Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
~119S61
Truck bodies, and trucks incorporating the same
This invention is concerned with improvements in or relating
to truck bodies, and with trucks incorporating the same. It
is known to provide, in a truck body comprising a floor
bounded by upstanding front, rear and side walls, discharge
means which is positioned at or adjacent to the rear wall,
or which is positioned at or adjacent to the front wall.
Where the discharge means is positioned at or adjacent
to the rear wall the truck body usually constitutes a dump
truck body, the upper corner portions of the rear wall
generally being pivotally connected to the adjacent side
walls whereby the rear wall may pivot away from the side
walls to provide said discharge means for discharging, for
example, earth or gravel from the truck body. Where the
discharge means is positioned at or adjacent to the front
wall the truck body usually constitutes a sander or spreader
truck body, a rotatably driven spinner generally being
mounted below the discharge means for spreading, for example,
sand or salt which is discharged through the disGharge
means on to the spinner across the highway or the like
being travelled by the truck. It is also known to provide
a dual purpose truck body which can serve alternatively as
a dump truck body or as a sander or spreader truck body,
as desired.
In each of these known forms of truck bodies the truck body
is operatively tiltably raised about a tilting axis relative
to the chassis of the associated truck in order to discharge
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the material through the discharge means, the tilting axis
being disposed in the case of a dump truck body at the rear
of the truck body and being disposed in the case of a sander
or spreader truck body at the front o~ the truck body. In
the case of a dual purpose truck body the tilting axis is
disposed selectively at the rear of the truck body or at the
front of the truck body depending on whether the truck body
is to function as a dump truck body or as a sander or spreader
truek body, respectively. It is a disadvantage of such hith-
erto known forms of truek bodies, and of trucksincorporatingsuch truek bodies, that when the truek body is tilted about
the tilting axis the centre of gravity of the truek is sub-
stantially raised with a resultant reduction in the stability
of the truek. This disadvantage is particularly significant
in the ease of dump trucks operating on construction sites
since on sueh sites the supporting ground level is generally
extremely uneven and the reduetion in the stability of the
trucks can result in toppling over of ~he trucks. It is a
further disadvantage of the above-described hitherto known
forms of truek bodies, and of trucks incorporating such truek
bodies, that with the truck bodies operatively tilted as
described above the wind resistance to movement of the trucks
is substantially inereased. This further disadvantage is
generally more significant in relation to sander or spreader
trucks which during the discharge of the material from the
assoeiated truek bodies are usually travelling along a
highway or the like, than in relation to dump trueks which
during discharge or the material from the associated truek
bodies are usually stationary or travelling only at a low
speed.
A still further disadvantage of the above-described hitherto
known forms of truck bodies, and of trueks ineorporating
sueh truek bodies, is that it is of eourse neeessary to
provide an appropriate power meehanism for operatively
raising the truek body during tilting thereof, this mechanism
being relatively expensive since it must be sufficiently
~1195ti1
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robust and powerful to raise the fully loaded truck body
during tilting thereof.
.
It is a primary object of the present invention to pro~ide -
an improved truck body in which the above-described dis-
advantages are substantially obviated or mitigated.
A truck body according to the present invention comprises
a floor bounded by upstanding front, rear, and side walls,
discharge means provided at or adjacent to at least one of
the walls constituted by the front and rear walls for
discharge therethrough of material from the body, and anupstanding discharge plate extending between the side walls
ar~ movable in a fore and aft direction between the ~ront
wall and the rear ~all, arld.drive means connected ta ths
discharge plate for operative movement thereof ;n said fore
and aft direction, the drive means comprising forward and
rearward block and tackle systems each of which comprises
at least one pulley journalled on said truck body and at
least one mo~abIe pulley, each block and tackle system
also having at least one flexible, non-extendihle element,.
one end of which is secured to the truck bod~ then trained
over said one and said movable pulleys and secured at its .
other end to said discharge plate, said block and tackle
systems being arranged to move said discharge plate in
respectively opposite directions in response to m~vement
of said movable pulleys in the same direction, and a common
piston and cylinder assembly arranged simultaneously to
move said mGvable pulleys in a selected direction.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a
truck incorporating a truck body according to the present
invention.
