Trolley for conveying containers for pieces or components in an industrial plant

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9694838-B2
Application number	US-201414762849-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 29, 2014
Priority date	Feb 6, 2013
Publication date	Jul 4, 2017
Grant date	Jul 4, 2017

Abstract

A selectively extendable length trolley for supporting and conveying various sized and configured containers for pieces or components in an industrial plant. The trolley includes an adjustable length trolley structure, front and rear adjustable frames and locating supports for the containers that include side supports adjustable in position in a transverse direction, orthogonal to the longitudinal direction (L). A steering control unit ( 2 ) of the trolley ( 1 ) is articulated to the front frame ( 32 ) and operates in such a way that the front wheel unit and the rear wheel unit are made to oscillate in opposite directions to keep the wheels aligned with the curved path to be followed. In a preferred embodiment, the front and rear adjustable frames are T-shaped providing an open or free space at the two sides of the central structure of the trolley.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A trolley for conveying containers for pieces or components in an industrial plant, comprising:
a structure ( 3 ) provided with a plurality of wheel units (W), at least two of the plurality of wheel units (W) are pivotable about respective vertical axes;
a steering control unit ( 2 ) of the trolley ( 1 ) located at a front end of the trolley and connected to the structure ( 3 ) of the trolley ( 1 ) the steering control unit ( 2 ) being oriented about a vertical axis ( 12 ) that lies in a longitudinal median plane (m) of the trolley;
a transmission ( 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ), which connects said steering control unit ( 2 ) of the trolley ( 1 ) to at least two of said wheel units (W); and
one or more locating supports (AL, AF, AR) connected to and arranged on said trolley structure ( 3 ), for locating in position a container for pieces (C) on said structure ( 3 ),
said trolley being characterized in that:
said trolley structure ( 3 ) is adjustable in a length in a longitudinal direction (L) of the trolley; and
said locating supports include lateral locating supports (AL) that are adjustable in position in a transverse direction (T), orthogonal to said longitudinal direction (L),
in such a way that said trolley ( 1 ) can be adapted to containers for the pieces (C) having dimensions and/or configurations different both with reference to said longitudinal direction (L) and with reference to said transverse direction (T),
said trolley structure ( 3 ) comprising:
a front frame ( 32 ) and a rear frame ( 31 ), which are slidably mounted towards and away from each other in said longitudinal direction (L) and can be removably and selectively locked in different positions, in which they are at different distances from one another so as to define different lengths of said trolley ( 1 ) in said longitudinal direction (L),
wherein said wheel units (W) are carried by said front and rear frames ( 31 , 32 ,);
wherein said steering control unit ( 2 ) of the trolley ( 1 ) is connected to at least one of said front frame and rear frame ( 32 , 31 ); and
wherein said lateral locating supports (AL) are slidably mounted on said front and rear frames ( 32 , 31 ) in said transverse direction (T) and can be selectively and removably locked in a plurality of different adjustment positions to adapt to different dimensions of the container (C) in the aforesaid transverse direction (T).

2. The trolley according to claim 1 , characterized in that said front and rear frames ( 32 , 31 ) are both slidably mounted on a common central structure ( 30 ).

3. The trolley according to claim 2 , characterized in that:
the central structure ( 30 ) comprises two parallel longitudinal elements ( 30 a ) arranged at a distance apart; and
each of said front and rear frames ( 32 , 31 ) comprises two longitudinal arms ( 311 , 312 ; 321 , 322 ) slidably mounted on said longitudinal elements ( 30 a ) of the central structure ( 30 ) and one or more cross members ( 313 - 316 ; 323 - 326 ) connected to said longitudinal arms.

4. The trolley according to claim 3 , characterized in that the longitudinal elements ( 30 a ) of the central structure have a distribution of holes (F) that can be engaged selectively by fixing bolts (B) to connect said longitudinal elements rigidly to said longitudinal arms ( 311 312 ; 321 , 322 ) of the two frames ( 32 , 31 ).

