Garrick, Robert James (33 Ferntree Drive, Dunedin, NZ)
Slade, Gregory Robert (6 Scobie Road, Dunedin, NZ)
Black, Paul Logan (19 Cuba Street, Dunedin, NZ)
Garrick, Robert James (33 Ferntree Drive, Dunedin, NZ)
Slade, Gregory Robert (6 Scobie Road, Dunedin, NZ)
| 1. | A container transporter for moving a container from one location to another location, where the transporter comprises four trolleys each adapted to attach to the container, and where: (a) each trolley has at least one wheel, a base, an upright frame, at least one attachment means for attaching the trolley to the container, and a jacking mechanism for lifting the container; (b) each trolley, when in use, is attached to the container proximal to a corner edge of the container so that each of the four corners of the container is supported by one of the trolleys; (c) at least one of the trolleys includes a motor for driving the wheel of that trolley; and (d) two trolleys attached at one end of the container are connected by a steering mechanism to enable the transporter to be steered. |
| 2. | A container transporter as claimed in claim 1 wherein the at least one attachment means for attaching the trolley to the container includes a twistlock mechanism for locating within and attaching to a twistlock block iocated on the container proximal to a corner of the container. |
| 3. | A container transporter as claimed in claim 2 wherein the twistlock mechanism includes a key with a shaft and head adapted to fit within the twistlock block so that rotation of the shaft locks the trolley to the container. |
| 4. | A container transporter as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein the jacking means may be any mechanism suitable for raising the upright frame of the trolley thereby lifting the container, wherein the mechanism is selected from the group consisting of an hydraulic pump, powered pneumatic cylinder or bellow, rack and pinion, ball screw, winch system and an operated lever system. |
| 5. | A container transporter as claimed in claim 4 wherein the jacking means includes an hydraulic pump with lever. |
| 6. | A container transporter as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein the steering mechanism includes a steering arm connecting two trolleys attached to one end of the container. |
| 7. | A container transporter as claimed in claim 6 wherein the steering arm is retractable by foldable or telescopic means. |
| 8. | A container transporter as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7 wherein the transporter has two trolleys with motorised wheels. |
| 9. | A container transporter as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7 wherein the transporter has all four trolleys with motorised wheels. |
| 10. | A container transporter as claimed in claim 8 or claim 9 wherein two or all of the wheels have a braking capability. |
| 11. | A container transporter as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 10 wherein the wheel of each trolley is a heavy load wheel. |
| 12. | A container transporter as claimed in claim 11 wherein the wheel includes dual heavy load wheels mounted on a short axle. |
| 13. | A container transporter as claimed in claim 11 or claim 12 wherein the wheel is capable of movement across a paved surface or a metal surface. |
| 14. | A container transporter as claimed in claim 11 wherein the wheel is a dual purpose wheel for railway tracks and paved surfaces. |
| 15. | A container transporter as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 14 wherein the wheel of each trolley can be turned and locked at 90° relative to the forwardreverse direction of movement of the container being transported, to enable sideways movement of the container. |
| 16. | A container transporter as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 15 wherein the base of each trolley is supported by castor wheels. |
| 17. | A container transporter as claimed in claim 16 wherein the base of each trolley is supported by four castor wheels. |
| 18. | A container transporter as claimed in 16 and claim 17 wherein the castor wheels are jockey type castor wheels. |
| 19. | A container transporter as claimed in any one of claims 16 to 18, whereby when the trolley is in use, the castor wheels are jacked above the ground. |
| 20. | A container transporter as claimed in claim 19 wherein the jacking mechanism for jacking the castor wheels comprises a screw or powered jack. |
| 21. | A container transporter as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 20 wherein the base comprises one or more horizontal support members to brace a corner of the container. |
| 22. | A container transporter as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 21 wherein one of the four trolleys has a mounted seat for an operator. |
| 23. | A container transporter as claimed in claim 22 wherein the seat is mounted on the left hand side leading end trolley for vehicles that are to be driven on the right side of a road. |
| 24. | A container transporter as claimed in claim 22 wherein the seat is mounted on the right side leading end trolley for vehicles that are to be driven on the left side of the road. |
| 25. | A container transporter as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 24 wherein the transporter is manually operated. |
| 26. | A container transporter as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 24 wherein the transporter is operated by remote control. |
| 27. | A container transporter as claimed in claim 1 wherein the trolleys of the transporter are adapted to interlock together to form a trolley shuttle vehicle for movement of the trolleys from one location to another location when not transporting a container. |
| 28. | Use for moving a container from one location to another using a container transporter as claimed in claim 1. |
| 29. | Use as claimed in claim 28, wherein the use includes the steps of: (a) aligning each of the four trolleys with each of the four corners of a container; (b) attaching a trolley to the left side leading end of the container and jacking the container to about half the optimal transporter operating height; (c) attaching a trolley to the right side trailing end of the container and jacking the container to about half the optimal transporter operating height; (d) attaching a trolley to the left side trailing end of the container to balance the container which has been jacked to about half the transporter operating height; (e) attaching a trolley to right side leading end of the container; (f) jacking each of the trolleys to the optimal transporter operating height; and (g) moving the container from location to another. |
TECHNICAL FIELD The invention relates to a container transporter that is capable of moving and manoeuvring, and depending on the model of the transporter, lifting and stacking a wide range of containers. In particular, the invention relates to the transporting of standard shipping containers.
BACKGROUND Currently there are many means available whereby containers can be lifted, moved, placed, stacked, marshalled, orientated and transported at factory loading docks and storage areas, trucking yards, railway storage areas, railway goods stations, shipping ports and roads within industrial estates. The various means can be classified as: (1) anchored, fixed location machines (e.g. cranes with either a fixed or slewing base, with arms that either pivot, telescope or both), (2) fixed path, transportation machines or vehicles (e.g. conveyers, railway trucks, self- powered flat deck vehicles that follow signals from a transmitting cable buried in the ground, electric motor powered trucks powered from an overhead wire or grid, track mobile and gantry cranes, canal barges etc), (3) towed trailers, either the container supporter type (conventional trailers) or the type that carries and uses the container as a chassis (e.g. Hydraulic Lift Caster, Short Range Mobilizer, Dolly Set Mobilizer), (4) free-roaming self powered vehicles, e.g. highway or yard (self-loading) trucks, straddle cranes and carriers, forklifts (with or without spreaders), or reach stackers, and (5) free-roaming, two-part, self powered vehicles (e.g. Mobicon vehicles).
