Claims
- 1. A method of transporting a long and heavy article on a substantially flat surface in a direction which is transverse with respect to a longitudinal axis of the article from a first location to a desired location, the article having two lengthwise ends and two widthwise sides, the method comprising the steps of:
- disposing a first pair of wheel tracks at one of the lengthwise ends of the article and a second pair of wheeled trucks at the other lengthwise end of the article, the two trucks of each pair being located on opposite widthwise sides of the article from one another, at least one truck of each pair being self-propelled, each of the trucks being independently movable and steerable and being connected to the others solely by the article;
- steering the trucks in the direction in which the article is to be transported;
- lifting the article by lifting means carried on the trucks to a level high enough to permit the article to clear any obstacle between the first location and the desired location during transport;
- operating the self-propelled trucks to propel the trucks and transport the article transversely to the desired location;
- lowering the article at the desired location by said lifting means; and removing said trucks from the article.
- 2. A transporting method as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the trucks has a steerable wheel and non-steerable coaxial load-bearing wheels, wherein the step of steering the trucks is carried out with the steerable wheel in ground contact, and including the further step of raising the steerable wheel off the ground during transport of the article while supporting the weight of the article on the load-bearing wheels by applying the weight of the article to the trucks in vertical alignment with the center of the load-bearing wheels.
- 3. A transporting method as claimed in claim 1 wherein only one truck of each pair is self-propelled.
- 4. A transporting method as claimed in claim 1 wherein both trucks of each pair are self-propelled.
- 5. A transporting method as claimed in claim 1 wherein operating the self-propelled trucks includes controlling the self-propelled trucks simultaneously.
- 6. A transporting method as claimed in claim 1 wherein operating the self-propelled trucks includes the step of controlling the self-propelled trucks independently of one another.
- 7. A transporting method as claimed in claim 1 wherein each pair of trucks is controlled so that the lifting means on the truck on the one widthwise side of the article lifts the article at the same speed as the lifting means on the truck of the same pair on the other widthwise side of the article.
- 8. A method for transporting a railroad car which is equipped with bogies and is resting on a first set of rails in a direction transverse to a longitudinal axis of the car to a second set of rails, the railroad car having two lengthwise ends and two widthwise sides, said method comprising the steps of:
- disposing a first pair of wheeled trucks at one of the lengthwise ends of the railroad car and a second pair of wheeled trucks at the other lengthwise end of the railroad car, the two trucks of each pair being located on opposite widthwise sides of the railroad car from one another, each of the trucks being disposed near one of the bogies of the railroad car, at least one truck of each pair being self-propelled, each of the trucks being independently movable and steerable and being connected to the others solely by the car;
- steering the trucks in the transverse direction in which the railroad car is to be transported;
- lifting the railroad car by lifting means supported by the trucks to a level high enough to permit the bogies to clear the rails and any other obstacles between the first set of rails and the second set of rails;
- operating the self-propelled trucks to propel the trucks and transport the railroad car transversely to the second
- lowering the railroad car onto the second set of rails using said lifting means; and
- removing said trucks from the railroad car.
Priority Claims (1)
| Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
| 59-272557 |
Dec 1984 |
JPX |
|
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This application is a division of application Ser. No. 807,692, filed Dec. 11, 1985, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,721,429.
The present invention relates to a traversing method and apparatus for long and heavy articles such as railroad vehicles, containers, large-sized trucks and so forth.
A conventional method for laterally transferring a vehicle such as a railroad car from one railroad track to another employs a traverser which is situated at a specific location. The traverser is installed in a pit which is recessed from the track plane. In transferring the vehicle, the vehicle is brought onto the traverser by being pulled or pushed by a suitable tracting or pushing vehicle and the traverser is moved to the position of the other railroad track, thereby transferring the vehicle to the other railroad track. This method is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 16684/1971 (JP-B-46-16684).
Methods are also known in which the vehicle is lifted by a pair of wrecking vehicles or by means of an overhead crane through wire ropes and transferred to the other railroad track. It is also known to make use of an air bearing.
These known methods, however, involve the following problems or drawbacks.
The first-mentioned method, relying upon a traverser situated in a pit recessed from the track plane, encounters the following problems:
(a) Much money and construction work are required for the installation of the traverser.
(b) The installation space is exclusively occupied by the traverser and cannot be utilized for other purposes.
(c) There is a restriction of the space for installing the traverser.
(c) Since the traverser runs in a pit which is recessed under the ground surface, there is a risk that a person can fall into the pit.
(c) The vehicle to be transferred has to be moved onto the traverser by another vehicle.
(f) When a second vehicle not to be transferred is between the vehicle to be transferred and the traverser, the second vehicle also must be transferred to another track by means of the traverser.
On the other hand, the second-mentioned method which employs wrecking vehicles or an overhead crane for lifting the vehicle encounters the following problems:
(g) The traversing operation is possible only within the reach of the overhead crane.
(h) There is a risk of damaging of the vehicle through collision with obstacles due to swing of the lifted vehicle.
(i) The wrecking vehicle or the overhead crane has to be arranged at least in a pair because the vehicle usually has a large length.
(j) It takes a considerable time for suppressing the lateral swing of the vehicle, so that the transfer to the other rail tracks requires much time and labour.
