GB2172574A - Movable crane - Google Patents

Abstract

A crane for the mechanical handling of articles, such as drums of cable, comprises gripping means in the form of fingers (20) mounted on an arm (11) for movement along a guideway (5). An intermediate store (2) is also movable along the guideway (5), the arm (11) and fingers (20) being capable of inserting and retracting articles into and out of the intermediate store (2). The intermediate store (2) may comprise one or more platforms (31) on which the articles are supported, and may move with, or independently from, the arm (11) along the guideway (5). A microprocessor (27), mounted for movement with the arm (11), controls the movement of the arm and fingers, including the inserting and retracting of articles into and out of the intermediate store (2). <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Movable crane The present invention relates to mechanical handling apparatus hereby termed a crane, but which is herein meant to include other arrangements such as industrial robots, derricks and hoists. The invention is particularly but not exclusively suited to the manoeuvring of relatively large items, such as reels of cable, around a factory or warehouse area.

Cranes and industrial robots are in widespread use, both in manufacturing industry and in stock control. Sophisticated programming of these cranes has resulted in their effective use in situations requiring a degree of intelligence above that for merely repetitive functions. This invention is to provide a crane capable of more effective handling of articles to and from a wider variety of destinations.

Accordingly, a movable crane for the mechanical handling of articles comprises gripping means mounted for movement along a predetermined guideway, the gripping means being adapted to pick up, carry and release the articles to be handled; and an intermediate store also movable along the guideway and adapted to carry one or more of the articles, the gripping means being capable of inserting and retracting articles into and out of the intermediate store.

The intermediate store allows greater flexibility of the mechanical handling process in that the crane is no longer tied to completing one transaction from origin to destination before performing another action. The versatility of the crane is preferably further increased by the arrangement that the gripping means is movable independently of the intermediate store. Conveniently the intermediate store comprises one or more platforms adapted to carry one or more of the articles.

Conceivably the guideway is in the form of tracks, rails etc mounted on the floor of the area in which the crane is located. Alternatively the crane may be mounted on an automatically guided vehicle, which may be steered in response to external signals. More preferably, however, the guideway is in the form of one or more overhead rails from which the gripping means and intermediate store both depend. Convenientlythe gripping means and intermediate store depend from one or more transverse rails, the one or more transverse rails themselves being mounted for longitudinal movement between two rails constituting the guideway. This has an advantage that the floor of the area in which the crane is located is kept free for use as additional storage space.

The gripping means is preferably mounted on an arm, conveniently an articulated boom arm capable of pivotal movement about one or more joints.

Preferably the arm is additionally mounted for rotational movement about an axis extending radially of the guideway. By a combination of pivotal and rotational movement the arm may be oriented in a variety of different directions such that the gripping means can engage the articles to be handled. The crane is thereby capable of lifting articles directly from the floor or out of storage locations such as bays or troughs.

The crane is preferably provided with an electronic processing unit adapted to control movement of the gripping means and, where present, the arm on which the gripping means is mounted. Conveniently the electronic processing unit is mounted with the gripping means for movement along the guideway.

The electronic processing unit may conveniently be a microprocessor microcomputer, or even a minicomputer.

The electronic processing unit is preprogammable in that a series of instructions may be input thereto and it is capable of determining the most efficient route for movement of the gripping means and store. The electronic processing unit may be allowed to select the order in which the instructions are carried out so that the minimum of movement is required. Alternatively the instructions may be accorded a priority rating indicating the order in which they should be performed. The electronic processing unit will arrange for the crane to work through each priority rating in turn with the maximum speed and efficiency allowed thereby.

The crane is conceivably provided with a video camera adapted to supply electronic signals to the electronic processing unit. The vision afforded by the camera assists the crane in correctly aligning its gripping means with the articles to be handled.

The crane is conveniently such that the gripping means is adapted to hold the articles to be handled one at a time. This is particularly necessary where the articles to be handled are relatively large or irregularly shaped items such as reels or drums. In this case the gripping means conveniently comprises a plurality of fingers adapted to grip the outside of the circumference of the reel or drum. Alternatively the gripping means comprises an element adapted for insertion into the central barrel of a reel or drum and actuable to engage the sides thereof to grip the barrel accordingly.

One embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawing which is a perspective view of a crane according to the invention.

Referring to the drawing, the crane is in two halves, an arm unit shown generally at 1 and an intermediate store shown generally at 2. Both the arm unit 1 and intermediate store 2 are mounted on a pair of transverse rails 3. The rails 3 are themselves mounted for longitudinal movement by means of rollers 4, along a guideway in the form of longitudinal rails 5.

The arm unit 1 is mounted on the transverse rails 3 by means of a hollow frame 6 which encloses both rails 3 and is movable thereon by means of rollers 7.

