Double action trailer door

Abstract

A double action door for a trailer comprising at least one L-shaped frame 10 having an upright member 12 and cross member. The upright member is hingedly attachable to the trailer for pivotal movement

Description

The present invention relates to improvements in relation to trailer doors. Enclosed trailers such as box trailers include a door, usually a rear door, to allow access into and out of the trailer. Depending on the intended use of the trailer, conventionally the door would be configured to either side hinge in the manner of a conventional (barn) door, or bottom hinge so that the door can be lowered to form a ramp for allowing access to the trailer. The choice of one or other action on the door, however, is limiting on the application of the trailer. IN order to overcome that issue, it is known in the art to provide trailers with a double action rear door - that is one which is able to be hinged both at the side as a conventional door as well as at the bottom so the door can be used as a ramp. Once such door known in the art uses a one piece door panel that has clamps on the upper sides and a pin release at the lower edge. The upper side clamps can be released to enable the door panel to be pivoted downwards to form a ramp, or the upper side clamp and lower pin on one side can be released to allow the door to be pivoted about the opposite side. Whilst this solution does enable double action opening, not only is the resulting side opening door very large, which can be restrictive on its use, but the multiple latching points make opening and closing in the two configurations complicated and cumbersome. IN another double action rear door known in the art, side opening doors are provided within a ramp system formed by an enclosed rectangular frame in which the side opening doors are hingedly mounted. More particularly, each side opening door is hingedly attached along one side edge to a side of the frame of the ramp system, and the frame is hingedly connected along a bottom edge to the base of the trailer. The whole assembly may be lowered by releasing retainers at the top of the system and pivoting about the lower edge to provide ramp access. Alternatively, the side opening doors may be opened by rotating them relative to the frame along their hinged edge whilst the ramp system is in an upright position. This solution is simpler as the hinges are fixed and do not need to be disconnected to open in either manner. Also, two separate side opening doors are provided so they are more manageable. However, the aperture for each side opening doors is significantly reduced due to the surrounding ramp frame, and the latching mechanism for each side opening door requires a complicated multiple point latch / shoot bolt type system. According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a double action door for a trailer comprising at least one L shaped frame member formed by an upright member and a cross member extending from a lower end of the upright member, fastening means provided on the upright member by means of which, in use, the frame member can be hingedly attached to a side of an opening in the trailer for pivotal movement about an axis parallel to said upright member, and a panel which extends across and is hingedly attached at one edge to said cross member of the frame member so as to be pivotally moveable about said cross member between a raised position in which the panel overlies the frame member so as to at least partially close an opening formed between said cross member and said upright member, and a lowered position in which said panel extends away from cross member out of a plane defined by said L-shaped frame so as to form a ramp leading to said cross member, and latching means releasably operable to latch said panel in said raised position. A double action door in accordance with the invention has the advantage that the provision of an L shaped frame member ensures that when the panel is lowered to provide ramped access through the opening, there is no cross member at the top of the frame which limits the access height - the height of the opening is limited only by the height of the trailer on which the assembly is mounted, thereby overcoming the shortcoming of the prior art, Furthermore, the resulting assembly is lighter and therefore easier to operate than the prior art systems. Preferably, the upright member of the frame has at least two fixed hinge brackets carried thereon by means of which the frame can be hingedly mounted on the side of an access opening in a trailer. The panel preferably also has at least two fixed hinge brackets on said one end which cooperates with complementary fixed brackets mounted on the cross member of the frame to hingedly secure the panel to said cross member. Preferably the double action door includes frame member latching means on said cross member for latching the L shaped frame member in a first position. IN one embodiment, said frame member latching means comprises one of a latching jaw and a latching pin which, in use, cooperates with the other of the latching jaw and the latching pin provided on the rear of the trailer on which, in use, the door is mounted for latching said frame member in said first position. Said latching jaw is preferably biased into an open position and has releasable locking means for securing it in the latched position, said locking means being retractable to release said latching pin from said latching jaw. Said latching jaw is in particular spring biased, and is pressed into the latched position by engagement of the