Technical field:

The present invention relates to an arrangement for loading of containers located in predetermined positions in a space and preferably intended for loading of containers in a fishing boat's hold, comprising transporting means for the cargo to be loaded between a number of supply positions for the cargo and the position where the container in question is located.

Technical problem:

In modern fishing, which is carried out with large boats, the fish is mechanically treated. When drag net or trawl is hauled, a great amount of fish is momentarily introduced into a transport or handling system that shall take care of the fish. The fish shall then be subjected to some process steps which often is salting and gutting and shall thereafter be trans¬ ported to a means for putting the fish together with ice in containers which many times have the shape of boxes. After filling, the containers are piled up in the hold of the boat from which they are later taken out.

Prior art:

Mechanical means for moving the fish into the hold and dis¬ tribute it into containers is known earlier. However, one has not succeded in making such systems that can be used in all types of holds. The known systems require an undivided hold without walls, pillars or supports.

Object of the invention:

The object of the invention is to bring about an arrangement for loading of cargo into containers which may be boxes. A special object of the invention is loading of fish into boxes, which have been arranged in the hold of a ship, but the in¬ vention is not limited to this field only.

The solution:

The object of the invention is obtained by means of an arrange¬ ment which is characterized in that said transporting means at least partly is made up of a first arm in the shape of a pipe or a chute, a wagon for carrying the first arm by means of an attachment and arranged to be moved in a preferably horisontal track, along which supply places are located, a turning means between the attachment and the inner end of the first arm for turning out the first arm around a shaft which is substantially perpendicular to the plane of the track, which shaft is at least substantially vertical, one shaft arrangement arranged on the attachment for carrying the first arm at the wagon which shaft has a primarily parallel direction, relative to the plane of the track, power means for turning the first arm around said shaft arrangement, a second arm in the form of a pipe or a chute, having an end which is hinged at the outer end of the first arm by means of a second shaft arrangement, having a shaft which is substantially parallel to the shaft of the first shaft arrangement, having power organs arranged for swinging the two arms relative to each other, and transporting tracks arranged in each of the two arms from the inner end of the first arm to a transfer opening from the first arm to the second arm, and in the second arm from said transfer opening to the outer end of this second arm at which end an opening for unloading the cargo from the second arm has been arranged, whereby the cargo at the introduction of it into the first arm at its inner end in the area of the wagon is transported to said transporting track in the arm to the transfer opening and by means of the transporting track in the second arm to the unloading opening at its outer end.

Fig. 1 shows a ship hold in sections, having arrangements according to the invention;

Fig. 2 shows the hold according to Fig. 1 in a divided section along the line II-II in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 shows in a larger scale than the earlier figures, the arrangement according to the invention in a side view;

Fig. 4 shows a part of the arrangement seen from above; and

Fig. 5 shows a part of the arrangement used in a special case.

Preferred embodiment:

According to Fig. 1 a hold 1 in a fishing boat is confined by two side walls 2 and 3 built up by bulk heads, a bottom 4 on a floor plate and a ceciling 5 at the underside of a deck 6 having an upper surface 7. In Fig. 1 is shown that the hold 1 is isolated.

An embodiment of the invention is shown on the attached drawings.

The hold is intended for piling a great number of containers 8 for fish. Here relatively large containers are shown, which may be one or a couple of meters in every dimension, but the containers can also be smaller boxes, such that can be handled by one man.

On the upper side 7 of the deck 6 a transporting track has been arranged in the direction of the deck's length. The trans¬ porting track shows two conveyers 11 which, as is usual, are endless and run over end rollers 12. According to Fig. 2 the conveyers are located at some distance from each other and enclose a small area 13 along the deck.

Openings 14, which penetrate the deck, have been arranged along the area 13. Locating pieces 16 and 17 have been turned out over the conveyers 11. In the position shown in Fig. 2, where the locating pieces have been turned out over the conveyers 11, they have an inclined angle. They may, however, take a parallel position along the conveyer and cover then the edge of the

openings 14. The conveyers are arranged to be driven mechani¬ cally and the pieces 16 and 17 may be conducted to their positions by means of remote service equipment.

Unloading means for fish to one of the conveyers and for ice to the second conveyer, have been -arranged above the two conveyers 11. The conveyers are intended to be moved by their upper parts from right to left in Fig. 2 and the loading on the conveyers will then occur at the right end. Fish and ice respectively, which have been loaded on the conveyers, will then be moved to the left and can be scraped down in the desired opening 14 by turning the proper positioning piece over the conveyer.