Many factory site businesses need to be able to transport containers within their own factory yards. The only options currently available to these businesses is to buy or hire a truck with a container lift system, or a container forklift or straddle carrier, or build a gantry crane or some other container conveying system in their factory yard. To do this requires a very substantial capital outlay and high ongoing operational costs. In most cases, this is not practical or justifiable when only a small number of containers are handled each day or week. A trucking company, equipped with a fleet of container self loading type truck and trailer vehicles, has the advantage of being able to come to factory yards and move containers on or off loading bays and place them ready at a suitable location in the factory yard for later collection. Although trucking companies charge for this service, this is usually an inefficient use of their large, fast, high fuel consumption trucks, and is disruptive to their core business, namely transporting containers between factories, railway yards, ports, towns and cities.
However, a number of comparatively light-weight and smaller, easy-to-operate tow trailers for shipping container relocation are known, The trailers are of the type which may either carry and support the container, or carry and use the container as a chassis for the trailer. Trailers of this type are either self-loading, or loaded by other machinery or vehicles. Examples of tow trailers which carry and use the container as the chassis include the Hydraulic Lift Caster, Short Range Mobilizer and the Dolly Set Mobilizer.
The Hydraulic Lift Caster consists of four, near identical, two wheel trolleys that are, each in turn, balanced, pushed and steered by an operator to a corner of a container to be moved. Each trolley is connected to a side or end wall aperture of one of the container's bottom corner aperture blocks, using a manually powered and operated hydraulic twist-lock mechanism that is part of the trolley. Each trolley has two identical hydraulic rams fitted to it, at the same height, orientated with their rods extending vertically down and located near each other with a bridging frame that has the twist-lock mechanism at its centre.
However, the Hydraulic Lift Caster has many functional and practical limitations. It is a passive container carrying trailer. It has no brakes, lacks any means for accurate control of wheel travel tracking alignment, and because all the supporting wheels are castors, each wheel is free to adopt any orientation. Thus, there is nothing to prevent the trailer from slewing sideways to the outside of a roadway bend, if the towing vehicle turns a corner too fast, and similarly if it has to brake suddenly. Additionally, the trailer would not be safe to operate it on anything other than level pavements. Even then, there would still be safety issues, because the trailer's design does not include systems, for when it is either stationary or being towed, to prevent unintentional movement.
Similarly, the Short Range Mobilizer, despite its very different appearance, is essentially the same functional type of trailer as the Hydraulic Lift Caster. The Short Range Mobilizer trailer is used primarily by the military for (1) stabilising and levelling container based shelters, (2) loading and unloading of road vehicles with containers or shelters, (3) slow speed towing of containers and shelters on roads, runways and paved areas, and (4) transport aircraft loading of containers and shelters. The Short Range Mobilizer comprises four semi-independent corner frames which are each connected to either the side or end wall faces of both the top and bottom aperture blocks located on each comer of a container. There is no trolley set form of this trailer type. Each frame complete with its one, vertically aligned, large, telescopic ball screw jack assembly with a large castor wheel attached to the end of its ball screw shaft is carried, then lifted, into place on a container, with a mobile crane or forklift or a team of at least four personnel. The four individual frames of the Short Range Mobilizer do not have any brace arms. Instead, bracing of frame pairs at the trailing end of a container is achieved by inserting a tied beam between them to connect, align and hold the frames rigid. At the leading end of the container, the two frames are also connected by a triangular towframe, which doubles as a brace beam.
The Short Range Mobilizer container is suspended on four castor wheels, without brakes, and therefore has the same, or some of the safety issues, as the Hydraulic Lift Caster trailer. It does have a means to align and lock the rear castor wheels to provide some, but not ideal, tracking of the trailer, but it is still dependent on the operator to remember to lock the rear wheels before it is towed because the towing vehicle driver would be oblivious to the setting of these wheels. Further, the trailer's component parts are heavy and awkward to handle and require, not one, but a team of personnel.
The Dolly Set Mobilizer is another container lift and transport trailer designed to tow containerised accommodation units or other containers on roads and across rough terrain. A "Dolly" is a load carrying trolley with wheels. A "Set" is a set of two identical trolley units, each designed to attach to all four corners of each end of a container. A "Dolly" consists of a vertical I-shaped frame with a twist-lock mechanism on each of its four ends, together with another frame horizontally hinged from the lower member of the vertical frame. This frame is like a large symmetrical and hinged wishbone that is held near to level when transporting a container by two adjacent, equal length hydraulic rams, used to jack the container.
The Dolly Set Mobilizer does use the container that is being carried as the trailer chassis, but the suspension (designed for use on both highways and rough terrain) is provided by the pivoting axles with wheels assemblies and the large pneumatic tyres.
However, the Dolly Set Mobilizer is not suited to the high maneuverability, multi-purpose adaptability, machine compactness requirements and operator staffing restraints of a typical factory's container loading/unloading and marshalling yard, or many other container handling depots. The Mobicon type vehicle can be viewed as a modified straddle carrier that combines complementary design features from two popular types of straddle carrier.
When the cutting and chassis trimming is completed, the basis of a Mobicon vehicle and trailer set has been created. What was the leading half of an eight wheeled carrier now comprises a four wheel driven and steered, container straddling, vehicle as well as a four (fix alignment) wheeled, container straddling trailer.
When the carrier is not carrying a container, its two halves (the leading vehicle half and the trailing trailer half) are hooked together at each side, so that the assembly can be driven as though it was still an empty straddle carrier.
When the intention is to use the carrier to collect, transport and place a container on a truck deck, it is either reversed after aligning with and straddling the leading end of a container or it is driven forward after aligning with and straddling the rear end of a container.
When the trailing trailer half has been attached to the container, the leading vehicle half is driven forward and is attached to the leading end of the container. When the container has been lifted and is being transported the Mobicon is now a long vehicle consisting of two halves, as described, now linked together by the container they are carrying.
