Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
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This invention rela-tes to an apparatus for loading
cargoes into or unloading them from a truck, for example. Since
the apparatus is able to be built into the carrier portion of a
truck, the loading and unloading efficiency is greatly improved.
As disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Registration
Publication No.sho 54-6166, there was already an apparatus for
loading cargoes by the use of a belt moving on a frame by the pull
of load-chains connected thereto :Ln an endless manner.
However, the prior art needed lots of rollers and frames
to support a belt; consequently, the structure was so complex that
assembling the apparatus was difficult; besides, it was difficult
- to make it light and cut down on the production cost thereof.
Accordingly, the present inventor made an intensive
study to eliminate the drawbacks and finally accomplished the
invention. Thus, this invention provides an apparatus for loading
or unloading cargoes provided with a plurality of belts and load-
chains each forming continuous loops so as to carry cargoes moving
on a frame and a partition for ensuring that cargoes stay on said
belts, said partition fixed to the joint of said belts and said
load-chains, characterized by including a frame built of a
plurality of major longitudinal bars spaced laterally at the same
interval as the width of said individual belts and a plurality of
minor longitudinal bars for supporting said belts, which minor
longitudinal bars are placed between every two adjacent major
longitudinal bars in parallel and supported by a plurality of
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lateral bars, a chassis for mounting prime movers and speed
reduction apparatuses~ which chassis is transversely fixed to
the front end of said major longitudinal bars, a bracket means for
joining said chassis to said major longitudinal bars at both sides
and bracket means for bearing a driving shaft for said belts.
It is an ob~ect of this invention to provide such an
apparatus for loading or unloading cargoes that one can connect
the longitudinal bars to the chassis with ease and assemble the
frame with high accuracy. It is another object of this invention
to provide such an apparatus for loading or unloading cargoes
that one can reduce the production cost thereof by the effective
utilization of a light chassis and attach the belts and the
partition much more functionally and simply than those of a
conventional apparatus.
The above and other objects and features of this inven-
tion will appear more fully hereinafter from a consideration of
the following description taken in connection with the accompanying
drawings wherein one embodimen~ is illustrated by way of example.
Fig. 1 is a plan view of a driving part of a loading or
unloading apparatus of this invention;
Fig. 2 is the entire side view of the apparatus of this
invention;
Fig. 3 is a plan view of the same;
Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken from the rear;
Fig. 5 is an illustration to show the attachment of a
chassis;
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Fig. 6 is an illustration to show the at-tachment of
motors; and
Fig. 7 is a side view of the driving part shown in
Fig. 1.
In Figs. 1 to 4, the numeral 1 denotes a truck for
carrying cargoes. In the front part of a body 2 are a driver~s
cab 3, an engine 4, a power transmission unit 5 and a pair of
right and left fron-t wheels 6. In the rear part of the body 2
are a box-shaped carrier 7, a battery 8 and a pair of right and
left rear wheels 9. The numeral 10 denotes belts for carrying
cargoes into or out of the truck, which belts extend in the
longitudinal direc-tion of the carrier 7. A certain length of
load-chains 11 are provided to pull the belts 10. There are
major longitudinal bars 13 and minor belt-supporting bars 14 a
little above the floor 12 of the carrier 7; in this example, four
belt-supporting bars 14 are placed at an equal interval between
every two of four longitudinal bars 13 equally spaced, the belt-
supporting bars 14 and the longitudinal bars 13 being fixed
together in parallel with each other by means of lateral bars 15
so as to make up a frame.
Part of the belts 10 on which cargoes are actually put
is slidingly moved on the longitudinal bars 13 and the belt-
supporting bars keep con-tact therewith. In order for this to be
achieved successfully, a return pulley 16 rotatably supported
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at the rear end of the longitudinal bars 13 is provided in such
a way that the belts 10 are trained around the pulley. Another
part of the belts 10 is passed through the space between the
lateral bars 15 and the floor 12 of the carrier 7. A pipe 16a
for protecting the return pulley 16 is provided to the outside
of the return pulley 16 between every two longitudinal bars 13.
A pivot base 20 for swivelling a partition 17 between
vertical and horizontal positions and which laterally extends
over the belts, is connected, on one hand, to the load-chains 11
by means of a tension-adjusting device 19 with spring 18a and
adjusting bolt 18. The base 20 has two arm~ 21, 21, one at
each side, and the lower part of the arms is provided with
projections 22, 22 which can freely slide back and forth on
inside rails 13a, 13a of the two ou-ter longitudinal bars 13,
13. The base is joinedt on the other hand, to an end of the
belts 10. Consequently, the belts 10 and the load-chains 11 are
connected with the adjusting bolt 18 of the tension adjusting
device 19 to which the partition 17 is fixed.