(k) Before lifting the vehicle, it is necesary to securely fix the bogie to the vehicle body to prevent it from coming off. Alternatively, another bogie has to be stationed on the other railroad track and the vehicle body separated from the old bogie transferred to the other bogie on the other railroad track. Such work is labourious and necessitates another bogie.
In addition, the known methods explained above commonly face the following problem:
(1) In factories for assembling railroad vehicles, the railroad tracks may terminate at the ends of the yards. In such a case, it is impossible to adopt the tact type production system in which the product vehicles are sent one by one, insofar as the known traversing methods are employed.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the invention to provide a traversing method and apparatus which allow, by a simple and reasonable arrangement, safe and quick traverse of an object anywhere, at any time desired without encountering any restriction of the traverse position and without requiring shifting of any obstacles, such as another vehicle, thereby overcoming the above-described problems of the prior art.
To these ends, according to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a traversing method for a long and heavy article comprising the steps of: preparing at least two traversing units each having two traversable trucks arranged on a flat area at which traverse takes place, the trucks of each traversing unit being adapted to be arranged on the left and right sides of the article respectively; lifting the article on the area to a level high enough to permit the article to clear any obstacle during traversing by the at least two traversing units; and causing the traversing units to traverse by their own power in a different direction from that of the axis of the article.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a traversing apparatus for long and heavy article having a plurality of independent trucks, preferably four, including two driving trucks and auxliary trucks corresponding in number to the driving trucks; each truck including a truck frame support wheels mounted under the truck frame, and a guide wheel; the two driving trucks including, as one of the support wheels, at least one; driving wheels; and a driving unit for operating the driving wheels. Each of all four or more trucks includes a lifting means for lifting and lowering the article to and from a predetermined level and a steering means for steering the guide wheel to steer the truck to any desired position. The auxiliary trucks have the same construction as the driving trucks except that they lack the driving system; the driving truck and the auxliary truck are adapted to be arranged on both sides of the article such that the opposing driving truck and auxiliary truck in combination constitute a traversing unit.
Alternatively, the traversing apparatus of the invention may employ four driving trucks of the same construction as that shown above.
The invention offers the following advantages:
(a) Traversing of long and heavy article such as a vehicle can be conducted regardless of the place or position, provided that the floor surface is flat, unlike the conventional arrangement in which the traversing function is available only at a limited place where the traverser is located.
(b) Since the traverse trucks are mobile, they can be brought to anywhere as desired.
(c) The traversing apparatus can apply not only to the vehicles but also to other long articles as well.
(d) Installation cost is remarkably reduced as compared with the conventional system which employs wrecking vehicles or overhead cranes.
(e) Even when long and heavy vehicles are successively moved into the end of yard, it is possible to transfer only a selected vehicle without requiring shifting of other vehicles.
(f) It is not necessary to pull or push the vehicle to the traversing position.
(g) The setting of the traverser trucks can be done in a short time and the traverse can be conducted quickly without risk of damaging the long and heavy article such as a vehicle.
(h) Where the long and heavy article is a vehicle, the bogie can be lifted together with the vehicle body, so the bogie need not be fixed to the vehicle body.
(i) After being set under the vehicle, the traverser trucks can be moved together or independently of each other. In addition, the positioning operation during lowering of the vehicle is facilitated.
FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of an embodiment of a traversing apparatus in accordance with the invention in the state set under a vehicle;
FIG. 2 is a plan view of the traversing apparatus of the invention in the same state as FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a front elevational view of the traversing apparatus as shown in FIG. 1 in the state after lifting of the vehicle;
FIG. 4 is a plan view illustrating an embodiment of the traversing method of the invention;
FIG. 5 is a side elevational view of a driving truck incorporated in a traversing apparatus of the invention;
FIG. 6 is a front elevational view of the driving truck as shown in FIG. 5;
FIG. 7 is a plan view of the driving truck as shown in FIG. 5;
FIG. 8 is a side elevational view of an auxiliary truck incorporated in the traversing apparatus of the invention;
FIG. 9 is a partly-sectioned side elevational view of a modification of the driving truck shown in FIG. 5;
FIG. 10 is a partly-sectioned plan view of the driving truck as shown in FIG. 9;
FIG. 11 is a partly-sectioned front elevational view of traversing apparatus similar to that shown in FIG. 1, showing a different embodiment which incorporates the driving trucks shown in FIG. 9;
FIG. 12 is a plan view showing the general arrangement of a driving truck and an auxiliary truck;
FIG. 13 is a power circuit diagram for the driving motor of the driving truck as shown in FIG. 12;
FIG. 14 is a control circuit diagram of the circuit for controlling the power circuit as shown in FIG. 13;
FIG. 15 is a plan view similar to FIG. 12, making use of an electrically driven screw jack;
FIG. 16 is a power circuit diagram for the traversing apparatus shown in FIG. 15; and
FIG. 17 is a control circuit diagram for controlling the power circuit shown in FIG. 16.
US Referenced Citations (5)
Foreign Referenced Citations (6)
| Number |
Date |
Country |
| 890764 |
Jan 1972 |
CAX |
| 1067044 |
Nov 1979 |
CAX |
| 710113 |
Aug 1927 |
DE2 |
| 45-16336 |
Jul 1970 |
JPX |
| 57-178008 |
Dec 1972 |
JPX |
| 52-123079 |
Oct 1977 |
JPX |
Divisions (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
| Parent |
807692 |
Dec 1985 |
|
Patent Grant
4886414
