Safety device for a liftable barrier separating livestock stalls, such as those for cattle.

Abstract

The invention relates to the field of animal husbandry facilities, more particularly cattle farming. It concerns, more specifically, retractable barriers separating cubicles in barns. Figure 1 (for the abstract)

Description

Title of the invention: Safety device for a liftable barrier separating livestock stalls, such as those for cattle

[0001] The invention relates to the field of animal husbandry facilities, more particularly cattle. It relates more specifically to retractable barriers separating cubicles in barns.

[0002] Figure [1] below shows manually retractable barriers according to the state of the art:

[0003] A barrier can slide along two parallel vertical posts of a gantry which, in the lowered position, prevents animals from moving freely throughout the barn. When it is necessary to open this passage between stalls, particularly when it is necessary to move the animals, these barriers are pushed back into the raised position.

[0004] The barrier is raised and lowered manually, this operation being assisted by counterweights which, in certain embodiments, extend inside tubular posts. Cables or ropes connect each of the lateral ends of the barrier to these counterweights by passing over a pulley provided at the upper end of these posts.

[0005] Locks, one of which is visible in [Fig. 2], allow the barrier to be immobilized in the lowered position to prevent it from being lifted by animals. Such a lock is installed at each lateral end of the barrier and has a latch adapted to cooperate with a strike plate fixed to the corresponding part on the posts. This latch slides, for example, inside the lower horizontal bar of the barrier and has an end capable of projecting outwards from the ends of this bar so that, in the locked position, it engages with the strike plate on the post.

[0006] This latch is pushed into this protruding locking position by a spring. Thanks to a control mechanism fitted to the lock, a user can, when wishing to lift the barrier, push this latch into an unlocked position, disengaged from the strike plate, against the action of the spring. Naturally, this user must then unlock each of the locks fitted to the barrier at its ends.

[0007] Figure 3 illustrates another similar design known according to the prior art. In this case, the locks are not positioned in the lower horizontal bar of the barrier, but are installed just above it.

[0008] The embodiment of [Fig. 4] differs from the two preceding ones in that the unlocking command for the locks can be performed simultaneously in part median of the barrier, the point from which it is advisable to lift this barrier in order to raise it.

[0009] In all the solutions previously illustrated and described, the barrier is held in the raised position only by the action of the counterweights. These counterweights must therefore be sized to exert a tension on the barrier greater than its weight to prevent it from simply falling back down under its own weight as soon as the user releases the barrier after lifting it. Conversely, the user must hold it in the lowered position while the latches are being returned to the locked position.

[0010] The major drawback of these solutions stems from the fact that a break in one of the cables or ropes connecting the barrier to the counterweights causes the barrier to fall. Even if this fall is only partial due to the breakage of only one rope or cable on one side of the barrier, it will inevitably collapse on that side and could seriously injure an operator positioned above it. By becoming misaligned between the posts along which it moves, the barrier could also become jammed, causing damage.

[0011] It should be noted that it is already known to motorize, particularly by means of jacks acting on cables or ropes, the raising and lowering of these liftable barriers. In this case, it is necessary to ensure that the locks which secure the barrier in the lowered position are unlocked before initiating the raising operation.

[0012] A motorized, liftable barrier for separating a cubicle is also known, as shown in Figures 5 and 6 below. In this case, an electric hoist is mounted on the upper bar of the gantry, connecting the two posts at their upper ends. This hoist acts on a rope extending midway between these posts until it reaches the barrier, shown in the lowered position in [Fig. 5]. This rope then splits to pass vertically through the barrier until it reaches its lower bar. Each strand of this split rope then extends towards one of the lateral ends of the barrier where these strands are connected to the latch of the locking mechanisms. For this purpose, these latches are equipped with an eyelet at one end, while their opposite end is pushed by a spring into a protruding locking position, in which this end engages in a strike plate fixed to a corresponding post.

[0013] When the pulley pulls vertically on the rope, it is understood that the two strands which split this rope in the lower part, each pull on one of the latches of the locks, bringing them to a stop in the unlocked position.

