Covered transport cart

Abstract

To provide a transport vehicle with a hood that allows a user to compress and unfold an accordion-type hood by pushing and pulling either of the vertical parts of a hood support member, even when the distance between the left and right sides of a loading platform is large. [Solution] The canopy-equipped transport vehicle 10 comprises an accordion-style canopy 12 and a rail 14. An end canopy support 13a of the accordion-style canopy 12 is provided with a vertical rolling wheel 20 and a second horizontal rolling wheel 21 located a predetermined distance away from the vertical rolling wheel 20. The vertical thickness of the second horizontal rolling wheel 21 is between 10% and 90% of the vertical length of the inner side of the rail 14. With this configuration, even when a user pushes or pulls one side of the end canopy support 13a, the frictional force generated between the other member and the rail 14 can be reduced, allowing the user to compress and deploy the accordion-style canopy 12 by themselves.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a covered transport vehicle, and more particularly to a covered transport vehicle used for transporting and storing heavy metal products such as steel plate coils to warehouses in steel mills, port facilities, etc. [Background technology]

[0002] When heavy metal products, such as newly manufactured steel plate coils, are exposed to the elements during storage and transportation, or during loading, these products can rust or become scratched. To prevent this, accordion-style canopies are attached to the loading platform of a transport vehicle for heavy metal products. Patent Document 1 describes a canopy-equipped transport vehicle with an accordion-style canopy. The canopy-equipped transport vehicle of Patent Document 1 uses a canopy support that maintains the shape of the accordion-style canopy in the folding direction when compressed. The canopy support of Patent Document 1 is constructed by connecting a pair of inverted U-shaped frames with multiple beams in the direction in which the accordion-style canopy is compressed and deployed. Because the canopy support has such a highly rigid configuration, a user of the canopy-equipped transport vehicle can compress and deploy the accordion-style canopy by pushing and pulling the vertical portion of the canopy support on either the left or right side of the loading platform. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2015-91677 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] Fig. 5 is a schematic plan view of a conventional canopy-equipped transport vehicle, and Fig. 6 shows an enlarged side view of the area around its longitudinal rolling wheels. The canopy-equipped transport vehicle is provided with rails 52 on each side of the loading platform, in the direction in which the accordion-style canopy is compressed and deployed, i.e., along the direction indicated as "front and rear" in Fig. 5. Guided by these rails 52, longitudinal rolling wheels 53 provided at the bottom of end canopy supports 51 operate, compressing and deploying the accordion-style canopy. Fig. 5(A) is a diagram showing the ideal posture of end canopy supports 51 that constitute the accordion-style canopy. When a user of an accordion-style canopy pushes one of the vertical parts of the end canopy support 51 in the direction indicated by arrow 55 in Figure 5(B) from the end canopy support 51 in the state shown in Figure 5(A) in order to compress the accordion-style canopy, the vertical rolling wheel 53 located on the right side of the end canopy support 51 moves forward as shown in Figure 5(B), while the vertical rolling wheel 53 located on the left side remains at the rear.

[0005] In Figure 6, a portion of the rail 52 is cut away to facilitate understanding of the configuration around the longitudinal rolling wheels 53. In conventional canopy-equipped transport vehicles, the longitudinal rolling wheels 53 move within the rails 52 provided on both the left and right sides of the platform. These rails 52 are so-called C-shaped steel beams with their open sections facing upward. The longitudinal rolling wheels 53 provided below the end canopy supports 51 are positioned inside the rails 52 through these open sections. Two longitudinal rolling wheels 53 are provided, one at the front and one at the back, and the distance between these longitudinal rolling wheels 53 does not change with the compression and deployment of the accordion-style canopy. Each of the two longitudinal rolling wheels 53 has a bracket 56 above it to prevent the longitudinal rolling wheels 53 from coming into direct contact with each other, and a horizontal rolling wheel 57 that guides the wheels horizontally within the rails 52.

