TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to novel and useful improvements related to bulk material transport and more particularly, to a unique method and apparatus for delivering bulk material such as scrap metal to a dock and then loading such material onto to a docked transport vessel.

BACKGROUND ART

The last decade has produced a drastic reduction in the quantity of steel produced in the United States and a corresponding increase in steel production in foreign industrialized countries such as Japan. As a result, a significant portion of the scrap metal market has been shifted to overseas steel producers, particularly for scrap metal processors located along the seaboards of the united States. Consequently, the economy and efficiency of transporting scrap metal to a dock to be loaded onto a ship for transport overseas, have taken on a far greater level of importance for the scrap metal processing industry. In fact, the very survival of the industry depends to a large extent, on the ability of scrap metal suppliers to deal with overseas markets.

Unfortunately, heretofore the economics of transporting and loading scrap metal onto ships dictated the need for special dockside facilities which could provide access to docked ships as well as to the unique material handling requirements for large quantities of scrap metal and other bulk materials. These special requirements of the prior art have given

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a fortunate few in possession of such dockside facilities, a virtual monopoly in the shipment of scrap metal to overseas markets by ship. Thus, in the past, the vast majority of scrap metal processors whose processing facilities are landlocked and located some distance from available harbors, have in effect, been forced to deal with the few who possess such dockside facilities. This unfavorable imbalance in the economic power possessed by the few dockside facilities is further exacerbated by the limited amount of dock space available and also by the reluctance of dockside facility control agencies to permit any additional dockside space to be devoted to bulk material loading. Such agencies prefer the more conventional and cleaner containerization loading facilities that are used virtually for all other types of loading and unloading for ship transport.

Thus, the principal purpose of the present invention is to provide means for those scrap metal processors who are located inland to make use of conventional dock loading facilities and thereby to compete on far more favorable terms with those few scrap metal processors who would otherwise use their fortunate position of having dock loading facilities to monopolize the

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loading, unloading and transport of scrap metal. It will be seen hereinafter that as a result of the novel containerized transport and loading process of the present invention, it is no longer necessary for inland-based scrap metal processors to sell their scrap metal to the aforementioned dockside processors in order to have access to foreign markets.

An examination of the prior art has revealed no previously available means for carrying out the process of the present invention and no previously available apparatus suitable for dispensing the scrap metal into the hold of the ship which also characterizes a unique feature of the present invention. More particularly, a search of the prior art reveals patents in two relevant categories. In the first category are the loading concept patents to Flannery (1,707,984), Black et al (2,894,650), and Lewis (3,817,415). Flannery discloses an elevating and dumping platform that may be used to load particulate material into the holds of ships and employs a crane-like apparatus upon which is mounted a platform which may be selectively opened for releasing the material into the ship's hold in a fairly well- known manner. Black et al disclose cargo and freight transporting systems involving the use of trailer

bodies which are detachable from truck chassis and which are adapted to be loaded into the ship's hold in selected compartments for transporting various types of freight by ship. Lewis discloses the concept of transporting solid waste or garbage from trucks to ships in containers which may be detached from the truck chassis and loaded directly onto the deck of a ship.

In the second category of prior art are the container-related patents including O'Connor (1,877,028), Teague (3,143,372), Johansson (3,185,516), and Calvert et al (4,138,163). O'Connor relates to a bulk freight container which is especially adapted for transfer of bulk freight in a railway car which is configured to contain a plurality of such containers. Each container 'is adapted to open for dumping the contents. Teague also discloses a container which may be used to transport bulk material by means of ship, train, truck, or the like and for being positioned in the hold of a ship where it may be opened at its bottom for releasing the material into the ship. Another form of drop-bottom shipping container is disclosed in the patent to Johansson. None of the aforementioned prior art would be suitable for use in the present invention

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because it would be economically infeasible to allow ._ the scrap metal to be shipped in containers that remain on the ship during transport or to use expensive containers with elaborate unloading mechanisms that would permit recovery of the container during the loading process. By way of example, the extra cost for just one thousand of such elaborate containers would be as much as eighty times the cost of a rotator of the present invention which is easily capable of handling one thousand conventional containers during a loading process.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art by permitting inland scrap metal processors to utilize conventional dock loading facilities that have not heretofore been used for loading and unloading scrap metal. The invention comprises a unique transport and loading process which is facilitated by a novel apparatus. The apparatus permits the use of standard overseas containers which may be rotated to dump their contents into the hold of a ship.

The initial step of the process takes place at one or more inland scrap metal processing facilities and comprises the step of loading the scrap metal into standard open-top containers by use of conventional electromagnetic cranes. The loaded containers are then transported to the dock by conventional trailer-trucks which haul the containers to the dock. The movement of the containers to the dock is timed so that the entire number of full containers desired to be loaded are all present at the dock site by the time the ship has arrived. Once the ship is in port, a novel container rotator is attached to a container crane in much the

same manner as a conventional container would be attached to the crane and in fact, once the rotator is in place, the crane works in a conventional manner.