[0014] It is through these latches, when fully engaged in the unlocked position, and by continuing to pull on the rope, that the block and tackle controls the raising of the barrier. The weight of In this case, the latter is exerted axially on these latches when they are stopped in the unlocked position.

[0015] Such a design, while proving more convenient than the manual solutions described above, also presents several risks of malfunction.

[0016] The rope strands extending inside the barrier are liable to jam so that the lifting command may intervene even before the latches are in the unlocked position.

[0017] Furthermore, a pull exerted at the center of the barrier requires perfect balance of this barrier with respect to this axis of pull. In addition, the slightest resistance to movement along a post at one of the lateral ends of this barrier compared to the opposite lateral end causes this barrier to become angled and wedged between the posts that guide it.

[0018] Moreover, although motorized, a break in the traction rope or in one of the two strands which splits it in the barrier, can cause the latter to fall and create a risk of accident.

[0019] Figures 7 to 11 below illustrate the safety device for a liftable barrier separating cubicles according to the invention.

[0020] This safety device consists of two locks 10, one at each lateral end 11 of the barrier 12. On each of these locks 10 acts a rope or cable 13 connected to a manual counterweight or motorized lifting system which may take, for example, the form of a hoist mounted on the gantry as seen in figures 7 and 8.

[0021] At their lower end 14, these ropes or cables act on a vertical rider 15 extending around a horizontal latch 16 of a lock 10. This rider 15 is mounted movable along a determined vertical stroke 17 on the latch 16.

[0022] Furthermore, the jumper 15 is connected at its lower end 18 in a freely rotatable manner to the end 19 of a pivoting lever 20 mounted to pivot in the housing 21 of the lock. This pivoting lever 20 is extended, beyond its pivot axis 23, by a control arm 24 connected at its free end 25 to the rear end 26 of the latch 16.

[0023] The operating principle is as follows:

[0024] - starting from the lowered rest position of the barrier and during a command to raise the latter, an upward pull is exerted on the ropes or cables;

[0025] - this traction causes the riders to move vertically over at least one part of their idle travel determined in relation to the latches;

[0026] - this movement of the riders controls the tilting of the levers whose arm The control mechanism exerts a pull on the latches, against the action of a spring. to bring these latches, initially pushed into the locked position by these springs, to their unlocked position;

[0027] - the action of the vertical traction exerted on the ropes or cables causes the riders at the end of its travel relative to the latches, coming to rest under these latches;

[0028] - then this traction leads to lifting the barrier through these latches in exerting this force perpendicular to them, unlike the previously described prior art solution.

[0029] This safety device for a liftable barrier separating cubicles is supplemented by openings 27 provided over at least part of the height of the posts 28 in which the latches of the locks are likely to engage.

[0030] Thus, whether the barrier is being raised or lowered, or when it is being raised, the breaking of a rope or cable results in the release of the tension on the gate to which that rope or cable is attached, freeing the pivoting lever. Under the action of the spring, the latch is pushed into the locked position, allowing its end, which protrudes laterally from the barrier, to engage in the nearest opening in the corresponding post.

[0031] The barrier can therefore only fall to a height corresponding to the distance between two successive openings made in the posts.

[0032] If, in a motorized lifting control solution, the locks of this safety device, according to the invention, can be used to lock the barrier in the lowered position, insofar as the motorization can release the traction action exerted on the ropes or cables in order to allow the return springs to push the latches of the locks back into the locking position, this is not the case if counterweights act on these ropes or cables.

[0033] Indeed, these counterweights constantly maintain their pulling action on these ropes or cables, which hold the latches of these safety device locks in the unlocked position against the action of the springs.

[0034] Also, in such a counterweighted manual lifting solution, the barrier can be provided with additional locks 29 for locking the barrier in the lowered position. Such additional locks 29, for example designed as seen in Figures 2 and 3, can be positioned in a dedicated housing 30 located, in the embodiment illustrated in [Fig. 10], at the lateral ends of the barrier, under the lower bar 31 thereof.

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