De Main, William Arthur (8/84 Smith Street, Wollongong, 2500 NSW, AU)
Fairbrother, Edward Ernest (1/16 Kielvin Road, Coniston, NSW 2500, AU)
De Main, William Arthur (8/84 Smith Street, Wollongong, 2500 NSW, AU)
| 1. | A welded steel pallet comprising of a plurality of primary bearers overlaid at right angles with a plurality of transverse secondary bearers, the centre primary bearer having in the central position a chain attached or provision for a chain to be attached that can be connected to a transportation holddown retainer. |
| 2. | A pallet as claimed in claim 1, wherein the lower surface of the primary bearers has affixed antislip material. |
| 3. | A pallet as claimed in claim 1, wherein the upper surfaces of the transverse secondary bearers has affixed antislip material. |
| 4. | A pallet as claimed in claim 1, wherein the central primary bearer is hollow and the upper internal ends have a rounded insert across the width to facilitate steel securing strapping. |
| 5. | A pallet as claimed in claim 1, wherein the central transverse secondary bearer consists of a full width hollow section topped by two similar sections separated by a distance approximately the bore diameter of the material to be transported and with all the components having rounded inserts across the width of the upper internal ends to facilitate steel securing strapping. |
| 6. | A pallet as claimed in claim 5, wherein a length of transportation chain or similar is secured to the centre of the transverse secondary bearer. |
| 7. | A pallet as claimed in claim 3, wherein the ends of the outer bearers are enclosed with an end plate and supporting side gusset and the plate extending out to the side of the bearer for upward lifting and also with a hemispherical cutout on the upper surface to facilitate chain tiedown with the extreme edge of the plate having a lifting chain or similar retaining section and the plate length extends down to at least half the height of the primary bearer. |
| 8. | A pallet as claimed in claim 1, wherein the transportation hold down retainer consists of U shaped channel section or similar with chain runners at each extremity within the channel and a raised chain runner at the centre position also within the channel. |
| 9. | A pallet as claimed in claim 8, where the retainer has on the underside a right angle crosspiece at the centre position of a length just less than the bore diameter and with the ends having a curved flange or similar attached with two similar sections welded to the underside of the transport hold down retainer and separated by a distance just less than the diameter of the bore. |
| 10. | A pallet as claimed in claim 8, wherein the underside of the channel from the extreme ends up to the curved flanged sections in claim 9 has antislip material attached. |
| 11. | A pallet as claimed in claim 8, wherein attached to the centre crosspiece and the underside of the channel is welded a bore restraining locking plate with cutouts to accommodate the chain links from the central transverse bearer. |
Narrow width bore vertical steel cores are transported by placing two lengths of timber of say 75mm by 50mm cross section and a length equal to at least the diameter of the core, parallel to each other and separated by a distance equal to or greater than the bore of the core onto the transport medium, a steel core is then placed on top of these timbers by a mechanical device e. g. forklift. A multitude of cores can be transported by placing extra timbers onto the core already in place and then adding another steel core and so on, up to a height of approximately 1. 5m. This stack of cores is then secured to the vehicle by a chain secured to either side of the vehicle tray and passing over the top of the core stack.
This mode of securing and transportation does not adequately stop the potential for movement of individual cores when traveling over uneven surfaces or during sharp cornering and or braking and can result in the cores being damaged or the stack collapsing and possibly resulting in the cores falling off the vehicle. Given the mass of the cores, the speed of the vehicle and the congestion of public roads, this can result in both life and property being threatened.
It is therefore the object of this invention to ameliorate the aforementioned safety issues and accordingly a core carrier and tie-down core retainer, both of which can include retaining locators for a centre bore restraining device, is disclosed of the type for carrying bore vertical narrow or slit cores which are stacked on said core carrier being of metal construction and including at least two parallel primary bearers which are joined by a plurality of transverse members, secured by the core retainer which is placed at 90 degrees to the direction of travel across the uppermost core and centrally located by retaining flanges, said core retainer has the tensioned transportation hold down mechanism placed across it and as an extra safety component the centre bore restraining device can be utilised.
Preferably the upper core engaging surface of the transverse bearers are covered wholly or in part by a non-slip agent to inhibit movement of said core on the carrier.
It is further preferred that the primary bearers include anti-skid material on the bottom surfaces thereof to inhibit shifting of the loaded core carrier when on a transport vehicle.
It is further preferred that the said core carrier be of welded galvanized steel construction.
Preferably on each of the four outer corners of the transverse bearers there is provision for locating the transport securing chains.
It is further preferred that the outer transverse bearers incorporate forklift and overhead equipment lifting lugs on the outer side of each corner of the transverse bearer, similar lugs may be required on the outer side of the transverse bearer to accommodate short length forklift tines.
It is preferred when using three transverse bearers the centre bearer consists of two sections, the bottommost section provides strapping for either individual core or total stack and the upper section of the bearer consists of two sections allowing for through bore strapping for either individual cores or the total stack.