When the ship is ready to be loaded, full containers that have been stored at the dock are lifted by portable, drivable cranes onto trailer-trucks which deliver the containers to the container crane adjacent the ship. More specifically, the trucks pull the trailers alongside the ship and the crane rotator is lowered over the container. The rotator is equipped with the same type of locking mechanism as a conventional crane whereby it fastens to the container in a normal manner and lifts it off the truck. The container is then lowered down into the hold of the ship and when the container is approximately eight feet from the bottom, the crane operator activates the rotator and dumps the scrap into the hold of the ship. As the empty container is raised up out of the ship, the rotator is returned to its upright position. The container is then placed back on the truck where it is transferred to empty storage and then returned to the scrap yard to be reloaded. In this manner, several scrap metal processing facilities coordinating their loading process can efficiently load up to 600 tons of

scrap metal per hour per loading crane into the hold of the ship in a highly efficient and economical manner without requiring access to dockside scrap metal loading facilities of the prior art.

ADVANTAGEOUS EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore a principal object of the present invention to provide a unique process and apparatus for loading bulk material onto the hold of a ship while substantially reducing or entirely overcoming the afo ementioned disadvantages of the prior art.

It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a unique process for loading bulk material such as scrap metal onto the hold of a ship without requiring the use of dockside scrap metal loading facilities, thereby enabling inland-located scrap metal processors to take direct advantage of foreign markets for their scrap metal products without having to utilize specialized dockside facilities for loading scrap metal.

It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a novel container rotator which permits the use of a conventional container crane for loading a bulk material such as scrap metal into the hold of a ship.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The aforementioned objects and advantages of the present invention as well as additional objects and advantages thereof will be more fully understood hereinafter as a result of the detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention when taken in conjunction with the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an exemplary illustration of a portion of the process of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exemplary illustration of an additional portion of the process of the present invention;

FIGs. 3 and 4 provide illustrations of that portion of the process of the present invention which utilizes the novel container rotator apparatus of the invention;

FIGs. 5 through 9 provide various views of a first embodiment of the container rotator apparatus of the invention;

FIGs. 10 and 11 provide side and top views respectively of the container used in the first embodiment of the rotator of the present invention;

FIGs. 12 through 14 provide various views of a second embodiment of the container rotator apparatus of the invention; and

FIG. 15 provides a side view of the container used in the second embodiment of the rotator of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The process of the present invention will now be described in conjunction with FIGs. 1-4. Referring first to FIG. 1, there is shown two representative scrap metal processing facilities 10. At each such facility the first step of the process of the present invention is being carried out, namely, the step of loading scrap metal 12 into a plurality of open-top rectangular containers 16 by means such as a lifting crane 14 which utilizes an electromagnet for that purpose. It will be understood that although two scrap metal processing facilities are illustrated in FIG. 1 and although it may be preferable from an economic standpoint to utilize a particular number of coordinated scrap metal processing facilities in carrying out the invention, the process is not to be limited to any particular number of such facilities.

Filled containers 16 are then loaded onto trailer trucks 20 which then transport the loaded containers to a conventional dockside container loading facility 21. A portable crane is then used to lift the containers off the trailer trucks 20 and to place them in suitably located stacks 22 pending the arrival of the transport vessel 26.

As seen further in FIG. 2, when the ship 26 has docked, the same portable crane 24 is then utilized to place the stacked containers on suitable trucks 20 for transport from the storage stack area to an area adjacent ship 26 and beneath a container crane 28 which removes the containers 16 from the truck and places it within the hold 30 of the ship 26 by means of a crane rotator 32 and a crane gantry 34 as will be hereinafter more fully explained.

As seen in FIGs. 3 and 4, the gantry 34 of crane 28 transports the containers 16 immediately above an access way 31 to the ship's hold 30. The gantry then lowers the container/rotator combination into the hold of the ship until the container is approximately 8 feet above the accumulating surface of the scrap material already in the hold. At this point in the process the operator of the container crane activates rotator 32 which, as seen in FIG. 4, causes the rotator to rotate container 16 about a longitudinal axis until the open- top of container 16 is pointed substantially towards the bottom of the ship's hold 30 resulting in a dumping of the scrap metal 12 into the ship's hold. It will be apparent that at this point the operator of crane 28 then reverses the action of rotator 32 and crane

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gantry 34 thereby removing the empty container 16 from the ship's hold and replacing it on the trailer truck 20 still located beneath the crane 28 as seen in Fig. 2. At this point the trailer truck 20 may either return the emptied container 16 to a scrap metal processing facility for reloading or to a storage facility located at the dockside container loading facility 21 for later return to the scrap metal processing facility. In either case, this step of the process is again repeated with a subsequent filled container 16 until all the containers to be loaded onto the ship have undergone the aforementioned process and the entire load of scrap metal has been dumped into the ship's hold 30. Thus, it is seen that the unique , . process of the present invention makes it possible for the first time to utilize conventional dockside container loading facilities to load such bulk material as scrap metal while permitting use of conventional crane apparatus and without requiring that containers be loaded and transported with the material to foreign markets.

