WO2010082010A1

WO2010082010A1 - Cargo tables and their carriage

Info

Publication number: WO2010082010A1
Application number: PCT/GB2009/002862
Authority: WO
Inventors: Philip Tomkins
Original assignee: Dfds Tor Line Plc
Priority date: 2009-01-15
Filing date: 2009-12-11
Publication date: 2010-07-22
Also published as: GB2466970B; GB0900680D0; GB2466970A

Abstract

A cargo table (30) comprising a cargo bearing platform (31) supported by (sides 32) and legs (33 & 34), having sloping bearing means 35 beneath and proximate a first end of said platform (31), and a carriage (10) comprising a wheeled frame (11) as provided with upwardly protruding support means (16) able to connect with said sloping bearing means (35) and therefore lift one end of said platform (31) when a longitudinal force is applied to said carriage (10) and consequently also to the interface between the carriage of the invention (10) and the cargo table of the invention (30), one end of said carriage (30) adapted to connect with elevating means provided upon a tractive unit, enabling said tractive unit to lift the second end of said platform (31).

Description

Cargo Tables and their Carriage

This invention relates to a combination of a cargo table for supporting cargo and a carriage to enable said table to be lifted and transported.

The term cargo as used herein refers to loose items or may be bagged, bundled, crated, palletised or containerised.

One method for transporting cargo is to load it onto low-height wheeled trailers, known as roll trailers. Propulsion of roll trailers is provided by a tractive unit having an elevating plate known as a fifth wheel, to which said fifth wheel a hook known as a gooseneck is removably attached. Said gooseneck is inserted into a tunnel as provided in one end of a roll trailer, enabling said end to be raised from the ground and the trailer to be propelled and manoeuvred.

Another method for transporting cargo is by using cargo cassettes. A cassette is not provided with wheels, but its cargo bearing platform has a substantially horizontal undersurface and is supported by its sides, between which a lift trailer commonly known as a translifter is driven longitudinally, the chassis of said translifter thereafter being hydraulically raised so as to lift and enable carriage of the cassette and any cargo thereon.

Much of the construction and maintenance cost of a roll trailer is attributable to its wheels. A cassette is cheaper to manufacture, but the saving is eroded by the necessary provision of a translifter, having a complex hydraulic lifting system.

Much cargo inevitably has to be stored in ports before and after shipment. Rather than handling the cargo again to the floor or to a store it is common to leave the cargo on the roll trailers and cassettes. Although this results in considerable asset value being tied-up in the trailers and cassettes the advantage of using these detachable or demountable carriers is that the value represented in the tractive units can be employed on other work.

Within roll-on/roll-off shipping services the bearing of cargo by platform flats, otherwise known as flat-racks, commonly ceases at about 30 tons, otherwise the necessary strengthening depth and weight of the platform would become prohibitively cumbersome and expensive to lift and move around. Cassettes, however, commonly bear between 60 and 90 tons, which is attributable, in comparison with flat-racks, not to the depth of their cargo bearing platform, but to the strengthening effect of their spaced apart integral means of support upon the ground.

It would therefore be preferred to provide an integrally supported cargo platform that does not have the manufacturing and maintenance cost attributable to the provision of wheels and that furthermore does not require the cost of a hydraulically raising translifter to raise it from the ground.

For further economy it would also be preferred to make use of existing tractive units, as opposed to providing specialist trucks. A cargo platform should therefore be capable of being lifted and hauled by a standard tractive unit that is equipped with a normal elevating fifth wheel. Standard tractive units, due to the versatility of their elevating fifth wheels, would therefore also still be able to continue hauling roll trailers and cassettes, standard road trailers and a variety of mobile machinery, as well as remaining able to connect with automatic ships' trestles ashore, lock them to road trailers and then lock each to suitably equipped ships.

Owing to the heavy weights that are commonplace in the shipping industry it is preferred that tractive units are able to haul cargo by means of their articulation with additional sets of wheels, whereby the weight of cargo can be substantially dispersed away from the rear axles of said tractive units.

