Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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IMPROVFI~ RUI IC MATFRIAI HANDI ING VFIIICLE.
This invention relates to a vehicle for use in carrying bulk material such
as coal, mineral ores, grain and like particulate materials in road or rail or other
transport vehicles.
A wide range of constructions have been proposed and used in relation
to vehicles for transpo,ling bulk materials, such as those referred to about, and
there is generally a conception that one of the principal requirements of such avehicle, is the ability to be able to discharge the load in a manner which will
enable the vehicle to remain substantially stable and yet will permit a rapid
gravity induced discharge of the material from the vehicle. The problem of
stability of the vehicle is of particular concern in relation to vehicles which run on
a fixed track, commonly referred to as rail vehicles, as the width of the track is
normally considerably less than that of the vehicle body of a conventional road
vehicle. At the same time it is common for the rail vehicle to have a somewhat
greater carrying c~p~city than the road vehicle, that is when considered on a
single unit basis.
In known bulk material transport vehicles it is common to provide a
material carrying body supported upon wheeled chassis for angular movement
upon a fixed axis to an upwardly inclined discharge position. The axis about
which the body tips is usually along one side of the chassis and hence a
relatively high angle of tilt of the body is required to fully discharge the contents
of the body. Also as discharge is normally affected over the upper edge of the
body, a high angle of tilt of the body is required to commence discharge of the
contents of the body. An even greater angle of tilt is required to achieve totaldischarge of all of the body conlent.
Examples of vehicles having a construction of the above described
general type are described in the following prior published patent specification.
~ The most relevant material found was:
US 3799612 MORRISON ET AL
US 3687321 GOLDHART
US 5006039 NIEDERER
AU 66404/94 VINOCUROFF
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Another common problem with the known constructions is the instability
of the vehicle during discharge, and the consequential limit on the carrying
c~qp~city thereof. Also a ,uroblem arises from the fact that the dumped material is
located close to the side of the vehicle and interferes with the passage of the
5 vehicle into and out of the dump loc~tions
It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide a load carrying
vehicle of a construction which will enable rapid discharge of the vehicle load
whilst maintaining s~ st~ntial vehicle stability.
With this object in view, there is provided a vehicle comprising a chassis
10 supported on a plurality of wheels to render it mobile, a load carrying body
suppo,led on the chassis, said body being operatively mounted on the chassis
to be selectively movable relative thereto upwardly and laterally to a dischargeposition where the load can be discharged to the side of the chassis from the
bottom of the body.
More specifically there is provided a vehicle comprising a chassis
supported on a plurality of wheels to render it mobile, a load carrying body
supported on the chassis for movement relative thereto in a vertical direction
and a lateral direction relative to the chassis, said body including a selectively
openable discharge passage arranged to discharge material from the bottom of
20 the body laterally to one side of the chassis when the body is raised and
laterally displaced.
rreferably the body has a floor structure forming the major portion of the
bottom of the body, said floor structure being mounted for pivotal movement
relative to the remainder of the body from a position closing the bottom of the
25 body to a position downwardly inclined from one side of the body toward the
opposite side to form in that position a shute to direct material to gravity flow
from the body down the shute to be discharged to one side of the vehicle.
Conveniently, the body retains a substantially upright relation to the
chassis as it is raised and moves laterally with respect to the chassis as it is30 raised to the discharge position. Preferably, the body incorporates a base orfloor forming the bottom of the body, and is arranged to move relatively to the
body, as the body is raised and moved laterally so as the base forms a
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downwardly inclined shute extending from the body to the one side of the
chassis, to occupy a discharge position. Conveniently, the base of the body is
hingedly connected to the remainder of the body, along an axis parallel to the
longitudinal edge of the body remote from the side of the chassis over which thecontel)ls of the body are discharged.
