GB1584253A

GB1584253A - Vehicles

Info

Publication number: GB1584253A
Application number: GB1986676A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1977-08-15
Filing date: 1977-08-15
Publication date: 1981-02-11

Description

(54) VEHICLES (71) I, LESLIE MARCUS ALEXANDER CHRISTIE of Menaghill, Bready, Strabane, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, a British subject, do hereby declare the invention, for which I pray that a patent may be granted to me, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: This invention relates to vehicles, especially land vehicles having load-carrying platforms forming the floors or bases of vented enclosures for accommodating livestock to be transported, such land vehicles being generally known as cattle trucks, waggons or trailers.A main feature of such vehicles is the one-piece back door or tailgate which is hinged along its lower edge to the vehicle and which back door, when in the raised position, serves as a rear wall of the enclosure and when in the lowered position, serves as a ramp which leads from ground level to the inside of the enclosure and which is of sufficient robustness and rigidity to withstand without distortion, the stresses imparted thereto on loading and unloading the heaviest livestock into and from the enclosure.

A disadvantage of such vehicles is that they are not easily convertible to other uses, for example for carrying goods, since the ramp interferes with prevailing goods loading arrangements, as a result of which loading personnel refuse to load such vehicles.

The back door is heavy, and even if provision was made for it to be removable, handling of it would, of necessity, require mechanical assistance. Normally, such vehicles are loaded with livestock during an outward journey, but it is not always possible to arrange for a load of livestock for the return journey and therefore the return journey of such a vehicle is uneconomical, and means that a higher charge than would otherwise be necessary has to be made for the transporting of the livestock.

It is an object of the present invention to obviate or mitigate the above disadvantage.

The present invention is a land vehicle having a load-carrying platform forming the floor or base of a vented enclosure for accommodating livestock to be transported, the enclosure having an 0 enable rear wall and a ramp, the rear wall being hinged to the enclosure along at least one of its two lateral sides and being movable between open and closed positions relative to the enclosure and the ramp or support skids therefor being slidably movable to and from in an in-use position when the rear wall is open, from and to an out-of-use position adjacent to the platform when the rear wall is open or closed, the ramp being housed under the floor of the vehicle, and catches on the inner end of said ramp or the support skids therefor being engaged, when the ramp or the support skids is or are extended beyond the back of the vehicle, around a rod transverse of the direction of travel of said ramp or said support skids and over which said ramp or said support skids is or are pulled out to enable hinging movement thereof relative to said rod to assume an inclined position between the vehicle and a surface on which the vehicle rests.

Preferably, the rear wall is in two upright parts hingedly mounted respectively to the two lateral sides of the enclosure, and closable together at inner upright sides thereof.

The ramp is preferably formed of three parts longitudinal of the vehicle. Alternatively, the ramp may be formed of two parts each longitudinal of the vehicle, each part having a flap hinged to its inside edge, and each flap overlying its respective part when the part is retracted inside the housing and being hingedly movable over towards the other part when the part is fully extended.

In an alternative construction, support skids are laterally spaced and two or more rectangular ramp sections of similar length defining the width of the ramp are placed over the support skids when extended with longer edges abutting transversely across the support skids.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the rear part of a land vehicle according to a first embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a side elevation on a larger scale, showing in detail the construction at the rear end of the vehicle below the enclosure; Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the rear of the vehicle shown in Fig. 1 and illustrating one ramp construction; Fig. 4 is a view similar to that shown in Fig. 3 and illustrating a second ramp con struction Fig. 5 is a side elevation of a rear part of the vehicle according to a further embodiment of the present invention; and Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the rear of the vehicle shown in Fig. 5.

In general to all embodiments shown in Figs. 1 to 6, land vehicles having a loadcarrying platform forming the floor or base of a vented enclosure for accommodating livestock to be transported, may be motorised, or in the form of a trailer. The vehicle includes a chassis 10 supporting an enclosure, container or body 11 having a floor 12, two side walls 13, a roof 14, a front wall (not shown), an openable rear wall 15 and a ramp ]6. The rear wall 15 is in two similar upright parts or half-doors 15A and lSB hingedly mounted respectively to the two side walls 13 of the enclosure 11, and closable together at the inner upright edges thereof, locking bolts 1 7A and keepers 1 7B being provided on both parts 15A and 15B, the roof 14 and floor 12 to lock said parts to said enclosure 11 when in the closed position.

In the constructions shown in Figs. 1 to 4, the ramp 16 is housed at 18 under the floor 12 of the enclosure 11, and is slidably movable into and out of said housing 18 and in a fully extended position assumes an inclined position between the rear of the floor 12 of the enclosure and a surface on which the vehicle rests.

In the construction shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the ramp 16 is formed of three rectangular sections, 19A, 19B and 19C, of similar length, longer sides of which are adjacent and extend longitudinally of the vehicle.

Each ramp section is slidably mounted separately under the floor 12 on rollers 20 which track guides 21. Catches 22 in the form of downwardly bent hooks are provided on the inner end of each of said sections 1 9A, 1 9B and 19C. The catches 22 engage around a rod 23 when the sections 19A, 19B and 19C are fully extended beyond the back of the vehicle. The rod 23 is spaced from the rear edge of the floor 12 and parallel thereto by brackets 24 at each end of said rod 23, and is transverse of the direction of travel of said sections 1 9A, 1 9B and 1 9C which are pulled thereover. The engagement between catches 22 and rod 23 enables the sections l9A, 19B and 1 9C to hinge downwardly relative to the rod to assume the inclined position.When fully extended, the sections 1 9A, 1 9B and 1 9C are pushed together.

