Powered drum lifting truck

0001This invention relates to the art of hand operated two-wheeled drum trucks.

0002Hand operated two-wheeled drum trucks with gripping jaws engaging the bead or top chime of a drum are known in the art, but can only tilt the drum off of the ground for transport. The wheels provide the tiling fulcrum and even when the drum is inclined in a maximum transporting angle its bottom rear portion cannot clear a raised pallet or the like and the drum must be tilted over the edge of the pallet, released from the truck, and rocked into position on the pallet. It would be an improvement in this art to provide a drum truck which raises the drum to a desired height for depositing on pallets or the like raised supports.

0003US-A-4257729 described a drum-lifting truck in which, to receive a drum, legs ahead of the wheel axis must contact the ground and the wheels lifted off the ground. The truck must then be tilted rearwardly to swing the wheels into contact with the ground and bring the truck into a transporting position. In this position, the legs project forwardly of the wheels and prevent the drum from being deposited on a raised surface such as a pallet.

0004US-A-3907138 describes a truck in which an item to be transported must be deposited to a toe plate of the truck. The toe plate protrudes forwardly of the truck wheels and again prevents the load being deposited on a raised surface.

0005US-A-2805567 shows a truck which has massive forwardly projecting legs which likewise prevent deposition of a load on a raised surface.

0006According to this invention there is provided a hand-operated tiltable two-wheeled drum-lifting and -conveying truck which comprises a frame having an upright central bar, handle means on the upper end of the bar, a transverse base on the lower end of the bar, and a pair of spaced coaxial wheels rotatably mounted on the base for supporting the base above ground level and for tilting the base about the wheel axis, cradle means supported by the base and projecting forwardly from the base inwardly of the wheels for cradling a drum forwardly of the wheels, a self-actuating drum chime ring clamp slidably mounted on the central bar between the base and handle, and a linear actuator for raising and lowering the clamp on the bar, characterised in that the linear actuator is motor-driven and is mounted forwardly of the bar, a horizontal foot step is carried by the base, spaced rearwardly behind the bar and constructed and arranged to be depressed for tilting the truck, together with a drum cradled thereon, about the wheel axis for inclining the truck and drum to a transport position, a motor for the actuator is mounted on the truck, control means operable by a user of the truck are provided for allowing the power source to drive the actuator in opposite directions for raising and lowering the clamp on the bar, so that the drum chime ring clamp straddles and then clamps the chime ring of a drum cradled on the truck, and substantially no part of the frame protrudes either forwardly of a vertical plane passing through the forwardmost points on the wheels or downwardly of a horizontal plane passing through the lowermost points on the wheels, whereby the truck can be rolled on its wheels in an upright position to engage the cradle means with the side of an upright drum, the clamp driven to a level on the bar to straddle the top chime ring of the drum, the clamp then driven to a higher level to lock the clamp to the chime ring and lift the drum, and the horizontal step depressed by the foot of an operator grasping the handle means to tilt the drum rearwardly about the axis of the wheels to an inclined transporting position with the drum raised and then to be deposited on a surface raised relative to a surface supporting the wheels by forward tilting of the truck about the axis of the wheels.

0007The invention thus provides a truck equipped with a powered mechanism to raise and lower a drum thereon for facilitating depositing the drum on a raised pallet or the like.

0008In use, the truck is pushed in a vertically upright position against the side of a drum to be transported with the cradle means engaging the drum. The actuator is energised through the control means to position the clamp at a level so that it is adjacent the top chime or bead of the drum, The clamp is then further raised to come into locked engagement with the chime or bead, the frame is tilted by the operator, the control means are again manually operated to raise the drum to a desired height on the truck, the truck is wheeled to the location for depositing the drum, such as on a pallet, the frame is then again tilted to an upright position with the drum clearing the pallet, the clamp is then lowered to deposit the drum on the pallet and the clamp released from the chime whereby the truck is freed to be moved away from the pallet.

