Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B62—LAND VEHICLES FOR TRAVELLING OTHERWISE THAN ON RAILS
  • B62D—MOTOR VEHICLES; TRAILERS
  • B62D33/00—Superstructures for load-carrying vehicles
  • B62D33/04—Enclosed load compartments ; Frameworks for movable panels, tarpaulins or side curtains
  • B62D33/042—Enclosed load compartments ; Frameworks for movable panels, tarpaulins or side curtains divided into compartments
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
  • B60P—VEHICLES ADAPTED FOR LOAD TRANSPORTATION OR TO TRANSPORT, TO CARRY, OR TO COMPRISE SPECIAL LOADS OR OBJECTS
  • B60P1/00—Vehicles predominantly for transporting loads and modified to facilitate loading, consolidating the load, or unloading
  • B60P1/02—Vehicles predominantly for transporting loads and modified to facilitate loading, consolidating the load, or unloading with parallel up-and-down movement of load supporting or containing element
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B62—LAND VEHICLES FOR TRAVELLING OTHERWISE THAN ON RAILS
  • B62D—MOTOR VEHICLES; TRAILERS
  • B62D33/00—Superstructures for load-carrying vehicles
  • B62D33/06—Drivers' cabs
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B62—LAND VEHICLES FOR TRAVELLING OTHERWISE THAN ON RAILS
  • B62D—MOTOR VEHICLES; TRAILERS
  • B62D33/00—Superstructures for load-carrying vehicles
  • B62D33/06—Drivers' cabs
  • B62D33/063—Drivers' cabs movable from one position into at least one other position, e.g. tiltable, pivotable about a vertical axis, displaceable from one side of the vehicle to the other
  • B62D33/0636—Drivers' cabs movable from one position into at least one other position, e.g. tiltable, pivotable about a vertical axis, displaceable from one side of the vehicle to the other displaceable along a linear path