[0006] Here, as the size of heavy metal products increases and the distance between the left and right sides of the loading platform increases, the length of the top support 51 across the loading platform also increases. As shown in Figure 5(B), when a user pushes one of the vertical parts on the right side of the top support 51 of the loading platform, the frictional force at contact point 54 between the left-side member of top support 51 and the platform rail 52 increases, making it impossible for the user to compress and deploy the accordion-style top by themselves. There are several reasons for this increase in friction, but the most common is that the lateral rolling wheels 57 no longer fit within the horizontal plane and come into contact with the rail 52 in a position that does not fit within the horizontal plane. Specifically, the thickness of the lateral rolling wheels 57 is 5 mm.

[0007] To address the above issues, it is possible to place users on each side of the loading platform, but this would increase the number of workers required, resulting in a decrease in work efficiency overall. It is also possible to install electric motors on each of the rolling members of the canopy supporters on the left and right sides of the loading platform, but this would increase the cost of the canopy-equipped transport vehicle and the frequency of breakdowns due to the increased number of parts.

[0008] In view of the above circumstances, the present invention aims to provide a canopied transport cart that allows a user to compress and unfold an accordion-style canopy by pushing or pulling one of the vertical parts of the canopy support located on either the left or right side of the loading platform, even if the distance between the left and right sides of the loading platform is large. [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] The canopy-equipped transport vehicle of the first invention comprises a loading platform on which a heavy metal product is placed, an accordion-type canopy for covering the heavy metal product on the loading platform, and rails provided on both left and right sides of the loading platform along the direction in which the accordion-type canopy is compressed and deployed. The accordion-type canopy includes an inverted U-shaped canopy support, a canopy sheet attached to the canopy support, and vertical rolling wheels provided at the bottom of the canopy support and rolling along the rails as a guide to compress or deploy the accordion-type canopy. The end hood support member provided at the end of the accordion hood in the direction of compression and expansion is equipped with the vertical rolling wheel, a first horizontal rolling wheel provided above the vertical rolling wheel, and a second horizontal rolling wheel provided at a predetermined distance from the vertical rolling wheel in the direction of compression and expansion of the accordion hood, the predetermined distance not changing with the compression and expansion operation of the accordion hood, and is characterized in that the vertical thickness of the second horizontal rolling wheel is between 10% and 90% of the vertical length of the inner side of the rail. The canopied transport cart of the second invention is characterized in that, in the first invention, the upper end of the second lateral rolling wheel is located below a position 10% of the vertical length of the inside of the rail from above the inside of the rail, and the lower end of the second lateral rolling wheel is located above a position 90% of the vertical length of the inside of the rail from above the inside of the rail. The canopied transport cart of the third invention is characterized in that, in the first invention, the end canopy support is composed of two inverted U-shaped main canopy bones and a sub-canopy bone that joins these two main canopy bones in the direction of compression and expansion of the accordion-type canopy, and is not compressed by the compression action of the accordion-type canopy. A canopied transporting platform vehicle according to a fourth aspect of the present invention is the canopied transporting platform vehicle according to the first aspect of the present invention, characterized in that the second lateral rolling wheels are rolling bearings. [Effects of the Invention]

