EQUIPMENT FOR LOADING AND UNLOADING ONTO AND FROM A MEANS OF TRANSPORTING FIELD EQUIPMENT SUCH AS TARGETS FOR SHOOTING TRAINING FOR ARMED FORCES

In the context of the training activities of armed forces personnel, the use of integrated systems of multiple targets for training and exercise on the truck or in the open field is known.

Consequently, the single target must be suitable for trasnport and the implementation on filed in a modulate mode.

Therefore, the need to carry a plurality of targets which must be loaded onto the means of transport, be positioned and locked in such a way as to remain stable during transportation and, having reached the goal of use, be released and downloaded to be put in place at the site of operation.

Of course, it needs to safeguard the safety and integrity of the material as well as of the personnel in transport during loading and unloading operations.

Another requirement is to limit the intervention of a human operator, through hydraulic movements .

The invention for which patent protection is sought has been proposed to provide a solution to the problems that arise in these stages of loading, transporting and unloading, often in not easy paths and operational site.

Loading and unloading systems combined with transport systems for civil and military use are known.

These facilities typically consist of components of lifting and / or unloading and handling of the means of transport and / or outside for the transfer and positioning inside the vehicle d and the same load as well as for the op GENERATIONS reverse for the drain.

The problem of loading and unloading the material to be transported does not only concern the lifting and dragging of the load inside the vehicle but also that of ensuring its integrity during transport as well as ensuring that the accommodation inside takes place with maximum use of the space and that this arrangement is stable and does not undergo movements that could compromise the safety of the vehicle and personnel during transport. The invention proposes solutions to these problems with equipment that integrates the operations of:

- Loading and unloading,

- handling and positioning inside the vehicle,

- locking and unlocking of positioned loads.

The same equipment performs the above operations in a technically assisted mode, limiting the intervention of a manual operator to the essential.

From a research on the prior state of the art on the subject carried out in the national and international patent documentation, the following documents emerged which fall within the field of loading / unloading in transport vehicles: US 3675798 A (CARDER VICTOR H ET AL) 11/7/1972.- The document refers to equipment for the transport of containers, and more particularly it refers to transport trailers suitable for loading, transporting and unloading containers of the type with preloaded pods.

Container transporters of the type described have been used for applications such as handling containerized cargo pods used in the aviation industry . These containers hold baggage, mail and other cargo items and have been developed to speed the loading and unloading of aircraft. Trailers are used to load or unload cargo pods or containers at the terminal for movement to and from the aircraft. A tractor is commonly provided for pulling a plurality of trailers loaded into a train. The need for conveying equipment that provides fast and efficient container handling with minimal labor requirements has been recognized. The conveyor should easily receive the container even when loaded with some misalignment or inclination with respect to the conveyor axis.

The object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for loading, transporting and unloading containers of the pre-loaded pod type and the like. A further object is to provide an apparatus of the container conveyor of the type described adapted to move a container from and to a transport position on a mobile chassis with minimal effort and that holds the container firmly to the frame in the transport position. Another object is to provide a container transport device of the type described which provides a container holding arrangement which allows the loading of a container which may be slightly inclined or in off-center alignment. Another object is to provide container transport equipment of the type described which provides transfer ramps at both ends of a container transporter with ramps adapted to move into a downward sloping position for container loading and in an upward sloping position for unloading, together with the container stops, in conjunction with the transfer ramps to limit the movement of the container from the transport position and to release a selected end of the container for unloading. The equipment basically operates outside the means of transport, for example an airplane, has the function of picking up a container from a collection point and, equipped with wheels, is towed to the entrance of the means of transport, for example all entrance to the aircraft hold.

The document for the mere fact that describes a device that uses means such as conveyor elements and the locking / unlocking, not costit uisce a prior art that anticipates the innovative idea at the base of ' equipment for loading and unloading that is proposed, which travels with the means of transporting the load, the load is a body with its own structure which determines the handling and constrained positioning methods.

The components operate in an integrated hydraulically operated system dictated by the structure of the load, the stability requirements of the load during transport, reversible operation from loading to unloading and vice versa. US 2006/045705 A1 (KNOELL HERBERT (DE), 2/3/2006 This document describes a load lifting device for a motor vehicle which comprises an external support firmly fixed vertically to the motor vehicle itself , having an external support through which a second load support can be rotated around an axis located in the lower area.

The load support is connected to the external support by a block and a hoist. A load can be suspended from the load carrier and can be lifted to a vertical position with the help of the hoist and hoist.

Then it can be moved to the other side of the axle with a slight effort of force, from where lowering with the block and hoist is possible.

The document describes a not going beyond the problem of lifting and positioning the load inside the vehicle , and the same equipment differs from that which will be described in the present application.

