Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65D—CONTAINERS FOR STORAGE OR TRANSPORT OF ARTICLES OR MATERIALS, e.g. BAGS, BARRELS, BOTTLES, BOXES, CANS, CARTONS, CRATES, DRUMS, JARS, TANKS, HOPPERS, FORWARDING CONTAINERS; ACCESSORIES, CLOSURES, OR FITTINGS THEREFOR; PACKAGING ELEMENTS; PACKAGES
  • B65D88/00—Large containers
  • B65D88/02—Large containers rigid
  • B65D88/12—Large containers rigid specially adapted for transport
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65D—CONTAINERS FOR STORAGE OR TRANSPORT OF ARTICLES OR MATERIALS, e.g. BAGS, BARRELS, BOTTLES, BOXES, CANS, CARTONS, CRATES, DRUMS, JARS, TANKS, HOPPERS, FORWARDING CONTAINERS; ACCESSORIES, CLOSURES, OR FITTINGS THEREFOR; PACKAGING ELEMENTS; PACKAGES
  • B65D90/00—Component parts, details or accessories for large containers
  • B65D90/54—Gates or closures
  • B65D90/62—Gates or closures having closure members movable out of the plane of the opening
  • B65D90/626—Gates or closures having closure members movable out of the plane of the opening having a linear motion