In the modification shown in Fig. 4, the ramp 16 is formed of two laterally-spaced rectangular sections 25 and 26 of similar length. lqnger sides of which extend longitudinally of the vehicle, each section 25 and 26 having a flap 25A and 26A respectively, hinged to its inside edge. In the retracted position of the sections 25 and 26, the flaps SA and 26A overly their respective sections and in the fully extended position, the flaps 25A and 26A are swung over each towards the other section and the sections 25 and 26 and flaps 25A and 26A are pushed together. Catches 22 are provided on each section 25 and 26 and each flap 25A and 26A and engage around a rod 23 in the extended position of the ramp 16 in the same manner as described above.

In use, the vehicle hereinbefore described is used for transporting livestock in the same way as a conventional cattle truck is used, the half doors 15A and 15B being hinged back against the side walls 13 when the ramp is in fully extended inclined position.

When the vehicle is used as a goods-carrying box van, a tipper or a bulker, the ramp 16 is stored in its fully retracted position.

In the embodiment shown in Figs. 5 and 6, the ramp 16 is formed in situ on two laterally spaced support skids 27 which are slidably mounted under the floor 12 and movable in a similar manner as described above for ramp sections 19A, 19B and 19C.

Four rectangular ramp sections 28 of similar length defining the width of the ramp are placed with longer edges abutting transversely across the two support skids 27 when the latter are extended, the ramp sections 28 being housed, when not in use, in a storage box 29 below the floor of the enclosure. The supports 27 have each catches 22 provided thereon to engage aroundarod3.

The rear wall 15 may be of one piece construction and hinged at one side only and lockable at the other side. Alternatively, each half door of the rear wall may be in two hinged sections.

The enclosure has been hereinbefore described, in all embodiments, as including a roof; however, the roof may not necessarily be rigid. but may be of flexible material such as a tarpaulin which can be wholly or partly removed for particular uses of the enclosure. Also, if the roof is rigid provision may be made for part of it to be openable.

The above-described vehicle is advantageous over conventional cattle trucks in that it obviates the problem of having to load goods into the enclosure over a ramp and enables livestock to be carried in an outward journey and goods to be carried in an inward or homeward journey, the inside of the enclosure having first of all been cleaned down.

WHAT I CLAIM IS:- 1. A land vehicle having a load-carrying platform forming the floor or base of a vented enclosure for accommodating livestock to be transported, the enclosure having an openable rear wall and a ramp, the rear wall being hinged to the enclosure along 'at least one of its lateral sides and being movable between open and closed positions relative to the enclosure and the ramp or support skids therefor being slidably movable to and from an in-use position when the rear wall is open from and to an out-of-use position adjacent to the platform when the rear wall is open or closed, the ramp being housed under the floor of the vehicle, and catches on the inner end of said ramp or the support skids therefor being engaged when the ramp or the support skids is or are extended beyond the back of the vehicle, around a rod transverse of the direction of travel of said ramp or said support skids and over which said ramp or said support skids is or are pulled out to enable hinging movement thereof relative to said rod to assume an inclined position between the vehicle and a surface on which the vehicle rests.

2. A vehicle as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the rear wall is in two upright parts hingedly mounted respectively to the two laterial sides of the enclosure, and closable together at inner upright sides thereof.

3. A vehicle as claimed in Claim 1 or 2 wherein the ramp is formed of three rectangular sections of similar length, the longer sides of which are adjacent and extend longitudinally of the vehicle.

4. A vehicle as claimed in Claim 1 or 2, wherein the ramp is formed of two laterally-spaced rectangular sections of similar length, longer sides of which extend longitudinally of the vehicle, each section having a flap hinged to its inside edge, and each flap overlying its respective section when the section is retracted inside the housing and the flaps being swung over each towards the other section when the sections are fully extended.

5. A vehicle as claimed in Claim 1 or 2, wherein the support skids are laterally spaced and two or more rectangular ramp sections of similar length defining the width of the ramp are placed over the support skids when extended with longer edges abutting transversely across the support skids.

6. A vehicle substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figs. 1, 2 and 3 of the accompanying drawings.

7. A vehicle substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figs. 1, 2 and 4 of the accompanying drawings.

8. A vehicle substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figs. 5 and 6 of the accompanying drawings.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. an inward or homeward journey, the inside of the enclosure having first of all been cleaned down. WHAT I CLAIM IS:-

1. A land vehicle having a load-carrying platform forming the floor or base of a vented enclosure for accommodating livestock to be transported, the enclosure having an openable rear wall and a ramp, the rear wall being hinged to the enclosure along 'at least one of its lateral sides and being movable between open and closed positions relative to the enclosure and the ramp or support skids therefor being slidably movable to and from an in-use position when the rear wall is open from and to an out-of-use position adjacent to the platform when the rear wall is open or closed, the ramp being housed under the floor of the vehicle, and catches on the inner end of said ramp or the support skids therefor being engaged when the ramp or the support skids is or are extended beyond the back of the vehicle, around a rod transverse of the direction of travel of said ramp or said support skids and over which said ramp or said support skids is or are pulled out to enable hinging movement thereof relative to said rod to assume an inclined position between the vehicle and a surface on which the vehicle rests.