U.S. patent number 3,889,818 [Application Number 05/399,408] was granted by the patent office on 1975-06-17 for extensible crane.
Invention is credited to Carl G. Wennerstrom.
United States Patent |
3,889,818 |
Wennerstrom |
June 17, 1975 |
Extensible crane
Abstract
A crane with a telescoping boom assembly has a cable arrangement
which multiplies the stroke of a hydraulic piston to extend one or
more extensible boom sections while providing for automatic load
leveling with an advantageous distribution of forces on the boom
assembly when the boom is extended and elevated. A topping
arrangement utilizes a piston operative in a substantially
horizontal line. The crane is mounted on a turntable for swinging.
The operations of hoisting, swinging, topping and telescoping can
be independently and cooperatively controlled for full freedom of
motion. Maintenance and repair are facilitated.
Inventors: |
Wennerstrom; Carl G. (Evanston,
IL) |
Family
ID: |
23579395 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/399,408 |
Filed: |
September 21, 1973 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
212/349; 212/231;
212/281 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B66C
23/701 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
B66C
23/00 (20060101); B66C 23/70 (20060101); B66c
023/06 () |
Field of
Search: |
;212/55,58R,59,144,39,35R ;74/422,29 ;52/118 ;214/730 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Spar; Robert J.
Assistant Examiner: Auton; Gary
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Brooks Haidt Haffner &
Delahunty
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A crane comprising means for hoisting a load including a winch
and a hoisting cable; a telescoping boom assembly carrying said
hoisting cable on sheaves for compensation of free cable length
upon extension and retraction, said boom assembly including a first
boom and a second boom extensible from said first boom by means of
a boom extending piston in a cylinder carried by said first boom,
said boom extending piston carrying a pinion for cooperation with
gear racks on said first and second booms to double the extension
distance produced by motion of said boom extending piston; means
for rotating said boom assembly with respect to a base to swing a
load; means including a generally horizontally mounted boom
elevating piston and cylinder assembly, the cylinder of said boom
elevating assembly being pivotally mounted for limited motion with
respect to the horizontal upon elevation of the boom, a linkage
operatively coupling a forward end of the boom elevating piston to
the boom for conversion of substantially horizontal piston motion
to topping movement of the boom, said linkage comprising a
crosshead carried by the boom elevating piston, a pair of generally
rearwardly extending arms carried by said crosshead, a relatively
short linkage pivotally connected to a rear end of each of said
arms and to a part of the boom which moves down as the boom is
elevated, and a relatively long, generally L-shaped link pivotally
connected near the rear end of each said arm and to a fixed frame
element; said hoisting, telescoping, swinging and elevating means
being concurrently and independently operable for transporting a
load by any combination of hoisting, telescoping, elevating and
swinging.
2. The crane according to claim 1 and wherein said boom assembly
includes a third boom projectable from said second boom by means of
a cable loop carried by said second boom, said cable loop
cooperating with said piston and cylinder carried by the first boom
for concurrent extension of said second and third booms.
3. The crane of claim 1 wherein said hoisting cable is carried by a
sheave movable longitudinally with respect to said first boom from
a first position near the inner end of said second boom when said
second boom is in a retracted state to a second position
longitudinally spaced from said first position by a distance equal
to about half the distance by which the second boom is
extended.
4. The crane of claim 1 and including hoisting tackle on said
hoisting cable and a safety device limiting the motion of said
tackle toward a head sheave at the outer end of said boom assembly,
said safety device including a sensing member located adjacent said
head sheave for sensing the presence of said tackle at a
predetermined position, said sensing member being mechanically
connected to switch for turning off said winch upon sensing the
presence of said tackle at said point.
5. The crane according to claim 4 wherein said switch includes a
spring biased switch lever normally in a switched-on position.
6. The crane of claim 4 wherein said sensing member is connected to
said switch by a flexible wire, said wire following a path
substantially parallel to the path of the hoisting cable.
7. The crane of claim 1 wherein said boom assembly is movable
through an angle of about 90.degree. from a lowered to an elevated
position.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to extensible cranes, and more particularly
to a crane with combined piston and cable telescoping means
cooperating with swinging, topping and hoisting mechanisms.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Extensible cranes of the prior art have employed various
arrangements for extending boom sections from a retracted position
to an extended length. One common arrangement has used several
interconnected pistons and cylinders, one piston for each boom
section to be extended. Such an arrangement requires elongated
pistons which are subjected to severe bending forces and are
therefore unreliable and expensive to maintain.
Other prior art cranes have employed external cables to pull boom
sections out to an extended position. Such arrangements are awkward
and difficult to control.
