Patent Grant
11718469
The present invention relates to an article reversing/discharging box that is reversed by a forklift to discharge an accommodated article, and a method of using the article reversing/discharging box.
Conventionally, scrap boxes disclosed in Patent Literatures 1 and 2 are known as discharging boxes for discharging articles accommodated by a forklift. In the scrap box of Patent Literature 1, when the fork is inclined front-downward at the scrap discharge position, the scrap box and a lifting frame (32) of the forklift are coupled by the coupling tool (31), so that engagement of a disengagement pair (40) is released, the opening/closing side plate (4) is opened, and the scrap is discharged. In the scrap box of Patent Literature 2, when a lead wire (34) is towed after a lock fixing pin (52) is removed at the scrap discharge position, a swing member (46) is swung to release the lock engagement between a clasp (40) and a hook hole (48), and a bottom lid (14) is opened to discharge the scrap. As described above, according to the scrap boxes of Patent Literatures 1 and 2, it is not necessary to open the opening/closing side plate (4) and the bottom lid (14) by manual operation when discharging the scrap, the safety of the worker is secured, and the work load is also reduced.
Patent Literature 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 6-263145
Patent Literature 2: Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Application Publication No. 3-25403
However, in the discharging box of Patent Literature 1, since there is no sufficient rotation angle in the discharging box when discharging the scrap, the scrap cannot be completely discharged, and the worker has to get off the forklift and manually scrape out the remaining scrap. Furthermore, it is necessary for the worker to close the opening/closing side plate (4) after discharging the scrap, and to lock the closed state with the disengagement pair (40). In addition, when the scrap box is loaded and unloaded to and from the forklift, the scrap box and the lifting frame (32) of the forklift must be coupled or decoupled by the coupling tool (31). Furthermore, in the scrap box of Patent Literature 2, when the scrap box is unloaded on the floor surface after the scrap is discharged, the bottom lid (14) is automatically locked to the container main body (12) by the load of the scrap box and the action of the counterweight (52), but the worker has to get off the forklift and remove the lock fixing pin (52) from the lock member (38) before the scrap is discharged. Moreover, after the scrap is discharged and the scrap box is unloaded on the floor surface, the worker has to get off the forklift and insert the lock fixing pin (52) into the lock member (38). Therefore, in the scrap boxes of Patent Literatures 1 and 2, the worker has to get on and off the forklift many times, and the load of the worker is not sufficiently reduced. In addition, the worker must touch the scrap box and the like, and handling is troublesome particularly when measures against infectious diseases and the like are required. Furthermore, the structure is complicated, the number of parts is large, and the manufacturing cost is high.
The present invention has been made in view of such conventional problems, and provides an article reversing/discharging box and a method of using the article reversing/discharging box, capable of reducing a load of a worker, allowing an article discharging work without the worker getting of the forklift, and being manufactured at low cost.
In order to solve the above problem, the feature of an article reversing/discharging box according to claim 1 is an article reversing/discharging box that is reversed by a forklift to discharge an accommodated article, the article reversing/discharging box including: a box main body that accommodates the article; hook members provided facing the box main body and have insertion holes through which forks of the forklift are inserted above the box main body; and a reversing mechanism capable of reversing the box main body, where the box main body includes a bottom surface having a flat surface shape, a first wall surface provided upright on an outer periphery of the bottom surface, and a second wall surface provided upright on an outer periphery of the bottom surface facing the first wall surface, the hook members include fixed hook members that are fixed to the second wall surface, and a movable hook member that is provided on the first wall surface and extends upward from a lower end of the box main body along the first wall surface, the reversing mechanism includes a bottom plate integrally extending from a lower end of the movable hook member along the bottom surface, and a reversing member provided at a distal end portion of the bottom plate, and when the forks are inserted into the insertion holes of the movable hook member and the forks are removed from the insertion holes of the fixed hook members, the box main body is turnable about the distal end portion of the bottom plate by the reversing member.
The feature of the article reversing/discharging box according to claim 2 is that the box main body has a rectangular parallelepiped shape in claim 1.
The feature of the article reversing/discharging box according to claim 3 is that the reversing member is a hinge in claim 1 or 2.
