US1379746A - Device - Google Patents

Description

A. E. CU'LLEY.

LOADING DEVICE.

' APPLICATKON FILED APR. 29. 1919.

Patented May 31,1921.

A/fr'ed Eaw/n Culley,

A. E. CULLEY.

LOADING DEVICE.

APPLICATIUN FILED APR- 29 1919. 1,379,746. Patented May 31, 1921.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 3- A/fred I Edw/h Cu l/e M A. E. CULLEY.

LOADiNG DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 29, 1919.

Eatemefl May 3L 1921.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

A. E. CULLEY.

LOADQNG DEVICE.

APPLICAHON min APR.Z9, I919.

5 $HEETSSHEET 5.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFlCE;

ALFRED EDWIN CULLEY, 0F STAIPENHILL, BURTON-ON-TRENT, ENGLAND,

LOADING DEVICE.

Application filed April 29,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED EDWIN CUL- LEY, a subject of the King of Great Britain, and residing in Stapenhill, Burton-on-Trent, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Loading Devices, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to apparatus for raising casks, hogsheads, bales and the like, and is specially applicable to apparatus for loading drays, trucks and the like.

The invention as applied to an apparatus for raising casks is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which 1- Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portable form of the apparatus.

Fig. 2 is a corresponding plan, and

Fig. 3 is an end elevation viewed from the upper end of the incline.

In Figs. 2 and 3 the planes of pro ection are for the sake of clearness, respectively, parallel with, and normal to the track.

F ig. 4 is a transverse section on the line IV, IV, of Fig. 1, the parts behind the plane of section being omitted.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view to a larger scale of a portion of Fig. 3 showing the means for adjusting the driving chains.

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 1 and shows a modification, and

Figs. 7 and 8 are, respectively, a side elevation and an end elevation and illustrate a modification suitable for hand operation when the lift is short, as in stacking hogsheads in double tier.

Referring in the first instance to Figs. 1 to 4:-1 is the .track along which the casks 2 are rolled, say by gravity, to the lower end of an inclined track 3 leading up to a loading platform 4; the track may consist of a pair of metal rails laid parallel and at a distance apart suitable for the rolling thereon of the smallest size of cask with which the apparatus has to deal. The inclined track 3 is carried from the lower transverse members of a framed structure 5, the main and cross bracing members lof which are disposed in any convenient manner adapted to rigidly support the track and gear to be described, which framed structure is, in the arrangement illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4, made portable by being mounted on a pair of road wheels 6.

8, 8 are the pair' of endless driving chains. Each chain is mounted on four Specification of Letters Patent.

1919. Serial No. 293,525.

sprocket wheels 9, 10, 11 and 12. These wheels are mounted on spindles the axes of which are approximately normal to the plane of the inclined track so that the driving chains move in planes approximately parallel with the plane of the track. The wheels 11 and 12 may be mounted on fixed spindles supported from the brackets 18; the wheels 10 are mounted on spindles can ried in brackets 14 (Fig. 1) transversely movable and fitted with chain-tightening screws 15 (Fig. 5) and their spindles are prolonged to carry rotatable bollards 16; the wheels 9 are keyed on spindles 17 journaled in the brackets 18, and having keyed to their upper ends bevel wheels 19 gearing with pinions 20 keyed on the transverse shaft 21 carried in the bearing 22. The shaft 21 is driven by a belt and pulleys 23 from a counter-shaft 24 which in turn is driven by the belt 25 connecting the pulley 26 to the pulley 27 on the shaft of a suitable motor 28, which. in the example illustrated is an electro-motor. The spindles 17 carry the rotatable bollards 29.

The hauling chains 30, 30 have one pair of ends fixed to the loading platform at the points 31, 31 and the other pair of ends 32, 32 are attached by any suitable means such as swivels to the respective driving chains.

The ends of the hauling chains attached to the driving chains thus traverse the path of the driving chains, moving together up with the adjacent sides and around the respective sprocket wheel 9 and 10 where they move apart and then move back with the remote sides of the driving chains; then around the respective sprocket wheels 11 and 12 where they approach and again pass up with the adjacent sides, completing the cycle of movement which is continuously repeated.

Assuming the attached ends of the hauling chains to be passing around between the respective sprocket wheels 11 and 12, and that each chain is long enough to permit the parts extending from the fixed points 31, 31' to points below the respective sprocket wheels 11, to lie on a suitable smooth fiooring 33 just under and extending laterally on each side of the track, and that the cask 2 is in position at the foot of the incline, the upper ends of the hauling chains 30, 30', will then hang approximately as shown in the dotted lines a Fig. 1; the steepness of the catenary curve assumed by the respecform 4.

tive chains may be increased by making the links at these ends of the chain heavier than those of the other portions of the chains, so that the upper part of the depending portion assumes an almost vertical position. as the attached ends approach the sprocket wheels 12 the hauling chains will be caused to encircle the barrel; after they pass around the sprocket wheels 12 the attached ends travel along with the insides of the driving chains and, when they reach the position shown in full lines at 7) Fig. 1, will begin to haul the barrel up the incline. The attached ends of the chain when hauling move at approximately twice the speed of the barrel so that when the said ends reach the sprocket wheels 9, the barrel will have been pulled up the incline to the position indicated in Fig. 1. The ends now move around the respective sprocket wheels 9 and in so doing they draw the hauling chains around the respective bollards 29; when the ends pass around the sprocket wheels 10 they draw the hauling chains around'the respective bollards 16 also, and as the ends move back along with the remote sides of the driving chains they continue to haul the barrel up till theyreach the position shown at (Z by double dotted chain lines; in this position the barrel has just reached the loading plat- Immediately afterward the hauling chains fall from the bollards 29 (see Fig. 3) and then from the bollards 16, and they make their return journey, as shown at c in treble dotted chain lines, the portion of the hauling chains lying on the flooring being guided inwardly, so as to lie alongside and parallel with the track, by suitable curved surfaces 84 which form extensions of the flooring 33; further movement brings the ends of the hauling chains around the sprockets 11 where they are in position ready to engage with the next barrel which in the meantime has moved, say by gravity, into position at the foot of the incline.