latch pin with the latching jaw as the L-shaped frame is closed against the back of the back of the trailer. Upon retracting the locking means, the latching jaw is released to rotate and release the latching pin, thereby allowing the L-shaped frame to be rotated about its side hinges into an open position. In a particularly preferred embodiment, the latching jaw is provided on the cross member and a release handle is provided on the ramp panel. The latching means for latching the ramp panel in the raised position preferably comprises one of a latch member, in particular a latch pin, and a latch jaw located towards the upper end of the upright member of the frame member, which, in use, engages with complementary other of the latch member / pin and the latch jaw provided on the proximate side edge of the panel to latch the panel to the L shaped frame. In a particularly preferred embodiment, the latch jaw is provided in the panel of the double action door and the mating latch member is provided on the frame member. Preferably, a third latch means is provided on an edge of the panel which is opposite said one edge by which the panel is attached to the cross member of the frame member and which, in use, forms a top edge of the panel, said third latch means, in use, engaging in a latch slot provided on the trailer at the top edge of said opening so as to latch the top edge of the panel to the top of the trailer. IN a particularly preferred embodiment, the third latch means is a post which retractably protrudes from the top edge of the ramp panel, and preferably is biased by biasing means into a protruding position it projects beyond the top of the ramp panel. The post preferably then has a chamfered upper edge which matches a slope on the upper end of the ramp panel so the upper edge of the post is flush with the upper end of the ramp panel when it is retracted. The provision of the third latch means provides additional security against movement of the top of the panel and hence secures against both movement of the panel relative to the L shaped frame member and also against movement of the L shaped frame member relative to the trailer. Since it is the latch post which needs to be actuated to release the third latch member and hence allow the panel to be lowered, this has the advantage that again the mechanism for releasing the ramp can be fully contained within the double action door. In a particularly preferred embodiment, operation of each of the frame member, ramp panel and third latching means is controlled by a single release member, in particular a release lever or handle located on a surface of the double action door which, in use, forms an outside surface of the door, and more particularly on the outside of the panel. The release member is preferably configured for rotational movement to effect operative movement of the latching jaws of the latching means, rotation in a first direction from a neutral position releasing the first latching means and rotation in a second direction from the neutral position releasing the second latching means, the third latching means being retracted upon rotation in either direction from the neutral position (since this is necessary which ever action of the door is required) and being extended when the release member is returned back to it’s position. In a particularly preferred embodiment, rotation of the release member in either direction initially only retracts the third latching means, continued rotation of the release member after the third latching means has been retracted then effecting operative movement of either the frame member latching means or the ramp panel latching means depending on the direction in which the release member has been rotated from a neutral position. Preferably, the release member is connected to each of the first and second latching jaws by means of first and second Bowden cables such that the associated cable is tensioned upon rotation of the release member so as to move the associated latching jaw to its release position. Preferably, the latch post is attached to the release member by means of a rigid actuating bar which is retracted to retract the latch post upon rotation of the release member in either direction, and which is extended to actively move the latch post to the extended position when the release member is returned to it is neutral position. A lost motion coupling may be provided between the actuating bar and the latch post so that movement of the latch post to its extended position does not start until the release member has released the tension on the first or second Bowden cable. Preferably the first Bowden cable is pulled to release the first latching jaw upon rotation of the release member in a first direction, and the second Bowden cable is pulled to release the second latching jaw upon rotation of the release member in a second direction. According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a transport container having a storage area defined between opposed side panels, a front panel extending between said opposed side panels and at least one back panel opposed to said front panel and extending between said side panels, wherein said at least one back panel is a double action door according to the first aspect of the invention. The transport container is preferably a trailer but may be storage container which is part of a vehicle such as a cargo lorry, or may be a container which is separate to but can be loaded onto a trailer. The at least one back panel may be a single double action door which spans the entire distance between the opposed side