1. TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to a vehicle for transporting loads comprising a plurality of even numbered front tyres joined by a front axle, a plurality of even numbered rear tyres joined by a rear axle, a connecting means to join the front and rear axles, a steering means, at least an engine, a transmission gear, a transfer case, a loading compartment

2. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A vehicle mainly designed to perform works on heavy load at slow speeds is generally called a tractor. Tractors are mainly used in construction and agriculture industry for carrying or handling heavy loads such as construction materials or agriculture goods. The main classifications of tractors are two-wheel drive, two-wheel drive with front wheel assist, four-wheel drive and track tractors.

The ground condition in a plantation field consists of peat soil because of the high fertility and the proximity to water, which makes it most suitable for plantation. The type of plantation mentioned can be and not limited to oil palm, rubber or fruit. However, the condition of terrain in the plantation is very uneven and muddy because of the leftovers from previous harvest and the characteristics of the peat soil, especially for oil palm plantations. This deters conventional vehicles from entering deeper into the oil palm plantation in particular through the in-roads to harvest the palm oil fruits because the vehicle will get stuck in the muddy soil and movement is very limited. The weight of such bulky vehicles would cause the ground to sink and the ground condition is worsened by the rough tyre tracts of the vehicle which enhances the muddy condition of the path along the inter-rows. Once such vehicles are stuck in the mud, only a winch is able to free the vehicle from the mud. Therefore, the plantation owner cannot afford the delays caused by such situation being constantly repeated. To overcome the above, plantation owners resort to employing extensive manual labourers to harvest the oil palm fruits and in times of labour shortage escalating cost is inevitable. The presence of human factor tends to create inefficiency as these manual labourers will take the easy way out by attempting to pick or collect the fresh fruit bunches that are nearest to the main road and not venture deeper into the plantation via the in-roads and hence the fresh fruit bunches from the oil palms that are located deeper in, the plantation are not collected upon being plucked or having dropped to the ground on ripening are left overnight or simply left to rot. Due to the size and weight of the fresh fruit bunches the amount of fruits that can be picked and carried to the collection point by one manual labourer per day is limited.

It would hence be extremely advantageous if the above shortcoming is alleviated wherein manual labour presently employed to carry the freshly plucked fruit bunches is replaced with a vehicle which is able to manoeuvre in an oil palm plantation with minimal instances of the vehicle getting stuck in the muddy in-road paths to ensure that fresh fruit bunches that are plucked are collected and carried regardless of the distance from the main road to the innermost part of the plantation thereby allowing better yield. The vehicle of the present invention to replace humans as carriers is capable of collecting more fruits in one trip compared to scores of manual labourers required to collect the same amount of fruits hence increasing the collection of fruits by leaps and bounds whilst saving time and keeping cost low which in turn leads to higher efficiency and productivity. 3. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is the primary aim of the present invention to provide a vehicle for transporting fresh fruit bunches in a plantation in substitution of human carriers.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a vehicle for transporting fresh fruit bunches in a plantation which is capable of manoeuvring in any type of soil conditions including muddy areas or peat soil whilst remaining stable.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a vehicle for transporting fresh fruit bunches in a plantation which is capable of manoeuvring effectively under conditions where other vehicles such as tractors would not be able to.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle for transporting fresh fruit bunches in a plantation wherein the probability of the vehicle getting stuck in the muddy ground or peat soil is minimal.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a vehicle for transporting fresh fruit bunches in a plantation wherein its working speed is kept constant for easier control when manoeuvring the vehicle on uneven or soft ground.

It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a vehicle for transporting fresh fruit bunches in a plantation which is capable of reducing wear and tear of the components when compared to typical tractors.

Yet a further object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle for transporting fresh fruit bunches in a plantation which is efficient and capable of collecting more fresh fruit bunches thereby reducing instances of the fresh fruit bunches being left overnight or left to rot in the plantation thus increasing the yield and productivity.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a vehicle for transporting fresh fruit bunches in a plantation which is capable of indirectly improving soil condition in a plantation by simultaneously increasing the compactness of the ground as it passes through.

It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a vehicle for transporting fresh fruit bunches in a plantation which is capable of having a carrier bucket in front whilst towing another at its rear.

Yet a further object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle for transporting fresh fruit bunches in a plantation which is capable of flattening tall weeds and suppressing weedy growth along the in-roads or inter-rows thereby providing access.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a vehicle for transporting fresh fruit bunches in a plantation which is capable of being provided with other purposeful devices so that the palm fruit transporter can perform several functions such as spraying fertilizers, spraying insecticide or weed-killers or mowing whilst transporting the palm fruits to the collection point.

