Patent Application
20240083718
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The disclosure relates to crane devices and more particularly pertains to a new crane device for transporting cargo in a warehouse setting. The device includes a crane track, a cylinder that extends across the crane track and a drive unit that is integrated into the cylinder and which engages the crane track for transporting the cylinder along the crane track. The device includes a carriage that extends around the cylinder and a transport unit attached to the carriage for urging the carriage to travel laterally along the cylinder. A winch is attached to the carriage for lifting and transporting cargo.
The prior art relates to crane devices including a track crane that includes a support beam extending across a crane track, a carriage that rolls along the support beam and a pair of drums rotatably integrated into the carriage. The prior art discloses a gantry crane device that includes a gantry, a beam that travels along the gantry and a drum rotatably integrated into the beam. The prior art discloses a lifting winch for an overhead crane that includes a pair of drums and a pulley system. The prior art discloses an adjustable block device for a bridge crane that includes a rotating drum.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a crane track that is positioned in a warehouse. A cylinder is included that has a plurality of tracks integrated into the cylinder. A drive unit is integrated into the cylinder and the drive unit has a pair of drive wheels that each engages the crane track. The drive unit rotates each of the drive wheels in a first direction or a second direction. A carriage extends around the cylinder and a plurality of rollers is each rotatably coupled to the carriage. Each of the rollers engages a respective one of the tracks on the cylinder thereby facilitating the carriage to travel along the cylinder. A transport unit is integrated into the carriage and the transport unit engages the cylinder. The transport unit is actuatable to urge the carriage to travel along the cylinder in either a primary direction or a secondary direction.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
A cylinder 22 is provided and a plurality of tracks 24 is integrated into the cylinder 22. The tracks 24 extend along a full length of the cylinder 22 and each of the tracks 24 is integrated into an outer surface 26 of the cylinder 22. Each of the tracks 24 is concavely arcuate with respect to the outer surface 26 and each of the tracks 24 extends between a first end 28 and a second end 30 of the cylinder 22. Furthermore, the tracks 24 are evenly spaced apart from each other and are distributed around a full circumference of the outer surface of the cylinder 22. A pair of rails 32 is each attached to the outer surface of the cylinder 22. Each of the rails 32 extends between the first end 28 and the second end 30 of the cylinder 22 and the rails 32 are spaced a fixed distance apart from each other. The cylinder 22 may be comprised of a rigid material, including but not being limited to steel, and the cylinder 22 may have a weight capacity of at least 9000.0 kg.
A drive unit 34 is integrated into the cylinder 22 and the drive unit 34 has a pair of drive wheels 36 that each engages a respective one of the girders 14 of the crane track 12 such that the cylinder 22 extends between the pair of girders 14. The drive unit 34 rotates each of the drive wheels 36 in a first direction or a second direction. The cylinder 22 travels in a first direction along the girders 14 when the drive unit 34 rotates the drive wheels 36 in the first direction. Conversely, the cylinder 22 travels in a second direction along the girders 14 when the drive unit 34 rotates the drive wheels 36 in the second direction.
The drive unit 34 comprises a pair of primary gears 38 that each has a first surface 40, a second surface 42 and a plurality of teeth 44 extending between the first surface 40 and the second surface 42. The first surface 40 of each of the primary gears 38 is rotatably coupled to a respective one of the first end 28 and the second end 30 of the cylinder 22. Each of the drive wheels 36 has a primary surface 46, a secondary surface 48 and an exterior surface 50 extending between the primary surface 46 and the secondary surface 48 and the exterior surface 50 is concavely arcuate between the primary surface 46 and the secondary surface 48. The primary surface 46 of each of the drive wheels 36 is coupled to the second surface 42 of a respective one of the primary gears 38. Additionally, the exterior surface 50 of each of the drive wheels 36 rests on the top surface 16 of the respective girder 14 having the exterior surface 50 conforming to curvature of the top surface 16 of the respective girder 14.
The drive unit 34 includes a drive motor 52 that is coupled to the cylinder 22. The drive motor 52 has a pair of outputs 54 and the drive motor 52 rotating in either a first direction or a second direction when the drive motor 52 is turned on. The drive motor 52 may comprise a two-direction electric motor or the like. The drive unit 34 includes a pair of drive shafts 56 that is each coupled to a respective one of the outputs 54 on the drive motor 52. Each of the drive shafts 56 has a distal end 58 with respect to the drive motor 52 and the distal end 58 of each of the drive shafts 56 is positioned adjacent to a respective one of the first end 28 and the second end 30 of the cylinder 22. Additionally, each of the drive shafts 56 may extend through a plurality of shaft bearings 60 that are attached to the cylinder 22.