The Mobicon two-part design innovation eliminates the need for a strong, heavy, high level frame at the top of the vehicle, which joins its two portal, bridging frames and a heavy, container length adjustable, lifting spreader.
While the Mobicon type vehicle weights about a quarter of the weight of a straddle carrier of near equal yard transporting and truck loading capability, the Mobicon is a heavy vehicle and has limited manoeuvrability.
Lower cost (both capital cost and operating cost) is typically and approximately in direct proportion to the difference in the unladen weight of a container transporting vehicle. There is therefore an ongoing need for lighter vehicles. Cost savings to be made from lighter vehicles can be particularly significant in a large factory's container transfer yard where containers are stored and loaded onto or unloaded, continuously throughout each working day, from trucks and their trailers. It has now been found that a simple arrangement of four trolleys, which together have motor and steering capabilities, can be used in combination with a shipping container to provide a stable and strong, yet comparatively light, manoeuvrable transporter to transport a container from one location to another.
It therefore is an object of the invention to provide a shipping container transporter which at least goes some way to overcoming one or more of the disadvantages of the above known container transporters, or to at least provide a useful choice.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent form the following description which is given by way of example only.
STATEMENTS OF INVENTION In a first aspect, the invention provides a container transporter for moving a container from one location to another location, where the transporter comprises four trolleys each adapted to attach to the container, and where:
(a) each trolley has at least one wheel, a base, an upright frame, at least one attachment means for attaching the trolley to the container, and a jacking mechanism for lifting the container; (b) each trolley, when in use, is attached to the container proximal to a corner edge of the container so that each of the four comers of the container is supported by one of the trolleys; (c) at least one of the trolleys includes a motor for driving the wheel of that trolley, and (d) two trolleys attached at one end of the container are connected by a steering mechanism to enable the transporter to be steered.
The trolleys of the transporter are preferably adapted to interlock together to form a trolley shuttle vehicle for movement of the trolleys from one location to another location when not transporting a container.
The at least one attachment means for attaching the trolley to the container preferably has a twist-lock mechanism for locating within and attaching to a twist-lock block located on the container proximal to a corner of the container. Preferably the twist-lock mechanism includes a key with a shaft and head adapted to fit within the twist-lock block so that rotation of the shaft locks the trolley to the container.
The jacking means may be any mechanism suitable for raising the upright frame of the trolley thereby lifting the container including, but not limited to, a manual or powered hydraulic pump, powered air compressor connected to a pneumatic cylinder or bellow, rack and pinion, ball screw, winch system or operated lever system. Preferably, the hydraulic pump is connected to an hydraulic cylinder. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the jacking means includes an hydraulic pump connected to a hydraulic cylinder powered by means of a manually operated lever or powered by a motor.
Preferably the steering mechanism has a steering arm connecting two trolleys attached to the one end of the container. The steering arm is preferably retractable by foldable or telescopic means.
In one embodiment of the invention the transporter has two trolleys with motorised wheels. In an alternative embodiment, the transporter has all four trolleys with motorised wheels. Two or all of the wheels may have braking capability.
The wheel of each trolley is preferably a heavy load wheel. The wheel is also preferably one capable of travel on paved surfaces or metal surfaces, or is a dual purpose wheel for rail-way tracks and paved surfaces.
In a preferred embodiment, the wheel of each trolley can be turned and locked at 90° relative to the forward-reverse direction of movement of the container being transported, to enable sideways movement of the container.
The base of each trolley is preferably supported by castor wheels. Preferably, the castor wheels are jockey type castor wheels.
When the trolley is in use, the castor wheels are preferably jacked above the ground. Preferably, the jacking mechanism for jacking the castor wheels comprises a screw or powered jack,
The base preferably comprises one or more horizontal support members to brace a corner of the container. In one embodiment of the invention, one of the four trolleys has a mounted seat for an operator. The seat may be mounted on the left hand side leading end trolley for vehicles to be driven on the right side of a road, or on the right hand side leading end trolley for vehicles to be driven on the left side of the road.
The transporter may be operated manually, or preferably by remote control.
In a second aspect, the invention provides the use of the transporter of the first aspect of the invention for moving a container from one location to another location.
Preferably the use includes the steps of: (1 ) aligning each of the four trolleys with each of the four corners of a container, (2) attaching a trolley to the left side leading end of the container and jacking the container to about half the optimal transporter operating height, (3) attaching a trolley to the right side trailing end of the container and jacking the container to about half the optimal transporter operating height, (4) attaching a trolley to the left side trailing end of the container to balance the container which has been jacked to about half the transporter operating height, (5) attaching a trolley to right side leading end of the container, and (6) jacking each of the trolleys to the optimal transporter operating height.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES Figures 1(a), 2, 3, 4 and 5 are longitudinal cross section views through one trolley of a container transporter of the invention.
Figure 1(b) is a cross section view taken at right angles to the longitudinal cross section of Figure 1(a).
Figure 6 is a part cross section plan view of a leading trolley pair of a transporter, shown attached to a container.
Figure 7(a) is a part cross section plan view of leading and trailing trolley pairs of a transporter that have been locked together as a group to form a shuttle vehicle.
Figure 7(b) is a plan view of a length adjustable Ackermann steering link arm, shown extended. Figure 7 (c) is an elevation view of the arm of Figure 7(b) shown in a shortened, folded state.
Figure 8(a) is a part cross section plan view of leading and trailing trolley pairs, where each trolley is attached to a corner of a container.
Figure 8(b) is a cross section elevation view through the left hand side leading and trailing trolleys which are shown attached to and supporting a side of a container.
Figure 9 is a three dimensional view of a container transporter of the invention.
Figure 10 is a schematic three dimensional view of a transporter of the invention in the form of a four wheeled shuttle vehicle.
Figures 11 (a), (b), (c) and (d) are schematic three dimensional views of the transporter of Figure 10 shown as four separate trolleys, each of which is supported on three jackable castor wheels.
Figure 12(a) is a schematic three dimensional view of the transporter of Figure 10 shown as four trolleys attached to a container.
Figure 12(b) is a schematic three dimensional view of an alternate trolley of the invention.
Figure 13 is a schematic three dimensional view of the transporter of Figure 12(a) shown as a transporter capable of carrying a two or three high stack of containers.