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a transport vehicle of the kind comprising a vehicle body which is preferably self-supporting and which has an internal load-supporting floor under which the power unit of the vehicle is mounted, a driver's cabin which is connected to the forward end of said vehicle body and which can be moved vertic ally by means of drive means, and wheels which carry the vehicle.
• the primary object of the invention is to provide a vehicle of the aforementioned kind with which goods can be readily and safely off-loaded from a vehicle to any level whatsoever between the foundation on which the vehicle stands and a selected level above this foundation.
• Another object of the invention is to provide a vehicle suitable for use in transporting, for example, handicapped persons bound to wheelchairs, who need to be collected at their homes and driven to a hospital or some like establishment, the requirement being that the wheelchairs can be moved onto a horizontal platform at pavement or ground level and then moved into the vehicle, and that the wheelchairs can be moved into and out of the vehicle without requiring the driver to leave his cabin and without requiring the wheelchairs to be moved into the path of nearby traffic.
• Figure 1 is a central, longitudinal sec tional view taken on a vertical plane through a vehicle according to the invention with the driver's cabin located in its driving position
• Figure 2 is a partially cut-away top plan view of the vehicle shown in Figure 1
• Figure 3 illustrates the vehicle with the driver's cabin raised to a level above its normal driving level and driven to a position in which it is located above a loading pier
• Figure 4 shows the vehicle with the driver's cabin lowered beneath the level of its normal driving position, for off-loading goods onto a sidewalk or pavement.
• the illustrated exemplary embodiment of the invention comprises a motor driven vehicle having a self-supporting body 1, the roof, walls and bottom of which comprise, for example, a multi-layer structure having an outer shell 2 of glass-fibre reinforced plastics and an inner shell 3 of glassfibre reinforced plastics, the two shells between them enclosing a heat-insulating and stablising core 4 of foamed plastics or some other convenal spacing material.
• the body 1 has an internal, load-supporting floor 5 which is preferably completely flat and which comprises, for example, a composite structure of the kind from which the remainder of the body is made.
• the floor 5, however, may also be made from stiffened, corrugated metal sheet or the like, and is connected along the sides thereof to the sidewall 6, 7 of the body and to a front wall 8 and to the inside of a rear door 9, which is shown in broken lines in Figure 2.
• a space 9 for accommodating the power unit 11 of the vehicle, for example a diesel motor with associated transmission means, power-supply batteries etc.
• the bottom 10 of the body supports fcur hydraulic piston-cylinder devices, of which the cylinders 12, 13 and 14 are illustrated.
• the cylinders are provided with vertically directed piston rods which are connected to a frame structure 15 provided with grooves for accommodating a loading plate 16.
• the hydraulic piston-cylinder devices are double-acting devices and are supplied with pressure medium by means not shown, and are arranged to lower the frame structure 15 to the floor 5, whereafter a loading plate 16 with gooes placed thereon is pushed or drawn onto the frame structure, whereafter the frame structure 15 with the loaded plate 16 thereon is raised, so thai further goods can be loaded onto the fleer 5 or a further leading plate 16 can be pushed or drawn in through the opening 20 at the rear end of the body, as indicated in broken lines in Figure 2.
• the goods which may have any form whatsoever, for example pallets or boxes 17, 18, 19 ( Figure 2), can thus be transported in two loading planes and off-loaded via the driver's cabin, as described hereinafter.
• the forward end part of the body 1 has a front wall 8, which extends at right angles to the longitudinal axis 21 of the body and which has arranged therein an opening 22 extending from the floor 5 and preferably right up to the ceiling 3 of the body 1.
• a first guide 24 in the form of a T-rail
• a second guide 26 which also, has the form of a T-rail.
• the two guides are parallel with one another and in the operating state of the vehicle extend vertically, as do also the side walls 23 and 25.
• the two guides 24 and 26 form supporting and guiding means for a driver's cabin 27.
• the driver's cabin 27 has a rear portion having a shape and an area corresponding to the shape and area of the front part of the body, as shown in Figures 1 and 2.
• the rear part of the driver's cabin 27 is provided with two vertical side posts 28 and 29 which are preferably joined to upper and lower beams (not shown) to form a rigid rectangular frame.
• the side posts 28 and 29 are provided with grooves, for example the groove 30 ( Figure 2), which are arranged to co-act with respective T-rails 24 and 26, so as to enable the whole of the driver's cabin to be moved vertically upwardly and downwardly relative to the body 1.
• the driver's cabin has a wall 30 behind the driver, this wall connecting with a free opening 31 which, together with opening 22, permits free passage between the inside of.
• the driver's cabin 27 is provided with a planar floor plate 32 whose underside is free from the foundation or driving surface 33 on which the vehicle is driven, since the wheels of the vehicle, for example wheels 34, 35, are located beneath the body and behind a vertical plane extending through the guides 24 and 26. This means that the floor plate 32 can be lowered right down to, or at least closely adjacent to the driving surface 33, in which position the upper surface 36 of the foot plate 32 will lie practically on the same level as the driving surface or foundation 33.
• the driver's cabin 27 is raised and lowered vertically by drive means which.
• the hydraulic piston cylinder devices comprise at least one hydraulic piston-cylinder device 37 the lower end of which is fixedly mounted onto a fork 38 fixedly secured to the underpart of the body 1.