Extending downwardly between the two rails 3 is a shaft 8 which can be rotatably driven by means of a motor 9 carried on the frame 6. The shaft 8 extends through an opening in the bottom of the frame 6 and widens into a mounting plate 10 from which plate depends an articulated boom arm 11. The arm 11 comprises an upper arm portion 12 and a lower arm portion 13 pivotable at an elbow joint 14. Pivoting of the lower arm 13 with respect to the upper arm 14 is governed by a hydraulic ram 15 lying within a recess 16 in the upper arm 14. The lower arm portion 13 is itself in two halves 17 and 18 which are both pivotable one to the other at a joint 19 and telescopically extendable, these movements being effected by hydraulic rams located on the underside of half 17 and hence not visible in the drawing.

Atthe distal end of the lower arm portion 13 is gripping means in the form of a set of movable fingers 20, pivotallyjoined to the arm at a wrist portion 21. Pivoting of the fingers at the wrist portion 21 is effected by a hydraulic ram 23, whilst opening and closing of the fingers 20 is governed by a further hydraulic ram 24 in similar manner. The drive means for all the rams is a hydraulic unit 25 mounted on top of the frame 6.

In addition to the hydraulic unit 25, on the frame 6 is mounted a drive motor 26 for the rollers 7 together with an electronic processing unit in the form of a microprocessor 27. The microprocessor 27 is in communication with a control desk (not shown) located remote from the crane, at which desk commands to the crane can be initiated. Communication may be via wiring (not shown) or by means of a radio transmitter and receiver.

Also mounted on the rails 3 is the intermediate store 2. The store comprises two vertical limbs 28 depending from a chassis 29 on which one set of the rollers 4 are mounted to contact one of the longitudinal rails 5. The two limbs 28 are spaced apart and strengthened by cross-struts 30 to form a framework which supports a series of horizontal platforms 31 by means of angled supports 32. The intermediate store is therefore constrained to move up and down the guideway with the transverse rails 3.

In use, instructions are input to the microprocessor 27 from the control desk or from a supervisory computer regarding the required movement of the articles, in this example drums of cable. The microprocessor determines the order of the operations in respect of priority and efficiency and effects movement of the arm to pick up and move the required drums, using the intermediate store 2. In one particular example, where the crane is required to deliver a number of drums to one outlet point, the crane may pick up all the required drums in one "round", using the intermediate store 2. It may then unload the store at the outlet point. This is much more efficient than a piurality of trips between the location of each drum and the outlet point.

It will be appreciated that modifications may be made to the described apparatus without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, the radio transmitter and receiver permitting communication between the control desk and the microprocessor 27 may be replaced by similar infra red devices. Alternatively the hydraulic rams providing movement to the boom arm 11 may be replaced by electro servo mechanisms.

Claims (15)

1. A movable crane for the mechanical handling of articles comprising gripping means mounted for movement along a predetermined guideway, the gripping means being adapted to pick up, carry and release the articles to be handled; and an intermediate store also movable along the guideway and adapted to carry one or more of the articles, the gripping means being capable of inserting and retracting articles into and out of the intermediate store.

2. A crane according to Claim 1 wherein the gripping means is movable independently of the intermediate store.

3. A crane according to Claim 1 or Claim 2 wherein the intermediate store comprises one or more platforms adapted to carry one or more of the articles.

4. A crane according to any of Claims 1 to 3 wherein the guideway is in the form of one or more overhead rails from which the gripping means and intermediate store both depend.

5. A crane according to Claim 4 wherein the gripping means and intermediate store depend from one or more transverse rails, the one or more transverse rails themselves being mounted for longitudinal movement between two rails constituting the guideway.

6. A crane according to any of Claims 1 to 5 wherein the gripping means is mounted on an arm.

7. A crane according to Claim 6 wherein the arm is an articulated boom arm capable of pivotal movement about one or more joints.

8. A crane according to Claim 6 or Claim 7 wherein the arm is mounted for rotational movement about an axis extending radially of the guideway.

9. A crane according to any of Claims 1 to 8 wherein there is provided an electronic processing unit adapted to control movement of the gripping means.

10. A crane according to Claim 9 wherein the electronic processing unit is mounted with the gripping means for movement along the guideway.

11. A crane according to Claim 9 or Claim 10 wherein the electronic processing unit is a microprocessor or microcomputer.

12. A crane according to any of Claims 9 to 11 wherein there is additionally provided a video camera adapted to supply electronic signals to the electronic processing unit.

13. A crane according to any preceding Claim wherein the gripping means is adapted to hold the articles to be handled one at a time.

14. A crane according to Claim 13 wherein the articles to be handled are reels or drums.

15. Acrane substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawing.