Livestock Trailer Hinged Divider for Unloading Access
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Livestock trailers with reverse slant stall systems face limitations in unloading space due to the placement of tack storage areas, which reduces the available opening space for animal egress.
Innovation Solution
A livestock trailer design featuring a rearmost hinged divider and door assembly with a pivoting accessory assembly, allowing the dividers to extend parallel to the walls during unloading, thereby increasing the passageway width and facilitating easier animal egress.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a tack storage area is placed in the rearmost portion of the trailer, then livestock can be secured during transport, but the available opening space for animal egress is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The divider wall is made movable rather than fixed, allowing it to pivot between a first position that blocks the passageway during transport and a second position that opens the passageway during unloading. This dynamic configuration enables the same structure to serve different functions at different times, resolving the contradiction between security and egress space.
Solution Approach 2:
The rearmost divider wall is segmented from the fixed portion of the trailer structure, allowing independent movement. This segmentation enables the divider to be repositioned to create unloading access without compromising the overall structural integrity or the tack storage functionality.
2Reliability
If a rearmost divider wall is used to form stalls, then livestock can be contained securely, but access to the trailer interior for unloading is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The divider wall transitions from a static barrier to a dynamic component that can pivot between containing livestock during transport and facilitating unloading when needed. This dynamic behavior allows the same structure to provide both containment and access functions.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of providing unloading access through the rear doors, the invention inverts the approach by making the divider wall itself movable to create access points. The divider that normally blocks access becomes the mechanism for providing access, reversing the traditional approach to unloading.
3Length of stationary object
If the trailer width is minimized for compact dimensions, then transportation efficiency is improved, but the unloading passageway space is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The passageway width is made dynamic through the movable divider wall. During transport, the divider maintains compact dimensions, but during unloading, the divider pivots to expand the passageway width temporarily, allowing adequate egress space without permanently increasing trailer width.
Solution Approach 2:
The solution addresses the width limitation by introducing movement in a different dimension - the divider wall pivots rotationally to create temporary horizontal space for unloading, rather than permanently increasing the trailer's width dimension.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The design enhances unloading efficiency by providing a larger passageway for livestock to exit the trailer, improving the unloading process while maintaining the trailer's compact dimensions.
Implementation Method 1
the at least one divider includes a plurality of dividers, with adjacent pairs forming a stall for enclosing a livestock. The divider extends at an angle relative to the walls when in the first position. Each divider is hingedly connected to the walls and configured for pivoting into a second position.
Data Source
AI summary
A livestock trailer arrangement is provided. The arrangement includes an enclosure defining a first sidewall and a spaced-apart second sidewall and a side opening defined on the first sidewall for allowing ingress of a livestock. A first divider has a first position in which the divider extends at an angle from the first sidewall to the second sidewall and a second position in which the divider is pivoted about the second sidewall to define a passageway for ingress of a livestock through the side opening. An accessory assembly is pivotable about a rearward portion of the first sidewall such that the accessory assembly may be pivoted outwardly of the enclosure. A second divider has a position in which the divider is pivoted about the first sidewall to define a passageway for egress of a livestock through a rearward portion of the enclosure.