10 of the stool 9, the plate 10 being positioned such that its longitudinal axis runs parallel to the longitudinal axis of the trailer. The leveling supports 15 at the corners of the bridge frame are raised. In this transport condition, the total width of the trailer is only 2.5 meters. The trailer can therefore be easily transported on the road with an all-wheel drive towing vehicle (see Fig. 4 to 7).

For the use of the polishing machine 1, the trailer is parked in a first step on a level as possible. The leveling supports 15 are then extended and the trailer leveled as well as possible.

Then the stool 9 is raised hydraulically slightly and rotated by motor or by hand by 90 °. He will join send lowered so far into the recess of the bridge 4 until the top of the stool plate 10 is flush with the top of the front 6 and rear 5 bridge part.

In a further step, the side drawers 13 are folded down into the horizontal and the supports on the underside of the drawers 13 are folded out.

The track pieces 14, 12 on the upper side of the drawers 13 and the stool plate 10 now form two parallel, contiguous tracks 2. The polishing machine 1 can be moved along this pair of tracks 2 with its undercarriage.

The automobiles 3 are polished on the trailer. So that you can drive up on the trailer with the automobile 3 and drive down from the trailer again after polishing, two ramp rails 17 and one ramp rail 17 are mounted on the front and rear end of the trailer. In the assembled state, these rails 17 form an inclined ramp that extends from the floor to the top of the bridge (cf. FIGS. 8 and 9).

In a further step, the polishing machine 1 is connected to the power supply.

Finally, if necessary, the hood and sun visors can be installed.

For polishing, you drive an automobile 3 onto the trailer and position it approximately in the middle of the bridge 4. Then you apply the polish (car wax) to the painted body surfaces. The polishing machine 1 is then put into operation. This moves several times over the automobile 3 in both directions on the two rails 2. The three rotating brushes polish the painted body surfaces.

After polishing, the automobile 3 is driven down from the trailer again.

When all the polishing work has been completed, the polishing machine 1 is driven onto the stool 9. The stool 9 is then raised by means of the hydraulic cylinder 11 so far that until the bottom of the stool plate 10 lies above the top of the front 6 and rear 5 bridge part. The stool 9 can now be turned by hand or by motor with the slewing ring by 90 °. It is then lowered again until the stool plate 10 rests on the front 6 and rear 5 bridge parts.

The polishing machine 1 is then disconnected from the mains power, the convertible top, the sun visors and the entry and exit rails 17 are removed and the side shutters 13 and their supports are folded up. Finally, the leveling supports 15 are raised. The trailer is now ready for further transport.

The proposed trailer for transporting and using a polishing machine has significant advantages compared to the previously known portable car polishing and washing machines.

In contrast to the car of the washing and polishing machine, which is the subject of US Pat. No. 5,133,100, the proposed trailer allows the polishing machine to be transported over long distances.

The proposed trailer also requires considerably less space than the car wash device described in patent specification WO 89/06614 during use of the polishing machine. In addition, its construction is much simpler and therefore also less expensive than the construction of this car washing device.

Claims

claims

1. Trailer for the transport of a car polishing machine and its use on the trailer, with a movable on rails and provided with rotating brushes, arc-shaped polishing machine, characterized in that the bridge (4) of the multi-axle, preferably two-axle trailer is formed in three parts in its longitudinal direction , such that a central bridge part (7) is arranged lowered between a front bridge part (6) and a rear bridge part (5) and is connected to this central bridge part (7), can be raised or lowered and pivoted by at least 90 °, a stool (9) is arranged on the stool plate (10) arranged track pieces (12), furthermore the front bridge part (6) and the rear bridge part

(5) has drawers (13) that can be opened horizontally on both sides in the longitudinal direction of the trailer and provided on the upper sides with guide rail pieces (14) that are arranged parallel to the longitudinal edges of the shop, with the opened shutters (13) with the rail sections (12) of the transversely extending over the guide rail sections (14) the stool (9) turned to the longitudinal axis of the trailer, forming a parallel and coherent pair of rails (2), the polishing machine (1) can be moved in the working position, or with the drawer (13) folded down on the stool plate (10) of the parallel to the longitudinal axis of the trailer and on the front of the bridge

(6) and the bridge rear part (5) resting on the stool (9) positioned polishing machine (1) can be transported.

2. Trailer according to claim 1, characterized in that the width of the narrow side of the rectangular stool plate (10) is slightly narrower than the length of the central bridge part (7), while the wider side of the stool plate (10) is approximately the trailer width when the drawer is open (13) corresponds.

3. Trailer according to claim 1, characterized in that the stool (9) from a in the center of the central bridge part (7) arranged hydraulic cylinder (11) and the stool plate (10) arranged thereon is formed.

4. Trailer according to claim 3, characterized in that a hydraulic pump is arranged on the central bridge part (7).

5. Trailer according to claim 3, characterized in that the stool plate (10) on the hydraulic cylinder (11) is rotatable by hand or by means of a motor-driven rotating crane by at least 90 °.

6. Trailer according to claim 1, characterized in that on the end faces of the bridge (16) driveway or

Departure rails are arranged.

7. Trailer according to claim 6, characterized in that the rails (17) engage on their end face with a downwardly open and in a on the bridge end face (16) arranged, upwardly open U-profile strip.

8. Trailer according to claim 1, characterized in that at each of the four corners of the bridge frame (4) vertical, hydraulically continuously adjustable supports (15) are arranged.

9. Trailer according to claim 8, characterized in that the supports (15) are preferably hydraulically actuated.

10. Trailer according to claim 1, characterized in that a compressor, an emergency power group and a container for polishing liquid can be arranged under the frame of the trailer bridge (4).

11. Trailer according to claim 1, characterized in that a rain cover can be arranged over a plurality of transverse supports extending transversely to the trailer.

12. Trailer according to claim 11, characterized in that additionally an extendable sun visor can be arranged on the rain cover on the outside of the supports.

13. Trailer according to claim 1, characterized in that railing posts can be inserted into round holes arranged along the longitudinal wheels of the bridge (4), via which a railing chain can be placed.