Other and further objects of the invention will become apparent with an understanding of the following detailed description of the invention or upon employment of the invention in practice.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention there is provided,

A vehicle for transporting loads comprising, a plurality of even numbered front tyres (101) joined by a front axle (103)

a plurality of even numbered rear tyres (102) joined by a rear axle (104);

a connecting means (205) to join the front and rear axles

(103,104)

a steering means (107);

at least an engine (201);

a transmission gear (202);

a transfer case (204);

a loading compartment (105)

characterized in that said connecting means (205) is provided with a first control mechanism enabling the front and back axle (103,104) to move in different rotating angles characterized further in that said steering means (107) controls a second control mechanism which is connected to the chassis of the front loading compartment (105) for horizontal manoeuvrability

further characterized in that the said vehicle is additionally provided with a speed reduction means (203).

4. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other aspect of the present invention and their advantages will be discerned after studying the Detailed Description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows a top view of the tractor.

FIG. 2 shows a side view of the tractor.

FIG. 3 shows the components of the energy transmission between the engine and the two axles.

FIG. 4 shows the rotating mechanism between the front and rear axles for movement in uneven terrain. 5. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be more clearly understood from the following description of the preferred embodiment thereof, given by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings that are not drawn to scale.

Referring to FIG. 1, it shows the top view of the tractor. The tractor consists of two axles (103,104), which are separated by a connecting means (205) which is further provided with a first control mechanism consisting of a rotating mechanism (106). The first control mechanism enables the front and back axle (103,104) to move in different rotating angles. The front axle is used to carry a loading compartment (105) preferably a bucket for loading of agricultural crop such as fresh oil palm fruit bunches while the rear axle (104) is used to carry tractor operator and the chassis which consists of the engine (201). This is in contrast to the conventional tractor wherein the front axle supports the engine in the chassis whilst the rear axle supports the tractor operator in the same chassis. The farm tractors are used for pulling or pushing agricultural machinery or implements or trailers for a variety of tasks such as ploughing, tilling and etcetera. There are four types of movement that can be controlled by the operator: front, back, left and right. The front and back movement is driven by the engine (201) of the tractor, which will transfer energy to the transmission gear (202), which is connected to the speed reduction gear box (203) and lastly the transfer case (204) before rotating the two axles (103,104). The function of the speed reduction gear box (203) is to reduce the speed of the movement by transferring the energy to a lower gear. By having the bucket carrier (105) in front makes it possible for an additional bucket carrier to be towed at the rear of the said vehicle for additional crop to be loaded when required. Alternatively it may be used to carry fertilizer so that simultaneously as the fresh fruit bunches are collected and loaded into the front bucket carrier (105) by one set of workers; another set of workers can treat the land with fertilizer. This helps to save time and cost. The rear bucket which is being towed (not shown) will be drawn along by the engine (201).

Meanwhile, the left and right movements of the tractor are controlled by the tractor operator, who rotates the steering means

(107). The steering means (107) control a second control mechanism which is connected to the chassis of the front loading compartment (105) for horizontal manoeuvrability. The second control mechanism comprises a hydraulic means wherein it is a> pair of hydraulic pumps (108), which will retract and extend accordingly. The hydraulic pumps (108) are connected to the chassis of the front bucket. A rotation of the steering means (107) anti-clockwise or to the left will retract the left hydraulic pump (108b) and extend the right hydraulic pump (108a), which will turn the front bucket (105) to the left. A rotation of the steering means (107) clockwise or to the right will retract the right hydraulic pump (108a) and extend the left hydraulic pump (108b), which will turn the front bucket to the right. The left and right turns are done by controlling the front chassis rather than the conventional way of controlling the axles.

Referring to FIG. 2, there is shown the side view of the tractor. The connecting means (205) between the front and rear axle (103,104) further consists of the said rotating mechanism (106) preferably as in a lorry axle which can move freely according to external forces. If the ground level at the front right wheel is higher than the ground level at the left front wheel and the ground level at the rear wheels are the same as the left front wheel, the front axle (103) will rotate anticlockwise, which makes the right wheel higher than the left wheel while the rear axle (104) maintains its previous position. This movement can also apply to every wheel of the vehicle. This is possible due to the rotating mechanism (106) attached between the front and rear axle (103, 104). This mechanism is very useful in uneven terrain because all the wheels will be in contact with the ground although the ground is uneven thereby making manoeuvrability possible in rugged terrains such as the oil palm plantation whilst ensuring stability of the vehicle in such terrains.

