WO2005097575A1

WO2005097575A1 - A method and arrangement for handling a swap body

Info

Publication number: WO2005097575A1
Application number: PCT/SE2005/000474
Authority: WO
Inventors: Peter Linde
Original assignee: K Industrier Ab
Priority date: 2004-04-05
Filing date: 2005-04-01
Publication date: 2005-10-20
Also published as: EP1732797A1; DE602005022057D1; ATE472452T1; PL1732797T3; EP1732797B1

Abstract

In a method of transferring a swap body (1) from a truck (3) to a railway goods wagon (6), the swap body (1) is pushed in a pushing sequence onto a turntable (9) of the goods wagon (6), swung out from the wagon into suitable position therefore, and forward swap body legs (2) are used to support the swap body on the ground during a portion of the pushing sequence.

Description

A METHOD AND ARRANGEMENT FOR HANDLING A SWAP BODY

Technical Field The present invention relates to a method and arrangement for transferring a swap body from a truck to a railway goods wagon. Background of the Invention Goods is to an increasing extent transported in standardized load carriers, most often in containers, but also oftentimes in so called swap bodies, which may be defined as load carriers provided with foldable legs for their support above the ground. They are optimized to road vehicle dimensions and fitted with handling devices for transfer between different transport modes, usually road/rail . The problem of transferring a swap body between a truck and a railway wagon has so far not got any good solution in spite of several attempts. Prior solutions have often relied on lifting in some form, for example by cranes or industrial trucks. Also known is equipment for transferring swap bodies sideways to and from goods wagons. The most relevant prior art known is, however, represented by WO 94/15822. In this publication a technically complicated system for loading swap bodies and the like on railway wagons is revealed. In this complicated system use is made of a kind of turntable on a railway wagon. Such turntables are used in known systems for the handling of ordinary, standardized containers, but in this case the complexity is probably a great obstacle to practical use. The main object of the invention is to accomplish a method and arrangement for simple and cheap, but yet effective and safe transfer of a swap body from a truck to a goods wagon, or vice versa. The Invention In a method according to the invention this is accomplished in that the swap body is pushed in a pushing sequence onto a turntable of the goods wagon, swung out from the wagon into suitable position therefore, and in that forward swap body legs are used to support the swap body on the ground during a portion of the pushing sequence. More specifically this method may comprise the steps of a) putting the swap body in line with a turntable of the goods wagon, swung out from the wagon into suitable position therefore, b) backing the truck for introducing a slide member, slidably arranged on the turntable, or a front part of the turntable in a tunnel arranged at the underside of the swap body, and in the latter case pushing back the swap body onto slide elements arranged along the turntable, c) lowering the forward swap body legs - i e the swap body legs remote from the turntable - into supporting contact with the ground, d) positioning the truck with its end supporting the forward portion of the swap body and raising the previously lowered legs, e) pushing - by means of the truck - the swap body supported by the slide member or the slide elements onto the turntable, and f) swinging the turntable back into transport position in line with the longitudinal direction of the wagon . In a first embodiment, a further step of releasably connecting the slide member to the swap body is preferably/ performed between steps b) and c) or c) and d) . Practically, the connecting step - which is of greater importance for an unloading from the goods wagon - is performed in that lock members on a lock arm assembly attached to the slide member are engaged with lock members in the lower part of the swap body. In a second embodiment, a further step of affecting actuators, arranged on the turntable, to lower backing direction indicators when the swap body is pushed onto the turntable, is preferably performed between steps c) and d) . An arrangement for transferring a swap body from a truck to the wagon for further transport thereon is according to the invention simply characterized by a slide member on a pivotable turntable on the wagon, the slide member being slidable on the turntable and arranged to be introduced under the swap body, or by slide elements along a pivotable turntable on the wagon, the