초록 ▼

An apparatus and method for storing in a cargo transport of irregular shape, such as vehicles. The cargo transport comprises an elongate hollow highway truck semi-trailer having a pair of longitudinally extending spaced apart upright-side walls defining an interior cargo space therebetween. The trai

An apparatus and method for storing in a cargo transport of irregular shape, such as vehicles. The cargo transport comprises an elongate hollow highway truck semi-trailer having a pair of longitudinally extending spaced apart upright-side walls defining an interior cargo space therebetween. The trailer has a rearward openable end through which vehicles may be conveyed, and longitudinally extending internal crane runway rails supported by the side walls. A rear portion of the runway is longitudinally extendable rearward of the open rear end of the trailer. A plurality of standardized, stackable vehicle supporting pallets are provided upon which vehicles are individually loaded at a trailer-exterior loading position. A crane travels on the runway longitudinally within the trailer for conveying each loaded pallet longitudinally and vertically from the loading position to a selected forward storage position, and can pivot the pallet as needed about a non-vertical axis from a loading orientation to a storage or transport orientation. The cargo-facing surfaces of the side walls have a fixed excess array of pallet supports arranged in a known pattern coordinated with on-board pallet supports for releasably coupling each pallet to the side walls of the trailer in the storage orientation at the selected storage position. A preprogrammable automatic controller capable of controlling the operation of the crane may be used and preprogrammed using the wall support pattern to select storage positions and orientations of loaded pallets in the cargo space to optimize the use of space within the trailer.

대표청구항 ▼

Apparatus for storing and transporting vehicles and general cargo comprising: an elongate hollow transport container having a pair of longitudinally extending laterally spaced apart upright pallet-supporting side walls extending longitudinally of said container and defining parallel boundary planes

Apparatus for storing and transporting vehicles and general cargo comprising: an elongate hollow transport container having a pair of longitudinally extending laterally spaced apart upright pallet-supporting side walls extending longitudinally of said container and defining parallel boundary planes forming an interior cargo-carrying space of said container having a longitudinal axis extending lengthwise of said container between rearward and forward ends thereof, a rearward openable end through which palletized vehicles may be conveyed, and longitudinally extending internal cargo conveyance means including a pair of rails supported one along each said side walls, said cargo conveyance means including a rear portion longitudinally extendable rearward of said rearward end of the cargo space over a pallet loading and unloading position exteriorly of the cargo space of said container; a plurality of vehicle supporting pallet means upon which the vehicles are individually loadable and securable at the exterior loading-unloading position, each said pallet being generally rectangular in plan view and dimensioned widthwise to span the cargo space with a travel clearance along its longitudinal side edges; cargo conveyance means including hoist means running on said rails longitudinally within said cargo space and being capable of conveying each of said pallet means endwise individually longitudinally and vertically between the loading position and a selected forward storage position in the cargo space, and of pivoting each said pallet means about a non-vertical axis from a loading orientation to a storage orientation within the cargo space, and a plurality of on-board pallet support means provided on each of said pallet means and positioned thereon at a given distance apart along the longitudinal edges thereof and operable for releasably coupling each associated pallet means to said side walls of said container in the selected storage orientation of such pallet means, said side walls each having an array of individual pallet support means provided thereon facing the cargo space and in substantially greater quantity than the total number of said pallet on-board support means and being arranged in a predetermined fixed pattern along known Cartesian coordinates in the cargo space boundary plane of each said side wall and pattern related to the given spacing between said on-board pallet support means whereby each said pallet means is supportable with a vehicle loaded thereon by releasable interengagement of its on-board pallet support means with associated selected spaced apart ones of said side wall pallet support means such that each said pallet means is thereby held in the cargo space by and laterally between said side walls in a predetermined storage orientation and at the selected predetermined storage position at identifiable appropriate Cartesian coordinates in said pattern of said side wall pallet support means selected for cooperable engagement with said pallet on-board support means to provide for such storage orientation and positioning of each said pallet means.