Figure 14 is a schematic three dimensional view of the transporter Figure 12(a) equipped with four wheel drive and braking.
Figure 15 is a schematic three dimensional view of the transporter of Figure 14 showing wheel turning and locking capability.
Figure 16 is a schematic three dimensional view of a transporter of the invention having taller trolley frames with a choice of two twist-locks located at different levels at the upper end of each frame, and showing a high wall container being carried. Figure 17 is a schematic three dimensional view of the transporter of Figure 16 showing a low wall container being carried.
Figure 18 is a schematic three dimensional view of a transporter of the invention showing the capability of carrying containers of varying lengths and heights.
Figure 19 is a schematic three dimensional view of a transporter of the invention showing the upper twist-lock mechanism carried at the top of a vertically movable sub-frame, and showing a low wall container being carried.
Figure 20 is a schematic three dimensional view of the transporter of Figure 19 but with a high wall container being carried.
Figure 21 is a schematic three dimensional view of a transporter of the invention capable of being used to jack a container to a height, where its underside is above the deck of a container carrying truck or truck trailer,
Figure 22 is a schematic three dimensional view of the transporter of Figure 21 showing a container being held at a high level position from which it can be lowered onto a truck deck.
Figure 23(a) is a schematic three dimensional view looking down on a trolley of the invention.
Figure 23(b) is a schematic three dimensional view of the trolley of Figure 23(a) with a castor wheel and jack assembly detached.
Figure 23(c) is a schematic three dimensional of the trolley shown in Figures 23(a) and (b) showing connection to a container.
Figure 23(d) is a schematic three dimensional view of the trolley of Figures 23(a), (b), and (c) connected to a container. DETAILED DESCRIPTION According to the invention there is provided a low cost, light-weight, easy-to-operate high manoeuvrability shipping container transporter, designed to handle shipping containers in ways that are impossible or very awkward for existing, high cost, high powered, fast turn-around, mainstream container handling machines. The transporter facilitates easy collection, transporting and placing of containers. It is comparatively small in size, has low weight, and is less costly than known alternatives.
The transporter is a vehicle operable in three general forms. In one form, the transporter is a shuttle having a chassis formed by four trolleys that are temporarily connected to each other by container twist-lock mechanisms.
Each trolley supports its own vertical axis steering pivot assembly. The steering pivot assembly is the pivot for supporting a half clevis at its bottom end. Each half clevis includes a horizontal axis and cylindrical housing for the attachment of a horizontal axis wheel hub assembly. The wheel hub assembly contains bearings, transmission motor, gearbox and a brake mechanism (for powered wheels, or bearings only for non-powered wheels for a heavy load rated wheel, all of which is jackable with respect to each trolley).
Jacks can be used to lower the shuttle's chassis of four connected trolleys to a level just above the top of ground level until the chassis is supported on a number of trolley mounted, jockey type, jackable, light load, castor mounted wheels. When the chassis is thus supported, the four high load wheels can be jacked clear of the ground so that it can quickly and easily be separated into the four individual trolleys. One of the trolleys only need have mounted the motor, transmission, steering, braking, power and control mechanisms, as well as fuel and oil tanks. Another trolley may have a seat for the operator.
Power may be provided by petrol, oil, diesel, gas or any suitable fuel, or it may be electric (whether by battery or on-board generator).
The shuttle is a compact four wheeled vehicle fitted with a motor, power transmission, a safe automatic braking system, and an adaptable steering system. These can all be controlled remotely by an operator using a radio remote control unit or controlled directly, by a ride-on operator while it is being driven to a container collection point. The shuttle may also have the provision to be safely tow assisted while providing power assistance to the towing vehicle.
In a second general form, the transporter can be in the form of four separate trolleys. Each trolley is supported on at least three jackable, castor mounted wheels. Preferably, each trolley is supported on four jackable, castor mounted wheels. Each trolley can therefore be independently manoeuvred to be jacked until level and aligned with the corner of a container and then attached the corner by means of the trolley's twist-lock spigots (elongated head on a stem) engaging into the slotted apertures on the side faces of the container's top and bottom twist-lock blocks.
A heavy load jacking mechanism on each trolley can then be activated, either by the operator working manually operated jack handles or by connecting and operating powering systems to the jack in each trolley from the power source trolley. The container, with the four securely attached trolleys, is evenly supported near its bottom corners by all of the four heavy load wheels.
In a third general form, the transporter is a container carrier.
The suspended container which can now be moved, orientated, transported and marshalled has become temporarily part of the container carrier form of the transporter. The container has become both the load, chassis and (due to the standard ISO container being able to both bend and twist within suitable damage avoiding limits) the primary or only suspension system of the transporter.
The invention shall now be described in detail by way of example only with reference to Figures 1 to 23 the accompanying drawings.
Figures 1 to 8 show a transporter of the invention. This transporter provides for the majority of shipping container transporter needs.
An operator wanting to move a container sitting on the ground to a new location would first collect a trolley from a set of four trolleys. For the purposes of this description, the trolley would be a left hand side, leading trolley as illustrated in Figure 1 (a). The operator would first check that the trolley's jockey type, jackable castor wheel sets comprised of the major components 19, 20, 21 and 22 (of which there are only two wheel sets illustrated) have their vertical axis, pivoting shafts 21 approximately equally extended, depending on how level the ground is, until there is adequate clearance 31 between the bottom of the vertical frame member 1 and the surface of the ground 32. If the ground is not level the shafts 21 can be adjusted by means of winding the handles 19 of their screw jack mechanism. Alternatively, a powered jacking mechanism may be used, if such an option has been included in the trolley. The operator would check that there is full clearance 33 between the tyre 14 of the large wheel and the ground 32. If there is not full clearance, it would be necessary to set the hydraulic jacking cylinder's control valve (not illustrated) on "retract cylinder rod 24" setting and manually operate the hydraulic pump with a lever (not illustrated), which is connected by hydraulic hoses and control valves (not illustrated) to the cylinder 23, until the cylinder rod 24 is fully retracted and the large wheel 12, 13 and 14 is fully elevated.