The feature of the article reversing/discharging box according to claim 4 is that the second wall surface of the box main body is provided with a turn assisting member that assists the turning of the box main body in any one of claims 1 to 3.
The feature of the article reversing/discharging box according to claim 5 is that the fixed hook members each have a leg portion formed by extending the fixed hook member downward in any one of claims 1 to 4.
The feature of the article reversing/discharging box according to claim 6 is that casters are attached to the bottom surface of the box main body according to any one of claims 1 to 4.
The feature of the article reversing/discharging box according to claim 7 is that a stopper for positioning to reverse the box main body and discharge an article is attached to the bottom surface of the box main body in any one of claims 1 to 6.
The feature of a method of using an article reversing/discharging box according to claim 8 is a method of using an article reversing/discharging box using the article reversing/discharging box according to any one of claims 1 to 7, the method including: a transport process of inserting the forks of the forklift into the insertion holes of the hook members of the article reversing/discharging box in which an article is accommodated, and then transporting the article reversing/discharging box to an article discharge place while lifting the article reversing/discharging box; a discharge process of removing the forks from the insertion holes of the fixed hook members while the forks are inserted into the insertion holes of the movable hook member at a predetermined position of the article discharge place, and reversing the box main body to discharge the article; and a return process of returning the box main body to an original state.
In the article reversing/discharging box according to claim 1, when the forks are inserted into the insertion holes of the movable hook member and the forks are removed from the insertion holes of the fixed hook members, the box main body is turnable about the distal end portion of the bottom plate by the reversing member. Thus, when the worker removes the forks from the insertion holes of the fixed hook members while the forks are inserted into the insertion holes of the movable hook member, the box main body can be reversed or returned to the original state. Therefore, the worker can perform a series of works from the conveyance of the article reversing/discharging box to the discharge of the article and the return of the box main body while riding on the forklift. Therefore, the worker does not get off the forklift not even once in all of the processes of the discharging work, and does not touch the article reversing/discharging box. In addition, since the article reversing/discharging box includes only the box main body, the hook members, and the reversing mechanism, the structure is simple and the number of parts is small. Therefore, according to the article reversing/discharging box, the load of the worker is reduced, the worker can perform the article discharging work without getting off the forklift, and it can be inexpensively manufactured.
Note that the articles include all things such as food, medicine, and waste that can withstand impact at the time of discharge, and include articles that are weak against impact as long as they are packaged to withstand the impact. Furthermore, the material of the box main body is not limited to metal, and resin, wood, and the like can also be used. In addition, only the frame may be assembled with metal, and a resin box, a styrene foam box, or the like may be fitted into the frame to form a box main body.
In the article reversing/discharging box according to claim 2, in claim 1, since the box main body has a rectangular parallelepiped shape, it is easy to manufacture and also easy to handle.
In the article reversing/discharging box according to claim 3, in claim 1 or 2, since the reversing member is a hinge, the structure is simple and inexpensive. Moreover, when the forks are removed from the insertion holes of the fixed hook members while the forks are inserted into the insertion holes of the movable hook member, the box main body can be easily reversed or returned to the original state. That is, in this state, if the forks are raised to lift the article reversing/discharging box, the box main body is reversed. In addition, if the forks are lowered is and the article reversing/discharging box is lowered to the floor surface or the ground, the box main body can be returned to the original state.
In the article reversing/discharging box according to claim 4, in any one of claims 1 to 3, the turn assisting member that assists the turning of the box main body is provided on the second wall surface of the box main body, and thus when the forks are lowered to lower the article reversing/discharging box to the floor surface or the ground, the box main body can be easily returned to the original state.
In the article reversing/discharging box according to claim 5, in any one of claims 1 to 4, since the fixed hook members each have a leg portion formed by extending the fixed hook member downward, the bottom surface of the box main body can be separated from the floor surface or the ground with a simple structure.
In the article reversing/discharging box according to claim 6, in any one of claims 1 to 4, casters are attached to the bottom surface of the box main body, and thus the bottom surface of the box main body can be separated from the floor surface or the ground. In addition, when the forks are lowered to lower the article reversing/discharging box to the floor surface or the ground and return the box main body to the original state, the box main body can be appropriately moved by the casters, so that the work is facilitated.