panels, but preferably comprises two double action doors, each according to the first aspect of the invention, one of the double action doors being hingedly attached to each of said side panels such that the double action doors extend towards each other to span the space between said side panels and thereby close said storage area of the container when said double action doors are in a closed position, said double action doors being independently operable to selectively pivotally open either or both doors and thereby partially or fully open the rear of the storage area. IN order that the invention may be well understood, there will now be described an embodiment thereof, given by way of example, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a box trailer according to the prior art which is an example of the type of trailer on which the present invention may be used; Figure 2 is a perspective view of an L-shaped frame which forms part of a double action door according to the invention; Figure 2a is a detailed view of part of the L-shaped frame of Figure 2; Figure 3 is a perspective view of the L-shaped frame of Figure 2 with a ramp panel mounted thereto; Figure 4 is a detail view of the L-shaped frame of Figure 3 showing the attachment of an upright member to a side edge of the trailer; Figure 5 is a detail view of the L-shaped frame of Figure 3 showing the attachment of the ramp panel to a cross member of the L-shaped frame; Figure 6 is a perspective view of the rear of a trailer having the L-shaped frame of Figure 3 mounted thereon in a closed configuration; Figure 7 is a perspective view of the rear of the trailer of Figure 6 with the L-shaped frame in a first open configuration; Figure 8 is a perspective view of the rear of the trailer of Figure 6 with the L-shaped frame in a second open configuration; Figure 9 is a detailed view of a latch jaw formed in the cross member of the L-shaped frame; Figure 10 is a detailed view of the back of the trailer showing a latching pin carried thereon which is engaged by the latch jaw of Figure 9; Figure 11 is a perspective view of the ramp panel and upright member showing a second latching jaw and pin provided on the two parts; Figure 11a is an enlarged view of the second latching jaw and pin of the 11 in an unlatched configuration; Figure 11b is an enlarged view of the second latching jaw and pin of the 11 in a latched configuration; Figure 12 is a perspective view of the ramp panel showing a latching bar protruding therefrom; Figure 12a is an enlarged view of the top of the edge of the ramp member showing the latching bar; Figure 13 is the enlarged view the top of the ramp member with the latching bar latched in a latching slot in a cross bar of the trailer; Figure 14 is an enlarged view of a release handle for the latching pins mounted on the ramp panel; Figure 15 is a cut away view of the ramp panel should the actuation arrangement for the various latches; Figure 16 is an enlarged view of the inside of the release handle in a neutral position; Figure 17 is an enlarged view of the inside of the release handle of Figure 16 rotated anticlockwise to release the first latching pin and the latching bar to allow the L-shaped frame to be rotated about its side hinges; and Figure 18 is an enlarged view of the inside of the release handle of Figure 16 rotated clockwise to release the second latching pin and the latching bar to allow the frame panel to be rotated into its lowered position. Referring first to Figure 1, there is shown a box trailer 1 known in the prior art. The trailer comprises a base 2 having opposed side panels 3, 4 extending upwards therefrom, a front panel (not visible) extending upwards from the base 2 between first end edges of the side panels 3, 4, and a rear door 5 extending upwards from the base 2 between second end edges of the side panels 3, 4, the rear door being openable to allow access to the inside of the trailer defined between the side panels 3, 4, front panel and rear door 5. The present invention replaces the rear door 5 of the prior art with a pair of double action doors as hereinafter. The detail of the left hand door is described below but it will understand that the right hand door will have identical configuration but mirror imaged so that it hinges on the opposite side of the trailer. Each door comprises a L-shaped frame 10, shown in Figure 2, formed by a cross member 11 which extends horizontally and an upright member 12 which extends vertically upwards from one end 11a of the cross member 11 (the left hand end of the left door illustrated in Figures 2 - 5). The upright member 12 has vertically spaced hinge brackets 13a secured thereto and extending from its left hand side thereof in the opposite direction to the cross member 11, by means of which the L- shaped frame 10 can be pivotally attached to a complementary left hand side edge 20 of the trailer as shown in Figure 4. As shown in Figure 3, mounted within the L-shaped frame 10 is a rectangular ramp panel 14 which covers the rectangular area of which the L-shaped frame 10 defines two sides. The ramp panel 14 is pivotally attached to the cross member 11 of the L-shaped frame 10 by means of hinge brackets 15a formed on the bottom edge of the ramp panel 14 which pivotally engage with complementary hinge brackets 15b formed on the cross member 11 (Figure 5). The form of suitable such hinge brackets is well known in the art and will not be described further herein. As shown in Figure 6, the L-shaped frame 10 locates within the rear opening of the trailer so that the upright member 12 extends up the left side edge of