Full clearance is achievable because the jacking cylinder's bottom end, cylinder mounted, dual function clevis 25a, is anchored at the bottom end of its slotted hole, by a pin 18 attached to and bridging the vertical frame members 1. The top of the slotted hole, in the cylinder rod mounted, dual function clevis 25, pulls down on the pin 17, which is fixed to the cylinder end of the top seesaw wishbone 16, which has a fulcrum pin 8 that bridges the vertical frame members 1. The other end of wishbone 16 is pivotable on the one piece pivot pin 7a inserted through the collar 6a at the top end of the cylindrical barrel housing 5.
Pulling down on pin 17 raises pin 7a, which raises the whole heavy load wheel 13 and 14, including its hub 11 mounted motor, gearbox and brake unit 12 and its steering mechanism assembly 5, 6, 6a, 7, 7a , 10, 11a. In a preferred embodiment, the heavy load wheel comprises dual, high load wheels mounted on a short axle, pivoted at its centre between the wheels, which in turn is attached to the bottom of the steering head (Figure 12b).
If the container to be moved is nearby, the operator can then manually push the trolley to the left hand comer of the leading end (usually the end without doors) of the container. Once there (as shown in Figure 2) the trolley can be manoeuvred until the elongated head end 30 of the top twist-lock stem 29 and the elongated head end 30a of the bottom twist-lock stem 29a are in contact with the left hand, long side, face of the container's aperture corner blocks 34 and 35.
The adjacent face of the trolley's vertical frame member 1 that is nearest the container can now be pushed against the side faces of the aperture corner blocks 34 and 35, resulting in the elongated heads entering the apertures. It should be noted that the lowest point on the surface of the tyre of the large wheel will be just above the surface of the ground, so that it doesn't obstruct the aligning of the twist-lock mechanisms that connect the trolley to the corner of the container.
The operator will now reset the hydraulic jacking cylinder's control valve ready to extend its cylinder ram 24. Figure 3 illustrates the first stage of the operation of the mechanical/hydraulic interlock between the twist-lock mechanisms and the container jacking mechanism.
The locking of the trolley to the container commences with the operator again manually operating the lever of the hydraulic pump that is connected to the jacking cylinder 23. The ram 24 of the jacking cylinder 23 will begin to out-stroke and the cylinder 23, complete with its bottom clevis 25a, will fall due to its own weight until the slot in the clevis has travelled down until the pin 18 has stopped the further downward movement of the cylinder 23 when it contacts the top end of the slot of the clevis 25a.
The clevis pin 26a at the bottom end of the cylinder clevis 25a, which is a part of the cylinder 23, has also moved down the same distance. The clevis pin 26a is also connected to the top end of the short link arm 27a which is, in turn, connected by a pin to the end of the lever arm 28a which is, in turn, rigidly connected to the stem 29a with elongated head 30a.
The consequence of the movement of these connected components is that the elongated head 30a is rotated through approximately 90°. The low level elongated head 30a is therefore now fully engaged in the aperture of the container's bottom twist-lock block 35.
The cylinder 23 cannot fall any further. Continued operation of the hydraulic pump therefore raises the clevis 25 until the bottom end of the slot in the clevis 25 reaches the pin 17, which is connected to the end of the top seesaw wishbone 16, and then begins to pivot in reverse to the manner it did when lifting the wheel 12, 13 and 14.
When the cylinder 23 has out-stroked a distance that equates with the commencement of a light pressure being applied between the tyre 14 of the large wheel 12 and 13 and the ground 32, the top twist-lock activating mechanism (comprising components 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30) will have moved approximately to the position illustrated in Figure 3.
It can be seen in Figure 3 that the elongated head 30 has been partially rotated approximately 19° in the aperture of the container's top twist-lock block 34, but no jacking of the container has as yet taken place. The trolley is now fully secured to the container at the location of the bottom twist-lock and partially, but adequately, secured at the top, provided the container is still sitting on the ground. Further pumping of the hydraulic pump handle will convert the upward force exerted by the cylinder rod 24 through the seesaw wishbone 16 to a downward force through the steering mechanism assembly (comprising components 5, 10, 1 1 and 11 a to the large wheel 12, 13 and 14.
The steering mechanism assembly's vertical axis is maintained in its vertical alignment by the inclusion of the lower wishbone 15 which forms a double wishbone partnership with seesaw wishbone 16. This provides parallelogram movement geometry.
The transporter of the invention may alternatively have a version of the seesaw wishbone 16 that would consist of two parts hinged on what is currently the fulcrum pin 8.
These now back-to-back wishbones would be fitted each with a suitable bracket which, when fitted to their upper faces, would be connected by a compressible spring, bellows, rubber or synthetic pad. Alternatively, if the brackets are fitted to the undersides, then a tension spring or chord would be fitted. Another option would be to connect the opposite ends of a torsion bar alternative of the fulcrum pin such that one end is connected to one of the pair of back-to-back wishbones and the other end is connected to the one remaining. A further option would be a seesaw wishbone in the form of a single tapered or multi-leaf spring with provision to fit pins at its ends that are equivalent in function to the seesaw wishbone's end pins and connect it to an equivalent function fulcrum pin at its centre.
This provision of transporter vehicle suspension would be an advantage where the ground is a poor quality surface.
Figure 4 illustrates the positions of the major components that are part of the interlocked twist- lock and jacking mechanism, after the container has been jacked by the operator to a level that is approximately halfway to the maximum and working height for operation of the transporter.
The wishbones 15 and 16 are shown horizontal, the rotation of the bottom elongated head 30a has changed by less than 5°, and the top elongated head 30 has rotated a further 28°, which is approximately 47° in total since insertion in the aperture. This degree of rotation provides more than adequate attachment of the top twist lock to the top aperture block at this stage of the jacking process, provided no attempt is made to move the container. The left leading corner of the container is preferably not jacked any higher until the remaining three trolleys of the set of four have been connected to their respective comers of the container and have been jacked to this intermediate position.
Commencing the order of connecting to and jacking of a container with the left side, leading trolley first is preferable because this trolley would normally be the one that would have mounted on it a fuel tank, powering motor, hydraulic oil tank, hydraulic drive pump and a variety of lengths of hydraulic hoses that can be unwound, extended and attached to the hydraulic drive and brake units of all four trolleys.