Two embodiments of the apparatus of the present invention will now be described in detail in conjunction with FIGs. 5-15. More specifically, referring to FIG. 5, it will be seen that a rotator 32 of the present invention comprises a rotator chassis 36 having a plurality of lifting points 38. Chassis 36 is an elongated structure adapted to accommodate standard container sizes and having a plurality of support members 39 extending therefrom at the respective ends thereof. Support members 39 at the respective ends of chassis 36 terminate into and support a rotator mechanism 45. Each such rotator mechanism comprises a motor 40, a latching plate 42, a pair of placement guides 44, a drive gear 46, a bearing plate 48, a shaft 50, and a locking mechanism 52, the latter having a locking pin 56. Referring briefly to FIGs. 10 and 11, it will be seen that each of the containers 16 may be described as a rectangular open-top box having an interior 17 for receiving the bulk material and is enclosed by a pair of elongated sidewalls 19 and a pair of end walls 21. Attached to each of the end walls 21 is a pair of lifting pins 54 which it will be seen are used to lock the container to the rotator.

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In operation, crane gantry 34 attaches to selected lifting points 38 on chassis 36. The chassis is lowered onto the container 16 which is on a truck 20. The crane operator aligns placement guides 44 with the smooth exterior edges 23 of end walls 21 of the container so that the latching plate 42 slides down the side of the container until the lifting pins 54 are secured within locking pins 56. At this point, locking mechanism 52 is activated, securing the locking pins to the lifting pins on each side of the container 16. The container/rotator combination is then lifted and placed in the hold of the ship and when properly positioned, motor 40 on each side of the rotator 32 is synchronously activated thereby rotating gear drive 46 and the corresponding shaft 50 which in turn rotates the entire latching plate along with the container 16. After the contained material has been dumped the operator activates motors 40 for opposite rotation, thereby rotating container 16 in the opposite direction until it is upright and ready for withdrawal from the hold of the ship.

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A second embodiment of the rotator apparatus is shown in FIGs. 12-14. This second embodiment is somewhat more advantageous in that it can be used for rotating completely unmodified conventional containers which do not require lifting pins. Referring to FIGs. 12-14, it will be seen that this alternatively configured rotator 60 comprises a chassis 62 having a plurality of lifting points 64. Chassis 62 comprises a plurality of extending support members 66 at the respective ends of the chassis. Support members 66 terminate into and support a rotator mechanism comprising a motor 68, a motor gear 70, a drive gear 72, a latching frame 74 and a shaft 76. Frame 74 terminates in a pair of placement guides 80 which are designed to guide the frame down the vertical corner edges of a container 16a until a pair of locking pins 82 enter and are locked into receiving slots 84 on the top corners of the container. When the latching frames 74 are in place on the container 16a, shaft 76 will be about six inches below the center of the container. Frame 74 is configured to provide adequate support for the rotating container without requiring the lifting pins 54 of the container 16 used with the first embodiment of the rotator 32 seen in FIGs. 5-9. Otherwise, the operation of rotator 60 is the same as described for rotator 32. A pair of

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elongated side support members 78 interconnect the respective frames 74 to add structural stability to the rotator 60.

It will now be understood that what has been disclosed herein comprises a novel process and apparatus that for the first time enables transport and loading of bulk material such as scrap metal using conventional dockside container loading facilities thereby enabling inland-located scrap metal processing facilities to pursue foreign markets for their scrap metal without having to deal with those few scrap metal facilities which possess special dockside loading facilities for that material. The invention includes a novel container/rotator apparatus which facilitates the handling of conventional open-top containers by means of standard container crane operations for dumping the scrap metal into the hold of a ship without making it necessary to allow the container to remain on the ship during transport.

It will now be apparent to those having skill in the art to which the present invention pertains that various other rotator means may be provided for facilitation of the container/rotation portion of the process of the invention to enable a standard container crane to be used with relatively inexpensive open-top containers while still permitting such containers to be returned to the scrap metal processing facility for reuse after each loading process is completed. However, all such variations and modifications of the present invention are contemplated as being within the scope of the invention which is to be limited only by the claims appended hereto.

We claim:

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