slide elements being arranged to be introduced under and support the swap body. In a first embodiment, the slide member is practically arranged to be introduced in a tunnel, which is a standard arrangement at the underside of the swap body. The turntable may have a forwardly narrowing nose member at its free end for facilitating this introduction. Preferably, the slide member has side brims for cooperation with the tunnel of the swap body. The internal cross sectional shape of the slide member generally corresponds to the external cross sectional shape of the turntable. Cooperating coatings of for example PTFE can be arranged on the turntable and in the slide member, respectively, for enhancing the mutual slidability. A lock arm assembly with lock members for releaseable connection to corresponding lock members on the swap body is attached to the slide member. In a second embodiment, the slide elements are rollers provided along the pivotable turntable on the wagon . These rollers are arranged to support beams forming a tunnel at the underside of the swap body, and the turntable has guiding means at its free end for facilitating this introduction. These guiding means may be wheels for cooperation with the tunnel of the swap body. In the second embodiment, the turntable may further be provided with backing direction indicators for the surveillance of the transfer of the swap body from the truck to the wagon. These backing direction indicators may be connected to actuators arranged on the turntable, which are spring biased wheels arranged in slots of the side walls of the turntable . Differently speaking, the actuators are slidable wheels that slide into an interior of the turntable to lower the backing direction indicators. These backing direction indicators are movable from a first raised position to a second lowered position by the actuation of the actuators. The Drawings The invention will be described in further detail below under reference to the accompanying drawings, showing two embodiments of the invention - a first one in Figs 1-6 and a second one in Figs 7-11 - and in which Fig 1 is a perspective view of a goods wagon according to the invention together with a truck and a swap body under loading onto the wagon, Fig 2 is a plan view of the wagon according to the invention, Fig 3 is a section through a turntable of the goods wagon along the line III-III in Fig 5, Fig 4 is a perspective view of a slide arrangement for the turntable, Fig 5 is a similar perspective view of the slide arrangement on the turntable, Fig 6 is a perspective view of the slide arrangement on the turntable entering a tunnel provided at the underside of a swap body, Fig 7 is a perspective view of a goods wagon according to the invention together with a truck and. a swap body under loading onto the wagon, Fig 8 is a plan view of the wagon according to the invention, Fig 9 is a view of one end of a turntable of the goods wagon, Fig 10 is a perspective view of the turntable according to the invention, and Fig 11 is a perspective view of the turntable entering a tunnel provided at the underside of a swap body. Detailed Description of a Preferred Embodiment A swap body 1, shown in its entirety in Fig 1, is a standardized product in the transport industry and is intended for carrying goods primarily by truck but also by train. It is provided with four foldable legs 2 for its support on the ground. In Fig 1, where the swap body is carried by a truck 3 (having here three axles) , the front or left legs 2 are shown folded down and the rear or right legs 2 folded up. In the vicinity of the attachment point for each leg 2, the swap body is provided with a standard container lock member 4 of the so called twistlock type. A further standard feature of the swap body - of importance for the present invention - is that on its underside it is provided with a longitudinal tunnel or channel 5 for interaction with corresponding means on a vehicle on which it is transported; this tunnel 5 is shown most clearly in Fig 6. A swap body may thus for example be transported by a truck or by train, as appears quite clearly in Fig 1- , where such a swap body is under transfer from the truck 3 to a special railway cgoods wagon 6. The goods wagon 6 has a framework 7, in this case carried by two bogies 8. On top of the framework there are arranged horisontally pivotable turntables 9, in the present case two turntables, which in their basic form are per se well known in the industry for transferring mainly containers to and from goods wagons . The goods wagon shown in Figs 1 and 2 is provided with two such turntables 9, off which one is shown in transport position in the longitudinal direction of