In the article reversing/discharging box according to claim 7, in any one of claims 1 to 6, a stopper for positioning to reverse the box main body and discharge an article is attached to the bottom surface of the box main body, and thus the article can be reliably and easily discharged to a predetermined position.
In the method of using the article reversing/discharging box according to claim 8, in the transport process, the forks of the forklift are inserted into the insertion holes of the hook members, and the article reversing/discharging box is transported to the article discharge place while being lifted up. In the discharge process, the worker removes the forks from the insertion holes of the fixed hook members while the forks are inserted into the insertion holes of the movable hook member, and then reverses the box main body with the reversing member to discharge the article. Furthermore, in the return process, the box main body is returned to the original state by the reversing member. Thus, when the worker removes the forks from the insertion holes of the fixed hook members while the forks are inserted into the insertion holes of the movable hook member, the box main body can be reversed or returned to the original state. Therefore, the worker can perform a series of works from the conveyance of the article reversing/discharging box to the discharge of the article and the return of the box main body while riding on the forklift. Therefore, the worker does not get off the forklift not even once in all of the processes of the discharging work, and does not touch the article reversing/discharging box. Therefore, according to the method of using the article reversing/discharging box, the load of the worker is reduced, and the worker can perform the article discharging work without getting off the forklift.
An embodiment in which an article reversing/discharging box and a method of using the article reversing/discharging box according to the present invention are embodied as a scrap box and a method of using the scrap box will be described below based on the drawings. First, the scrap box will be described with reference to
As illustrated in
The reversing mechanism 5 includes a bottom plate 6 integrally extending from a lower end of the movable hook member 4 along the bottom surface 2d of the box main body 2, and a hinge 7 serving as a reversing member provided at a distal end portion of the bottom plate 6. In this way, since the hinge 7 is used as the reversing member, the structure is simple and inexpensive. When the forks of the forklift are removed from the insertion holes 3a of the fixed hook members 3 while the forks are inserted into the insertion holes 4a of the movable hook member 4 by the reversing mechanism 5, the box main body 2 is turnable about the distal end portion of the bottom plate 2d. Accordingly, the scrap can be discharged from the accommodation space 2a of the box main body 2, and the box main body 2 can be returned to the original state. That is, the forks of the forklift are removed from the insertion holes 3a of the fixed hook members 3 while the forks are inserted into the insertion holes 4a of the movable hook member 4, and the forks are raised to lift the scrap box 1, so that the box main body 2 is reversed. In addition, if the forks are lowered as is and the scrap box 1 is lowered to the floor surface or the ground, the box main body 2 can be returned to the original state.
The rear surface 2c of the box main body 2 is provided with turn assisting members 3b that assist the turning of the box main body 2. The turn assisting members 3b are formed integrally with each of the fixed hook members 3 by bending left and right ends of the fixed hook member 3 at a right angle. As illustrated in
As illustrated in
As shown in
Instead of the leg portion 3c, a caster 9 shown in
Next, a method of using the scrap box 1 having the above configuration will be described with reference to a flowchart illustrated in
In step S2, as illustrated in
Then, as illustrated in
As illustrated in
In step S3, as illustrated in
When the forks 91 are further lowered, the fulcrum F moves to the lower end of the leg portion 3c as illustrated in
According to the article reversing/discharging box 1 of the embodiment, when the forks 91 are inserted into the insertion holes 4a of the movable hook member 4 and the forks 91 are removed from the insertion holes 3a of the fixed hook members 3, the box main body 2 is turnable about the distal end portion of the bottom plate 2d by the hinge 7. Thus, when the worker removes the forks 91 from the insertion holes 3a of the fixed hook members 3 while the forks 91 are inserted into the insertion holes 4a of the movable hook member 4, the box main body 2 can be reversed or returned to the original state. Therefore, the worker can perform a series of works from the conveyance of the article reversing/discharging box 1 to the discharge of the scrap and the return of the box main body 2 while riding on the forklift 90. Therefore, the worker does not get off the forklift 90 not even once in all of the processes of the discharging work, and does not touch the article reversing/discharging box 1. In addition, since the article reversing/discharging box 1 includes only the box main body 2, the hook members 3 and 4, and the reversing mechanism 5, the structure is simple and the number of parts is few. Therefore, according to the article reversing/discharging box 1, the load of the worker is reduced, the worker can perform the discharging work of scrap without getting off the forklift 90, and it can be inexpensively manufactured.