the opening with the hinge brackets 13a pivotally mounting it thereto, and the cross member 11 extends half way across the bottom edge of the opening, so that the ramp panel 14 closes half of the rear opening of the trailer (a mirror image right hand door pivotally mounted on the right hand side edge of the trailer opening meeting the left door so as to completely close the rear opening of the trailer). The left hand door may be opened in a first manner by rotating the door, including the ramp panel 14, about the hinges 13a, 13b, resulting in the door opening fully in the manner shown in Figure 7. The hinges 13a are shaped to allow the door to rotate 270 degrees so that the door folds back onto the outside of the left side in a well known manner. Alternatively, the door may be opening in a second manner by pivoting the ramp panel 14 about the hinges 15a, 15b between the bottom edge of the ramp panel 14 and the cross member 11, as shown in Figure 8, between a raise position in which the ramp panel aligns with the upright member 12 of the L-shaped frame 10 and a lowered position in which the ramp panel 14 is pivoted out of the panel of the upright member 12 and downwards from the cross member 11, whilst the L- shaped frame stays with the cross member 11 extending across the bottom of the opening. The double action door also includes a latching system to enable the door to be latched in place and selectively released to enable opening in the different modes shown in Figures 7 and 8 as follows: AS shown in Figure 9, the cross member 11 has a latch jaw 21 mounted therein proximate its free end and a complementary latch pin 22 is mounted on the bottom of the opening in the trailer. The latch jaw 21 has an opening 21a with a mouth therein sized such that a shaft 22a of the latch pin can enter the opening 21a through the mouth, and the latch jaw 21 is furthermore pivotally moveable between an open position in which jaw is oriented with the mouth open to the back of side of the cross member 11 which abuts the back of the trailer in its closed position so as to enable the shaft 22a of the latch pin 22 to engage in the opening 21a through the mouth, and a closed position in which the mouth is rotated away from the back side of the cross member 11. The latch jaw 21 is biased into said open position by a torsion spring, and is rotated to said closed position against the biasing action of the torsion spring by a camming action developed between the latching jaw 21 and the shaft 22a of the latching pin 22 as the pin engages in the opening 21 a through the mouth. A latch member engages with the latch jaw 21 to hold it in position once it is fully closed. The latch pin 22 is positioned such that it aligns with the open mouth of the latch jaw 21 as the L-shaped member 10 is rotated about its side hinges 13a into its closed position, automatically latching the pin 22 in the latch jaw 21 and hence latching the L-shaped member in a closed position. The latch member is remotely releasable as described below to allow the L-shaped frame to be pivoted open. The upright member 12 of the L-shaped member furthermore includes a second latching pin 23, which extends from the upright member perpendicularly towards the opposite side of the trailer and is supported at its extended end in a mounting bracket 23a. The second latching pin 23 is positioned to engage in a second latching jaw 24 formed in the ramp panel 14 as the ramp panel 14 rotated into its upright position so as to latch the ramp panel 14 in said upright position. The latching jaw 24 is formed in an identical manner as the latching jaw 21 in the cross member 11 and will not be described again in detail. As with the latching jaw 21, the second latching jaw 24 latches in the closed position so as to automatically retain the ramp panel 14 in its upright position, and is remotely releasable (as described below) to release the second latch jaw 24 to rotate to an open position under the action of a biasing spring and allow the ramp panel 14 to be lowered into its lowered position. A third latching system is also provided which latches the top of the ramp panel 14 to the top of the trailer opening. More particularly, the ramp panel 14 has a latching bar 25 mounted in its top edge 14a so as to protrude upwards therefrom beyond the upper edge of the ramp panel 14 as shown in Figure 12. The latching bar 25 is slidably moveable into a retracted position in which its upper edge is retracted flush with the upper edge of the ramp panel 14. The latching bar 25 furthermore has a chamfered upper end 25a to match a slope on the upper edge 14a of the ramp panel 14 as shown in the Figure 12a, so that the upper end 25a is fully flush with the upper edge of the ramp panel 14 when retracted. As the ramp panel 14 is rotated into its upright position, the latching bar 25 must be retracted to allow the upper edge 14a of the ramp panel 14 to engage under a cross bar 26 which forms the top of the trailer open. The ramp panel 14 is fully engaged under the cross bar 26, the latching bar 25 can then be extended to engage in a slot 27 in the cross bar 26, thereby locking the ramp panel 14 against movement away from the cross bar 26 and hence opening of the double action door in either sense (the ramp can neither rotate about the bottom hinges 15a, 15b, nor rotate with the L-shaped frame 10 about the side hinges 13a, 13b). As with the other latches, the latching bar 25 is remotely retracted and extended to lock or open the door as set out below. All three of the latches on the double action door can be operated using a single handle 28 located