the wagon, whereas the second one is shown in a transfer position obliquely in relation to the wagon . As the turntables 9 basically are known in the industry, they are only described to the extent necessary for providing relevant information about the invention. In a first embodiment shown in Figs 1-6, each turntable 9 has a fixed nose member 10 at its free forward, end with a forwardly narrowing shape so as to facilitate entering the turntable 9 into the tunnel 5 of the swap body 1, as is depicted, perhaps most clearly in Fig 6. The turntable 9 is also provided with a slide arrangement generally numbered 11. This slide arrangement 11 is slidable along the turntable 9 from the nose member 10, where it is shown in Figs 1, 2, 5 and 6, to an end stop at the opposite end of the turntable. The slide arrangement 11 basically comprises a slide member 12, having an internal cross-sectional shape generally corresponding to the external cross-sectional shape of the turntable 9, and a lock arm assembly 13 to be described. An exemplary design for accomplishing the sliding is shown in section in Fig 3. It appears that the turntable 9 may be provided at its top surface and at its two lateral surfaces with coatings 14 of for example PTFE (such as Teflon®) , cooperating with corresponding coatings 15 of the same material provided on the underside and the inner lateral sides of the slide member 12. It clearly appears from Fig 3 that the slide member 12 has side brims 12' supportingly cooperating with the underside of the means forming the tunnel 6 of the swap body 1. Also the nose member 10 has side brims 10' for the same purpose . The lock arm .assembly 13 has the general purpose of firmly connecting t ie slide member 12 to the container lock members 4 of the swap body 1. Its main member is a tubular cross bar 16 attached to the slide member 12 transverse to the turntable 9. Pivotally attached to the cross bar 16 is a control bar 17 operatively connected to stop pins 18, which - by means of handles 19 arranged at the ends of the control bar 17 - may be brought down from their inoperative positions shown in Figs 4 and 5 into engagement with means on the turntable 9. Hereby, the slide member 12 may be locked to the turntable 9 dur±ng the introduction of the slide member into the tunnel 5 of the swap body 1. Attached with a certain pivotal flexibility to each end of the cross bar 16 (for adjustment purposes) is a lock arm 20, whose length may be changed, for example by a telescoping, lockable design indicated in Figs 4 and 5. The length change feature is necessary in order to allow adaption to swap bodies of different, standardized lengths. Each lock arm 20 is at its free end provided with a pivotable lock member 21 for manually releasable engagement with the correspond±ng container lock member 4. A swap body 1 is transferred from the truck 3 to the goods wagon 6 in the following way. One of the turntables 9 of the wagon 6 is p±voted or swung out into an oblique position, generally as shown in Fig. 1 and 2, the slide arrangement 11 being close to the nose member 10 at its free end. The truck 3 with the swap body 1 thereon is backed up into position with the swap body tunnel 5 in line with the turntable 9, so that the slide member 12 is introduced into the tunnel 5. The front legs 2 of the swap body 1 are folded or swung down to the posit±on shown in Fig 1, so that the front end of the swap body 1 is supported by the legs and its rear end by the slide member 12. The lock arms 20 are connected to the lock members 4 on the swap body 1, so that the slide member 12 is locked in relation to the swap body 1. The truck 3 is brought forward, until the front end of the swap body 1 can rest on the rear end of the truck 3 and the swap body legs 2 can again be folded up. By backing the truck 3 tre swap body will now, resting on the slide member 12, be pushed entirely onto the turntable 9. Finally, the turntable 9 with the swap body 1 thereon may be pivoted back into transport position in the longitudinal direction of the goods wagon 6 , in a way known in the art . A later transfer of the swap body 1 back onto a truck 3 is accomplished in the reverse manner. As the swap body 1 hereby is pulled from the turntable 9 on the slide member 12 by the truck 3, it is of special importance that the swap body 1 is locked to the slide member 12 by the lock arm assembly 13. Modifications are possible within the scope of the enclosed claims. Especially, the term "slide member" is meant to include embodiments where a rolling instead of sliding movement between the turntable and thte swap body is accomplished. A special modification is to provide the slide member 12 with arm means for