Hose-handling facility

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates generally to hose-handling facilities and more particularly is directed towards a new and improved facility for the handling and storing of hoses, especially on a dock for loading and unloading liquids from a ship.

2. Summary of the Prior Art

In transferring liquids to and from a vessel tied up at dockside, a number of problems develop. First of all, the vessel itself will raise or lower with the tide and also the vessel will raise or lower with respect to the water level as it is loaded and unloaded. Also, some vessels such as tankers may carry many different types of liquids such as oil, gasoline, kerosene and the like of which several of the liquids may be required to be transferred simultaneously. A further problem relates to the space requirements for the hose-handling facilities. Heretofore, the equipment of this nature has been relatively massive, occupying a considerable amount of dockside space and in addition has been relatively inefficient, rather difficult to operate and requiring the services of a number of operators.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide improvements in hose-handling facilities, particularly those facilities located at dockside. A further object of this invention is to provide a hose-handling facility occupying a minimum amount of space and adapted to handle a plurality of hoses for transferring many types of liquids simultaneously. A further object of this invention is to provide a hose-handling facility which may be operated efficiently by a single operator.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention features a hose-handling facility comprised of a raised platform located alongside a dock for a ship, an extensible, power-operated and remotely controlled crane mounted to said platform, a supporting frame extending diagonally with respect to the face of the dock, a bank of spaced, vertical fixed conduits mounted to said support and connected to individual sources of liquids, U-shaped swivel joints connected to the upper ends of said conduits and an elongated flexible conduit connected to each of said joints, a second raised platform spaced from said first platform, a rack mounted on said second platform disposed substantially perpendicularly with respect to the face of the dock, said rack being adapted to support for storage the free end of each of said flexible conduits and control means mounted adjacent said rack for operating said crane and thereby move hoses to and from the ship at dockside.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a view in side elevation of a hose-handling facility made according to the invention,

FIG. 2 is a top plan view thereof, and,

FIG. 3 is a view in front elevation thereof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to the drawings, the facility is generally organized about a raised reinforced structure 10 mounted on a dock 12 and adjacent a dock face 14 against which a ship 16 may be docked. As shown in FIG. 1, the ship 16 will rise and fall over a wide range in accordance with changing tides and changing loads in the vessel. In the uppermost position of FIG. 1, the ship is empty and at high tide. With a full load at high tide the vessel is shown in the lower position of FIG. 1, and at low tide the vessel will drop probably below the level of the dock. These changing conditions must be taken into account since the loading and unloading of liquids such as fuel, for example, from the vessel may entail a considerable length of time during which the tide will change.

The raised structure 10 preferably is fabricated from steel beams, typically upright frame members 18, cross braces 20 with a horizontal platform 22 at the top thereof supporting a remotely controlled, power-operated crane 24. Typically, a guard rail 26 is provided about the platform and an access ladder 28 extends up the side of the platform structure. In the preferred mode, the crane 24 includes an hydraulically actuated telescopic boom 30 which is pivotal about a vertical axis as well as a horizontal axis. The other end of the boom carries a block-and-tackle arrangement 32 with a hook 34 or equivalent grappling member for engaging a coupling 36 on the free end of a flexible hose 38. The couplings 36 are adapted to be hung along a rack 40 mounted in the upper portion of a second raised structure 42 spaced from the platform 10 in diagonally spaced arrangement. The second structure 42 typically is comprised of upright frame members 44, crosspieces 46 and a raised working platform 48 which may be covered by a roof 50 to form an enclosure or booth for an operator. A control panel 52 is provided within the booth and is operatively connected to the power crane 24. Thus, the operator will be closely positioned to the rack 40 so that he may view the rack more closely and control the operation of the crane. The rack 40 preferably is an elongated bracket extending perpendicularly with respect to the dock face 14 and is formed with a plurality of reentrant openings 54 each adapted to receive a coupling 36 in the manner shown for storing a hose not in use, the unused hose being festooned between the two structures.

Mounted vertically along the side of the crane platform 10 is a bank of rigid conduits or pipes 54 spaced in parallel relation and forming a row extending diagonally at perhaps a 45° angle with respect to the face of the dock 14. Each of the pipes 54 is provided at its upper end with an inverted U-shaped swivel joint 56 which is also connected to an associated hose 38. The diagonal positioning of the bank of the pipes makes all hoses equally accessible for connection to a vessel and for rehanging on the rack. The swivel joint permits any hose in the bank to be taken from its rack by means of the crane and guided over to the vessel for transfer of a selected liquid. All of the hoses typically arc of the same length and to keep the rearmost hoses from touching the ground when hung on the rack, the pipes 54 may be made progressively higher from front to rear. In practice, each of the pipes 54 will be connected to a particular liquid storage tank. For example, depending upon the particular facility, four of the hoses might be employed to handle oil, one might be used for kerosene, another for gasoline and another for diesel fuel, etc. In practice, it is desirable that the same hoses be used for the same material in order to prevent contamination. The operator stands in the booth adjacent the rack and there manipulates the crane, first for removing the hose from its rack and subsequently returning the hose to the rack. The diagonal arrangement not only makes all of the hoses accessible but also reduces the amount of area required by the facility.