on the outside of the ramp panel 14 as shown in Figure 3 and in more detail in Figures 14 to 18. The handle 28 is a rotary handle mounted on a shaft (not shown) which extends inside the ramp panel 14 and on the inside end of which is fastened an actuating lever 28a so as to be rotationally fast with the handle - i.e the actuating lever 28a rotates with the handle 28. The actuating lever 28a is mounted centrally on the shaft with an actuating arm 28b, 28c extending radially in opposite directions therefrom. A rigid connecting bar 31 connects at one end to the free end of a first of the actuating arms 28b, and at the other end to the latching bar 25 at the top of the ramp panel, so that when the connecting bar 31 is pulled downwards, the latching bar 25 is retracted from the slot 27 into the ramp panel 14, disengaging the upper latch. Figure 16 shows the neutral position of the handle 28 with the free end of the first actuating arm 28b top dead centre. In this way, rotation of the handle 28 and hence the actuating lever 28a will result in said first actuating arm 28b moving further away from the latching bar 25 and hence the connecting bar 31 retracting the latching bar 25. Similarly, rotation of the handle 28 back to the neutral position will result in the connecting bar 31 being push upwards, extending the latching bar 25 to protrude from the top edge 14a of the ramp panel 14 and back into engagement in the slot 27 if the ramp panel is properly engaged under the cross bar 26. The rigid connection between the actuating lever 28a and the latching bar 25 ensure that the latching bar 25 remains in its retracted position until actively extended by the user, and also will ensure that the user will be alerted if the L-shaped frame 10 is not fully closed as the handle will not fully rotate back to the neutral position if the latching bar 25 is not aligned with the slot 27. A pair of secondary latch levers 32, 33 are mounted to one side of actuating lever 28a within the rotary range of the first and second actuating arms 28b, 28c so that when the actuating lever rotates in one direction, the free end of the first actuating arm 28b engages the one of secondary latching levers 32, and when the actuating lever 28a rotates in the other direction, the free end of the second actuating arm 28c engages the other of the secondary latching levers 33. A first push / pull Bowden cable 29 attaches at one end to the one of the secondary latching levers 32 and at the other end to the latch member for the latch jaw 21 in the cross member 11, such that when the first actuator arm 28b engages said one of the secondary latching levers 32, the first Bowden cable 29 is pulled, retracting the latch member and releasing the latch jaw 21 from the latch pin 22 to thereby allow the L-shaped frame 10 and ramp panel 14 to be pivoted open about the side hinges 13a. A second push / pull Bowden cable 30 attaches at one end to the other of the secondary latching levers 33 and at the other end to the latch member for the latch jaw 24 in the ramp panel 14, such that when the second actuator arm 28c engages said other of the secondary latching levers 33, the second Bowden cable 30 is pulled, retracting the latch member and releasing the latch jaw 24 from the latch pin 23 to thereby allow the ramp panel 14 to be folded downwards into its lowered position about the bottom hinges 15a. As can be seen from Figure 16, the actuating lever 28a starts to retract the connecting bar 31 as soon as it starts to rotate in either direction but has to be rotated through 90 degrees in either direction before engaging either of the secondary latching levers 32, 33, thereby ensuring that the top latch is always released before the relevant other latch. Each of the latching levers is spring biased into a horizontal I latched positions shown in Figure 16 corresponding to no load being applied to the attached Bowden cable (see exemplary spring 34 in Figure 16), so that each of the Bowden cables 29, 30 are in an untensioned state when not actively engaged by the actuating lever 28a. Since the latching jaws 21, 24 are biased into their open position once released from their latching members, when the Bowden cables 29, 30 are untensioned, the jaws 21, 24 will remain oriented to receive their associated latch pins upon closing the L-shaped frame 10 or ramp panel 14 respectively. It will of course be recognised that the other connecting and actuating mechanisms are possible within the scope of the invention. For example, instead of a connecting bar 31 connecting the first actuating arm28b to the latching bar 25, a Bowden type cable may instead be used, with the latching bar 25 then being spring loaded into its extended position so that it automatically latches in the slot 27 when aligned therein, the chamfered upper end then acting as a cam to automatically retract the latching bar 25 as the ramp panel 14 is closed. Similarly, the actuating lever 28a may be formed with a single actuating arm and the secondary actuating levers 32, 33 then located on diametrically opposite sides of the actuating lever 28a so as to be engaged only when the actuating lever 28a is rotated towards them. A stop may also be provided to prevent the actuating lever 28a rotating too far in either direction, and the actuating lever 28a may be spring biased to return to its neutral position shown in Figure 16 when not being rotated by a user. As already stated above, the above description is of one of the doors, but the other one will operate in an identical manner with everything located in a mirror image of the described arrangement.

