JPH0221427Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] (Field of industrial application) This invention relates to an automatic coupling device that connects adjacent containers when stacking and transporting many large containers using transportation equipment such as ships. The large head engaging part of the male member is automatically and forcibly rotated using gravity or pushing force to fit into the connecting hole of the female member, and then the large head engaging part is automatically rotated to its original position. After restoration, each container is connected and fixed.

(Prior art) In this type of conventional coupling device, the spindle of the umbrella (cone)-shaped hooking part is directly connected to a rotating lever within the support body, and the lever is directly swung by hand to rotate the umbrella-shaped head. Rotate the large hooking part to the correct position to fit the coupling hole of the female member, and after fitting it into the coupling hole of the female member, swing the lever again to bring the hooking part to the oblique position. The large head flange was engaged with the engaging side of the joint hole, creating an irremovable connected state.In order to make this state possible to separate from each other, the engaging part was rotated to the normal position by swinging a lever. let me go back,
When the large head flange part came off the engaging side of the joining hole, it became possible to remove it.

In this way, conventional connectors open and close the connection state of the female member to the coupling hole by manually rotating the lever and directly rotating the engaging part, making it difficult to stack individual containers. There was an inconvenience in that adjacent containers could not be fixedly connected without operating a lever each time.

(Problem that the invention aims to solve) Since stacking and unloading large containers is a large-scale task using a crane, the manual connection and separation mechanism using the lever of the container connection device up until now has not been able to operate and unload the containers. In particular, in the rush of individual stacking operations, each connection and fixing operation must be performed manually, which is a hassle and causes a reduction in the efficiency of loading operations.

In order to eliminate this complication, this device rotates the engaging part of the male member of the connector to the normal position in the oblique position of the engaged state by an external forcing force, that is, the gravity or pushing force of the load, and then When the force is released, a restoring force is applied to return to the engaged state in the oblique position, thereby automatically making the engaged connection.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The automatic container coupling device of this invention has a support shaft of a hook portion formed in the size of an oblique umbrella-shaped head that is rotatably coupled to a support body, and is rotated by a lever. a male member,
In a container coupling device consisting of a female member having a connecting hole having an engaging side that receives the engaging portion of the male member, the space between the supporting shaft of the engaging portion and the base of the lever that faces perpendicularly thereto. It is characterized in that the lever is attached via a spring so as to extend and contract in the length direction and to be bent, and the lever is latched to each position so as to be swingable.

(Function) As described above, the spring interposed between the lever base and the support shaft attachment part, which is attached through the support body to the support shaft of the eccentric engagement part rotatably connected to the support main body of the male member, and the strong By using restoring force, the lever expands, contracts, and flexes in the length direction with respect to the support shaft, and the lever is swiveled and set in the oblique position where the engaging part is in the engaged state. The engaging part maintains the oblique position of the engaged state, and by using gravity etc. to press the coupling hole of the female member, which opens in the normal position, against the upper umbrella-shaped oblique engaging part of the male member.
The deformed engaging part is forcibly rotated to the normal (fitting) position in the mating hole against the elasticity of the spring that expands and contracts, and the spring part of the lever forms a dogleg shape with respect to the support shaft. When the flange of the engaging part is extended and flexed, and the flange of the engaging part is recessed into the engaging side of the joining hole, the engaging part is released from the joining hole and is automatically returned to the original oblique position by the repulsive force of the spring, and the engaging part is The flange automatically engages the engaging side of the female member, and the male and female members become inseparably connected.

When the lever is swung to set the engaging part to the correct position, the spring remains rigid due to the restoring force, and the engaging part of the male member rotates and aligns with the coupling hole in the correct position of the female member. When the flanges of the same-level engaging portions come off the engaging sides of the coupling holes, the male and female members become removable, allowing each container to be separated and unloaded.

(Example) Next, a specific example of the automatic container coupling device of this invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

In the figure, 1 is a male member, made of metal such as steel,
A rectangular base part 3 is provided at the center of the upper surface, and a mounting part 6 with an elbow part 7 is provided at the center of the lower surface. A support hole 4 is bored, and two upper and lower engagement pieces 5 are provided protrudingly at opposing positions on the circumferential wall of the hole.
A concave hooking part 9 is provided on the mouth edge of a wide-mouthed horizontal operation hole 8 which is bored across the body side so as to intersect at right angles at the bottom. Reference numeral 10 denotes an engaging part, which is a rounded rectangle in plan view and has a large head with an umbrella-like taper on the upper surface, and has two upper and lower protrusions 1 on the opposite circumferential surface on the lower surface.
2 and 12 is integrally formed, a receiving part 14 for attaching a lever is provided at the lower end of the support shaft 11, and the support shaft 11 is inserted into the support hole 4 of the support body 2 and rotated. As a result, the engaging pieces 5 and the protrusions 12 are engaged and connected. Reference numeral 15 denotes a lever, which has two support rods 18 and 19 in the front and back at its base end, and is connected to the support rods 18 and 19 by an internal spring 16 made of a coil spring of the same diameter, so that the lever can be moved in the axial direction. The outer spring 17, which is also made of a thick coil spring, is fitted over the entire connecting part between the support rods 18, 19 and the internal spring 16 to impart a strong bending and restoring force. , the tip of this lever 15 is inserted through the operation horizontal hole 8 of the support main body 2, and the excess exposed part of the front support rod 18 is inserted into the support shaft 1 of the hooking part 10.
1, and the nut 20 and fastening tool are inserted and screwed into the mounting hole 8a, which is formed at a position opposite to the operation horizontal hole 8 on the body side of the support body 2. A protruding part 21 is provided on the lever 15, and the lever 15 is swung to rotate the engaging part 10, so that the protruding part 21 is engaged with the engaging part 9 on the mouth edge of the operation horizontal hole 8. Fix it.