Traditional tractors which employ manual transmissions are equipped with several sets of gear ratios divided into speeds, which necessitates halting the tractor in order to change the ratio which wastes time and is highly inconvenient. Later more modern tractors designed for row-crop work were equipped with a de-accelerator pedal which operates in the reverse fashion to an automobile throttle in that the pedal is pushed down to slow down the engine thus allowing fine control over the speed of the tractor when the tractor operators manoeuvres a turn at the end of crop rows in plantations or fields. This is also inconvenient as the tractor operator has to be skilful and know when and how to constantly manipulate with the de- accelerator pedal to check the speed. To ensure the speed of the tractor of the present invention remains low for stability and to minimise instances of the vehicle getting stuck, in the- muddy ground, a device to automatically lower the speed of the vehicle preferably a speed reduction gear box (203) is placed between the transmission gear (202) and the transfer case (204) of the present invention so that the tractor operator need not be skilful and does not need to constantly manipulate with the de-accelerator pedal to check the speed.

Referring now to FIG. 3, there is shown components involved in the energy transmission from the engine (201) to the front and rear axles (103,104). The energy is generated from the engine (201), which is transferred to the speed reduction gear box (203) through the transmission gear (202). The function of the speed reduction gear (203) is to automatically lower the speed of the engine by shifting to a lower gear. Only low speed is possible for movement and functionality of the vehicle due to the heavy load and the uneven terrain. The low speed also ensures that mud will not interfere with the movement of the vehicle and reduces instances of the vehicle getting stuck in the muddy ground. Lastly, the transfer case (204) will transfer the energy to the two axles (103,104).

By being versatile and able to manoeuvre on soft or uneven terrain, the vehicle is able to venture into areas where other conventional tractors would be deterred (as they tend to get stuck in the soft or muddy ground or topple over due to the uneven terrain) other purposeful devices or implements may also be provided to the agricultural crop transporter to enable it to simultaneously perform several functions such as spraying fertilizer, insecticide or weedkillers spraying as the vehicle advances deeper into the plantation via the in-road to collect and transport the fresh palm fruit bunches to the collection point by the main road. The versatile tractor of the present invention may have a means to transfer power preferably by means of a power take-off shaft to provide rotary power to these purposeful devices or implements that may be stationery or towed.

Referring to FIG. 4, it shows the rotating mechanism (106) between the front and rear axles. The said rotating mechanism (106) has two parts wherein each part is governed by the front and rear axle (103,104) respectively. The conventional tractor has a fixed connection between the front and rear axle, where if the ground supporting the right rear tyres are higher than the ground level supporting the rest of the tyres, the rear axles will tilt and cause the whole tractor to tilt. Using the rotating mechanism (106) between the front and rear axles (103,104), even though the right rear ground may be higher than the ground level supporting the rest of the tyres, only the rear chassis tilts because the front part of the rotating mechanism (106) is governed by the front axles (103) while the rear part of the rotating mechanism is governed by the rear axles (104). In this case, the front chassis will not tilt. This governance happens in any type of ground level at any tyres of the tractor.

While the above vehicle has been described in some detail as being for use in the oil palm plantation, the above is not necessarily the only type of area where it can be used. For example the present invention may be used in fields, golf courses, large lawns, public parks of even or uneven terrain, as, what is advantageous in accordance with the present invention is the fact that the transporter is versatile and able to manoeuvre effectively on any terrain or soft ground with minimal unwanted encounters of the vehicle getting stuck in the soft ground or overturning due to the unevenness of the ground.

Devices or implements other than the ones mentioned or described above may be mounted to the versatile transporter when used in areas other than agriculture for example a mower, front mounted snow blower or a front mounted rotary broom. Although the above vehicle has been described in some detail as being provided with a bucket carrier, which is carried by the front axle, for crops to be loaded and transported, an additional bucket carrier may be attached to the rear of the vehicle by a drawbar and be towed, as, what is advantageous in accordance with the present invention is the fact that the said vehicle is versatile and able to manoeuvre effectively on any terrain or soft ground with minimal unwanted encounters of the vehicle getting stuck in the soft ground or overturning due to the unevenness of the ground.

While the preferred embodiment of the present invention and their advantages have been disclosed in the above Detailed Description, the invention is not limited thereto but only by the( I think we should keep this unless objected to) scope of the appended claim.