In order that the invention may be more clearly understood
and more readily carried into ef~ect the same will now, by
way of example, be more fully described with refererlce to
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the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic
view of a truck according to the present invention, the
truck being shown in operatlon as a dump truck;
Fig. 2 is a further diagramatic ~iew o~ a truck according
to the present invention, but with the truck being shown in
operation as a sander or spreader truck;
Fig. 3 is a partially broken away view of a truck body
according to a preferred embodiment of the invention;
and
Figs. 4 and 5 are views on enlarged scales of portions of
the ~ruck body shown ln Fig. 3.
Referring to the drawings and in particular to Figs 1 and
2 thereof, 10 denotes generally a truck which incorporates
a non-tiltably mounted truck b~dy 11, the truck body 11
comprising a floor (which is not visible in Fig. 1 and 2
but which is denoted by the reference 12 in Fig. 3), with
the floor being bounded by upstanding front, rear and side
walls 13, 14 and 15, respectively. Discharge means is
provided at or adjacent to the rear wall 14, the upper corner
portions of this rear wall 14 being pivotally mounted to the
adjacent side walls 15 so that the rear wall 14 may be
pivotally moved as shown in Fig. 1 thereby to provide said
discharge means through which material 16 may be discharged
from the truck body 11 as shown in Fig. 1 when the truck
body 11 is operating as a dump truck body. As is shown in
Fig. 3, the rear wall 14 presents lugs 17 which are pivotally
mounted on pivot pins 18 presented by the adjacent side walls
15, thereby to provide said pivotal mounting of the rear wall
14 relative to the adjaccnt side walls 15. As is shown in
in Fig. 2 the truck body 11 is also provided with discharge
means disposed at or adjacent to the front wall 13, this
latter discharge means comprising a closable opening 19 in
the floor 12, and a spinner 20 which is disposed below the
opening 19 and which is operatively rotatably driven by power
D
~9Si61
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means (not shown~, a chute 21 being mounted for directing
material 16 which is discharged from the truck body 11
through the opening 19 onto the spinner 20, and an opera-
tively power driven conveyor belt 22 being disposed trans-
versely within the truck body 11 adjacent to the front wall13 with the upper run of the conveyor belt 22 being sub-
stantially flush with and constituting a portion of the
floor 12, thereby operatively to transfer material 16
within the truck body 11 adjacent to the front wall 13 to
the opening 1~. For clarity, the discharge means
comprising the conveyor belt 22, the opening 19, the chute
21 and the spinner 20 has ~een omîtted from Fig. 3.
-~ounted within the truck body 11 is an upstand;ng discharge
plate 23 which extends between the side walls 15 and which
is movable, by operation of drive means, in the fore and aft
direction denoted by the arrows A-A in Figs. 1 and 2 between
the front wall 13 and the rear wall 14.
With particular reference to Figs. 3, 4 and 5, the drive means
for the discharge plate 23 comprises a forward block and tackle
system and a rearward block and tackle system The rearward
block and tackle system comprises flexible elements, such as
cables 64' and 64", one end 65' of the cable 64' being secured
to a bar 66' which is mounted between two lugs 67' secured to
- the truck body 11, preferably by being secured to the under-
structure of the truck body 11 on which the truck body 11 is
fixedly mounted. The cable 64' extends from said one end 65'
thereof and is entrained around freely rotatable pulleys 68'
and 69' with the end of the cable 64' remote from the end 65'
thereof being secured to the discharge plate 23 which is of
hollow form. This end of the cable 64' remote from the end 65'
thereof is preferably connected to a screw-threaded member 70'
on which is threadedly mounted a nut-like member 71' which
is retained within the hollow discharge plate 23 but which
is rotatable in order to adjust the effective length of the
cable 64', for example, to take up slack resulting from any
stretching of the cable 64'.
