GB529551A - Improvements in and relating to movable floor vehicles - Google Patents

Abstract

529,551. Vehicle fittings for loading. MACLACHLAN, A. June 3, 1939, No. 16340. [Class 78 (iv)] The movable floor of a vehicle, comprising a band or belt supported on rollers which each extend right across or right along the vehicle is fitted with cam mechanism adapted to be raised to bear against the under surfaces and thus support these rollers at an intermediate point in their length when unusually heavy loads are being negotiated. In the illustrated form a belt 5 of impregnated rubber fabric, extending the full width of the vehicle, is supported on the rollers 4 on the carrying run and on rollers 26 during the return run. The rollers 4 preferably are tubular and surround cross rods on the vehicle frame, ball bearings being interposed between the rods and tubes. A pair of chains 9, passing over driving sprockets 10, connect metal strips 8, 17 at the opposite ends of the band to make the latter endless in character. The metal strip 17 also carries an L- shaped load-pushing wall 18 provided with forwardly-directed side-wall-scraping elements 22, for example steel scrapers or composite squeegees of metal and rubber. The horizontal members of the wall rest on the rollers 4 and may also be modified to engage guides on the frame in cases where heavy loads would cause them to tilt. To support the rollers 4 intermediately, a shaft 27, Fig. 3, is mounted on upwardlybowed cross members 1 which space and support the vehicle sides. This shaft can be rotated through a limited angle so that camshaped members 14 are brought into acting and idle positions respectively. The shafts 27 and 11 are interlocked so that the floor cannot be driven unless the cams are in the idle position. Hand-operated gearing applied to the shaft 11 is employed to drive the floor.