The links of the driving chains 8, 8' are so. constructed thatthey resist the tendency of the chains to sag between the sprocket wheels, this may be accomplished by extending the overlapping parts of the links in a longitudinal direction.

The loading platform tis made part of the portable structure and may be arranged to rest on, say, an elevated platform on to which the casks haveto be raised in order to load'railway-wagons or drays, or the platform may rest on the deck of .said wagon or dray or ona warehouse intake floor or any other elevated position into which the casks have to be raised. 7

The structure 5 would be closed-in by walls 35,1and flooring 33, which parts are, for the sake of clearness, omitted from Figs. 1 and 2. The rear of the portable structure may be provided with guide wheels, and when the motor 28 is, say, an oil or petrol engine it may be geared to the road wheels and be used to propel the portable structure.

In some cases it may not be desirable to make the arrangement portable as described in such cases the structure, and the arrangement of the several parts may be modified as shown in Fig. 6 which shows a fixed apparatus which, in the main, is similar in construction and function to the arrangement described, and in which the similar parts are similarly figured.

The motor 28 may in this case be fixed on a convenient ground foundation, and the members of the structure 5 may also be carried from the ground, the main part of the gear being carried from brackets bolted to the steel joists 36; the inclined track being permanently fixed at a suitable slope from the lower to the higher level, and being sup ported by the steel joist 37.

The counter-shaft 24 is carried from the rear end. of the structure, and the arrangement of the driving chains, hauling chains, bollards, guide surfaces, and sprocket wheels, and the mode of driving the latter may, in the fixed arrangement, be similar to that described in reference to Figs. 1 to cl.

Referring now to Figs. 7 and 8 which show a hand-operated appliance adapted for use when casks have to be stored in two tiers, alowcr tier of casks 2 and an upper tier of casks 2". The portable main f'amc on which the apparatus is mounted comprises two triangular side frames composed of a base member 38, carrying wheels 39, a vertical member 40 and an inclined member 41; these are braced together by the transverse members 42, 4-3, 4 1 and 45.

The two endless chains 8" and 8" are each mounted on four sprocket wheels 9 10 11" and 12 and 9 10', 11", and 12" which are rotatably mounted on the main frame. The sprocket wheels 9 drive the chains and. are driven by hand-operated gear as follows i The operating handle 46 turns a shaft 4:7 rotatably mounted on the main frame, and a pinion 48 keyed on the two shaft gears with a wheel 49 keyed on the shaft 50 rotatably mounted on the'main frame. On the shaft 50 is keyed a bevel pinion 51 which gears with the bevel wheel 52 keyed on the spindle 53 which drives the right hand sprocket wheel 9" (Fig. 8). A wheel 55 keyed on the spindle 58 gears with a wheel 56 keyed on the spindle 5 1 which drives the left hand sprocket wheel 10 The action of the apparatus is as follows 2- The casks are rolled forward between the sides of the main frame, alternate casks, 2 for the lower tier, roll straight through and are scotched in position, and the alternate casks 2 are embraced by the hauling chains 30 and 30 and are raised by the operation of the gear until they roll over the transverse member and down the bridge piece 57 into position over the two end casks of the lower tier; the cask 2" shown in Fig. 7 on the ground between the side frames, is lifted in this manner into the position 2". I

The arrangement is continuous and automatic and capable of dealing in succession without adjustment, with different sizes of casks; the power needed to drive it is comparatively small and the apparatus can be used with safety by unskilled labor.

The construction may be modified to suit different articles to be dealt with, and although especially applicable for dealing with casks (the ends of which by virtue of the shape of the casks are separated when the central parts are in contact) it may be employed with suitable modifications to deal with rolls or bales of goods.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is 1. In apparatus for raising casks and the like, in combination; a main frame, a pair of endless driving chains carried on sprocket wheels mounted on the frame and having parallel adjacent portions; means for driving the endless chains; a pair of hauling chains, one end of each of which is fixed to the frame and the other ends of which are attached to corresponding links of the respective driving chains.

2. In combination with the elements as claimed in claim 1, a raised inclined track, carried by the main frame, up which track the casks are drawn by the hauling chains; substantially as described.

3. ln apparatus for raising casks and the like, in combination :-a portable main frame, an adjustable inclined track carried by the main frame; a pair of endless driving chains carried on sprocket wheels mounted on the frame having two adjacent sides of the endless chain approximately parallel with the said track; means for driving the endless chains; a pair of hauling chains, one end of each of which is fixed to the frame at the higher level to which the cask is to be raised and the other ends of which are attached to corresponding links of the respective driving chains.

4:. In combination with the elements as claimed in claim 1, an inclined track carried by the main frame, up which track the casks are drawn by the hauling chains; flooring; and upwardly curved extensions of the flooring adapted to guide the trailing portions of the hauling chains; substantially as described.

5. In combination with the elements of claim 1 bollards co-axially mounted on the spindles of the sprocket wheels around which the movable ends of the hauling chains pass from the inner portions of the loci of the links of the endless chains to the outer portions thereof, and around which bollards the said hauling chains engage and pass until they are disengaged from the cask; substantially as described.

In witness whereof I set my hand in presence of two witnesses.

ALFRED EDWIN CULLEY.

Witnesses:

JOSEPH E. Hrns'r, MARGUERITA JoNEs.

Images