At the underside 5 of the deck 6 two rails in the shape of beams 20 have been arranged in which an arrangement, that particularly characterizes the invention, has been suspended so that it may be moved along the track that is made by the rails. This arrangement is in the following called the arm loader and is denoted with the reference numeral 21.

The arm loader 21 is shown more in detail and in a larger scale in Fig. 3. As is shown, the arm loader is carried by the beams 20 via a wagon 22 by means of wheels 23. A driving aggregate 24 moves the wagon along the beams 20 by means of a motor. The driving is such that by steering the motor a predetermined position of the arm loader may be obtained.

A gear ring 26 has been arranged on the wagon 22 and the geometric axis is standing and, accordingly, angular to the length direction of the beam 20. A first arm, which in the following is called the inner arm 27, has been turnably mounted via an attachment 28. Through a motor driven gear wheel 29 co¬ operating with the gear ring 26, the attachment 28 and accor¬ dingly the inner arm 27, may be turned around the standing shaft.

The inner arm 27 has been turnably mounted in the attachment 28 by means of a shaft 32. The shaft 32 runs horisontally and the

arm can accordingly be swung from the vertical position shown in Fig. 3. The swinging can be made in different directions by turning of the attachment 28. To achieve this swinging a hydraulic power cylinder 33 has been arranged between the arm 27 and the attachment 28.

A shaft 35 parallel to the shaft 32 has been arranged at the outer end of the arm 27. The shaft carries turnably a second arm which in the following is called the outer arm 36. To swing this outer arm 36 relative to the inner arm 27, a second power cylinder 37 has been arranged which is carried by a console 38 on the inner arm 27 and which by means of its rod is connected to an arm 39 at some distance from the turning shaft 35.

The arms 27 and 36 have been made as pipes having a rectangular section. These pipes contain transporting tracks. In the inner arm 27 there is a transporting track 42, which is endless and runs over wheels which are located at the shafts 32 and 35. On the transporting track 42 a number of carriers 43 have been mounted. The transporting track 42 has been unsymmetrically located in the inner arm 27 so that at its one side a tunnel 44 is formed intended for transport of the cargo, which is the fish and the ice respectively. In this tunnel a number of flaps 45 have been mounted, which are turnably suspended in the wall of the arm and spring loaded to move out from the arm. The intention with these flaps 45 is to prevent the cargo from falling freely. When cargo is transported by means of the carriers 43 on the conveyor, which moves downwardly against the shaft 35, the flaps are turned away and the transport, carried out by means of the gravity only, is braked.

In the outer arm 36 a conveyor band 48 which also has been provided with carriers 49 is arranged in a similar way. This conveyor band 48 is unsymmetrically arranged and through this a transport tunnel 50 is made. The arms are so open at their connection point to each other at the shaft 45, that cargo in the tunnel 44 can be transferred to the tunnel 50. To avoid loss of cargo at the sides, the outer arm 46 has been provided

with shields 51 which are shaped as segments so that they cover the connection of the sides independently of the mutual angular position. The outer arm 46 is open at its outer end 52 so that cargo which has been transported upwardly by means of the carriers 49 can fall out from the arm. The end 52 is according¬ ly the delivery end of the outer arm for the cargo.

To introduce the cargo into the tunnel 44 the inner arm 27 has been provided with a funnel 54 at its upper end. This funnel protrudes up between the beams 20 and it is accordingly located just in front of the area 13 of the deck 6 (see Fig. 1 and 2) between the conveyors 11. The movement of the wagon 22 along the beam is arranged so that it can be stopped in positions each of which are located under any of the openings 14 in the deck 6. Thus, the cargo which has been moved down through the opening 14 in question will be caught by the funnel 54 and moved forward to the discharge end 52 of the arm loader 21.

In Fig. 4 a more detailed transfer between the conveyor 11 and the funnel 54 of the loading arm 21 is shown. The above described parts have the same denotiation here.

In Fig. 5 is shown how the outer arm 36 at its discharge end 52 may be provided with an attachment 54 on either side for attaching chains 55 with which the containers 8, as shown in Fig. l, may be lifted. Besides its main object to move the cargo forwards to the discharge end 52, the arm loader may accordingly, with suitable dimensioning, even be used as a lifting device.

The power means and mechanical means which now have been described require a steering for their movement while working. This may be arranged for manual operation. By this is meant that from a control means, which may be movable and arranged as a remote control, the wagon 21 is moved to any of the positions under one of the openings 14. The attachment 28, with the two arms, is turned and the inner arm 27 is turned in relation to the attachment and the outer arm 36 in relation to the inner

arm. Hereby the discharge end 52 can reach a position above a desired discharge point above the container 8 intended for loading. In a similar way the arm is moved if it, as shown in Fig. 5, is used as a lifting tool.

A preprogrammed control system may alternatively be used, by programming a lot of co-ordinates within the hold in a data processor. By means of a control table it is then possible to move the cargo to a predetermined place in the hold whereupon the processor decides what kind of movements that are to be made. Besides such a system it is also desirable to have some kind of adjusting possibility for manual adjustment of the final position. It should also be worthwhile to have a possibi¬ lity for pure manually conducted movement.

Such steering systems are known earlier from other fields and they shall accordingly not be described in detail here as the invention is directed to the mechanical solution.

When the arrangement according to the invention is used in the way described, it is presumed that fish and ice are to be loaded in the containers 8. The hold 4 will then contain a number of empty containers which are piled at one side of the hold. As the containers shall be filled up, they are moved over to the other side of the hold and filled whereupon new empty containers are piled in and filled successively. The hold can accordingly not be completely filled with containers and a certain space for movement of the loading arm 21 and for survey personnel must exist as well as space for movement of the containers.

As mentioned, the fish comes from a pretreatment plant for sorting and possibly gutting. From this plant the fish is put down on one of the conveyors 11. An ice machine is at its supply part connected to the second conveyor band 11. If one presumes that a container 8 is ready to receive the fish, for example the uppermost container in the pile to the left in Fig. 1, the discharge end 52 of the arm loader 21 shall be placed

above the container in question which is shown with dotted lines to the left in Fig. 1 and 2.

Initially, a suitable position for the wagon 22 shall be chosen under one of the openings 14. By suitable is then meant at a suitable distance from the place where discharge shall occur, taking into account the swinging of the arms 27 and 36. Some slope downwardly for the inner arm 27 and some rise upwardly for the outer arm 36 as shown is then suitable. Now one of the conveyors 11 is started which is connected with the pretreat¬ ment plant and fish is then loaded on the conveyor. At the position where the arm loader 21 is located with its funnel 54, the flap 16 is located above the conveyor in question so that fish, when the conveyor is moved, is fed sidewardly towards the opening 14 and falls down trough this and down into the funnel 54. Usually, fish is first laid down into the container and thereafter ice is distributed over. When ice is to be introdu¬ ced, then the second conveyor 11 is started and ice from the ice machine is fed to the flap 16 at the same opening and the ice will be fed down into the funnel 54.

When the cargo falls down, the fish and the ice will then come through the funnel 54 and fall down into the vessel 44. It will be fed through the carriers 43 further down by movement of the transporting band 42 to the connection place between the two arms 27 and 36. As earlier mentioned, the inner arm 27 may take different swinging positions around the shaft 32. In a sloping position the carriers 43 will make a real transporting work whereas if the arm is approaching a vertical position, they will brake the cargo together with the adjustable flaps 45, so that they will not fall freely.

When the cargo has reached the lower end of the arm 27 it is conducted through the transfer arrangement over to the vessel 50 in the outer arm 36. Through movement of the conveyor 48 it will be transported to the discharge end 52 where it falls out.

When the container 8 has been fully loaded a new container shall be put in place for loading by putting new empty contai¬ ners on the pile of filled containers. This transport may be carried out by means of the loading arm. The containers are suspended by means of the lifting chains 55 in the attachment 54 of the arms and held by means of the power from the hydrau¬ lic cylinders 33 and 37. The swinging of the arm in different levels is used for positioning of the arm.

To unload the containers from the hold there must be some opening which, however, is not shown in the figures. The unloading may suitably occur by means of a fork truck at the containers 8 which are constructed for such treatment.

As mentioned earlier, the shown larger containers 8 may be replaced by smaller boxes. These are often moved by hand. Most suitable is it then when one piles empty boxes on the filled ones so that the filled boxes do not have to be lifted by hand. For discharging, the piles of boxes may be placed on pallets.

As mentioned, the invention has been made having cargo handling in fishing boats in mind. It has then been well adapted for this purpose and the construction of the loading arm makes it possible to reach every point with the unloading end prac¬ tically independable of the shape of the hold and its layout. This is very valuable. Especially in big holds it may be necessary to arrange pillars and supports for the deck but this does not obstruct the use of a mechanical loading arrangement if the arrangement according to the invention is used. When controlling the arrangement by means of a processor, this shall then be so programmed that the arm never follows a movement pattern so that it hits any part of the fittings of the hold.