[0010] According to the first aspect of the present invention, the end canopy support includes a vertical rolling wheel, a first horizontal rolling wheel located above the vertical rolling wheel, and a second horizontal rolling wheel located a predetermined distance away in the direction of compression and deployment of the accordion canopy, and this predetermined distance does not change as the accordion canopy is compressed or deployed. The vertical thickness of the second horizontal rolling wheel is between 10% and 90% of the vertical length of the inner side of the rail. This allows the second horizontal rolling wheel to remain horizontal even when a user pushes or pulls either of the vertical sections of the end canopy support located on the left or right side of the loading platform. This reduces friction between the second horizontal rolling wheel and the rail, allowing the user to compress or deploy the accordion canopy by themselves. This increases work efficiency in workplaces where canopy-equipped transport vehicles are used, and provides a canopy-equipped transport vehicle that is low-cost and prone to malfunctions. According to the second invention, the upper and lower ends of the second lateral rolling wheel are positioned in predetermined locations, so that the second lateral rolling wheel does not come into contact with the lip surface at the top of the rail, thereby further reducing the friction force generated between the second lateral rolling wheel and the rail. According to the third aspect of the present invention, the end hood support is made up of two main hood bones and a sub hood bone, which allows the weight of the end hood support to be reduced while maintaining its rigidity, thereby reducing the burden on the user when compressing and deploying the hood. According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the second lateral rolling wheels are rolling bearings, which increases the life of the second horizontal rolling wheels and reduces the burden of bearing replacement work. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] 1 is an enlarged side view of the periphery of a vertical rolling wheel of a transporting platform with a canopy according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. [Figure 2] 1 is a perspective view of a transporting platform vehicle with a canopy according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 3] FIG. 3 is a side view of the canopied transport platform vehicle of FIG. 2. [Figure 4]2 is an enlarged perspective view of the periphery of the vertical rolling wheels in FIG. 1. FIG. [Figure 5] 1A and 1B are schematic explanatory diagrams from a plan view of a conventional transport vehicle with a canopy, in which (A) shows the ideal posture of the end canopy support, and (B) shows the posture when one side of the end canopy support is pushed by a user. [Figure 6] FIG. 10 is an enlarged side view of the periphery of a longitudinal rolling wheel of a conventional transporting platform with a canopy. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0012] Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. However, the embodiment shown below is an example of a covered transport vehicle for embodying the technical concept of the present invention, and the present invention does not limit the covered transport vehicle to the following. Note that the size or positional relationship of components shown in each drawing may be exaggerated for clarity. Note that in this specification, front, back, left, right, and up and down are defined based on the state in which a driver is driving the transport trailer 16 shown in Figure 2. Furthermore, in this specification, the terms vertical, parallel, horizontal, and perpendicular are not interpreted strictly literally, but rather refer to substantially vertical to the extent that the form produces an effect. In addition, "longitudinal direction" means "vertical," and "lateral direction" means any direction within a horizontal plane.

[0013] (Embodiment) Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a canopied transport vehicle 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 3 is a side view thereof. The canopied transport vehicle 10 comprises a loading platform 11 and an accordion-type canopy 12. A heavy metal product 15 such as a rolled thin steel plate or shaped steel is placed on the loading platform 11. The accordion-type canopy 12 is provided to cover the top and the left and right sides of the heavy metal product 15 on the loading platform 11.

[0014] The covered transport vehicle 10 has a plurality of tires 17 arranged below the loading platform 11. Three tires 17 are provided near each of the left and right ends of the loading platform 11. The rear of a transport trailer 16 is joined to the covered transport vehicle 10, and the transport trailer 16 can transport the heavy metal products 15 together with the covered transport vehicle 10.

[0015] The canopied transport vehicle 10 is provided with rails 14 on both the left and right sides of the loading platform 11. The rails 14 are provided along the direction in which the accordion-type canopy 12 is compressed and deployed, i.e., along the front-to-rear direction.

[0016] The configuration of the accordion-type canopy 12 according to this embodiment will be explained using Figures 3, 1, and 4. Figure 1 is an enlarged side view of the area around the vertical rolling wheels 20 of the canopied transport vehicle 10 according to this embodiment of the present invention, and Figure 4 is an enlarged perspective view of the same. In both Figures 1 and 3, a portion of the rail 14 is cut away to make it easier to understand the configuration of the vertical rolling wheels 20. As shown in Figure 3, the accordion-type canopy 12 is composed of an inverted U-shaped canopy support 13, a canopy sheet 12a attached to this canopy support 13, and the vertical rolling wheels 20. The "vertical direction" of the vertical rolling wheels 20 refers to the "vertical direction," meaning that the rotation axis of the rolling wheels is horizontal so that horizontal movement is facilitated by rolling.