Claims

1. A double action door for a trailer comprising at least one L shaped frame member formed by an upright member and a cross member extending from a lower end of the upright member, fastening means provided on the upright member by means of which, in use, the frame member can be hingedly attached to a side of an opening in the trailer for pivotal movement about an axis parallel to said upright member, and a ramp panel which extends across and is hingedly attached at one edge to said cross member of the frame member so as to be pivotally moveable about said cross member between a raised position in which the panel overlies the frame member so as to at least partially close an opening formed between said cross member and said upright member, and a lowered position in which said ramp panel extends away from cross member out of a plane define by said upright and said cross member so as to form a ramp leading to said cross member, ramp panel latching means releasably operable to latch said ramp panel in said raised position, and frame member latching means on said cross member for latching the L-shaped frame member in a first position; wherein operation of each of the latching means is controlled by a single lever or handle located on a surface of the double action door which, in use, forms an outside surface of the door.

2. A double action door according to claim 1, wherein the upright member of the frame has at least two fixed hinge brackets carried thereon by means of which the frame can be hingedly mounted on the side of an access opening in a trailer.

3. A double action door according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein said ramp panel has at least two fixed hinge brackets on said one end which engage with complementary fixed brackets mounted on the cross member of the frame to hingedly secure the panel to said cross member.13 05 2513 05 254. A double action door according to any of the preceding claims, wherein said frame member latching means comprises a latching jaw which, in use, cooperates with a latching pin provided on the rear of the trailer on which, in use, the door is mounted for latching said frame member in said first position.

5. A double action door according to claim 4, wherein said latching jaw is biased into an open position and includes releasable locking means for securing it in the latched position, said locking means being retractable to release the latching jaw to allow it to rotate into the open position to release said latching pin from said latching jaw.

6. A double action door according to any of the preceding claims, wherein said ramp panel latching means comprises a latch pin located towards the upper end of the upright member of the L-shaped frame member and a latch jaw provided on the proximate side edge of the ramp panel which is positioned to align and engage with the latch pin when the ramp panel is rotated into its raised position so as to latch the panel to the L-shaped frame.

7. A double action door according to any of the preceding claims, wherein further latching means is provided on an edge of the ramp panel which is remote from the cross member and which, in use, forms a top edge of the panel, said further latching means, in use, engaging in a latch slot provided on the trailer at the top edge of said opening so as to latch the top of the ramp panel to the top of the trailer.

8. A double action door according to claim 7, wherein said further latching means comprises a post which retractably protrudes from the top edge of the ramp panel, and is biased by biasing means into a protruding position in which it projects beyond the top of the ramp panel, said post being retractable against the loading of the biasing means to allow the ramp panel to engage against or be retracted from the top edge of said opening.13 05 259. A double action door according to claim 8, wherein said post has a ramped upper edge which engages an upper cross bar of the trailer upon raising the ramp panel to its raised position, the resulting camming action causing the post to retract into the ramp panel and then spring outwards under the loading of the biasing means into engagement in the latch slot so as to hold the ramp panel in the raised position.

10. A double action door according to claim 8 or claim 9, wherein the post is attached to the lever by means of a rigid actuating bar which is retracted to retract the post upon rotation of the lever.

11. A double action door according to any of claims 7 to 10, wherein the lever is configured for rotational movement to effect operative movement of the latching means, rotation in a first direction releasing the ramp panel latching means and the further latching means, and rotation in a second direction releasing the frame member latching means and the further latching means.

12. A double action door according to claim 11, wherein rotation of the lever in either direction initially only releases the further latching means, continued rotation of the lever after releasing the further latching means then releasing the other of the ramp panel and frame member latching means.

13. A double action door according to claim 11 or claim 12, wherein lever is connected to each of the ramp panel and frame member latching jaws by means of first and second Bowden cables such that the associated cable is tensioned upon rotation of the lever so as to allow the associated latching jaw to move to a lease position.

14. A double action door according to claim 13, wherein the first Bowden cable is pulled to release the frame member latching jaw upon rotation of the lever in a13 05 25first direction, and the second Bowden cable is pulled to release the ramp panel latching jaw upon rotation of the lever in a second direction.

15. A transport container having a storage area defined between opposed side panels, a front panel extending between first ends of said opposed side panels and at least one back panel opposed to said front panel and extending between second ends of said side panels, wherein said at least one back panel is a double action door according to any of the preceding claims.

16. A transport container according to claim 15 which is a trailer.

17. A transport container according to claim 15 or claim 16, comprising two double action doors each according to claim of claims 1 to 14, one of the double action doors being hingedly attached to the second end of one of the side panels and the other double action door being hingedly attached to the second end of the other of the side panels, such that the double action doors extend towards each other to span the space between said side panels and thereby close said storage area of the container when said double action doors are in a closed position, said double action doors being independently operable to selectively pivotally open either or both doors and thereby partially or fully open the rear of the storage area.

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