US 2009 /173 708 A1 (DEMIANY ERWIN CORNEL [US ] 9/7/2009 This document illustrates a multi-purpose appliance for truck bed, comprising a first group of shelves, a second group of shelves, a base group coupled to the trolley, in which the first group of shelves and the second group of shelves are coupled to the group, base, and a lifting mechanism, wherein the lifting mechanism comprises a winch coupled to the second rack assembly.

The visible device has nothing in common with the one for which patent protection issought.

U S 5685687 A (FRYE ROBERT L [US] 11/11/1997

This document describes a conveyor for loading or loading palletised material transported by truck or to be transported, e.g. roof tiles, use of means for picking up and lifting pallets, guided by an operator who places them on the belt.

A control console at the station transfer allows a single operator to control the angle and azimuth position of the unloading conveyor, the movement of the lifting platform and the operation of the bed conveyor while the operator performs the transfer of loads.

This equipment, now in widespread use, does not face loading and unloading problems to which the invention which will be described proposes a solution with lifting, handling, locking and unlocking devices integrated in an assisted and integrated operation.

FR 2533515 A1 (NICOLL RACCORDS PLASTIQUES [FR] 03/30/1984,

This document illustrates a system exhaust or discharge of non-heavy packages and is composed of rollers from horizontally to place inside to form a binary slide when the load.

The same roller conveyors can be vertically to form a ramp as a support to be slid are the load itself.

However, the equipment is limited to a use of means Scrolling ent of the load. The equipment proposed for patent protection differs from what can be found in the prior art as it constitutes an operational complex for the transport of field equipment which integrates in an assisted manner the loading and unloading operations, those of positioning as well as for locking / unlocking the load on the means of transport hosting such equipment.

It is described and represented for the loading and unloading onto and from half or transport a plurality of targets for said gunnery training of personnel of the armed forces, but this equipment can also identity in loads is mili for use other than military training.

However, the qualifying characteristic of the invention is the implementation co n the relative allocation of aid means that automates and facilitates the loading and unloading operations.

For this purpose, the equipment is equipped in the front part of the structure with a mobile frame with outward movement for loading and unloading the individual targets. The same are then brought into position by means of a movement system made by rollers with chain drive mounted on the base.

The invention, however, will be described in detail with the aid of the following attached tables:

Table 1, where in Figure 1 the equipment , referred to in Figure 2, is visible empty positions ta on the means of transport in the load state (exhaust) , Table 2 , where the equipment is represented in figure 1 with targets inside and with a target outside,

Table 3, where the mobile structure with sliding guides and handling means are visible in the three figures

Table 4 where the figures show details of the components.

As shown in table 1 figure 2, the invention consists of a parallelepiped structure (a) within which the targets (b) have been positioned, which in this figure, by way of example for descriptive purposes only, are 6 loaded inside, lined up in two parallel rows of three, and a seventh (c) outside (ready to be loaded or unloaded). In the upper part of the structure there is a movable sliding frame (d) designed to contribute to the target loading / unloading movement .

In Table 2, in fig. 1 the structure is shown with the loaded targets in the transport position while in figure 2 the structure is shown in the loading / unloading position of a hooked target (a) carried in a position projecting outwards .

As shown in tables 3 and 4, the mobile frame structure is moved by means of a series of hydraulic cylinders (e), in figure 1, (g) in figure 2, (h) in figure 1, table 4, which allow the movement, directed towards the rear area (with respect to the direction of travel of the vehicle), with a sufficient overhang to allow the loading / unloading of the single target. A hydraulic cylinder, (f) in figure 2, table 3 and figure 2, table 4, can also allow the transversal movement of a movable hook, (b) in figure 2 table 4, designed to anchor the target to allow it to be loaded .

The same structure is equipped with a roller conveyor system, (i) in figure 3, table

3, (in the example shown in the attached tables, one for a row and another for the parallel row), moved by a chain through a hydraulic motor, which allow the movement of the targets. The roller system allows the transport of six container targets in two parallel rows of three, allowing them to be quickly extracted and placed on the ground through the integrated front structure (a) equipped with the hook (b) (figure 2, table 3 and 4). From their housing (the coupling system allows the operator to lock the targets without the need to get on the vehicle), the forward / backward sliding of the targets is controlled by the roller conveyor system.

All movements are hydraulic.

The connections are flexible with pipes suitable for the purpose, equipped with quick couplings to connect to the appropriate withdrawal points on the vehicle and on the equipment.

The controls for handling are transmitted via cable from a special push-button panel with operator on the ground, in order to allow all maneuvers in safety.

The structure can be made using profiles, usually steel, suitably sized and positioned to ensure strength but also the elasticity of the assembly, in order to accommodate all the variables inherent in the terrain where it will operate.

The invention has been shown in relation to a type of target which can be varied in accordance with the manufacturing choices to be provided, without prejudice to the functional and compositional concept which characterizes the invention described above as innovative and is the subject of a patent protection request.