Preferably, the body has, along each of the respective lateral ends, a
downwardly open pocket, and the corresponding lateral edges of the base have
a respective wing that is located in the pocket when the base is in the position to
close the bottom of the body in the normal transport position. Also, as the bodyis being raised and moved laterally to the discharge position, as previously
described, the base pivots downwardly and the wings are drawn outwardly from
the pockets to form extensions of the respective end walls of the body. This
ensures that the contents of the body, during discharge, all move down along
the inclined base of the body to be discharged from the side of the vehicle, anddo not spill over the lateral edges of the base when downwardly inclined.
Conveniently, the wings may be made of an elastomeric material, such as
a natural or synthetic rubber, that will resiliently stretch to form the wing as the
base of the body is lowered to the downwardly inclined discharge position, and
will resile as the body is retumed to the horizontal normal transport position.
The combined effect of raising and laterally displacing the body, from its
normal transport position on the chassis, to the discharge position, and the
movement of the base to the downwardly inclined disposition as the body is
raised, results in the ability to achieve a rapid and total discharge of the contents
of the body whilst maintaining stability of the vehicle. Because the body is
raised as well as laterally displaced, results in the base, when in the discharge
position, having a substantial inclination to the horizontal, the contents of the
body will be rapidly gravity discharged, and there will be a minimum or no
material left in the body. In addition as the body and the base thereof are
returned to the normal transport position on the vehicle, the lower end of the
base is laterally withdrawn from the pile of material created by discharge from
the body, thus further ensuring complete depositing of the full contents of the
body.
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Further as the material is discharged through the bottom of the body
across the full cross-section of the body thereby achieving a very rapid dumpingof the conle"ts. Also the lateral displacement of the body results in the contents
being deposited outwardly of the path of the vehicle wheels to not interfere with
5 the pAss~ge of the vehicle wheels during entry and exit of the vehicle.
The invention will be more readily understood from the following
descriplion of one practical arrangement of the vehicle as illustrated in the
accompanying drawings.
In the drawings:
Figure 1 is a side view of a rail vehicle incorporating the present
invention;
Figure 2 is an end view of the vehicle as seen in Figure 1 with the body in
the lowered transport position;
Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2, but wherein the body is raised to the
15 discharge position.
Referring firstly to Figure 1 of the drawings, there is shown a side view of
a rail truck incorporating the present invention and comprising a chassis 28
supported at the respective end by bogy wheel assemblies 29 and supporting a
body 30, of generally rectangular cross section, suitable for carrying bulk
20 particul~te materials.
As can be seen in Figure 1, the body 30 is of a generally rectangular
cross section with the top closed by a canopy 6 having a central longitudinal
opening closed by a hinged door 7. Load of the vehicle is through the opening
when the door 7 is open. The body 30 may be of a metal construction, such as
25 steel or a suitable grade aluminium, the walls being either of a solid construction
or a frame work with a liner of flexible material such as rubber or like synthetic
material such as polyurethane.
The floor 10 of the body 30 is of a separate rigid construction and is
pivotally connected to the one sidewall 3 of the body 30 to be pivotally movable30 from a closure position spanning the bottom of the body 30, as shown in Figure
2, to a downwardly inclined discharge position, as shown in Figure 3, forming a
shute for the discharge of the contents of the body 30 to the right of the chassis
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28 as shown in Figure 3. The floor 10 is pivotally connected about a fixed axis 9
to the vehicle chassis 28 to permit the floor 10 to pivot thereabout to form a
downwardly directed shute as seen in Figure 3.
In order to effect the pivotal movement of the floor 10, the opposite end 5
of the floor 10 pivotably connected to the body 30 at 8 and is connectable at 13to a first cable 20 of a crane (not shown). The crane is also connected by the
second cable 21 to the opposite wall of the body 30 as indic~ted at 22.