Placed near the front end of the carrier 7 is a sprocket
23 for driving the load-chains 11. Another end of the belts 10
and the load-chains 11 are connected to each other by means of a
connector 24 under the lateral bars 15. In this way, the belts
10 and the load-chains 11 make a tensed endless loop on the
sprocket 23 and the return pulley 16.
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A ehassis 25 is laid traversely on the front end of the
longitudinal bars 13 as shown in Figs. l and 5. Both sides of the
ehassis 25 are supported with fixing braekets 26, 26 fastened to
the vertical side of the longitudinal bars 13 with washers 26a
and bolts 26b. Provided on the ehassis 25 are two pairs of brackets
27, 27,spaeed apart, and the two inner longitudinal bars 13, 13
are fixed to them respectively wit:h bolts 27a. A chain-driving
shaft 28 on which the sprocket 23 is fitted is supported by a
plurality of shaft-bearing braekets 29,29. Provided on the
chain-driving shaft 28 are a pair of sprockets 30, 30, spaced
apart from each other, between which a base plate 31 for motors
is placed on a pair of base brackets 32, 32 fixed to the chassis 25.
As shown in Fig. 6, a couple of motors 34, 34 with a
speed reduetion apparatus 33 are plaeed on the base plate 31. An
output shaft 35 with a torque limiter whieh transmits rotational
power of less than a given magnitude and an input shaft 36 of the
speed reduetion apparatus 33 are eonnected by means of a pair of
output sproekets 37, 37 of the motors, input sproekets 38, 38 of
the speed reduction apparatus and power transmission chains 39,
39. Furthermore, output shaft 40, 40 of the speed reduetion ap-
paratus and the chain~driving shaft 28 are eonneeted by means of
a pair of output sprockets 41, 41 of the speed reduction apparatus,
sprockets 30, 30 of the chain-driving shaft and power transmission
chains 42, 42. The power transmission system is sueh that a
couple of right and left motors 34, 34 can move an endless loop
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comprising the belts lO, the base 20 and the par-tition 17 by
way of chain-driving shaft 28, the sprockets 23 and the load-
chains 11.
As shown in Fig. 7, there is a step at the front side
of the shaft-bearing brackets 29 and the base brackets 32. The
step serves to terminate the forward travel of the base 20 and
the parti-tion 17 followed by the belts 10. It also serves to
prevent the base 20 and the partition 17 from derailing out of
the outer longitudinal bars 13, 13 or bumping against various
d.riving elements mentioned above when the motors are out of
control.
The construction of the invention is such that when
cargoes are loaded into a truck, for example, the motors 34, 34
are started in order to pull the load-chains 11, together with
the base 20, the partition 17 and the belts 10 to the front of
the carrier 7. Cargoes are put on the ~elts 10 one after another
and carried to the inside of the carrier. On the other hand, when
cargoes are unloaded from the truck, the motors 34, 34 are started
in reverse, which moves the base 20, the partition 17 and -the
belts by means of the load-chains ll to the rear of the carrier
7; thus, cargoes put on the belts can be taken out one by one
with ease.
The longitudinal bars 13 and the belt-supporting bars
14, in parallel, extend in line with the moving direction of
the belts 10, so that the surface of the moving belts is free
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from undulation; moreover, because the under surface of the belts
eats into space between the belt-supporting bars a little,
cargoes on the moving belts can move on straight without rolling
to the right or to the left. Furthermore, because the load-chains
11 are connected to the belts 10 with the tension-adjusting device
and the partition 17 between, contact area of the belts with the
belt-suppor-ting bars 14 is limited to only behind the partition 17,
so that the friction on the contact area is reduced to a minimum
extent; therefore, the belts 10 can be moved by small driving
forces. The load-chains 11 and the belts 10 being connected to
each other by the tension-adjusting bolts 18, the structure of
the tension adjusting device is much simpliEied; nevertheless,
tension adjustment can be made in a wider range with the increase
of the length of the tension-adjusting bolts 18; also, since
tension pulleys and the like are not needed under the lateral
bars 15, the top of the belts to put cargoes on does not have to
be raised~ which makes loading or unloading easier. The load-
chains 11 and the belts 10 aretensionedatconstant strength with
which the base 20 is pressed against the step 29a, 32a at the
front end of the shaft-bearing brackets 29 and the base brackets
32. The under surface of the belts 10 eats into space between
the belt-supporting bars 14 a little, so that the rolling of
cargoes on the moving belts can be avoided; in this way, safe
and smooth loading or unloading can be carried out.
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The longitudinal bars 13 can be joined simpl~ to the
chassis 25 with the fixing brackets 26, 27; therefore, the
assembling of a frame with the longitudinal bars 13 and belt-
supporting bars can be made promptly with high accuracy. In
addition, by the effective utilization of the shaft-bearing
brackets 29, the production of the lightweight chassis 25 and
the cutback of the production cost of the apparatus can be
realized with ease. In spite of that, the apparatus can still
keep its essential function for loading and unloading jobs and
yet is able to hold the belts and the partition firmly.