The left side, leading trolley would normally be the one carrying the additional componentry because, firstly, it must be a leading trolley so that a special arrangement is not needed when the shipping container transporter is a model variant which has only a "two wheel" leading end drive and, secondly, this arrangement would leave space on the right side, leading trolley for a driving seat for the operator (if an operator seat is included and the shipping container transporter is being operated in a country where vehicles are driven on the left hand side of the road). Primarily for safety reasons and for providing a familiar orientation of the driving position for the operator, the arrangement would be left to right reversed for shipping container transporters operating in countries where vehicles are driven on the right hand side of their roads, unless there is a special reason for doing otherwise.
The next trolley to be connected to the container should be the right side, trailing trolley. When this corner of the container has been jacked to half the working height by this supporting trolley, the container will be suspended primarily, but not totally, by this trolley and the first trolley installed.
If a line is drawn on the ground between the contact on the ground by the tyre of the large wheel on each of the two trolleys that are partly lifting the container, it can be seen that this line is the pivoting axis of the container at this stage. A significantly larger floor area of the container is trailing this axis than the floor area forward of it, therefore the container will rotate about this axis, unless it is very unevenly loaded, until the left side, trailing aperture block is in contact with the ground.
Note that the first of the trolleys to be connected to the container will be required to jack under load, approximately half of the container's gross weight and the same will apply for the second trolley. The third trolley will only need to jack under light load, a small fraction of the gross weight to balance the container.
The right side, leading trolley will be the last trolley to be connected, without the need to do any or very little jacking under light load, because as a consequence of the balancing of the container's gross weight on the first three trolleys, the container's corner to which it will be connected is already suspended above the pavement.
The operator will now, jack the left side, leading corner of the container to the full working height for container transport mobility, then following the same order, as the order of trolley attachment, jack all four corners of the container to this working height. Alternatively, each end of a container can be jacked to a different level to aid drainage during a container washing operation.
Referring to Figure 5, it can be seen that the hydraulic jacking cylinder 23 has fully out-stroked and is aligned with the trolley's vertical frame 1. The wishbones 15 and 16 that support and raise and lower the steering mechanism assembly have completed the extent of their rotation about their respective pivot pins 9 and 8. The result of these mechanism movements is that the clearance 31 between the bottom of the bottom aperture corner block 35 of the container and the ground is at its maximum, which is the working clearance for container transporter mobility.
The elongated head end 30 of the top twist-lock stem 29 has been further rotated, such that it is now approximately 90° to the vertical axis of the aperture into which it has been inserted. It is therefore now fully and safely engaged in the aperture of the container's top twist-lock block 34.
Figure 8(b) includes, except for the position of the Ackermann steering link arm, a longitudinal cross section view of the left side, leading trolley attached to a container as illustrated in Figure 5, as well as the left side, trailing trolley attached to the same left side of the container.
These two trolleys are holding the container at a mobility height above the ground. A similar pair of trolleys is holding the right side of the container at the same height.
It can be seen with reference to Figure 8(a) and (b) (and Figure 6 which is a large scale plan view of the leading end of the shipping container transporter shown in Figure 8a) that the Ackermann steering link arm 41 , 42 has been unfolded from its stored location on the left side, leading trolley, but remains connected to it, because the spigot part of clevis 46 is still inserted in the hollow centre of, plate 11a mounted, boss 50. The spigot of clevis 44, at the other end of the arm, has been similarly inserted into the similarly mounted boss 50a on the right side, leading trolley.
The steering of the wheels (that have their tyres 14 and 14a illustrated) is now geometrically controlled as a pair to provide accurate, smooth, low scuff steering when moving a 40 foot long container.
If the spigot of clevis 44 on the end of steering link arm component 41 is extracted from boss 50a and inserted in adjacent boss 51a of the right side leading trolley and the spigot of clevis 46 on the end of link arm component 42 is similarly transferred to the boss 51 on the left side, leading trolley then the steering geometry is now set for the moving of a different size of container. It is a shared, mean geometry, that sufficiently approximates near ideal steering geometry, of wheel path, for accurate, smooth, low scuff steering when moving either 30 foot or 20 foot long containers.
This same location of the Ackermann steering link arm can be used, although it is not ideal, for the steering of rarely used 10 foot long containers, or if the number of containers to be moved is high an additional spigot locating boss can be included in each of the plates 11a and 11 d in the correct geometrical location to suit the steering of these containers. An alternative to fitting several of these bosses in one plate, is to fit one boss on a track slide that can be locked in marked positions that match the steering geometry to the size of the container being carried.
High leverage forces can develop at the bottom aperture blocks of the container due to inertia and momentum reactions to acceleration and braking of the transporter at the areas of contact between the driven wheel's tyres and the ground. To reduce these forces horizontal bracing arm(s) are included on each trolley which extend beyond their horizontal frames.
For example, referring to Figure 8(a), the bracing arms 36 and 39 on the left side, leading trolley and bracing arm 55a and horizontal frame member 2j, which doubles as a bracing arm, on the left side, trailing trolley are designed to contact the vertical faces of the corner of the container to which each trolley is attached. This is to prevent potentially damaging, horizontal plane rotation of their trolley's twist-lock, elongated head and stem components, within the apertures of the container's lower comer blocks.
These trolley to container bracing arms 36 and 39 are themselves braced back to the horizontal frame, of the left side, leading trolley by braces 37 and 37b respectively, while the left side, trailing trolley is fitted with a heavier, high moment resistant arm 55a design and attachment detail.
Also, with reference to both Figure 8(a) and Figure 7(a), the bracing arms on the leading trolley pair, have included on their ends the female parts 38 and 38a and parts 40 and 40a of attachment mechanisms that enable the brace arms to double as part of a chassis frame when the transporter is in the shuttle form.
Referring now to Figure 7a, only the end plates 40 and 40a on the ends of the bracing arms 39 and 39a, in turn, are aligned horizontally and vertically. This is achieved by manually pushing the two leading trolleys and using their castor wheels jacking mechanisms until their holes align with the previously aligned and touching holes in the plate extensions 56a and 56 of the forward facing toes of the outside (when the trolley is attached to a container) leading structural angle corner members of the trailing trolleys' horizontal frames.