According to the present invention there is therefore provided herein a combination of a cargo table comprising a load bearing platform supported integrally at its sides, and a carriage able to articulate with a tractive unit, beneath and proximate a first end of said platform being longitudinally sloping bearing means, said carriage provided with support means protruding its upper surface able to pass beneath the second end of the platform of the cargo table of the invention when said carriage is pushed by a tractive unit and lift the first end of said platform when said support means are pushed against the sloping bearing means, one end of the carriage of the invention provided with means to connect with the elevating fifth wheel of a tractive unit, enabling said tractive unit to lift the second end of the platform of the cargo table of the invention. The upwardly protruding support means of the carriage of the invention comprise but are not restricted to wheels. The height of the uppermost surfaces of said support means facilitate entry of said carriage beneath one end of the platform of the invention.

Resistance results when the upwardly protruding support means of the carriage of the invention are pushed by a tractive unit into the reducing height of the space between the ground and the sloping bearing means beneath the platform of the cargo table of the invention.

When the upwardly protruding support means of the carriage of the invention abut with the sloping bearing means beneath the platform of the cargo table of the invention continued linear force from the tractive unit upon said carriage results in progressive lifting of the portion of the cargo table proximate said support means.

The invention will now be described in more detail, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a side view of an embodiment of a carriage of the invention comprising a frame as supported by wheels and a stand, said frame having two known safety hooks (one shown) at one end adjacent to a tunnel as may be removably connected by a gooseneck (not shown) as attached to the elevating fifth wheel (not shown) as connected to a tractive unit (not shown).

Figure 2 is a side view of an embodiment of a carriage of the invention comprising a frame as supported by wheels and a stand, said frame having a known gooseneck permanently affixed at one end as may be removably connected to the elevating fifth wheel (not shown) as connected to a tractive unit (not shown).

Figure 3A is a side view of an embodiment of a cargo table of the invention comprising a cargo bearing platform as supported integrally at its sides, having sloping bearing means beneath and proximate a first end of said platform.

Figure 3B is a lower plan view of the embodiment of a cargo table of Figure 3A.

Figure 3C is a view from one end of the embodiment of the cargo table of Figure 3A.

FIGURE 1 shows a side view of an embodiment of a carriage of the invention generally indicated 10 comprising a frame 1 1 supported by a stand 12 and two pairs of laterally opposed wheels 13, said frame 11 having two known laterally opposed safety hooks 14 (one shown) at one end adjacent to a tunnel 15 as may be removably connected by a gooseneck (not shown) as attached to the elevating fifth wheel (not shown) as connected to a tractive unit (not shown). Support means 16 comprising three pairs of laterally opposed wheels upwardly protrude from the frame 11.

FIGURE 2 shows a side view of an embodiment of a carriage of the invention generally indicated 20 comprising a frame 11 supported by a stand 12 and wheels

13, said frame 1 1 having a known gooseneck 21 permanently affixed at one end as may be removably attached to the elevating fifth wheel (not shown) as connected to a tractive unit (not shown). Support means 16 upwardly protrude from the frame 11.

Figure 3A shows a side view of an embodiment of a cargo table of the invention generally indicated 30 comprising a cargo bearing platform 31 as integrally supported by sides 32 and legs 33, said table having legs 34 at one end, said cargo bearing platform 31 provided with bearing means 35 beneath and proximate one end of said platform as comprise longitudinally sloping reinforced channels.

Figure 3B shows a lower plan view of the cargo table of Figure 3A generally indicated 30. Legs 33 and 34 are indicated. Beneath and proximate one end of cargo bearing platform 31 are sloping bearing means 35 as comprise a pair of reinforced channels.

Figure 3C shows a view from one end of the cargo table of Figure 3A generally indicated 30. Sides 32 are attached to cargo bearing platform 31 and to legs 34 as affixed at the end of said cargo table 30.

Claims

1. A combination of a cargo table comprising a load bearing platform supported integrally at its sides, and a carriage able to articulate with a tractive unit, beneath and proximate a first end of said platform being longitudinally sloping bearing means, said carriage provided with support means protruding its upper surface able to pass beneath the second end of the platform of the cargo table of the invention when said carriage is pushed by a tractive unit and lift the first end of said platform when said support means are pushed against the sloping bearing means, one end of the carriage of the invention provided with means to connect with the elevating fifth wheel of a tractive unit, enabling said tractive unit to lift the second end of the platform of the cargo table of the invention.