5. The trolley according to claim 3 , characterized in that the lateral locating supports (AL) are slidably mounted on respective cross members ( 315 , 325 ) of the two adjustable frames, and in that said cross members each have a distribution of through holes (H) that can be engaged selectively by fixing bolts (S) of the respective lateral locating support (AL).

6. The trolley according to claim 3 , characterized in that the aforesaid cross members of the front and rear frames ( 32 , 31 ) project at the two sides of the two respective longitudinal arms ( 32 L, 31 L) in such a way that each of said front and rear frames has in plan view a general T-shaped configuration so as to define a free space at the two sides of the central structure ( 30 ) of the trolley, between the two heads of the T shapes of the front and rear frames ( 32 , 31 ).

7. The trolley according to claim 1 , further comprising at least one front locating support (AF) and at least one rear locating support (AR) carried, respectively, by said front and rear frames ( 32 , 31 ) in a fixed position on said frames.

8. The trolley according to claim 1 , characterized in that it has two wheel units (WR), arranged on a first side with respect to the longitudinal median plane (m) of the trolley ( 1 ) and carried, respectively, by said front and rear frames ( 32 , 31 ), and two wheel units (WL) arranged on a second side and carried, respectively, by said front and rear frames ( 32 , 31 ), and in that at least one wheel unit (WL, WR) carried by the front frame ( 32 ) and at least one wheel unit (WL, WR) carried by the rear frame ( 31 ) are steering wheel units, in so far as they are connected by said transmission to said steering control unit of the trolley, in such a way that their oscillation about the respective vertical axes is controlled by said control unit.

9. The trolley according to claim 8 , characterized in that the two aforesaid steering wheel units are arranged on one and the same side or on opposite sides with respect to the longitudinal median plane (m) of the trolley and in that the other two wheel units (WR) are freely pivotable.

10. The trolley according to claim 8 , characterized in that said transmission is shaped in such a way that an oscillation of the steering control unit ( 2 ) in a given direction causes oscillations in mutually opposite directions of the two steering wheel units (WL) and in such a way that an oscillation of 90° of the aforesaid control unit ( 2 ) with respect to a neutral position of alignment of the wheel units in the longitudinal direction causes an oscillation of 90° of the steering wheel units (WL) to enable advance of the trolley in said transverse direction (T).

11. The trolley according to claim 8 , characterized in that said transmission comprises:
a front transmission member ( 10 ), pivotably mounted on said front frame ( 32 ) about said vertical axis ( 12 ) of said steering control unit ( 2 ) and fixed in rotation with respect to said control unit;
a rear transmission member ( 9 ), pivotably mounted on said rear frame ( 31 ) about a respective vertical axis ( 11 );
a first transmission member and a second transmission member ( 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 ; 60 , 80 ), which connect, respectively, said front and rear transmission members ( 32 , 31 ) to at least two front and rear steering wheel units (WL); and
an intermediate transmission member ( 13 ; 130 ), connected to said front and rear transmission members ( 9 , 10 ), reversing the direction of rotation of the rear member ( 9 ) with respect to the front member ( 10 ).

12. The trolley according to claim 11 , characterized in that said front and rear transmission members are at least one of gears or pulleys ( 10 , 9 ) and in that said first and second transmission means are at least one of chains or belts ( 60 , 80 ) that connect said gears or pulleys to further gears or pulleys, which are carried, respectively, by the two steering wheel units (WL), and in that said intermediate transmission means is constituted by at least one of a chain or belt ( 130 ) arranged to form a figure eight, which connects the front and rear transmission members ( 10 , 9 ) together.

13. The trolley of claim 1 wherein the at least two wheels pivotable about re

Assignees

• Comau Spa

Inventors

• Gullino Eugenio
• Ducato Roberto

Classifications

• B62B2206/02

  adjustable in length or width · CPC title

• B62D1/14

  Tillers, i.e. hand levers operating on steering columns · CPC title

• B62B2301/06

  Steering all wheels together simultaneously · CPC title

• B62D13/04

  for individually-pivoted wheels · CPC title

• B62D7/026

  characterised by comprising more than one bogie, e.g. situated in more than one plane transversal to the longitudinal centre line of the vehicle · CPC title