The aim is for these plates 56a and 56 to be sandwiched between the end plates 40 and 40a and be held by a locking pin 48 with head and be secured with an "R" clip 49 fastener (or equivalent). The locking pin 48 can then be inserted through the four holes and be secured as the first step in the sequence to rigidly but temporarily connect the set of four trolleys.
During the process of aligning these four holes the operator will align the elongated heads 30a and 30c (that are normally used to attach a trolley to a container, see Figure 8) with matching shape and suitably sized apertures (not shown in the legs that would normally contact the side faces of a container) of the structural angle that is used here as a corner member of the trolley frame.
The elongated heads 3Oe and 30g will also be aligned with the apertures in their matching plate extensions 38 and 38a of the bracing arms 36 and 36a, respectively. At the same time, the lower elongated head 3Oi, which is on the opposite end of the same stem 29g that has the elongated head 3Og, will be aligned with the matching shape and suitably sized aperture in the web of the structural channel member that is on the side of the vertical frame of the trolley (that would normally be the right side, trailing trolley when attached to a container) that doesn't contact the side face of a container.
The stem 29e that has only one elongated head (which is located at the back of what would normally be the right side, trailing trolley when it is fitted to a container) has been shortened and so has the bearing block located at its non-head end. This has been done to make room for the elongated head 3Oi when it is inserted. Similarly the elongated head on a stem component at the top of the trolley's vertical frame above, which is the equivalent of the component consisting of elongated head 3Oi, stem 29g and elongated head 3Og will be similarly aligned with its target aperture in the adjacent trolley.
When all four trolleys are in close contact, the first step required to rigidly connect them together is to insert the locking pin 40 and the securing "R" clip 40a. The three stage jacking sequence can commence with the jacking of the left side, leading trolley then the right side, trailing trolley followed by the right side, leading and last the left side, trailing trolley until all four large wheels have just begun to touch the ground and all five bottom twist-locks have fully engaged and the one, top twist-lock has partially engaged.
The second stage of the jacking sequence can commence with further jacking of the left side, leading trolley until the seesaw wishbone 16 and its double wishbone 15 are horizontal and the jacking of the remaining three trolleys, in the same shuttle jacking order, has reached the situation where their equivalent wishbones are also horizontal.
The last stage repeats the same jacking sequence until the one and only top twist-lock is fully engaged and all four trolleys are rigidly connected to each other to form a shuttle vehicle that has a chassis, consisting of joined trolley frames, which have been jacked to a height suitable for its mobility.
Referring again to Figure 7a now that the jacking and trolley connecting activities have been completed, the two trailing (rear), powered and braked wheels, of which their tyres 14b and 14c can be seen, can each be aligned and fixed parallel in their direction of rolling to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle. This can be achieved by inserting a pin in the hole 55 in plate 58 which must be aligned directly above the hole in horizontal frame member 57 and similarly using hole 55a in plate 58a and the hole below in member 57a of the other trailing trolley.
The hydraulic drives in the wheels of the three trolleys other than the left side, leading trolley (which is permanently connected) will now be connected to the control valve which is in turn connected to the outlet of the powered hydraulic pump mounted on this trolley. They are connected using hydraulic hoses hung on rings that are supported and slide on tensioned, spring return, retractable spool, wire cables that can be extended and hook onto a neighbouring trolley as needed. Figure 7(b) is a plan view of the adaptable Ackermann steering link arm shown separated from the leading, steering trolleys. Hinged part 42 of the steering link arm, is shown with its sideways cranked end with clevis 46 in its extended position for use with the transporter. Hinged part 42 is shown folded back under the main part 41 of the arm, where it is secured by a pivoting hook 47 shown on the side view, of the folded arm, Figure 7(c).
This shortened steering link arm can now be used to connect the two, leading and steerable wheels of the shuttle vehicle by inserting the spigot of, end of arm, clevis 45 in boss 52 and the spigot of clevis 44 at the other end into boss 52a.
The geometry of this pivoting link up of the steering wheels pair is such that it will provide controlled, accurate, smooth, low tyre scuff steering for this now very short wheelbase shuttle vehicle form.
The Ackermann steering link arm between the steerable wheels of the leading trolleys is shown in Figure 9.
The Ackermann steering link arm, either in matching folded or extended configuration, can also be used as a bridge to carry an hydraulic hose or hoses between the trolleys.
All the embodiments of the transporter described herein have a fixed spigot surround immediately behind the elongated head of all twist-lock mechanism stems. These spigots have the same shape and orientation as the apertures in the side faces of the containers corner blocks and are also designed to fit, with suitable clearance, within these apertures. Further, a spigots length is approximately equal to the wall thickness of a standard aperture block's wall.
The purpose of the spigot surrounds is to hold each stem in approximately the centre of an aperture after the elongated head has been rotated and has locked a trolley's twist-lock mechanism to the face of a corner block.
Embodiments of a transporter that can place a container on a truck deck or stack containers are designed to retract (when disengaging from a container) both the spigot surround and the stem and its elongated head to inside of the external face of a trolley's vertical frame. The transporter of stacked containers is illustrated in Figure 13. On some models of the shipping container transporter the cylindrical barrel housing 5 example of a steered or direction rotatable wheel supporting mechanism, see Figure 1 is replaced with the cylindrical barrel of a similar size hydraulic ram. The king pin pivoting shaft 10, is replaced by a pivoting, hydraulic piston and rod, so that the trolley has an additional, long travel jacking mechanism that can be operated independently of the "trolley to container attachment/mobility" system and "the container placement on truck deck" or "the stacking of one container on one other" system.
The operation of this additional jacking capability requires more channels on the radio remote control unit and additional hydraulic control valves and their associated hydraulic hoses that connect them to the jacking cylinder, but it requires little, if any changes to the other trolley mechanisms and structures.
Some of the advantages of this additional container jacking capability are that the transporter is able to traverse across the face of sloping pavement, while at the same time holding a container transversely level and/or hold a container longitudinally level when ascending of descending a ramp. This is useful when a container is partly filled and the contents aren't secured. There are also many other advantages that follow from being able to level or incline a container easily, as required, or jack it to a specific level.
Figures 14 and 15 illustrate the wheel turning and locking capability of a transporter. The four wheels of the transporter can be locked at 90° to the longitudinal axis of the container. This enables a container to be moved sideways, as well as forward and reverse.