Definitions

• Container for Bulk Cargo and Transport System Comprising such
• the present invention relates to a container for bulk cargo and a transport system comprising such a container. It relates specifically to a container that can be trans- ported by rail.
• the invention has emerged in the work on providing a new economic transport system for road salt which comprises rail transport.
• the applicant is of the definite opinion that the invention is just as suitable for transport of other bulk cargo and also without rail transport. What may need to be adjusted are the dimensions of the container and, above all, of its opening.
• Prior-art bulk wagons are essentially V shaped in cross-section and provided with one or more doors at their lowest point.
• the doors are usually sliding doors and great accuracy is required in the closing motion, above all with small particle sizes, to achieve tightness, especially after a long period of use which tends to deform the doors. In most cases, the great accuracy also requires some kind of rubber seal or the like for acceptable sealing to be achieved. It is also in many cases difficult to close a discharge door in a controlled manner with bulk cargo still left in the wagon, which otherwise is desirable.
• a further drawback of these wagons in a train is that such a train should typically be 350-400 m long to ensure economic transport, and since the wagon is emptied downwards over a special place of discharge, it is necessary to have a dead-end siding which is 700-800 m long if only one place of discharge is used. At least in Sweden, such dead-end sidings are rare. Thus, expensive rebuilding is necessary, or uneconomically short trains have to be used.
• Another way of transporting salt by rail is to use containers which are upwardly open and during transport provided with a cover or the like. Subsequently these containers can be lifted off from the goods wagons by a truck with a rotator on the lifting device. The truck moves the container to the place where it is to be emptied and then rotates the container so that its cargo is poured out.
• a problem which is immediately realised is that it is difficult to discharge the cargo with precision. If the cargo is to be poured onto the platform of a lorry for instance, it is practically impossible not to "spill" cargo outside the platform.
• Another problem is that salt and many other types of bulk cargo are heavy.
• a 10" container with cargo weighs about
• the present invention aims at solving the current problem of transporting bulk cargo by rail in a manner that ensures reliable and economic transport and also allows the containers without difficulty to be emptied partly and be closed with cargo still left. Furthermore, it is not necessary to run each wagon to a predetermined place of discharge, which means that shorter sidings for the train can be used.
• the train may also bring along a truck for unloading the bulk cargo, for instance, on to a lorry platform.
• Fig. 1 is a side view of a container according to the invention with the hidden internal structure indicated by dashed lines
• Fig. 2 is a basic sketch of the closing and sealing zone between the first and second part of the container in Fig. 1.
• the present container is based on the fact that it comprises two parts which are fitted together without a connecting part. With the container standing on a base, the joint between the parts is sealed by the weight of the cargo and one of the container parts. When moving the container, which occurs by means of a special fork-lift truck, the parts can be additionally locked together by the truck in a preferred embodiment of the invention.
• the container thus comprises two separate parts, viz. a first part which comprises walls 2 and a part 3 of the bottom adjacent to at least two of the walls, and a second part 4 consisting of a central part of the bottom.
• An opening 5 for discharging the bulk cargo is formed by the two parts being displaced essentially vertically relative to each other, seen in relation to a normal transport and handling position for the container.
• the first part 1 is moved upwards relative to the second part 4 in emptying.
• the sealing takes place by the edges between the first part 1 and the second part 4 being designed in a special way.
• the bottom part 3 of the first part 1 has at its upper surface an edge 6 towards the second part 4 and a first sealing surface 7 towards the same in the form of an outwardly/downwardly inclined edge which provides a partly downwardly oriented surface.
• the second part 4 has an essentially vertical edge surface 8 which in opening and closing cooperates with said edge 6 of the first part 1 and, below the edge surface, a second sealing surface 9 in the form of an outwardly/downwardly inclined edge which provides a partly upwardly oriented surface. In the closed position, the first and the second sealing surface abut sealingly against each other.
• the problem with bulk cargo getting stuck in the container opening during closing thereof is minimised by closing being essentially achieved already by the edge 6 cooperating with the vertical edge surface 8 and giving the bulk cargo between the sealing surfaces 7 and 9 time to fall down so that safe sealing is achieved when these surfaces abut against each other.
• the vertical edge surface 8 is about 10 cm and the inclined sealing surfaces 7 and 9 about 18 cm.
• the gap between the edge 6 and the vertical edge surface 8 can be about 3 mm.
• the container is handled by means of a fork-lift truck provided with at least one first arm which carries the first part of the container and at least one second arm which carries the second part of the container.
• the container shown in the Figures is intended to be handled by a fork-lift truck having two outer arms which carry the first part of the container and two inner arms which carry the second part of the container.
• the outer arms can be operated -100 - +400 mm relative to the inner arms.
• the negative range -100 - 0 mm is used to ensure the locking of the sealing of the container during lifting. This takes place by the container in the example being pro- vided with tubular means 10 - "boxes" - through which the outer arms are inserted, thereby allowing them to apply a downward force to the first part of the container during handling. It is also conceivable to use other means on the container, such as rings etc, through which the arms can be inserted, to provide the possibility of transferring a downward force.
• An advantageous manner is to design at least the inner, but preferably also the outer, arms with a triangular or in some other way upwardly convex cross- section, so that the salt runs off.
• salt, or other bulk cargo, falling towards the arm will land on the "roof" and run off the same so that the arm will be protected.
• the lower part is provided with inclined surfaces which conduct the bulk cargo towards the opening.
• the bottom part of the first part can have inclined planes 12 towards the opening.
• the second container part can be provided with a prismatic or in some other way convex part 13 which also conducts the bulk cargo towards the opening.
• the material of the container is sheet- metal, in the same way as most other containers are made of sheet-metal.
• other materials are conceivable.
• plastic or composite material it may be advantageous instead to use containers of plastic or composite material.
• at least 500 kg per container would be saved, which among other things would signifi- cantly improve the economy of the transport system.
• a container may be coated, for instance, by an ordinary folding cover of the same type as is normally used when transporting asphalt.
• the container For rational use of the various components included in the system, it is suitable to design the container with essentially standard dimensions for containers and with container attachments 14 in standard positions. Consequently, the goods wagons that are used can be standard wagons for containers, or alternatively, if an improved goods wagon is developed, this can sometimes be used for transporting standard containers.
• the containers In the current example involving salt cargo, it may be convenient to make the containers essentially with the same dimensions as 10" containers. A filled container then weighs about 16 tonnes of which about 13.5 tonnes is salt. Four such containers can be transported on a wagon which suitably is a bogie wagon, which results in a loaded wagon that weighs about 80 tonnes and has an axle load of about 20 tonnes. In another application, the same wagon can transport two 20" containers or one 40" container.
• a suitable type of automatic lock is ALS 952-40 supplied by Buffers. With such locks, the container is prevented from falling off when subjected to uneven load caused by, for instance, the draft arising when two trains meet. At the same time it is possible to lift off a container from a wagon using an entirely vertical lifting motion which overcomes a predetermined amount of spring force in each lock of about 250 kp. It is suitable to transport one or two fork-lift trucks for loading and unloading the containers on a wagon of its/their own in the train.
• the wagon is advantageously a low wagon with a ramp on which the truck itself can run off.
• the truck inserts its arms under the container in the associated "boxes" and lifts the container by means of the inner arms. Then the outer arms are lowered simultaneously as far as possible in their “boxes” so that safe locking of the container is maintained during lifting. Then the truck drives the container to a lorry where it holds the container over the platform.
• the outer forks are slightly raised, thus allowing the salt to be discharged through the gap that arises round the second part of the container.
• the circumference is about 4.5 m, in which case such a small gap as 15 cm results in a discharge opening of 0.6 m 2 all the way round.
• the salt in a container about 13.5 tonnes, is a suitable cargo for a lorry, but the lorry platform should preferably be filled in two emptyings with a minor movement of the lorry in relation to the container therebetween since the lorry platform is elongate. This can easily be done in the invention.
• the second part may have the approximate dimensions of 60 x 160 cm.
• the starting point of the present container as well as the transport system comprising the container, a fork-lift truck and a train is the need for good bulk transport of salt.
• the examples as discussed have been aimed at this need.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Filling Or Emptying Of Bunkers, Hoppers, And Tanks (AREA)
• Loading Or Unloading Of Vehicles (AREA)
• Refuse Collection And Transfer (AREA)
• Auxiliary Methods And Devices For Loading And Unloading (AREA)
• Ship Loading And Unloading (AREA)
• Forklifts And Lifting Vehicles (AREA)
• Warehouses Or Storage Devices (AREA)
• Medicines That Contain Protein Lipid Enzymes And Other Medicines (AREA)
• Purses, Travelling Bags, Baskets, Or Suitcases (AREA)

Priority Applications (5)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=20289210

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (10)

Cited By (4)

Families Citing this family (1)

Citations (3)

• 2002
  • 2002-10-09 SE SE0202973A patent/SE523404C2/sv not_active IP Right Cessation
• 2003
  • 2003-10-09 DK DK03748860T patent/DK1562842T3/da active
  • 2003-10-09 AT AT03748860T patent/ATE331673T1/de not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2003-10-09 WO PCT/SE2003/001569 patent/WO2004033348A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2003-10-09 PT PT03748860T patent/PT1562842E/pt unknown
  • 2003-10-09 DE DE60306545T patent/DE60306545T2/de not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2003-10-09 EP EP03748860A patent/EP1562842B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2003-10-09 ES ES03748860T patent/ES2268401T3/es not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2003-10-09 AU AU2003267918A patent/AU2003267918A1/en not_active Abandoned
• 2005
  • 2005-05-09 NO NO20052243A patent/NO20052243L/no not_active Application Discontinuation

Patent Citations (3)

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