0009The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the drawings which show a truck embodying the invention. Specifically: <ul id="ul0001" list-style="none"><li>FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a two-wheeled drum truck embodying this invention showing the drum in raised position approaching a pallet to receive the drum.</li><li>FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the drum truck of Fig. 1 illustrating in dotted lines a raised position of the drum clamp.</li><li>FIG. 3 is an enlarged broken vertical sectional. view with parts in side elevation of the drum clamp in opened position.</li><li>FIG. 4 is a horizontal sectional view along the line IV-IV of FIG. 2.</li><li>FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view, with parts in elevation, along the line V-V of FIG. 2.</li><li>FIG. 6 is a horizontal sectional view taken along the line VI-VI of FIG. 5.</li><li>FIG. 7 is an enlarged broken side elevational view of the clamp of FIG. 3 in closed position.</li><li>FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view along the line VIII-VIII of FIG. 7 with parts in elevation.</li><li>FIG. 9 is a side elevational view of the truck in position for receiving a drum.</li><li>FIG. 10 is a view similar to FIG. 9, but illustrating the raised position of the clamp locked to the top chime ring or bead of the drum.</li><li>FIG. 11 is a view similar to FIG. 10, but illustrating the truck tilted upright from the position of FIG. 1 and depositing the drum on the pallet.</li><li>FIG. 12 is a fragmentary front elevational view of the lower portion of the truck.</li><li>FIG. 13 is a rear elevational view of the lower portion of the truck.</li><li>FIG. 14 is a diagram of the energizing circuit.</li></ul>

On the Drawings

0010In FIG. 1, the drum truck 10 is illustrated in inclined position carrying a drum D in elevated position and approaching a pallet P to deposit the drum thereon.

0011As shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 4, 12 and 13, the truck 10 has a main frame 11 with laterally spaced wheels 12 on the bottom end thereof and a handle bar 13 on the top end thereof.

0012The frame 11 includes a central upright square tube bar or beam 14 having the upstanding leg 15a of a transverse angle plate welded to the bottom portion thereof. The plate 15 has a forwardly projecting horizontal leg 15b providing a platform carrying axles 16 which are welded to the underface of the outboard end portions of the leg 15b and project laterally therefrom in slightly downwardly inclined position to mount the wheels 12 at a camber angle for ease in tracking.

0013The forward edge of the platform leg 15b has a notch or recess 15c in the midsection thereof with a bottom or inner end parallel to the upstanding flange 15a and diagonal sidewalls extending from this bottom to the forward edge of the platform leg.

0014An upstanding plate 17 fitting this notch or recess is welded to the platform leg 15b and has angled upright wings 17a to which are bolted upright brackets 18, each rotatably mounting a pair of superimposed rollers 19 on horizontal axles 20. Since the wings 17a of the upright plate 17 are laterally inclined and since the brackets 18 are bolted to these wings, the rollers 19 converge toward each other and the angles of conversion are such as to intersect at the axis of a standard size 50-gallon drum cradled on the rollers. The angle of conversion is thus such as to cause the rollers to cradle the periphery of the drum and, of course, drums having diameters greater or less than a standard 50-gallon drum will still be amply cradled by the rollers. Since the rollers rotate on horizontal axes, the drum is supported for longitudinal movement on the truck.

0015A pair of spaced parallel straps 21 are welded at their forward ends to the platform leg 15b of the angle plate 15 and inclined upwardly and rearwardly therefrom over the vertical leg of the plate to which they can also be tack welded. The angle of inclination is about 45° from the leg 15b.

0016A pair of rigidifying strut straps 22 have forward ends welded to the upstanding leg 15a of the angle plate 15 and rearward ends welded to the straps 21 forwardly from the rear ends of these straps.

0017The rear ends of the straps 21 are connected by an angle iron crossbar 23 and a hollow rubber or plastic tube 24 is cradled in this angle bar 23 and mounted on an axle bolt 25 secured to the angle iron. This tube 24 provides a step conveniently pressed or pushed by the foot of an operator for tilting the frame 11 of the truck about the axis provided by the axles 16 of the wheels 12 to easily incline the truck from an upright vertical position to an inclined travelling position. A pair of frame strips 26 are bolted intermediate with their ends to the side faces of the upright beam bar 14 as shown at 27 and project horizontally both forwardly and rearwardly of the beam 14 with their rear ends pinned at 28 to the straps 21. The forward ends of the members 26 are horizontally bifurcated as indicated at 29.

0018An electric motor driven nut linear actuator unit 30 has an upright tubular casing 31 with laterally projecting trunnions 32 received in the yokes 29 and held therein by bolts 33. The unit 30 is thus mounted forwardly of the beam bar 14 above the platform 15b of the angle frame 15.

0019A support plate 34 for an electric battery B is mounted on top of the frame members 26 between the beam 14 and the rear ends of the straps 21. The battery B rests on the plate -34. A frame 35 embraces the top of the battery B and bolts 36 straddle the battery and have bottom ends secured in the plate 34 and top ends slidably receiving the frame 35 with wing nuts 37 threaded thereon to clamp the battery between the bottom plate 34 and the frame 35.

