Underride guard and trucks

Abstract

Swiveling underride guard (15) for a truck (10) with liftgate (12), characterized by a coupling (16) for trailers.

Description

[0001] The invention relates to a pivoting underrun protection and a truck with a tail lift.

[0002] Trucks with tail lifts may be equipped with a pivoting underrun guard underneath. The truck may also have a trailer coupling. This is typically a bolt-on coupling for towing eyes and is attached to the vehicle frame. Light trailers without a towing eye cannot be towed.

[0003] The object of the present invention is to create a pivoting underrun protection for a truck with a tail lift and with the possibility of attaching a trailer, in particular without a towing eye.

[0004] To achieve this objective, the underrun protection device has the features of claim 1. According to this claim, the underrun protection device is provided with a trailer coupling. The coupling can be designed for different or special trailers.

[0005] According to a further aspect of the invention, the coupling can be a ball-and-socket coupling. Ball-and-socket couplings are required for correspondingly designed trailers that are relatively light, namely compared to a truck, or that are typically towed by passenger cars, such as boat trailers or other special trailers.

[0006] According to a further concept of the invention, the coupling can be mounted on a protective bar arranged transversely to the direction of travel. The protective bar is the rear part of the underrun protection.

[0007] According to a further aspect of the invention, the protective beam can have a rear side, with the coupling being arranged on the rear side. Alternatively, the coupling can be attached to an upper side of the protective beam or beneath a lower side. Attachment to the rear side is preferred.

[0008] According to a further aspect of the invention, the guard rail can be held by at least one, preferably at least two, longitudinal beams and pivotable with them about a horizontal axis running transversely to the direction of travel. The number of longitudinal beams per guard rail preferably depends on the length and arrangement of the respective guard rail.

[0009] According to a further concept of the invention, the underrun protection can be multi-part, namely with several, in particular three, partial guards with protective beams. A gap can be left between the protective beams to prevent contact between the underrun protection and the lifting cylinders of the tail lift.

[0010] According to a further concept of the invention, outer guard rails can each be attached to one longitudinal beam, and a central guard rail can be attached to two longitudinal beams. In this case, the outer guard rails are preferably significantly shorter than the central guard rail.

[0011] According to a further aspect of the invention, the underrun protection can have at least two positions, namely a driving position and a relatively higher off-road position. In the driving position, the longitudinal members are preferably aligned horizontally, while in the off-road position, they are particularly inclined upwards.

[0012] According to a further aspect of the invention, the underrun protection device can have locking means for locking it at least in the driving position and especially in the off-road position. The locking means are preferably locking pins.

[0013] According to a further aspect of the invention, the underrun protection device can have securing means for securing the locking means. Spring pins or split pins are preferably provided as securing means. Additionally, the locking means can be secured with a safety cable.

[0014] The invention also relates to a truck with a tail lift and underrun protection according to the invention.

[0015] Further features of the invention will become apparent from the description and the claims. Advantageous embodiments of the invention are explained in more detail below with reference to the drawings. They show: Fig. 1 a vehicle rear in side view, with bolt coupling for towing eyes and with pivoting underrun protection and additional coupling, here as a ball head coupling, Fig. 2 a cross member at the rear of the vehicle with the underrun protection in rear view, Fig. 3 the cross member with underrun protection in a view from above, Fig. 4 the cross member with underrun protection and two positions (I), (II) of the latter in a side view, Fig. 5 the cross member with underrun protection in isometric view, Fig. 6 a section A from Fig. 5 in enlarged view, and Fig. 7 a section B from Fig. 5 in enlarged view.

[0016] A truck 10 has a tail lift 12 at the rear 11 of the vehicle, a bolt coupling 13 for towing eyes (shown here but only optional), and a cross member 14 with hinged underrun protection 15 and ball coupling 16. The tail lift 12 is pivotable at least between an upper position (II) and a lower position (I), as shown in Fig. 1. The underrun protection 15 is pivotable between an upper inclined off-road position (II) and a lower, particularly horizontal, driving position (I), namely preferably by more than 20°, see Fig. 1 and Fig. 4.

[0017] The underrun protection 15 is designed in three parts in the embodiment shown, with a left partial protection 17, a middle partial protection 18 and a right partial protection 19, see in particular Fig. 3 and Fig. 5. Between the partial guards 17, 18 and 18, 19, a gap 20, 21 is provided to allow the movement of a bracket 22 for the tail lift 12. The ball coupling 16 is attached to the middle partial guard 18.

[0018] The two outer partial guards 17, 19 each have a short transverse guard beam 23, a longitudinal member 24, and a joint arrangement 25. The joint arrangement 25 serves to connect the longitudinal member 24 to the cross member 14. The middle partial guard 18 has a somewhat longer transverse guard beam 26, which is held on the cross member 14 by two longitudinal members 24 and joint arrangements 25 and carries the ball head coupling 16, namely in particular on an upright rear side 27 of the guard beam 26. Beams 14, 24 and beams 23, 26 are preferably hollow profiles.