connection to the container lock members 4 and hereby not to use the tunnel 5 and the short side of the swap body 1 in the transfer process. Generally speaking, the use of this modification is the same as has been described above A second embodiment is shown in Figs 7-11. The swap body 1, shown in its entirety in Fig 7, is provided withi four foldable legs 2 for its support on the ground. In Fig 7, where the swap body is carried by the truck 3, the frront or left legs 2 and the rear or right legs 2 are shown folded up. In the second embodiment each turntable 39 is provided at its free forward end with guiding means in the form of wheels 40 to facilitate entering the turntable 39 into the tunnel 5 of the swap body 1. The guiding wheels 40 run on the inside of the tunnel 5 to laterally guide the swap body 1. The turntable 39 is also provided with horisontal rollers 41. The rollers 41 are arranged at intervals along the sides of the turntable 39 from the free forward end of the turntable 39 to the opposite end thereof. The roller's 41 are arranged to receive and support vertical beams 42 arranged on the underside of the swap body 1. The beams 42 form the tunnel 5. The turntable 39 is also provided with a stop member 43 at its rear end as shown in Fig 10. The stop member 43 prevents the swap body 1 from being pushed too- far onto the turntable 39. Fig 10 also shows that the rollers 41 are arranged at intervals along the entire length of the turntable 39. As an alternative to the rollers any suitable slide element for reducing the friction between the swap body 1 and the turntable 39 can be provided along the turntable 39. In Fig 9 the free forward end of the turntable 39 with the horisontal rollers 41 and the guiding wheels 40 is shown. Additionally, backing direction indicators 44 are shown together with actuators 45 for activating the backing direction indicators 44. Each backing direction indicator 44 comprises a horisontal bar 46 extending perpendicula ly from the turntable and a vertical bar 47 extending from a. free end of the horisontal bar 46. The actuators 45, which are slidable wheels biased by a spring arrangement (not shown) and arranged in slots of the turntable 39, are connected to the backing direction indicators 44. When the wheels 45 are pushed inwards, a link mechanism (not shown) lowers the backing direction indicators 44, so that the vertical bars 47 will be substantially parallel with the turntable 39. The actuators or wheels 45 also function as guiding wheels to guide the swap body 1 along the turntable 39. A swap body 1 is transferred from the truck 3 to the goods wagon 6 in the following way. One of the turntables 39 of the wagon 6 is pivoted or swung out into an ob-Lique position, generally as shown in Figs 7 and 8. The truαck 3 with the swap body 1 thereon is backed up into positron with the swap body tunnel 5 in line with the turntabl_e 39, so that the free forward end of the turntable 39 is introduced into the tunnel 5. The guiding wheels 40 cjuide the swap body 1 into position, and the beams 42 of thαe swap body 1 get in contact with the rollers 41. The truck 3 continues backing so that the swap body 1 gets further and further onto the turntable 39. When the swap body 1 gjets in line with the wheels 45, the beams 42 of the swap body 1 will press the actuators or wheels 45 inwards, and thie backing direction indicators 44 are lowered to be substantially parallel with the turntable 39. This informs the driver of the truck 3 that the swap body 1 is positioned on the turntable. The front legs 2 of the swap body 1 are folded or swung down to such a position, that the front end of the swap body 1 is supported by the legs and its rear end by the turntable 39. The truck 3 is brought forward, until the front end of the swap body 1 can rest on the rear end of the truck 3 and the swap body front legs 2 again can be folded up. By backing the truck 3 the swap body, now resting on the rollers 41, will be pushed entirely on-to the turntable 39. Finally, the turntable 39 with the swap body 1 thereon may be pivoted back into transport position in the longitudinal direction of the goods wagon 6, in a way known in the art . A later transfer of the swap body 1 back onto a truck 3 is accomplished in the reverse manner. The backing direction indicators 44 are raised when the the swap body 1 is pulled past the actuators or wheels 45. Modifications to the second embodiment are possible within the scope of the enclosed claims. The term "swap body" has been used throughout this specification, but the invention may also be applicable to other types of containers and goods carrying means to be transferred to and from railway goods wagons .

