Åström, Anders (Östra Varmvattnet 290, Tavelsjö, S-922 67, SE)
| 1. | A bunk for a load carrying vehicle, in particular a forwarder or the like, comprising an arm (25) fastened on the vehicle and a stake (26,27, 28) supported by the outer end of the arm, characterised in that the stake has an inner member (26,27), which is pivotably supported by the arm (25) to be pivotal about a first axis (I) parallel with the longitudinal direction of the vehicle between an outwarddirected position and a upwarddirected position, and an outer member (28), which is pivotal about a second axis (III) parallel with the first axis, means (26,27) being arranged for maintaining the outer member (28) of the stake in upwarddirected position independently of whether the inner member (26,27) is in its outwarddirected position or in its upwarddirected position. |
| 2. | A bunk according to claim 1, characterised in that the inner member of the stake comprises two links (26,27) pivotably supported for being pivotal about parallel axes (I, II) and the outer member (26,27) of the stake is pivotably supported by both links for being pivotal about parallel axes (III, IV), the two links forming said means for maintaining the outer member of the stake in upwarddirected position. |
| 3. | A bunk according to claim 2, characterised by a device (35,37) for maintaining the inner member (26,27) of the stake bistable in its two positions. |
| 4. | A bunk according to claim 3, characterised in that the device (35,37) for maintaining the inner member (26,27) of the stake bistable in its two positions comprises a spring device (35,37) arranged, when the inner member (26,27) is in an intermediate position, to snap over from biasing the inner member of the stake towards one of its end positions to biasing it towards the other end position. |
| 5. | A bunk according to any one of claims 24, characterised in that the spring device (35, 37) is coupled between the two links (26,27). |
Object of invention It is an object of the invention to permit for an adjustment of the load carrying area and width of a forwarder or the like vehicle.
Brief description of the drawings Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a forwarder.
Figure 2 shows the load carrying portion of a forwarder, but not the same load carrying portion as shown in figure 1.
Figure 3 is a perspective view of a bunk shown in figure 2.
Figure 4 shows the bunk of figure 3 with the stake of the bunk in another position.
Figure 5 is a longitudinal section through the bunk of figures 3 and 4 and it shows the two alternative positions of the stake.
Figure 6 is a tranverse section taken along line 6-6 in figure 5.
Description in more detail of the illustrated and preferred embodiment of the invention In Figure 1, a conventional forwarder with articulated steering is shown, which has a load- carrying portion with three bunks with stakes 11,12, 13 and a loading crane 14. The front end of the load-carrying portion has a front 15 as a protection for the cabin.
Figure 2 shows a load-carrying portion of a forwarder. This load-carrying portion is not the same as the one on the forwarder in figure 1 and it has bunks 16,17 and 18,19 with four identical stakes 20-23 which all are shown in two alternative positions. The bunks are fastened on a central beam 24 and each bunk consists of a pair 16,17 and 18,19, respectively, of arms.
In Figure 3, the arm 17 of bunk 16,17 is shown having its stake in one of its two alternative positions. The stake consists of an inner member 26,27 and an outer member 28. The inner member consists of two links or arms 26,27 that are mounted to be pivotal about axes I and 11 respectively. The outer member 28 of the stake is pivotably supported by the two links 26,27 for pivoting about two axes axes III and IV relative to the links 26,27. The four axes form a parallelogram so that the outer member will always be moved in parallel when the inner member 26,27 of the stake pivots about the axes I and II. The four axes are parallel with the longitudinal axis of the vehicle. In figure 4, the inner member 26,27 of the stake is shown pivoted into its outward-directed, substantially horizontal, end position in which the link 26 takes support on stops 30 on the arm 25. In the upward-directed, substantially vertical, position of the inner member 26,27 in figure 3, the stake can be locked by pins 32 that are moved into holes 31 in the link 26 and corresponding holes 33 in the arm 25. The upward-directed position of inner member 26,27 is defined by the link 26 taking support on the pivot 34 that forms the axis II, which facilitates the mounting of the pins 32.
In figures 2-5, the outer member 28 of the stake is shown as a tube, and extensions can be mounted in this tube as shown in figure 1.
In Figure 5, the arm 17 is shown in a longitudinal section with the stake 26,27, 28 in its both positions. Figure 6 shows the links 26,27 in a transverse section and they form between them a space for a gas spring 35 that is mounted between a bracket 26 fixed to the link 26 and a link 37 that is pivotably mounted to the link 37. The pivotable link 37 will snap over from one end position to the other when the inner member 26,27 of the stake is moved from one position towards the other and the gas spring 35 will thereby force the inner member of the stake to either one of its end positions when the inner member is moved by an outer force from either one of its end positions so that the inner member will be bistable in its end positions. The crane 14 can be used to provide this outer force since no fine adjustment is necessary because of the bistability.
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