The drive unit 34 includes a pair of secondary gears 62 that is each attached to the distal end 58 of a respective one of the drive shafts 56. Each of the secondary gears 62 includes a plurality of teeth 64 and the teeth 64 on each of the secondary gears 62 enmeshes with the teeth 44 on a respective one of the primary gears 38. Each of the drive wheels 36 rolls along the respective girder 14 in the first direction the when drive motor 52 is turned on to rotate in the first direction thereby urging the cylinder 22 along the girders 14 in the first direction. Conversely, each of the drive wheels 36 rolls along the respective girder 14 in the second direction when the drive motor 52 is turned on to rotate in the second direction thereby urging the cylinder 22 along the girders 14 in the second direction. As is most clearly shown in
A carriage 70 is provided and the carriage 70 extends around the cylinder 22. The carriage 70 has a plurality of rollers 72 that is each rotatably coupled to the carriage 70. Each of the rollers 72 engages a respective one of the tracks 24 on the cylinder 22 thereby facilitating the carriage 70 to travel along the cylinder 22. The carriage 70 has an attachment element 74 that is attachable to a winch 76 for lifting cargo 78 thereby facilitating the carriage 70 and the drive unit 34 to transport the cargo 78 to various locations in the warehouse. The carriage 70 comprises a pair of rings 80 and a plurality of members 82 extending between the rings 80 such that each of the rings 80 lies on a plane that is perpendicularly oriented with respect to each other. The members 82 are evenly spaced apart from each other and are distributed around the rings 80 and each of the rings 80 extends around the cylinder 22.
Each of the rollers 72 comprises a cup 84 and a ball 86 that is disposed in the cup 84. The cup 84 associated with each of the rollers 72 is coupled to an inwardly facing surface 88 of a respective one of the rings 80 and the cup 84 associated with each of the rollers 72 is aligned with a respective one of the tracks 24 on the cylinder 22. Additionally, an open end 90 of the cup 84 is directed toward the respective track 24 and the ball 86 associated with each of the rollers 72 is positioned in the respective track 24 such that an outer surface 92 of the ball 86 conforms to curvature of the respective track 24. In this way the ball 86 associated with each of the rollers 72 is inhibited from exiting the respective track 24 when the ball 86 associated with each of the rollers 72 rolls along the respective track 24.
A transport unit 94 is integrated into the carriage 70 and the transport unit 94 engages the cylinder 22. The transport unit 94 is actuatable to urge the carriage 70 to travel along the cylinder 22 in either a primary direction or a secondary direction. The transport unit 94 comprises a plurality of carriage wheels 96 and each of the carriage wheels 96 is rotatably coupled to a respective one of the members 82 of the carriage 70. The carriage wheels 96 are spaced apart from each other and are distributed between the pair of rings 80.
The plurality of carriage wheels 96 includes a set of first carriage wheels 98 and a set of second carriage wheels 100. Each of the first carriage wheels 98 engages a respective one of the rails 32 on the cylinder 22 and each of the second carriage wheels 100 engages a respective one of the rails 32 on the cylinder 22. The transport unit 94 includes a plurality of carriage motors 102 that is each rotatably coupled to a respective one of the carriage wheels 96. Each of the carriage motors 102 rotates in a first direction or a second direction. The carriage 70 is urged to travel in the primary direction along the cylinder 22 when the carriage motors 102 rotate in the first direction. Conversely, the carriage 70 is urged to travel in the secondary direction along the cylinder 22 when the carriage motors 102 rotate in the second direction.
A control unit 104 is coupled to the carriage 70 and the control unit 104 is in electrical communication with the power element 18 on the crane track 12. The control unit 104 is electrically coupled to the drive motor 52 and the control unit 104 is electrically coupled to each of the carriage motors 102. The control unit 104 may be electrically coupled to a remote control for remotely controlling the drive motor 52 and each of the carriage motors 102.
In use, the drive unit 34 drives the cylinder 22 forwardly or rearwardly along the crane track 12 and the transport unit 94 drives the carriage 70 laterally along the cylinder 22. In this way the winch 76 that is attached to the carriage 70 can be positioned at any location in the warehouse setting or industrial setting. Furthermore, the winch 76 can lift and subsequently transport the cargo 78 to any location in the warehouse setting or industrial setting. The secondary gears 62 and the drive wheels 36 facilitate the cylinder 22 to be driven along the crane track 12 by rotation thereby producing smoother travel and better load bearing capabilities compared to currently existing bridge cranes.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
