LEVER-TYPE CLAMPING DEVICE, ESPECIALLY FOR THE DOOR OF TRUCKS, TRAILERS AND THE LIKE

Abstract

A lever-type fastening device particularly for the door of the body of trucks, trailers and the like, comprising at least one rod (2), which is supported so that it can rotate along the door (3) and to which at least one lever (4) for opening and closing the door (3) manually is rigidly coupled at right angles, the lever (4) being able to rotate from a position for closing the door (3), in which it engages, by means of a substantially pawl-shaped lug (5), in a respective locator (8) that is rigidly coupled to the body, to a position for opening the door (3), in which the pawl-shaped lug (5) is disengaged from the locator (8), characterized in that it comprises, coaxially to the rod (2), a spring (10) for retaining the lever (4) in the closure position, which is associated with a spacer (11) that allows precision placement of the lever (4) with respect to the door (3) and allows to support the axial load that bears on the spring (10) during operation. <IMAGE>

Description

Title: LEVER CLAMPING DEVICE, PARTICULARLY FOR THE TAILGATE OF TRUCKS, TRAILERS AND SIMILAR On behalf of: Pastore & Lombardi Srl BO2Q03U ti 0 J 0 99 Headquartered in: Cadriano di Granarolo dell'Emilia (BO) * * * * DESCRIPTION The present invention relates to a lever-type clamping device, particularly for the tailgate of trucks, trailers and the like. Locks for the doors of truck bodies are known and widely used and consist of at least one articulation rod supported so as to rotate along the door and having, at the lower end, a lever for opening and closing. The operating lever, usually arranged horizontally, is equipped with a sort of appendage shaped substantially like a harpoon: the lever can be rotated manually from a closed position, in which it is arranged parallel to the truck body and in which the harpoon-shaped appendage engages in a respective stop integral with the body itself, to an open position in which the appendage is released from the stop, thus allowing free rotation of the tailgate around its hinging axis and access to the body compartment. During loading and unloading operations, each of the doors remains open and the respective operating lever may inadvertently protrude from the level of the door itself, constituting both an impediment and a potential danger for the operators. Or. lag. Guide Mediano, ' vere Mediarlo, c>. To address this issue, locks have been equipped with elastic devices to hold the lever in the closed position when the tailgate is open, preventing it from protruding outward. These elastic devices generally consist of a torsion spring mounted along the lock's pivot rod, between the lever and the lower edge of the tailgate. Mounted in this position, the spring is, however, subjected to considerable axial stress, primarily due to the lock's assembly method and the constraints of the body frame. These stresses cause an abnormal load on the spring, which compromises its lifespan and leads to premature failure. Furthermore, these locks are generally assembled rather poorly, particularly with regard to the lever's position relative to the lower edge of the tailgate. The technical task of the present invention is now to overcome the aforementioned shortcomings by developing a locking device for truck doors with improved and reliable operation, i.e. capable of preserving the efficiency and duration of the lever retaining spring in the closed position. Within the scope of this technical task, an object of the present invention is to provide a clamping device that can be assembled precisely and in a versatile manner. Not least, the aim of the present invention is to accomplish the preceding task with a simple structure that is relatively easy to implement in practice, safe to use, effective to operate, and relatively low in cost. This task and these purposes are achieved by the present lever-type locking device, particularly for the tailgate of trucks, trailers and the like, comprising at least one rod, supported so as to rotate along said tailgate, to which at least one lever for the manual opening and closing of said tailgate is orthogonally integral, said lever being rotatable from a closed position of said tailgate in which it engages, with an appendage substantially shaped like a harpoon, in a respective abutment integral with the frame of said body, to an open position of said tailgate in which said harpoon-shaped appendage is released from said abutment, characterised in that it comprises, coaxial with said rod, a spring for retaining said lever in said closed position,associated with a spacer element designed to allow the precision positioning of said lever with respect to said door and to support the axial load acting on said spring during operation. Further features will become clearer and more evident from the detailed description of a preferred, but not exclusive, embodiment of a lever-type locking device, particularly for the tailgate of trucks, trailers and the like according to the invention, illustrated by way of example, but not of limitation, in the attached drawings, in which: - Figure 1 shows a front view of the clamping device according to the finding; Figure 2 represents a partially sectioned bottom view of the same device; - Figure 3 shows a detailed front view of the device tightening; Figure 4 illustrates, in detail, a cross-section of the device according to the invention, performed according to the plane IV - IV of figure 3. In the following examples of embodiment, individual features, reported in relation to specific examples, may in reality be interchanged with other different features, existing in other examples of embodiment. Furthermore, it should be noted that anything that is revealed to be already known during the patent application process is deemed not to be claimed and is subject to exclusion from the claims. With particular reference to these figures, the number 1 generally indicates a lever-type clamping device, particularly for the tailgate of trucks, trailers and the like. The device comprises at least one vertical articulation rod 2, rotatably supported along the door 3 of the truck body, to which at least one operating lever 4 is made integral, extending horizontally and conforms to a sort of substantially harpoon-shaped appendage 5. The lever 4 can be rotated, manually, from a closed position of the door 3, in which it is housed and retained in a base 6 integral with the frame of the truck body (thanks to the engagement of a relief 7 of the base 6 in a recess 7a of the lever 4) and in which the harpoon-shaped appendage 5 is engaged in a respective abutment 8 integral with the base 6 itself, to an open position of the door 3, in which the harpoon-shaped appendage 5 is released from the abutment 8, so as to be able to freely rotate the door around its hinging axis and allow access to the loading compartment of the body. The base 6 is equipped with manually operated locking means 9 of the Dr. Hg. „ Vera Mediano, Or. Ino.' Carlo Veriteroli Median taro Name Zanetti, lever 4 in the closed position, means to prevent the latter from accidentally releasing, leaving the tailgate 3 free to open. According to the invention, the clamping