A suitable crane (not shown) is connected to the container cables 20 and
21 at the common point 25 whilst the container is in the position as shown in
Figure 2. Upon the crane raising, the cables cause the body 30 to be raised and
thereby permit the floor 10 to pivot about back of the axes 8 and 9 and the upper
end is displaced progressively towards the right as seen in Figure 3 until the
fully raised position has been reached, as seen in Figure 3. At the same time
the body 30 is displaced a significant distance to the right, and the floor 10 of the
body 30 has pivoted downwardly and displaced outwardly to the position as
indicated at 32 in Figure 3.
As can be seen in Figure 3, when the container is in the raised position,
and the floor thereof downwardly inclined, there is a substantial area availablefor the flow of the contents down the inclined face of the floor 10 to be
discharged from the lower end thereof, at a location laterally spaced from the
wheels of the vehicle, or as indicated in Figure 3, may be discharged into a
stationary bin, or altematively onto a form of conveyor.
In order to avoid spilling of the material over the opposite edges of the
floor when the floor is inclined, there is provided at each end of the body a wing
11, attached along the lower edge to the floor 10. The upper end of the wing,
when the wing is in the lower most position of the floor, is located a short
distance above the lower extremity of the body 30. The wings 11 prevents the
material being discharged from passing spilling over the opposite edges of the
container floor, and ensures that all of the contents are delivered over the lower
end of the inclined floor.
The wing as shown are of a rigid construction such as sheet metal,
attached to the floor, and a pocket is provided in the end wall of the container
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body, into which the wing retracts when the container is in the lowered transport
position. This pocket is of a rigid closed construction so that when the container
is filled with the material being handled, such material will not enter the pocket
and potentially interfere with the effective v:ill,d.dwal and retraction of the rigid
wing 11. When a wing of elastomeric material is used a pocket may also to
provided to protect same as just described.
Alternatively, the wings may be made of a suitable elastomeric material
such as high quality rubber or polyurethane which is anchored both to the end
wall of the container and to the floor of the container, so that when the container
and floor are in the normal mobile position, as shown in Figure 2, the rubber
constituting the wing is in a low degree of tension. Thus, as the container is
raised by the crane and the floor adopts the downwardly inclined disposition,
- the rubber material of the wing is stretched so that the wing performs the above
discussed function when the floor of the container is in its maximum downwardly
inclined position.
As seen in Figures 2 and 3, two hydraulic cylinders 14 and 16 are
provided, cylinder 14 being pivotally connected at 15 to the vehicle chassis andat the upper end 15a to the floor 10 of body. The cylinder 16 is similarly pivotally
connected to the bracket 22 on the side 24 of the body 30 which is also the
anchorage point of the cable 21, and at the lower end to the container floor at
17. The two cylinders are interconnected by hydraulic lines 14a and 16a so that
a closed circuit is formed between the two hydraulic cylinders whereby each
remains full of pressurised fluid at all times, with the fluid transferring
therebetween.
During the raising and the lowering of the container, by the use of a crane
and the cables 20 and 21, the displacement of fluid from one end of each
cylinder results in the delivery of fluid to the opposite end of the other cylinder
thereby assisting in the lifting action and in maintaining the container in a stable
upright position. Further the cylinder 16 prevent the opposite side wall 30
deflecting inwardly under the effects of the tension in the cable 21. The fluid
flow between the cylinders 14 and 16 is reversed as the container is lowered by
the crane to the closed position as shown in Figure 2.
.. ~ , .. . .
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The hydraulic lines interconnecting the cylinders 14 and 16 may each
have a control valve 18a and 18b which may be selectively closed to lock the
container in a selected position. It is desirable to close said valves where thecontainer is fully lowered so that the container is locked in position during
5 travelling.
The lifting of the container may be effected by other mechanisms as a
substitute for the crane, one being to connect the hydraulic cylinder 14 and 16 to
a suitable fluid pressure source, such as a pump. In such an arrangement the
fluid would be delivered directly and independently to each of the cylinders.
10 Also a mechanical mechanism may be used to effect the raising and lowering of the container.