~$~95~1
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The pulleys 68' and 69' are disposed beneath the floor 12 of
: the truck body 11, with the cable 64' likewise being disposed
below the floor 12 except for the run of the cable 64l
adjacent to the end thereof remote from the end 65', which i5
disposed within a groove 72 formed in the upper face of the
floor 12 adjacent to the appropriate side wall 15, this run
of cable 64' which is disposed around a guide block 73'
mounted in the discharge plate 23 being disposed through an
aperture 74' provided in the end wall of the groove 72, as is
10 more clearly shown in Fig. 4.
The pulleys 68' are mouDted on a shaft 75 which is freely
rotatably journalled within transverse tubes 76, while the
pulleys 69' are freely rotatably mounted on the understructure
of the truck body 11.
The cable 64" is en~rained around freely rotatable pulleys 68"
an2 69" correspondin~ to the pulleys G8' and 69', respec-
tively, with one end tnot shown) of the cable 64" being
secured to the truck body 11 in the same manner as the end
65' of the cable 64' and the other end of the cable 64"
20~ likewise being adjustably secured to the discharge plate 23
in a manner corresponding to the end of the cable 64', remote
from the end 65' thereof. As will be noted from Fig. 3
pulleys 68" are mounted on the end of the shaft 75 remote
from the pulleys 68'.
The forward block and tackle system corresponds to the rear-
ward block and tackle system as hereinbefore described, the
various parts of the forward block and tackle system which
are shown being denoted by the same reference numerals
as the corresponding parts of the rearward block and tackle
system, but with these references numerals for the forward
block-and tackle system increased by 100. Thus, for example,
the cables 164' and 164" of the forward block and tackle
system correspond to the cables 64' and 64", respectively,
of the rearward block and tackle system.
5~1
7 -- .
Power means comprising a pair of hydraulically operable
piston and cylinder assemblies 77 is mounted beneath the
floor 12 of the truck body 11, the piston rods 78 of these
piston and cylinder assemblies 77 being connected to the
tubes 176 of the forward block and tackle system, and the
tubes 76 of the rearward block and tackle system being
connected to the tubes 176 of ~he forward b.l.ock and tackle
system by plates 79 secured therebetween as, for example, by
welding
80 denotes guide rollers which are freely rotatably mounted
.: on support lugs 81 presented by portions of the discharge.
plate 23 which extend over the upper edges of the side walls
15, the rollers.80 running in guide channels 82 provided in
the outer faces of the side walls 15.
With particular reference to Fig. 5, the ends of the shafts
75, 175 project beyond the outermost pulleys 68', 68" and
168' and 168" and are rotatably mounted in outwardly open,
U-shaped guide plates 83 which slidably embrace longitudinal
guide beams 84 of the understructure of the truck body 11
extending in the fore and aft direction.
As will be appreciated, movement of the piston rods 78 in
the forward direction caused by operation of the piston and
cylinder assemblies 77 produces corresponding for~ard move-
` ment of the pulleys 68', 68." with resultant rearward movement
i~ the fore and aft direction of the discharge plate 23 fromthe front wall 13 towards the rear wall 14 under the influence
of the rearward block and tackle system, this rearward
movement of the discharge plate 23 being permitted by the
forward block and tackle system the pulleys 168', 168'i of
which are simultanecusly moved forwardly Conversely,
movement of the piston rods 78 in the rearward direction
caused by operation of the piston and cylinder assemblies 77
. produces corresponding rearward movement of the pulleys 168',
.. . ... . .. ... . . . . ..... . . .. . .. . . .. . ... .. _ -- . .. .. . ,.. .. ~ . . .... .. .
11~9561
-- 8
168" with resultant forward movement in the fore and aft
direction of the discharge plate 23 from the rear wall 14
towards the front wall 13 under the influence of the forward
block and tackle system, this forward movement of the dis-
charge plate 23 being permitted by the rearward block and
. ` tackle system the pulleys 68l, 68" of- which are simultan-
eou~ly moved rearwardlyO
It wiIl be appreciated from Fig 3 that the above-described
operative movement of the discharge plate 23 is, in the
preferred embodiment illustrated, four times greater than
- the movement of the piston rods 78 of the piston and cylinder
assemblies 77 which causes this ~ovement of the discharge
plate 23, although by altering the number of pulleys 68',
~ 68" and 168', 168" the ratio of the operative movement of
15~ the discharge plate 23 to the movement of the piston.rods 78
can be varied as desi.red~ Thus, the piston and cylinder
assemblies 77 may have a.relatively short stroke while
still ensuring that the discharge plate 23 can be moved
in the fore and aft direction the entire distance between
the front and rear walls 13 and 14.
