Application field of the invention

The present invention relates to an access aiding device for the cabin of a vehicle, especially an industrial or commercial or specialty vehicle, in order to help people get on and get off the vehicle.

Description of the prior art

It is not rare that people, and especially the driver, get in or out the cabin of a vehicle with difficulty.

In particular, in a vehicle with big dimensions the seat is placed very high, and the driver can only use high steps to reach it, and/or handles in fixed positions in the cabin, which may be or become difficult to use. The situation may also worsen over the passing of the time, when the person is tired, or walks with difficulty or is overweight.

Summary of the invention

Therefore the aim of the present invention is to overcome all the drawbacks mentioned above and to provide an access aiding device for the cabin of a vehicle, especially an industrial or commercial or specialty vehicle, in order to help people get on and get off the vehicle.

The object of the present invention is an access aiding device for the cabin of a vehicle, especially an industrial or commercial or specialty vehicle, characterized in that it comprises a handle suitable to be grabbed by a person, and a system inside the cabin for moving the handle, said system for moving the handle comprising a rope and a winch, the rope being connected to the handle by one side, and to the winch by the other side.

In particular the object of the present invention is an access aiding device for the cabin of a vehicle, especially an industrial or commercial or specialty vehicle, as described more fully in the claims, which are an integral part of this description.

Brief description of the Figures

Further purposes and advantages of the present invention will become clear from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment (and its alternative embodiments) and the drawings that are attached hereto, which are merely illustrative and non-limitative, in which:

figure 1 shows a side view of a portion of a cabin of an industrial vehicle wherein the device that is object of the present invention is present;

figure 2 shows a side view of the vehicle's cabin with the device that is object of the invention;

figure 3 shows a handle that is part of the device that is object of the invention;

figure 4 shows an example of system for moving the handle that is part of the device that is object of the invention.

In the drawings the same reference numbers and letters identify the same elements or components. Detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention

With reference to the figures, the device according to the invention substantially comprises a handle 1 suitable to be grabbed by a person, and a system inside the cabin for moving the handle, in order to facilitate the access of the person when getting on and off the vehicle's cabin.

The system for moving the handle comprises a rope 2 and a winch 3. The rope is connected to the handle at one side and to the winch at the other side.

The handle 1 is preferably of the ergonomic type, suitable to be grabbed with one or two hands, having a shape fitting the fingers in order to facilitate its hold.

The handle includes an electronic system 4 in order to transmit pulses to the control device, not shown in the figures, of a type known in the art, together with control button/ switches .

A first control switch 5 is included in the part of the handle that is suitable to be grabbed. It has the function to detect the presence of the hand which grabs the handle. For this function the switch comprises for example a capacitive sensor, which advantageously detects the presence of the hand without moving parts; as an alternative it is possible to use a mechanical switch, for example button switch, with a moving part at the side where the fingers of the hand(s) grab the handle. For example in figure 3 this is the higher portion of the part of handle 1 ' suitable to be grabbed in the way shown in figure 1.

In the lower part of the handle, usually reached by the thumb, a second switch 6 is present of the normal type, electrically connected in series to the first one. The activation of the device depends on the closing of both switches. The purpose is to guarantee the safety of the user, by avoiding the accidental activation of the system.

When both switches are closed, the transmitter inside the handle sends a permission signal to the device controlling the activation of the winch. For safety reasons, one released switch is enough to bring the system to the safety status, wherein it stops and moves the handle to the upper rest position .

The transmission system may be of any type known in the art, for example with a battery embedded into the handle, or with a transponder, with or without remote control.

The system for moving the handle comprises at least an intermediate transmission element 7, for example a pulley, for the rope 2 slide, placed in an elevated point within the cabin, for example suspending from the middle of the roof panel 8 of the cabin. The position of the transmission element has to be such that it guarantees the correct angle of intervention of the rope connected to the handle, so that it can follow the natural movement of the person when getting on or off the cabin. The trajectory of the handle has to be the same as the one of the person grabbing it, with the correct position, namely in the middle of the access steps, in order to facilitate the access between the seat and the steering wheel, therefore avoiding not ergonomic movements of the joints.

The handle has two rest positions in the system, one at the most elevated point in the cabin (in fact it is the transmission point 7), the other is at a point in the lower area of the opened side door, easy to reach for the person, for example in correspondence of a fixed handle 9 near the hinges of the side door. In the most elevated point the position of the handle must not hinder the visibility, therefore it can be hooked and/or retracted to the roof panel .

In the lower point a hold hook to retain the handle.

In addition a button may be present in the lower area, which allows the person to activate the control device to lower the handle, in case the person got off the cabin without using the handle, which is therefore in the upper rest point, but he/she needs it to get on.

Moreover, also end of stroke switches which detect the end of stroke points are present in order to determine which will be the following step: winding by pulling or releasing by braking .

The winch 3 has to transmit to the handle 1 a pulling force when the person gets on and a braking force when the person gets off. The winch includes a windlass 10, on which the rope 2 winds, which is connected to a motor, for example a pneumatic ratiomotor 11. In a direction of rotation the latter functions as an motor, by pulling the winding rope, and therefore by helping the person who is getting on the cabin; while in the opposite direction of rotation it functions as a brake, in order to help the person while getting off the cabin. A dual input slide valve gear 12 allows to switch between the two operating modes.

The slide valve gear 12, of a type known in the art, in normal position is at rest, and its inputs are disconnected and separated from the source of pneumatic energy 13. When the actuator coil 14 is excited in order to facilitate the climbing on the cabin, one of the inputs is connected to the source of pneumatic energy 13, while the other is released.

On the contrary, in the descending step, a second coil of the slide valve gear is excited and puts one of the inputs into contact with the surrounding environment, while the other is released by means of a calibrated hole, with pneumatic resistance, which determines the magnitude of the braking capacity while descending. In this situation the ratiomotor functions as a brake in order to facilitate the descending step of the person in the cabin.

The source of pneumatic energy may be a reservoir connected to the vehicle system of the pneumatic services, which may be controlled by a valve which determines its filling. The connection to the pneumatic services is realized by means of a pipeline 14 connecting to a electropneumatic interface plate of the cabin. Said reservoir may also be installed in an appropriate space in the cabin or on the chassis. The capacity of the tank is determined by means of an estimate of the expected number of actuations of the system.

It is also possible to use an air receiver already present on the vehicle for other purposes.

The motor may also be of the electric type, power supplied, for example, by vehicle batteries. In this case neither the air receiver nor the slide valve gear are necessary.

The presence of the intermediate transmission 7 allows to place the ratiomotor unit (which, anyway, is bigger than the transmission) in the cabin in a direction that not necessarily is the same as the pulling direction of the rope, but in the position that is most suitable to minimize the space it occupies in the cabin, being at the same time structurally solid, for example in correspondence of the box- type cross member between the roof panel and the rear wall, as in figure 2. This area is typically present in all the cabins, and therefore the application on different cabins (of different manufacturers or having different length) implies only a different initial winding of the rope on the windlass. Also the intermediate transmission 7 is preferably placed in correspondence of an already existing reinforcement point of the cabin, for example on the upper cross member of the cabin, in the roof panel, where reinforcement stapes are present .

The rope may be made of interwoven steel wires.

It will be apparent to the person skilled in the art that other alternative and equivalent embodiments of the invention can be conceived and reduced to practice without departing from the scope of the invention.

From the description set forth above it will be possible for the person skilled in the art to embody the invention with no need of describing further construction details.