In addition, in the article reversing/discharging box 1, since the box main body 2 has a rectangular parallelepiped shape, it is easy to manufacture and also easy to handle. Furthermore, since the reversing member is the hinge 7, the structure is simple and inexpensive. Moreover, when the forks 91 are removed from the insertion holes 3a of the fixed hook members 3 while the forks 91 are inserted into the insertion holes 4a of the movable hook member 4, the box main body 2 can be easily reversed or returned to the original state.
In addition, in the article reversing/discharging box 1, the turn assisting member 3b that assists the turning of the box main body 2 is provided on the rear surface 2c of the box main body 2, and thus when the forks 91 are lowered to lower the article reversing/discharging box 1 to the floor surface 95, the box main body 2 can be easily returned to the original state.
Furthermore, in the article reversing/discharging box 1, since each of the fixed hook members 3 has the leg portion 3c formed by extending the fixed hook member 3 downward, the bottom surface 2d of the box main body 2 can be separated from the floor surface 95 with a simple structure. A similar effect can be obtained even by attaching the caster 9 instead of the leg portion 3c. In addition, in the article reversing/discharging box 1, since the stopper 8 for positioning to reverse the box main body 2 and discharge the scrap is attached to the bottom surface 2d of the box main body 2, the scrap can be reliably and easily discharged to a predetermined position.
In the method of using the article reversing/discharging box 1, in the transport process S1, the forks 91 of the forklift 90 are inserted into the insertion holes 3a and 4a of the hook members 3 and 4, and the article reversing/discharging box 1 is transported to the container 93 while being lifted up. In the discharge process S2, the worker removes the forks 91 from the insertion holes 3a of the fixed hook members 3 while the forks 91 are inserted into the insertion holes 4a of the movable hook member 4, and then reverses the box main body 2 with the hinge 7 to discharge the scrap. Furthermore, in the return process S3, the box main body 2 is returned to the original state by the hinge 7. Thus, when the worker removes the forks 91 from the insertion holes 3a of the fixed hook members 3 while the forks 91 are inserted into the insertion holes 4a of the movable hook member 4, the box man body 2 can be reversed or returned to the original state. Therefore, the worker can perform a series of works from the conveyance of the article reversing/discharging box 1 to the discharge of the scrap and the return of the box main body 2 while riding on the forklift 90. Therefore, the worker does not get off the forklift 90 not even once in all of the processes of the discharging work, and does not touch the article reversing/discharging box 1. Therefore, according to the method of using the article reversing/discharging box 1, the load of the worker is reduced, and the worker can perform the discharging work of scrap without getting off the forklift 90.
Although the article reversing/discharging box and the method of using the article reversing/discharging box of the present invention have been described in accordance with the embodiment, the present invention is not limited thereto, and it goes without saying that the present invention can be appropriately modified and applied as long as it does not contradict the technical idea of the present invention. For example, in the present embodiment, the article discharge place is the container 93, but the article discharge place is not particularly limited, and for example, a blue sheet laid on the ground, a pit dug in the ground, or the like can be efficiently used.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-147439 | Sep 2021 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2022/003500 | 1/31/2022 | WO |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO2023/037572 | 3/16/2023 | WO | A |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4325669 | Schafer | Apr 1982 | A |
| 4405278 | Kvalheim | Sep 1983 | A |
| 4408946 | Haven | Oct 1983 | A |
| 20120181214 | Kernen | Jul 2012 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 3-25403 | Mar 1991 | JP |
| 3-62003 | Jun 1991 | JP |
| 6-191603 | Jul 1994 | JP |
| 6-263145 | Sep 1994 | JP |
| 3172827 | Jan 2012 | JP |
| Entry |
|---|
| Written Opinion of the International Searching Authority dated Mar. 8, 2022, issued in counterpart International Application No. PCT/JP2022/003500 with English translation (7 pages). |
| International Search Report dated Jan. 31, 2022, issued in counterpart International Application No. PCT/JP2022/003500, in Japanese. (3 pages). |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20230192394 A1 | Jun 2023 | US |