[0017] The canopy support 13 is composed of a single inverted U-shaped main canopy bone 30 or multiple inverted U-shaped main canopy bones 30. The accordion canopy 12 is compressed when adjacent main canopy bones 30 move closer to each other in the front-to-rear direction, and the accordion canopy 12 is expanded when adjacent main canopy bones 30 move apart in the front-to-rear direction. Note that not all main canopy bones 30 need to move closer to each other as described above. There are also cases where adjacent main canopy bones 30 are not compressed by the compression of the accordion canopy 12. In this embodiment, the end canopy support 13a located at the rear end of the accordion canopy 12 is composed of two inverted U-shaped main canopy bones 30 connected to sub-canopy bones 31 that connect these main canopy bones 30 in the direction in which the accordion canopy 12 is compressed and expanded.

[0018] The end hood support member 13a is made up of two main hood bones 30 and a sub hood bone 31, which allows the weight of the end hood support member 13a to be reduced while maintaining its rigidity. This reduces the burden on the user when compressing and deploying the hood.

[0019] The hood sheet 12a is a known sheet made of flexible synthetic fiber. The hood sheet 12a is attached to the hood support member 13.

[0020] The vertical rolling wheels 20 move inside rails 14 provided on both the left and right sides of the loading platform 11, i.e., they roll using the rails 14 as guides, allowing the accordion-style hood 12 to be compressed and deployed. In this embodiment, the rails 14 are so-called C-shaped steel beams with their open sections facing upward, and the vertical rolling wheels 20 provided below the hood support body 13 are positioned inside the rails 14 through these open sections. In this embodiment, the vertical rolling wheels 20 are steel casters, and a first rod 23 provided on this caster is fitted into a first support 24 provided on a sub-hood frame 31 that constitutes the hood support body 13.

[0021] Additionally, above the vertical rolling wheels 20, there are provided brackets 25 to prevent the vertical rolling wheels 20 from coming into direct contact with each other, and a first horizontal rolling wheel 26 that guides the wheels horizontally within the rail 14. This first horizontal rolling wheel 26 is a plastic ring. In this specification, the "horizontal direction" of the first horizontal rolling wheel 26 means the "horizontal direction," and the axis of rotation is vertical so that horizontal movement is facilitated by rolling.

[0022] In this embodiment, the end hood support 13a is provided with a second lateral rolling wheel 21, which is located a predetermined distance d away from the longitudinal rolling wheel 20. The second lateral rolling wheel 21 has a vertical axis and is provided on the end hood support 13a so that it can withstand horizontal loads. The second lateral rolling wheel 21 is fitted onto a second rod 22, which is inserted and fixed inside the main hood frame 30. Because the end hood support 13a is provided with the longitudinal rolling wheel 20 and the second lateral rolling wheel 21, the distance d between the longitudinal rolling wheel 20 and the second lateral rolling wheel 21 does not change when the accordion-style hood 12 is compressed or unfolded. The predetermined distance d is selected appropriately depending on the size of the canopy-equipped transport vehicle 10; specifically, it is between 50 mm and 300 mm.

[0023] In this embodiment, the vertical thickness s of the second lateral rolling wheel 21 is 10% to 90% of the vertical length h of the inner side of the rail 14, more preferably 10% to 50% and even more preferably 10% to 20%. In this embodiment, the vertical thickness s of the second lateral rolling wheel 21 is 14 mm. Specifically, the rail 14 includes a bottom surface 14a, two vertical surfaces 14b provided at both ends of the bottom surface 14a, and a lip surface 14c provided at the upper ends of the vertical surfaces 14b. The vertical length h of the inner side of the rail 14 is the length from the upper surface of the bottom surface 14a to the underside of the lip surface 14c, and is 85 mm in this embodiment. If the vertical thickness s of the second lateral rolling wheel 21 is smaller than 10% of the vertical length h of the inside of the rail 14, the position of the second lateral rolling wheel 21 will often deviate from the horizontal plane, preventing the second lateral rolling wheel 21 from rotating properly. If the thickness s is larger than 90% of the length h, the second lateral rolling wheel 21 will often come into contact with the lip surface 14c or bottom surface 14a of the rail 14, preventing the second lateral rolling wheel 21 from rotating properly.