[0019] The joint arrangements 25 here each have two cheeks 28, 29 as cross member-side connecting elements, between which the longitudinal members 24 are held. For this purpose, the longitudinal members 24 can be pivoted about a pivot axis, which extends through the cheeks 28, 29 and openings (not shown) of a support end 30 of the longitudinal member 24. The longitudinal member 24 forms with its support end 30 in Fig. 5-7 a mirrored horizontal "L", with a short, upward-pointing beam end 30 and a long longitudinal beam 24. As in the Fig. 6-7, an extension 31 can be connected to the beam end 30 downwards. In Fig. 4, only the lower extension 31 is visible, while the upwardly facing beam end 30 is concealed by the cheek 28. Beam end 30 and extension 31 are preferably sections of a common hollow profile, which is connected transversely to the respective longitudinal beam 24, see in particular Fig. 5-7.

[0020] As a locking means for the underrun protection 15, at least one locking bolt 32 is provided on each of the cheeks 28, 29, the latter being inserted through the cheeks 28, 29 and openings (not shown) of the support end 30. Fig. 5-7 show the locking pins 32 in the driving position (I) of the underrun protection 15.

[0021] The cheeks 28, 29 have holes 33 for receiving the locking pins 32 in the driving position 15(I) and holes 34 for receiving the locking pin 32 in the off-road position 15(II), see Fig. 4.

[0022] The locking bolts 32 are secured at free ends by means of securing means against loosening, which are designed here as spring pins 35, see Fig. 7. The locking pins 32 are secured on the head side preferably by means of securing means against loss, in particular a safety rope 36, which is attached at one end to the respective locking pin 32 and is held at the other end to the cheek 28 or 29, in particular with a snap hook 37 in a slot 38, see Fig. 6.

[0023] Components of the joint arrangements 25 also include bearing pins 39 in unspecified holes in the cheeks 28, 29, vertically below the holes 33 for the locking pins 32 in the travel position 15(I). The bearing pins 39 are axially secured to the cheeks 28, 29 at least on one side, preferably as described in DE 10 2011 120 836 A1. Fig. 3-5. The bearing pins 39 define the pivot axis mentioned above for the longitudinal members 24 and thus for the underrun protection 15.

[0024] Starting from the horizontal driving position (I) of the underrun protection 15 in Fig. 4, 5-7, the three partial guards 17, 18, 19 can be manually swivelled upwards into the terrain position (II) after removing the spring pins 35 from the locking pins 32 and the locking pins 32 from the holes 33, see Fig. 4. Subsequently, the locking pins 32 are inserted into the holes 34 and the spring pins 35 are reinserted to secure the off-road position (II). The ball-head coupling 16 is intended here only for use in the driving position (I) of the underrun protection 15. Instead of the ball-head coupling 16, a coupling of a different design can also be attached to the underrun protection 15. List of reference symbols (as part of the description): 10 trucks 11 Rear of vehicle 12 (I) Tail lift, lower position 12 (II) Tail lift, upper position 13 Bolt coupling 14 cross members 15 (I) Underrun protection, driving position 15 (II) Underrun protection, off-road position 16 Ball head coupling 17 left partial protection 18 medium partial protection 19 right partial protection 20 gap 21 gap 22 Bracket 23 protective beams 24 longitudinal members 25 joint arrangements 26 Protective beam 27 Back 28 cheek 29 Cheek 30 beam end 31 extension 32 locking bolts 33 holes (driving position) 34 boreholes (field position) 35 spring pins 36 safety rope 37 snap hooks 38 slot 39 bearing bolts QUOTES CONTAINED IN THE DESCRIPTION

[0000] This list of documents submitted by the applicant was generated automatically and is included solely for the convenience of the reader. This list is not part of the German patent or utility model application. The DPMA assumes no liability for any errors or omissions. Cited patent literature

[0000] DE 10 2011 120 836 A1

[0023]

Claims

[1] Pivoting underrun protection (15) for a truck (10) with tail lift (12), characterized by a coupling (16) for trailers. [2] Underrun protection (15) according to claim 1, characterized by that the coupling (16) is a ball head coupling. [3] Underrun protection (15) according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by that the coupling (16) is held on a protective bar (26) directed transversely to the direction of travel. [4] Underrun protection (15) according to claim 3, characterized by that the protective bar (26) has a rear side (27) and the coupling (16) is arranged on the rear side (27). [5] Underrun protection (15) according to claim 4, characterized by that the protective beam (26) is held on at least one, preferably on at least two longitudinal beams (24) and is pivotable with these about a horizontal axis running transversely to the direction of travel. [6] Underrun protection (15) according to claim 4 or 5, characterized bythat the underrun protection (15) is made up of several parts, namely with several, in particular three partial protections (17, 18, 19) with protective beams (23, 26). [7] Underrun protection (15) according to claim 6, characterized by that outer protective beams (23) are each held on a longitudinal beam (24) and a central protective beam is held on two longitudinal beams (24). [8] Underrun protection (15) according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized by at least two positions, namely a driving position (I) and a relatively higher off-road position (II). [9] Underrun protection (15) according to claim 8, characterized by Locking means (32) for locking at least in the driving position (I) and in particular in the off-road position (II). [10] Underrun protection (15) according to claim 9, characterized by Securing means (35, 36) for securing the locking means (32). [11] Truck (10) with a tail lift (12) and a pivoting underrun protection (15) according to one of the preceding claims.

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