Preferably the central primary bearer provides for individual core or total stack strapping Preferably the core retainer consists of a channel section incorporating anti-slip to the underside, also on the underside are flanges which fit into the bore and separated by a distance slightly less than the diameter of the core bore, within the channel at either end are chain guides/runners and at the centre position is a raised guide/runner all of which distributes the down-force of the transport tie-down mechanism to the coil retainer and hence to the uppermost surface of the top core, also at the centre position of the core retainer is a variable height locator to accept the chain from the centre bore restraining device.
Preferably for the centre bore restraining device, which is optional, there is incorporated at the centre of the base of the core carrier a locator to receive the anchoring device which may consist of a shank incorporating chain or similar with the shank of a length that enables securing of the core retainer located on top of the uppermost core, at the variable height locator, to remove any slackness within the chain such that any movement within the core stack places the chain under tension thus securing the stack of cores to the base.
Preferably the primary bearers are located at the base of the transverse bearers to enable the loading and unloading of the bottommost core without the need for timber separators.
One currently preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the attached diagrams in which:- Figure 1 is a front view perspective of the bore vertical slit core carrier base structure.
Figure 2 is a perspective of the overview of the carrier base structure.
Figure 3 is a perspective of the side view of the carrier base structure.
Figure 4 is a schematic of the primary bearer end plate.
Figure 5 is a side perspective of the core retainer.
Figure 6 is an overview of the core retainer.
Figure 7 is an end perspective of the core retainer.
Figure 8 is a schematic of the bore restraining device.
Figure 9 is a side view perspective of a carrier according to this invention with three bore vertical slit cores held down by the core restrainer using transportation securing chains.
Referring first to figures 1 to 3 the carrier indicated may comprise of three parallel primary bearers 1 which are joined by three parallel transverse members 2. While the invention is not limited to any specific dimensions for the carrier with this embodiment the primary bearers may preferably be constructed from 50 x 50 x 3.00 mm RHS (rolled hollow section) and the transverse members from 100 x 50 x 3.00 mm RHS. Typical non limiting lengths for the primary bearers may be 900 mm and the outer transverse members may be 1000 mm and the inner transverse at 1200mm. The centre transverse consists of two parts, bottom part 3 at 1200mm and two bore strapping sections 4 at 350mm long. Strap protectors 5 are located inside both ends of transverse bearer 3 and strapping sections 4 and also the centre primary bearer. The central restraint bar 6 would be typically of 20 mm rod deformed to form a curve and would be 125 mm long.
Welded to the ends of each primary bearer are end plates 7 (refer Figure 4) and welded to the end plate and the primary bearer is a supporting gusset 8 and also there are two forklift lifting lugs 9 welded to each of the primary bearers, for short tine forklifts.
Typically the lifting lugs would be of 50 x 50 x 3.00 mm RHS and 75 mm long.
Referring to figure 4 the end plate 4 consists of a single piece cut to include a side lug 7 shaped to enable a transport restraint chain to fit snuggly and to the outside of this lug is welded an overhead lifting gear sling restraint 10 to ensure the sling does not slip off during lifting operations. Typically the end plate would be 10 mm thick and the sling restraint of 20 mm thick material.
In accordance with this invention is the provision of anti-slip material to the lower surfaces of the primary bearers and upper surface of the transverse bearers to prevent shifting of the lowest core and/or the carrier during transport.
Figures 5,6 and 7 refer to the core retainer device and typically consists of a channel section 11 encompassing core restraining flanges 12 on the lower surface, within the channel at either end are located chain runners 13 and a central elevated chain runner 14 that has chain guides 15 located on the upper surface, at right angles to the channel section in the central position is a core retainer cross member 16 to which is attached centrally the bore restrainer locking plate 17 if this option is used, anti-slip compound 18 is attached to the underside of channel 11 from either end to the core restraining flanges 12.
Referring to figure 8, the bore restraining device typically consists of a hook section 19 to which is attached a length of transportation chain 20 this enables hook 19 to attache to the central restraint bar 6 and the chain 20 to the bore restrainer locking plate.
With reference to figure 9, this shows how the combination of carrier base and the core retaining device are utilised to transport a multitude of bore vertical slit cores, with the transportation securing chain tensioned through the ends and over the centre chain runner and locked down to the sides of the carrier.
It will be appreciated that this invention at least in the form of the embodiment disclosed provides for a novel and useful improvement for the transportation and storage of bore vertical slit steel cores. The example described is only one preferred form of the invention and a wide variety of modifications may be made which would be apparent to a person skilled in the art. For example the shape, configuration, number and placement of bearers and transverse members, end plate design and restraint mechanism may be changed depending on design preference or to adapt to other types of loads. Whilst the core carrier described is of welded steel construction the invention extends to the use of other sufficiently strong non-timber materials.
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