[0024] The end canopy support 13a is equipped with a vertical rolling wheel 20, a first horizontal rolling wheel 26 located above the vertical rolling wheel 20, and a second horizontal rolling wheel 21 located a predetermined distance d away in the direction of compression and deployment of the accordion canopy 12, and this predetermined distance d does not change with the compression and deployment operation of the accordion canopy 12.The vertical thickness s of this second horizontal rolling wheel 21 is between 10% and 90% of the vertical length of the inner side of the rail 14, so that even if a user pushes or pulls one of the vertical parts of the end canopy support 13a located on either the left or right side of the cargo bed 11, the posture of the second horizontal rolling wheel 21 remains within a horizontal plane.This reduces the frictional force generated between the second horizontal rolling wheel 21, the other member, and the rail 14, making it possible for the user to compress and deploy the accordion canopy 12 by himself. This makes it possible to improve the work efficiency in the workplace where the covered transport vehicle 10 is used, and to provide a covered transport vehicle 10 that is less prone to breakdowns and is low cost.

[0025] In this embodiment, the upper end of the second lateral rolling wheel 21 is located below a position 10% of the vertical length h of the inner side of the rail 14, measured from above the inner side of the rail 14. The lower end of the second lateral rolling wheel 21 is located above a position 90% of the vertical length h of the inner side of the rail 14, measured from above the inner side of the rail 14. When the upper end of the second lateral rolling wheel 21 is located above a position 10% of the vertical length h of the inner side of the rail 14, measured from above the inner side of the rail 14, the upper end of the second lateral rolling wheel 21 is likely to come into contact with the lip surface 14c. When the lower end of the second lateral rolling wheel 21 is located below a position 90% of the vertical length h of the inner side of the rail 14, measured from above the inner side of the rail 14, the lower end of the second lateral rolling wheel 21 is likely to come into contact with the bottom surface 21a.

[0026] Since the upper and lower ends of the second lateral rolling wheel 21 are positioned in predetermined locations, the second lateral rolling wheel 21 does not come into contact with the lip surface 14c at the top of the rail 14, thereby further reducing the friction force generated between the second lateral rolling wheel 21 and the rail 14.

[0027] In this embodiment, the second lateral rolling wheels 21 are rolling bearings. Furthermore, they are sealed deep groove ball bearings, which are a type of rolling bearing. Using the second lateral rolling wheels 21 as rolling bearings extends the life of the second lateral rolling wheels 21 and reduces the burden of bearing replacement work.

[0028] In this embodiment, the vertical rolling wheel 20 and the second horizontal rolling wheel 21 located on the left side of the loading platform 11 have been described, but in this embodiment, the vertical rolling wheel 20 and the second horizontal rolling wheel 21 are provided on the right side of the loading platform 11, in the same way as on the left side, with the left-right center of the loading platform 11 as the axis of symmetry.

[0029] (Other embodiments) In the above embodiment, the longitudinal rolling wheels 20 are positioned rearward of the second lateral rolling wheels 21 in the end hood support 13a, making the longitudinal rolling wheels 20 the rearmost, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the second lateral rolling wheels 21 may be positioned rearward of the longitudinal rolling wheels 20.