Furthermore, in alternative forms (not shown) of this
preferred embodiment of the invention the cables 64"
and 164" together with the associated pulleys 68", 69" and
168", 169" may be omitted, in which case the single cable
25 64' together with the associated pulleys 68', 69' of the
rearward block and tackle system, and the single cable
.164' together with the associated pulleys 168', 169' of
the forward block and tackle system are preferably sub-
stantially centrally disposed. It will also of course.be
appreciated that while as shown in Fig. 3 there are two
piston and cylinder assemblies 77 there may in alternative
fo,ms (not shown) of this preferred embodiment be only a
singleipiston and cylinder assembly 77.
'
1~19561
g
As is sho~n in Fig. 3 the lower edge portion of the rear
wall of the discharge plate 23 may be constituted by a
separate plate 23a which is mounted by, for example, bolts
to the remainder of the discharge plate 23, the plate 23a
being resiliently urged by, for example, inherent resiliency
of the plate 23a against the floor-12 of the truck body 11
thereb~.~ during operation of the truck body 11 as a dump
truck body as hereinafter described substantially to prevent
the material 16 passing beneath the lower edge of the rear
.10 face of the discharge plate 23 with resultant risk of the
discharge plate 23 becoming jammed_. ~ -. .
Furthermore, the lower edge portion of the front wall of the
discharge plate 23 may be constituted by a plate (.not shown)
corresponding tc the plate 23a thereby during operation of
the truck body 11 as a sander or spreader truck body as
hereinafter described likewise substantially to prevent the
material 16 passing beneat~ the lower edge of the front face.
o~ the discharge plate 23 with resultant risk of the discharge
plate 23 becoming jammed.
The piston and cylinder assem~.lie.s 77 are of course each
operatively connected by pressure fluid lines ~not shown)
to a s~urce of pressure. fluid s.uch as a fluid pump which ma~
be driven by the traction engine of the association truck~
When it is desixed to operate the truck body 11 as a dump
truck body the discharge. plate 23 is initially positioned,
by operation of the associated drive means for the discharge
plate 23, adjacent to the front wall 13, and the material 16
to be transported in the truck body 11 is then loaded therein
between the discharge plate 23 and the rear wall 14. When it
is subsequertly desired to dump this material 16 from the
truck body 11 said drive means for the discharge plate 23 is
operated to move the discharge plate 23 in th- fore and aft
direction from the front wall 13 towards the rear wall 14.
This movement of the discharge plat~ 23 forces the material 16
rearwardly and out of the truck body 11 as the rear wall 14
1119S61
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pivots upwardly about the pivot pins 18.
When, however, it is desired to operate the truck body 11
as a sander or spreader truck body the discharge plate 23
is, as will be appreciated, initi~lly positîoned adjacent
to the rear wall 14, and the material 16 to be transported
is then loaded into the truck body 11 between the front
wall 13`and the discharge plate 23. To discharge the
material with the truck body 11 operating as a sander or
spreader truck body the opening 19 is uncovered, the
conveyor belt 22 and the spinner 20 are actuated, and the
discharge plate 23 is moved, by operation of the drive
means therefor, in the fore and at direction from the rear
wall 14 towards the front wall 13, this movemert of the
discharge plate 23 forcing the material 16 towards the
front wall 13 where it is conveyed by the conveyor belt 22
to the opening 19 through which the material passes to the
chute 21 and thence to the rotating spinner 20 '`or distri-
bution over the associated road surface or the like.
While as hereinbefore described with reference to the
accompanying drawings the truck body 11 according to the
present invention is a dual purpose truck body which can
alternatively be used, as desired, as a dump truck b~dy or
as a sander or spreader truck body, it will be appreciated
that the truck body 11 may serve only as a dump truck body
~5 or may serve only as a sander or spreader truck body.
