Trailer Train Having a Lifting Device

Abstract

A tugger train trailer including a support frame configured as a transport material cart entrained in a trailer train, which has a chassis with at least two wheels, and a lifting device configured to adjust the height of at least part of the support frame relative to the wheels. The lifting device may include at least one rotatable eccentric disc, which is supported on a cam roller. The eccentric disc may be installed on a shaft that is driven in rotation. The cam roller may be mounted on the support frame or a part of the support frame.

Claims

1.-11. (canceled)

12. A tugger train trailer, comprising: a support frame configured to receive a transport material cart entrained in a trailer train, which has a chassis with at least two wheels, and a lifting device configured to adjust the height of at least part of the support frame, which supports the transport material cart, relative to the wheels, wherein the lifting device includes at least one rotatable eccentric disc, which is supported on a cam roller.

13. The tugger train trailer as claimed in claim 12, wherein the eccentric disc is installed on a shaft that is driven in rotation.

14. The tugger train trailer as claimed in claim 12, wherein the cam roller is mounted on the support frame or a part of the support frame.

15. The tugger train trailer as claimed in claim 13, wherein the shaft is in the form of a tube in which an axle of the at least two wheels is mounted.

16. The tugger train trailer as claimed in claim 13, wherein an eccentric disc is fastened to each of the two ends of the shaft and, in a central area of the shaft, a gear wheel that is engaged with a pinion driven by a motor.

17. The tugger train trailer as claimed in claim 16, wherein the motor is connected by a transmission housing with a gear wheel and pinion with the shaft.

18. The tugger train trailer as claimed in claim 17, wherein the motor is installed between the shaft and a cross member of the support frame that holds the chassis.

19. The tugger train trailer as claimed in claim 18, wherein the two ends of the shaft are mounted so that the ends can rotate and are vertically adjustable in a vertical cheek of the cross member.

20. The tugger train trailer as claimed in claim 19, wherein the cam rollers are mounted on the cheeks that are non-detachably connected with the cross member.

21. The tugger train trailer as claimed in claim 19, wherein the cam rollers are mounted on two lateral legs of a horizontal support table that holds the materials transport cart and forms the vertically adjustable part of the support frame.

22. The tugger train trailer as claimed in claim 12, wherein an outside circumference of the eccentric disc, starting from an arc-shaped notch with a radius of the cam roller, has an increasing radius at least over part of the outside circumference.

Description

[0017] The invention is explained below on the basis of two exemplary embodiments that are illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

[0018] FIG. 1 is a view from diagonally below of a tugger train trailer according to the invention,

[0019] FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of an underside of a part of the single-axle chassis in FIG. 1 with the drive motor and the transmission for the tubular shaft,

[0020] FIG. 3 shows the underside of the chassis illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 in the lowered position of the support frame,

[0021] FIG. 4 is an illustration corresponding to FIG. 3 during the lifting of the support frame,

[0022] FIG. 5 is a vertical section through the chassis in the fully lowered position of the support frame,

[0023] FIG. 6 shows the fully raised position of the support frame,

[0024] FIG. 7 is a view in perspective of a modified tugger train trailer in which only part of the support frame is vertically adjustable,

[0025] FIG. 8 shows the support frame in FIG. 7 in the raised position of the support table,

[0026] FIG. 9 is an enlarged sectional illustration of the support table illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8 in the lowered position, and

[0027] FIG. 10 shows the support table in the raised transport position.

[0028] In FIGS. 1 to 6, the invention is explained on the basis of an example of a support frame 10 which is in the shape of an E when viewed from overhead, in which two transverse spars 14 and 16 and a centrally located crossmember 18 project from a lateral longitudinal spar 12. On the underside of the crossmember 18, a chassis 20 with two lateral wheels 22 is installed in a known fashion whereby the wheels are mounted so that they can rotate on an axle 24.

[0029] The axle 24 is in the form of a rigid axle and is located in a shaft 26 which is in the form of a tube, the two ends of which can rotate in a slot 52 of a vertical cheek 28 and are mounted so that their height can be adjusted, whereby the cheek projects downward from the crossmember 18.

[0030] As shown in FIG. 2, a spur gear is fitted onto the middle of the shaft 26 and is engaged with a pinion 44 which is driven by means of a planetary gear train 56 by an electric motor 32. The motor 32 is non-detachably connected by means of the housing of the planetary gear train 56 with the transmission housing 54 of the gear wheel 30 and pinion 44 and is supported on the underside of the crossmember 18 so that it can move vertically.

[0031] On each of the two ends of the tubular shaft 26 an eccentric disc 34 is fitted on and supported on a cam roller 36. For its part, the cam roller 36 is rotationally mounted on a horizontal axle stub 38 which projects from the cheek 28.

[0032] FIGS. 3 to 6 clearly show that the eccentric disc 34 which is fastened to the respective end of the shaft 26 has an arc-shaped notch 40 with the radius of the cam roller 36. Starting from this notch 40, the outside circumference of the eccentric disc 34 has an increasing radius and ends in a tip 42 which, after a rotation of the eccentric disc 34, has its terminal position on the cam roller 36, as a result of which the support frame 10 together with the load resting on it has reached its highest position above the axle 24 of the chassis 20. Then, if the gear wheel 30 is rotated back by the motor 32in the clockwise direction in FIG. 6at the end of this rotational movement the notch 40 is in contact with the cam roller 36, which is illustrated in FIG. 5, which shows the lowered position of the support frame 10.

[0033] The variants illustrated in FIGS. 7 to 10 also show an E-shaped support frame 10, from the longitudinal spar 12 of which a central crossmember 18 with a chassis 20 projects. In this embodiment, however, the lifting device with its two eccentric discs 34 is not used to lift the entire support frame 10 but only part of it, which in this case is a horizontal support table 46 which is located above the crossmember 18. Two lateral legs 48 project downward from the support table 46 and penetrate through corresponding openings 50 in the crossmember 18. Mounted on each leg 48 is a cam roller 36 with which the eccentric disc 34 is in contact. When this cam roller is rotated by means of the shaft 26 by the motor (not shown here) from the position illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 9 into the position illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 10, the eccentric disc 34 raises the support table 46 and the load resting on it into the transport position of the support frame 10.

[0034] FIG. 10 clearly shows that a vertical slot 52 has been machined into the respective leg 48, through which the rigid axle 24 of the chassis 20 extends and in which the end of the shaft is mounted so that it can move rotationally and vertically.

[0035] In one alternative (not illustrated) of the lifting device, the eccentric disc 34 can be mounted on a stationary journal and supported on a cam roller 36, by means of which the support frame 10 or part of it is moved vertically.

[0036] As mentioned above, the invention can also be used on other support frames 10, for example on C-shaped frame with a total of four chassis 20.