[0030] 2 shows a configuration in which the covered transport vehicle 10 is equipped with tires 17, but the covered transport vehicle 10 is not limited to this configuration. For example, the covered transport vehicle 10 also includes a configuration in which a plurality of feet are provided on the bottom of the covered transport vehicle 10.

[0031] Furthermore, the end hood support member 13a is configured to include the main hood bones 30 and the sub hood bones 31, but the configuration of the end hood support member 13a is not limited to this. For example, the end hood support member 13a can also be configured using an inverted U-shaped thin steel plate.

[0032] In the above embodiment, the second lateral rolling wheels 21 are rolling bearings, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the second lateral rolling wheels 21 may be sliding bearings.

[0033] In the above embodiment, the second rod 22 is provided with only the second lateral rolling wheels 21, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the second rod 22 may be provided with the second lateral rolling wheels 21 and the vertical rolling wheels 20.

[0034] In the above embodiment, the longitudinal rolling wheels 20 and the second lateral rolling wheels 21 are provided on both the left and right sides of the loading platform 11, with the lateral center of the loading platform 11 as the axis of symmetry, but this is not limiting. For example, the longitudinal rolling wheels 20 and the second lateral rolling wheels 21 may be provided on only one of the left and right sides of the loading platform 11. It is also possible to arrange a combination of the longitudinal rolling wheels 20 and the second lateral rolling wheels 21 on both the left and right sides of the loading platform 11, with the intersection of the lateral center and the front-rear center of the loading platform 11 as the center point. [Industrial Applicability]

[0035] The canopied transport cart 10 according to the present invention has been described above, but the configuration of the accordion-type canopy 12 used in this canopied transport cart 10 can be used in any facility where an accordion-type canopy 12 is used. [Explanation of symbols]

[0036] 10 Covered transport cart 11 Cargo bed 12 Accordion-style canopy 12a Canopy sheet 13 Hood support 13a End hood support 14 Rail 15 Metal weight products 20 Vertical rolling wheels 21 Second lateral rolling wheel 26 First lateral rolling wheel d Distance between the longitudinal rolling wheel and the second lateral rolling wheel h The vertical length of the inner side of the rail s Thickness of second lateral rolling ring

Claims

1. a loading platform on which the heavy metal product is placed; an accordion-style canopy for covering the heavy metal product on the loading platform; rails provided on both the left and right sides of the loading platform along the direction in which the accordion-style top is compressed and deployed; The accordion-style hood is An inverted U-shaped hood support; a hood sheet attached to the hood support body; A vertical rolling wheel is provided at the bottom of the hood support and rolls along the rail as a guide to compress or unfold the accordion-style hood. Among the hood supports, the end hood supports provided at the end of the accordion-type hood in the compression and deployment direction include: The longitudinal rolling wheels; a first horizontal rolling wheel provided above the vertical rolling wheel; a second horizontal rolling wheel that is provided at a predetermined distance from the vertical rolling wheel in the compressing and unfolding direction of the accordion-style top, and the predetermined distance does not change with the compressing and unfolding operation of the accordion-style top; The thickness of the second lateral rolling wheel in the vertical direction is 10% or more and 90% or less of the length of the inner side of the rail in the vertical direction. A transport vehicle with a canopy.

2. The upper end of the second lateral rolling wheel is Located below a position 10% of the length of the inner side of the rail in the vertical direction from the top of the inner side of the rail, The lower end of the second lateral rolling wheel is The rail is positioned above a position that is 90% of the length of the inner side of the rail in the vertical direction from the top of the inner side of the rail.

2. The transport vehicle with a canopy according to claim 1.

3. The end hood support is Two inverted U-shaped main hood bones, The two main hood bones are joined together in the direction of the accordion-style hood compression and deployment, and a sub-hood bone is also included. The accordion-style hood is not compressed by the compression action.

2. The transport vehicle with a canopy according to claim 1.

4. The second lateral rolling wheel is a rolling bearing.

2. The transport vehicle with a canopy according to claim 1.

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