Reference numeral 22 denotes a female member, which has a slightly larger connecting hole 2 in the center of the upper surface facing the planar shape of the engaging part 10 facing the normal position.
3 is drilled, and its deep part is wide open to create a hanging side 24.
form.

An example of how to use the automatic coupling device of this invention is as follows.
Insert the male member 1 into the seats at the four corners of the lower surface of a large container with the mounting portion 6 of the male member 1 in an oblique position and turn it to the normal position to engage the elbow pieces 7 and mount the female member 22 downward. Attach the levers 15 of each male member 1 to the seats at the four corners of the upper surface of the container in the upward position facing the male member 1, and set the levers 15 of each male member 1 so that the engaging portions 10 are in the oblique position as much as possible. By holding the container in a closed and engaged state (see the solid line diagram in Figure 4) and placing it on and off another container with the four corners aligned, the female members 22 are connected by the load pressure. Hole 23
Then, guide the tapered part of the engaging part 10 of each male member 1 and turn the engaging part 10 to the same position as the connecting hole 23 against the force of the springs 16 and 17 (as shown in the chain double-dashed line in FIG. 4). ), the large-headed deformed flange 13 is connected to the engaging side 2.
4, it is released from the connection hole 23 and the spring 1
6 and 17, the engaging portion 10 returns to the oblique position (see the solid line diagram in FIG. 4), and the flange portion 13 returns to the connecting hole 2.
The connected state is obtained by automatically engaging the engaging sides 24 of No. 3.

(Effects of the invention) In the automatic coupling device of this invention, the lever that rotates the engaging part of the male member is attached to the spindle as described above, but a spring is interposed between the spindle and the lever so that the lever can rotate when the lever pivots. By providing a restoring force that expands, contracts, and bends with respect to the center, the lever is swung to rotate the engaging portion of the male member to the oblique position of the engaged state, and the lever is fixed and set. By press-fitting a connecting hole that is fixed in the correct position and having the same planar shape as that of the female member, the lever remains fixedly set, while resisting the elastic and flexible elastic force of the spring and only the engaging part is pressed into place. is rotated to the open position,
When the large flange of the engaging part passes through the connecting hole and is released from the force of the connecting hole, it automatically returns to the original diagonal position of the engaged state due to the repulsive restoring force of the spring, so that the female member The fitting connection of the male member can be easily achieved by simply pressing the engaging part in the direction along the axis, and when loading large containers, the lever is set in the engaged state and the load of the container is used to simply load the container. Just by stacking them, a strong connection is automatically achieved, which has the effect of improving the efficiency of loading operations.

In addition, by using two large and small coil springs as springs, a small internal spring is interposed between the lever and the support shaft, and they are directly fixed and connected, and the entire connecting part is fitted and covered with a large external spring. , a spring lever using a coil spring, solves the difficulty of connecting and fixing between the support shafts at once, and constructs a solid and strong connecting and fixing part to ensure flexing, expanding and contracting movement with strong restoring force. A robust automatic connection is obtained.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a male member of an automatic container coupling device that can implement this invention, Fig. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the same, Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical cross-sectional view of the main part of the male member, and Fig. 4
The figure is a plan view showing the relationship between the engaging part support shaft and the lever, and FIG. 5 is a partially cutaway front view showing the main part of the connection between the male and female members. In the figure, 1 is a male member, 2 is a support body, 9 is a hook part, 10 is a hook part, 11 is a support shaft, 15 is a lever,
16 and 17 are springs, 21 is a protrusion, 22 is a female member, 23 is a connecting hole, and 24 is an engaging side.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim for Utility Model Registration] (1) A male member in which a support shaft of a hooking portion formed in the shape of an oblique umbrella head is rotatably coupled to a support body and is rotated by a lever, and this male member and a female member having a connecting hole with a hooking side for receiving the hooking portion of the container connector, in which the length of the lever is between the pivot of the hooking portion and the base of the lever that is attached to intersect at right angles to the pivot of the hooking portion. An automatic container connector that is attached via a spring so as to be able to expand, contract, and flex in different directions, and to swingably lock the lever in each position. (2) The spring is formed of two large and small coil springs, one for the exterior and one for the interior, and the exterior spring is inserted and covered over the entire lever connecting part of the interior spring. Container automatic coupling device as described in section.