The transporter of the invention has the ability to carry either low wall or high wall containers, as shown in Figures 16 and 17. The frames of the trolleys have twist-locks at two height locations.
The preferred transporter has four wheel drive and brakes, and has been designed with the intention of providing a multi-purpose vehicle that can readily be adapted for additional tasks by means of changing some of its componentry or frame, and/or adding componentry or systems to the vehicle.
Alternatively, when versatility of operation is not of prime importance, but a simple, easy to operate vehicle of low capital costs is, then lower specifications or capability components may be used. In an alternative embodiment, the transporter may be configured as a trailer with the addition of a tow bar that has its trailing end pivot mounted at the back centre of a two part folding frame that can be temporarily attached too and links the two leading/steering/driving trolleys together. The tow bar also has a siot near the pivot end, which engages a vertical axis pin that is attached to the centre of the Ackermann steering arm, to provide controlled steering. The towing vehicle can control the steering, braking and power assistance from the transporter's powered wheels. The control may be either by an inertia sensitive and lever connection between the towed shipping container transporter and the towing vehicle or a signalling control, linked directly to the towing vehicles accelerator, steering and brake systems.
In this embodiment, independent operation is temporarily forfeited so that the transporter can, for example, safely travel with the help of a towing vehicle up an incline that is too steep for its unassisted incline climbing abilities.
Figures 19 to 22 show the ability of the transporter to not only carry both low wall and high wall containers, but to raise the container floor to a desired height such as a loading bay height or the height required to lower the container on to the deck of a truck or the top of another container.
When the container has been thus lowered and there is no load on the trolleys twist-locks, then the high load wheels can be jacked clear of the ground using their accompanying jacking mechanisms. The trolleys are now suspended from the container by their twist-locks and now each sub-frame jacking mechanism can be used to lower each trolley's main frame to the ground.
When the trolley's main frame underside is sitting on the ground and the trolley as a consequence is stabilized, then retractable into the frame twist-locks are disengaged from the container and the sub-frame is lowered to the ground, bringing with it two of the three jackable castors of the trolley. Now the jacks of the three castor units of each trolley can be operated so that each of the set of four trolleys can be individually moved as a trolley rolling on its own castors, for example to another container that needs to be collected and moved.
The most minimilistic embodiment of the transporter is when its motors and all wheel centre drive and brake systems components have been deleted. The transporter can then be operated only as a towed, container carrying trailer and as a towed shuttle, but it retains its economy of manning and transform ability requiring only one trained person to both drive the towing vehicle and, when required, manually divide the transporter trailer or towed shuttle into four trolleys and then manually manoeuvre and connect them to the appropriate corners of the next container for jacking and moving.
It should be noted that an important capability with respect to this embodiment (and other embodiments of this invention) is that the design can easily be upgraded if needed at anytime, by the addition, deletion or substitution of standard componentry.
The transporter of the invention has the advantage that it is suited for open top containers. The top lifting spreaders of known transporters are typically obstructive of top loading operations.
In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the transporter trolleys can be attached to the ends of a container, rather than the sides. This is shown in Figures 23(a) to 23(d). The transporter is therefore able to move a container from between containers that have been placed side by side.
Another advantage of container end wall attachment of the trolleys is that a container can be moved along passages that are too narrow for a forklift, straddle carrier or container side wall attachment embodiments of this invention. Similar advantages apply for passing through narrow door openings. A disadvantage is that the two following end trolleys cannot be attached while the containers doors are open for cleaning, loading or unloading.
All the tasks required to operate any form, model or model variant of a transporter of the invention, and all the possible manoeuvrings, manipulations and placements of a container that can be done with it, can be performed by a single operator in a progressive sequence, safely, without the need for assistance and efficiently within a practical, operational time period. At most factory sites, it is the speed at which a container is loaded or unloaded which will govern the turn around rate of marshalling the containers, not the speed capabilities of the transporting vehicles. If additional assistance is provided, there are many tasks that can, easily and safely, be done simultaneously by two or more operators, enabling the operational cycle time, from collection of trolleys to delivery and placing of a container, by a shipping container transporter to be significantly shortened. Another advantage of the transporter is that it can pass through doorways and manoeuvre into confined spaces where no existing vehicles can enter. The transporter can be easily tailored to meet the specific needs of its user and offers a unique and variable combination of roles.
The transporter of the invention has the further advantage that the trolleys can be attached to the container's sides so that doors can be opened while the trolleys are attached or, alternatively, the trolleys can be attached to the container's ends, so the container can be extracted from a row of containers placed side by side without having to move adjacent containers.
To save time, the use of a transporter of the invention capable of converting from attachment to the container ends to attachment to the container sides (for some tasks), the leading trolley pair may be attached to the sides and the trailing pair attached to the end or vice versa.
Certain transporters of the invention can be arranged in a line all facing in the same direction and be connected to form a road train for production line loading or emptying of the containers.
The transporter of the invention can also be used for container damage inspections, measurement checks or bio-security checks.
Use for remotely controlled transporters of the invention include moving dangerous materials such as explosives, chemicals and biological substances.
The transporter of the invention can also be adapted to use a trolley bus type overhead electric grid type power source or follow an in the ground type buried cable guidance system.
Although the invention is described with reference to shipping containers, it is to be appreciated that the transporter of the invention can be adapted to move and handle other types of containers, skips or vessels, such as the skips used in some open cast mining operations.
In summary, it is the numerous capabilities and applications that provide both operational and economic advantages, when using any model and form of the, low cost and very safe to use, shipping container transporter, multiplied by the extensive number of componentry related models and model variants and the provision to add, subtract or interchange much of their componentry to suit the task, that in total constitute this inventive concept, container carrying vehicle. Although the invention has been described by way of example, it should be appreciated that variations and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention. Furthermore, where known equivalents exist to specific features, such equivalents are incorporated as if specifically referred to in this specification.
INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY A container transporter for moving containers from one location to another is useful for factory yards and shipping ports where relocation of containers is routinely required, and where use of high fuel consumption trucks or straddle cranes is inefficient or not practical. The container transporter of the invention offers a light weight, high manoeuvrability, low cost alternative to mainstream container handling machines.