Claims

CLAIMS 1. A method of transferring a swap body (1) from a truck (3) to a railway goods wagon (6), c h a r a c t e ri z e d in that the swap body (1) is pushed in a pushing sequence onto a turntable (9; 39) of the goods wagon (6) , swung out from the wagon into suitable position therefore, and in that forward swap body legs (2) are used to support the swap body on the ground during a portion of the pushing sequence . 2. A method according to claim 1, comprising the steps of a) putting the swap body (1) in line with a turntable (9; 39) of the goods wagon (6) , swung out from the wagon into suitable position therefore, b) backing the truck (3) for introducing a slide member (12) , slidably arranged on the turntable (9), or a front part of the turntable (39) in a tunnel (5) arranged at the underside of the swap body (1) , and in the latter case pushing back the swap body onto slide elements (41) arranged along the turntable (39) , c) lowering the forward swap body legs (2) - i e the swap body legs remote from the turntable (9; 39) - into supporting contact with the ground, d) positioning the truck (3) with its end supporting the forward portion of the swap body (1) and raising the previously lowered legs (2) , e) pushing - by means of the truck (3) - the swap body (1) supported by the slide member (12) or the slide elements (41) onto the turntable (9; 39), and f) swinging the turntable (9; 39) back into transport position in line with the longitudinal direction of the wagon (6) . 3. A method according to claim 2, wherein a further step of releasably connecting the slide member (12) to the swap body (1) is performed between steps b) and c) or c) and d) . 4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the connecting step is performed in that lock members (21) on a lock arm assembly (13) attached to the slide member (12) are engaged with lock members (4) in the lower part of the swap body (1) . 5. A method according to claim 2, wherein a further step of affecting actuators (45) , arranged on the turntable (39) , to lower backing direction indicators (44) when the swap body (1) is pushed onto the turntable, is performed between steps c) and d) . 6. A method according to claim 5, wherein the actuators (45) partially slide into the interior of the turntable (39) , pushed by the swap body (1) , when the swap body (1) gets into contact with the actuators (45) . 7. An arrangement at a railway gods wagon (6) for transferring a swap body (1) from a truck (3) to the wagon for further transport thereon, c h a r a c t e r i z e d by a slide member (12) on a pivotable turntable (9) on the wagon (6) , the slide member being slidable on the turntable and arranged to be introduced under the swap body (1) , or by slide elements (41) along a pivotable turntable (39) on the wagon (6) , the slide elements being arranged to be introduced under and support the swap body (1) . 8. An arrangement according to claim 7, wherein the slide member (12) is arranged to be introduced in a tunnel (5) at the underside of the swap body (1) and the turntable (9) has a forwardly narrowing nose member (10) at its free end for facilitating this introduction. 9. An arrangement according to claim 8, wherein the slide member (12) has side brims (12') for cooperation with the tunnel (5) of the swap body (1) . 10. An arrangement according to claim 7, wherein the internal cross sectional shape of the slide member (12) generally corresponds to the external cross sectional shape of the turntable (9) . 11. An arrangement according to claim 10, wherein cooperating coatings (14, 15) of for example PTFE are arranged on the turntable (9) and in the slide member (12) , respectively, for enhancing the mutual slidability. 12. An arrangement according to claim 7, wherein a lock arm assembly (13) with lock members (21) for releaseable connection to corresponding lock members (4) on the swap body (1) is attached to the slide member (12) . 13. An arrangement according to claim 7, wherein the slide elements are rollers (41) provided along the pivotable turntable (39) on the wagon (6) . 14. An arrangement according to claim 13, wherein the rollers (41) are arranged to support beams (42) forming a tunnel (5) at the underside of the swap body (1) and the turntable (39) has guiding means (40) at its free end for facilitating this introduction. 15. An arrangement according to claim 14, wherein the guiding means are wheels (40) for cooperation with the tunnel (5) of the swap body (1) . 16. An arrangement according to any of claims 7 and 13-15, wherein the turntable (39) is provided with backing direction indicators (44) for the surveillance of the transfer of the swap body (1) from the truck (3) to the wagon (6) . 17. An arrangement according to claim 16, wherein the backing direction indicators (44) are connected to actuators (45) arranged on the turntable (39) . 18. An arrangement according to claim 17, wherein the actuators (45) are spring biased wheels arranged in slots of the side walls of the turntable (39) . 19. An arrangement according to claim 18, wherein the actuators (45) are slidable wheels that slide into an interior of the turntable (39) to lower the backing direction indicators (44) . 20. An arrangement according to claim 19, wherein the backing direction indicators (44) are movable from a first raised position to a second lowered position by the actuation of the actuators (45) . 21. An arrangement according to claim 20, wherein the actuators (45) are arranged for cooperation with the tunnel (5) of the swap body (1) to actuate the actuators (45) .