device comprises a retaining spring 10 for the lever 4 in the closed position, housed inside a spacer element 11 mounted coaxially along the articulation rod 2 and interposed between the lever 4 itself and the lower edge 12 of the door 3, an element suitable for supporting the axial load which, in operation, weighs on the retaining spring 10. Furthermore, by varying the axial dimension of the spacer element 11 it is possible to obtain, with precision and accuracy, different assembly configurations, better suited to specific applications. The operating lever 4, of a slender and elongated shape, forms a manual operating end 13 and is affected, at the opposite end, by a transverse cylindrical cavity 14 passing through, for rigid fitting along the lower end of the articulation rod 2. Essentially, in the central portion, the lever 4 has a first and a second window 15, 16 defined and separated by a sort of bridge 17; in correspondence with the second window 16, the lever 4 also preferably forms an eyelet 18 for attachment to a counter-eyelet 19, integral with the base 6, with customs seals. The lever 4 is affected, in the vicinity of the cavity 14, by a transverse through hole 20, with an axis parallel to that of the cavity 14 itself and of circular cross-section, having a smaller diameter. The base 6 is, for example, fixed to the chassis of the body by means of bolts 21 and lateral welds, has a flat and elongated shape and is provided with two lateral walls 22 corresponding to the locking means 9; the stop 8 for the harpoon appendage 5 of the lever 4 is preferably made up of a sort of T fixed, at the bottom, to the surface of the base 6. The locking means 9 of the lever 4 in the closed position consist of a first and a second rocker arm 23, 24 articulated, respectively, on a first and a second pin 25, 26 fixed, at their ends, to raised portions 27 of the base 6; the first and second rocker arm 23, 24 form, respectively, a first and a second tooth 28, 29, as well as a first and a second profile 30, 31 kinematically coupled to each other. The first and second rocker arm 23, 24 are associated with respective torsion springs 32, 33 mounted on the first and second pin 25, 26 (see figures 1, 2). With the lever 4 in the closed position, the rocker arms 23, 24 are inserted respectively into the first and second windows 15, 16, and the first and second teeth 28, 29 stably enclose the bridge 17 by the action of the torsion springs 32, 33; the manual pressure exerted on the first rocker arm 23 causes, thanks to the coupling of the profiles 30, 31, the rotation of the first and second rocker arms 23, 24 in opposite directions, with consequent disengagement of the teeth 28, 29 from the bridge 17 and release of the lever 4 from the base 6. The retaining spring 10 of the lever 4 (figure 3) in the closed position, particularly in the case in which the door 3 is open during the loading and unloading operations of the cargo compartment, is of the helical torsion type, mounted coaxially with the rod 2 and preferably consisting of a low number of coils (the necessary spring force is relatively modest and furthermore the bulk must be minimal). The spring has a first terminal end 34 integral with the spacer element 11, and a second terminal end 35 integral with the lever 4; in particular, the second end 35 is engaged inside the transverse through hole 20. The rotation of the lever 4, applied manually, around the axis of the rod 2 consequently determines a relative rotation between the first and second terminal ends 34, 35 of the spring 10; the latter therefore counteracts an elastic action tending to return the lever 4 to its initial closed position. The spacer element 11, rigidly connected to the lower edge 12 of the tailgate 3, comprises a substantially bell-shaped portion 36, mounted coaxially with the rod 2 and defining within it a housing 37, open towards the bottom, for the coils of the retaining spring 10; the bell-shaped portion 36 is located, in operating conditions, with the lower edge 38 abutting the upper side of the lever 4, so as to relieve the retaining spring 10 from the axial load due to the assembly and the constraint reactions of the body structure. The bell-shaped portion 36 has a contact surface 39 for the spring, orthogonal to the axis of the rod 2, affected by a first and a second circular orifice 40,41 (figure 4) in which the first terminal end 34 of the retaining spring 10 is inserted selectively, respectively in the assembly of the lever 4 in the right or left configuration. The bell-shaped portion 36 of the spacer element 11 extends upwards with a substantially tubular portion 42 keyed along the rod 2 which is, in turn, connected to a rectangular fixing plate 43, for example with screws 44, to the lower edge 12 of the door 3. The bell-shaped portion 36, the tubular portion 42 and the plate 43 are, preferably, mutually connected by welding. The method of use of the device according to the invention is intuitive. With the door 3 of the body closed, the lever 4 is housed in the base 6 parallel to the frame of the body, the pawl appendage 5 is engaged below the stop 8 and the teeth 28, 29 of the rocker arms 23, 24 are clipped onto the bridge 17. By exerting manual pressure on the surface of the first rocker arm 23, the latter is given a rotation around the axis of the first pin 25; the coupling between the first and second profiles 30, 31 induces the rotation in the opposite direction of the second rocker arm 24, with consequent release of the bridge 17 from the teeth 28, 29. The lever 4 can thus be freely rotated from the closed position to the open position, in such a way as to disengage the pawl appendage 5 from the respective stop 8. Once the tailgate 3 is opened, the retaining spring 10 allows the lever 4 to be kept stably and safely in the closed position (i.e. parallel to the tailgate 3 itself): this prevents it from protruding during loading and unloading operations of the body, as it could constitute an impediment and a potential danger. It has thus been seen how the invention achieves the proposed objectives. The retaining spring 10 constitutes an effective safety measure against accidental angular movements of the operating lever 4, which is thus constantly kept substantially parallel to the plane of the tailgate 3 in the correct position of minimum encumbrance. The spacer element 11, in which the retaining spring 10 is suitably housed, effectively supports the axial load acting on the spring itself during operation, a load mainly due to the assembly of the device and the constraint reactions of the base 6, of the body frame and of the tailgate 3. The spacer element 11 can then be made with a variable overall axial length, so that it can be easily adapted to different application conditions characterised by different loads and mounting configurations. The invention thus conceived is susceptible to numerous modifications and variations, all of which fall within the scope of the inventive concept. Furthermore, all details can be replaced with other technically equivalent ones. In practice, the materials used, as well as the shapes and dimensions, may be any according to the needs without thereby departing from the scope of protection of the following claims.