• the piston rod 39 of the centrally located hydraulic piston-cylinder device 37 is connected to a fork 40 which, in the illustrated embodiment, is fixedly mounted onto the roof of the driver's cabin 27.
• the hydraulic piston cylinder devices are preferably of the telescope type.
• the hydraulic piston-cylinder devices are operated by means of the driver to raise and lower the driver's cabin 27, with the driver remaining in his seat in the cabin, using operating means arranged on the instrument panel 43 in the driver's cabin.
• the space allotted to the driver and the passenger is together approximately 50% of the free surface of the floor plate 32, and is located to the left of the longitudinal axis 21.
• the space located to the right of the longitudinal axis 21 on the floor plate 32 forms a load transfer space, which can be reached from inside the body 1, through openings 22 and 31, and through a door opening 47 arranged in the right-hand side wall of the driver's cabin 27, this side wall being parallel with the side wall 25 of the vehicle body.
• the door opening 47 preferably extends along the whole of the side of the driver's cabin between a window 44 and the post 29, and between the floor plate 32 and the roof 45 of the driver's cabin 27. It is important that the floor plate 32 can be exposed so that goods can be freely moved from the free space on the floor plate.
• goods is meant here and in the following conventional transport goods and, for example, wheelchair occupied by disabled persons.
• the pallets are first loaded onto a loading plate 16, which is then pushed or drawn into the frame structure 15 by means not shown, the frame structure then being raised from the floor 5 to the position shown in Figure 1.
• a further layer of goods is then loaded directly onto the floor 5 or onto a further loading plate 16, which is then pushed or drawn in onto the floor.
• the loading plate or plates can either be removed through the rear door 9 or, as is the primary purpose, that part of the load to be unloaded at the unloading station in question can be moved by the driver into the free goods-handling space on the floor plate 32, with the driver's cabin in its normal driving position, i.e. in the illustrated embodiment with the floor plate 32 in the same position as the floor 5, which carries the goods to be unloaded.
• the goods to be unloaded onto the pier 46 are located on a loading plate 16 in the frame structure 15, it is necessary, in order to transfer the goods, to first raise the driver's cabin 27 to an extent such that the floor plate 32 registers with the loading plate 16, and to then lower the driver's cabin to an extent such that the floor plate 32 is located as close to the upper surface of the pier 46 as possible. If the volume of the goods to be off-loaded at one and the same station exceeds the load volume of the floor plate 32, then off-loading must take place in stages. Under no circumstances is it necessary for the driver to leave his seat except at those times when he needs to move goods from inside the body 1 to the floor plate 32 and possi bly when moving the goods from the floor plate 32 onto the pier.
• Figure 4 shows another, normally occurring unloading procedure which well illustrates the advantages afforded by the invention when transporting goods to shops and stores where there is no economic reason for using people other than the driver to unload the vehicle.
• the goods are to be moved onto a pavement or side walk 48, or to a trolley on the pavement.
• the driver drives the vehicle up to the pavement or sidewalk and, subsequent to transferring the goods onto the floor plate 32, lowers the driver's cabin to a position in which the floor plate 32 lies on the same level as the pavement 43. Lowering and raising of the driver's cabin is effected with a high degree of accuracy, since the driver has a good view of both the floor plate and the pavement or loading pier when the off-loading opening 47 is exposed.
• the vehicle body is only provided with a floor 5 and the wheelchairs, together with their occupants, are moved into the vehicle body by first wheeling one or more wheelchairs onto the floor plate 32 with the driver's cabin 27 in the position shown in
• the hydraulic piston-cylinder device 37 can be replaced with a sprocket and chain arrangement for moving the driver's cabin 27.
• the supporting and guiding means between the vehicle body and the driver' s cabin may, for example, comprise carriage wheels with the shafts extending in the longitudinal direction 21 of the vehicle body and mounted on the driver's cabin and jcurnalled in grooves on the end part of the vehicle body.
• the invention can be applied equally as well to a conventional vehicle construction having a chassis and a body structure placed thereupon, provided that the driver's cabin lies in front of the chassis so that said cabin can be lowered to a desired position.
• Adjustment of the floor plate 32 in the same plane as the floor 5 and the elevated frame structure 15 is effected fully automatically upon an order being given by the driver, limit switches being arranged to sense the position of. the driver's cabin and to stop the same when the floor plate 32 is located in the plane of the floor 5 or the frame structure 15. Movement of the driver's cabin 27 to a maximum lower position, i.e.
• a position in which the preferably completely planar undersurface of the floor plate 32 lies against or closely adjacent to the surface of the ground can be controlled in a similar fashion by means of a limit switch arranged to interrupt supply of pressure medium to the piston cylinder device 37 when this lower position has been reached.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Transportation (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Combustion & Propulsion (AREA)
• Body Structure For Vehicles (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=20344431

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (3)

Families Citing this family (6)

Family Cites Families (6)

• 1981
  • 1981-08-26 SE SE8105048A patent/SE427643B/sv unknown
• 1982
  • 1982-08-24 WO PCT/SE1982/000269 patent/WO1983000666A1/en unknown
  • 1982-08-24 EP EP82902484A patent/EP0086795A1/en not_active Withdrawn

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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