0020As shown in FIG. 5, the actuator unit 30 has a bottom casing 38 on the bottom of the frame tube 31 housing gearing connecting the drive shaft 39 of an electric motor 40 mounted upright on the casing through a slip clutch 41 with a driven shaft 42 into an upright ball screw assembly 43. A conventional ball nut 44 on this screw 43 traverses the length of the screw to raise and lower a cylinder 45 telescoped in the tubular casing 31. A brake assembly 46 is provided to lock the screw 43 in fixed position when the motor 40 is deenergized.

0021A slide bracket 47 (FIG. 2) rides on the bar beam 14 and mounts a transverse pin 48 extending through a lug 49 on top of the cylinder 45. A latch frame 50 slidable on the bar beam 14 above the bracket 47 has dependent fingers 51 straddling the bracket 47 and also pinned to the pin 48.

0022The latch frame 50 houses a pair of barrel chime engaging pivoted jaws 60 and 61 shown in FIGS. 3 and 7. The bottom jaw 60 pivots on a pin 62 supported by the frame 50 and has a pointed chime engaging edge 63 projecting from the frame and a tail 64 in the frame. The bottom face of the tail 64 has a notch 65 into and out of which rides the nose 66 of a gravity actuated weight 67 pivoted at 68. The top jaw 61 is pivoted on a pin 69 carried by straddling straps 70 which are pinned at 71 to the upper end portion of the frame 50.

0023The forward end of the jaw 61 has a hook portion 72 for projecting into the periphery of an exposed top chime on the drum. The tail end of the jaw 61 has a bottom edge 73 riding on the tail 64 of the jaw 60 and a top edge 74 pressed by a spring-loaded pin 70 to maintain contact between the edge 73 and the tail 64. This pin 75 rides in a housing 76 in the frame 50 and is free to tilt with the spring 77 embracing the pin being compressed to load it against the top edge 74 of the jaw 61. The clamp arrangement is such that when the pointed end 63 of the lower jaw 60 engages the bottom of a drum flange or chime ring C, as illustrated in FIG. 7, and is depressed thereby, the tail end 64 thereof will swing upwardly causing the edge 73 of the jaw 61 to swing upwardly, thereby pivoting the jaw 61 on the strap 70 and depressing its hook nose 72 into the inner periphery of this chime ring C and clamping the jaw to the drum. As the bottom jaw 60 swings downwardly the nose of the weight member 67 will ride into the notch 65, thereby locking the jaws in their clamped position.

0024As illustrated in FIG. 14, a double pole switch 80 mounted on the handlebar 13 of the truck frame controls a circuit 81 between the battery B and the reversible motor 40 of the actuator assembly 30. This switch 80, convenient to the hands of an operator grasping the handlebar 13, is activated in opposite directions to cause the motor 40 to raise or lower the clamp 50.

0025As shown in FIG. 9, a drum D resting on a floor F and having a top chime ring C is approached by the truck 10 in an upright position with the cradling rollers 19 projecting forwardly of the wheels 12 being pushed against the lower portion of the drum. The switch 80 is activated to move the clamp 50 to a level on the frame beam 14, such that the jaws 60 and 61 straddle the chime ring C.

0026Then, as shown in FIG. 10, the switch 80 is again manipulated by the operator to further raise the clamp 50 forcing the lower jaw 60 against the bottom of the exposed chime ring C and automatically triggering the top jaw 61 so that its hook portion 72 enters the inner periphery of this chime ring and the downward swinging of the pointed end 63 of the jaw 60 raises its tail 64 so that the weight block 67 will enter the notch 65, thereby locking the jaws in their chime ring clamping position as shown in FIG. 7. Next, the operator conveniently presses down on the step 24 tilting the truck to a transporting position as illustrated in FIG. 1, whereupon further raising of the clamp assembly 50 lifts the drum to an elevated position above the wheels 12.

0027The drum on the tilted truck is easily transported to a pallet P with the drum at a level clearing the top of the pallet. The truck is then conveniently tilted back to an upright position, shown in FIG. 11, with the drum over the pallet, whereupon the clamp 50 is lowered by again activating the actuator 30, thus depositing the drum on the pallet.

0028The weight block 67 is then released from the notch 65 permitting the jaws to separate and freeing them from the chime C.

0029From the above descriptions it will therefore be clear to those skilled in this art that the drum trucks of this invention are powered from an Energy source on inti thuck iv manipulate e drum chime clamp locking the drum to the truck and raising it to a desired level for convenience in depositing the drum on a pallet or the like.