Claims

CLAIMS 1. Lever-type locking device, particularly for the tailgate of trucks, trailers and the like, comprising at least one rod, supported so that it rotates along said tailgate, to which at least one lever for the manual opening and closing of said tailgate is orthogonally integral, said lever being rotatable from a closed position of said tailgate in which it engages, with a substantially harpoon-shaped appendage, in a respective abutment integral with said body, to an open position of said tailgate in which said harpoon-shaped appendage is released from said abutment, characterised in that it comprises, coaxial with said rod, a spring to retain said lever in said closed position, associated with a spacer element suitable for allowing the precision positioning of said lever with respect to said tailgate and to support the axial load weighing on said spring during operation.

2. Device according to claim 1, characterised in that said spring is of the helical torsion type, having a first terminal end integral with said spacer element, and a second terminal end integral with said lever.

3. Device according to claims 1 and 2, characterised in that said lever is affected by a transverse through hole of substantially circular cross-section in which said second terminal end of said spring is engaged.

4. Device according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterised in that said spacer element comprises a portion shaped substantially like a bell, coaxial to said rod and connected to the edge of said door, internally defining an annular housing for said spring.

5. Device according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterised in that said bell-shaped portion defines a striking surface for said spring, affected by a first and a second circular orifice in which said first terminal end of said spring selectively engages, respectively with said lever mounted in a right or left configuration.

6. Device according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterised in that said spacer element comprises a substantially tubular portion, mounted coaxially along said rod and connected, at one end, to said bell-shaped portion, and at the other end to a plate for fixing to said edge of said door.

7. Device according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterised in that said bell-shaped portion, said tubular portion and said plate are mutually connected by welding.

8. Lever clamping device, particularly for the tailgate of trucks, trailers and the like, according to one or more of the preceding claims and as described and illustrated for the specified purposes. Dr. MODIANO & ASSOCIATI SPA 40121 BOLOGNA - Via dei Mille 5 ." / they hate Zanottl, OF COMMERCE INDUSTRY. SANATO AND AOWCOLTUfiA