Attempts have been made in the past to combine the advantages of
piston actuation with the use of cables for extending a boom
assembly. However, these arrangements have not gained general
acceptance by industry.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,833,422 concerned a telescoping boom arrangement
for use in conjunction with a digging implement or the like, and
the patent was concerned with forcefully pushing and pulling the
boom end carrying the digging element in a horizontal plane.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,919,036 related to a piston actuated extensible
boom, and attempted to provide a reeving arrangement for a hoisting
cable from a winch to a block which would compensate for extension
of the boom to keep a load level.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,029,954, 3,308,967 and 3,465,899 related to cranes
having cables running externally above their booms. U.S. Pat. No.
3,638,806 concerned a crane with tubular boom sections employing a
cable running above the boom sections.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,047,160 and 3,282,411 related to arrangements for
swinging and extending booms.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,307,713 related to a mast mounted telescoping boom
having a piston mounted above a first boom section and cooperating
with cables for extending further boom sections. The section
extension cables run over sheaves angularly mounted within the boom
sections.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,605,358 concerns a truck crane with a telescoping
boom.
As evidenced by prior art references cited above, the topping or
luffing of booms according to the prior art has usually been
accomplished by pushing upward on a boom section, using rigidly
mounted hydraulic assemblies. This type of arrangement does not
provide the most efficient use of power for raising the boom. Very
powerful pistons have been needed for elevation of large prior art
booms.
To swing or slew booms, the prior art cranes have frequently relied
upon rotating turntables with arrangements for braking through the
turntable transmission mechanism. Such arrangements place large
strains on the transmission, requiring frequent and expensive
service.
In general, there have been few significant advances in the crane
industry in recent years, despite the need for more effective and
economical load handling.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention overcomes numerous disadvantages inherent in
prior art crane constructions while providing an economical
telescoping crane having great flexibility of operation.
In accordance with the invention four basic crane functions of
hoisting, swinging, luffing and telescoping are so coordinated that
the crane of the invention can be effectively used for easy
performance of material handling functions that are difficult, if
at all possible, with conventional cranes. Thus, for example, it is
possible to pick up a load with the crane of the invention extended
at a generally horizontal attitude, then to lift the load while
simultaneously retracting and elevating the boom assembly, to swing
the load to the desired direction and to lower and again extend the
boom assembly to place the load at its desired location, the
transportation of the load being accomplished without inadvertently
changing the load distance from the boom end. Such an operation
which includes retraction and extension of the boom assembly while
carrying a load permits easy operation in confined spaces such as
in loading containers onto ships, or through narrow openings,
etc.
A crane according to the invention may be mounted aboard a ship, on
a railroad car, or some other wheeled vehicle, or in a permanent
position on a fixed foundation.
Another advantage of the present invention is that very large loads
can be handled. It is believed that cranes according to the present
invention can be made to handle greater loads over greater
distances than in prior art extensible crane arrangements.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention the crane proper is
mounted on a turntable which is rotatable with respect to a
platform pedestal or base. An anti-friction bearing is provided
between the turntable and the platform and relative rotation is
effected by means of a rack and pinion arrangement, preferably with
the gear teeth cut in a race on the platform and the pinion gear
coupled to a transmission on the turntable.
Limit switches can be advantageously provided to prevent excessive
rotation. Braking can be suitably effected through a pair of band
brakes mounted on the relatively fixed platform for braking the
turntable.
Luffing or topping of the boom assembly is achieved by means of a
novel hydraulic cylinder piston and linkage which provides great
effective force at the crane positions at which force is most
needed; that is, when the boom assembly is horizontal or near
horizontal. The cylinder and piston have a substantially horizontal
orientation, but are pivoted at one end for some upward tilting as
the boom assembly moves to its greatest angle of elevation. A novel
linkage between the piston and the rear end of the boom assembly
converts the substantially horizontal piston motion into a raising
motion to elevate the boom assembly. By using a horizontal piston
orientation according to the invention it has been possible to
provide a self-aligning and floating arrangement which avoids the
stresses imposed on the rigidly mounted hydraulic topping
mechanisms of existing cranes.
The telescoping function by which one, two or more boom sections
are extended from a first, or shipper, boom, utilizes a single,
relatively short, hydraulic piston and cylinder assembly (or two
parallel mounted piston and cylinder assemblies for heavy duty
use), rather than a series of separate pistons for each boom
section as in some prior art extensible cranes.
A cable arrangement effectively doubles the stroke of the piston
for each extensible boom section, so that if there are three boom
sections, a piston stroke of 10 feet will project a second section
or center boom a distance of twenty feet, and will project a third
section or extension boom a distance of 40 feet.
For extending the center boom, gear racks mounted on the shipper
boom and center boom cooperate with a pinion mounted in a crosshead
on the piston to double the effective length of the piston stroke.
A closed cable loop reeved on sheaves within the center boom and
secured to the inner end of the extension boom is effective to
project the extensible boom with respect to the center boom as the
center boom is itself projected outward by the piston through its
rack and pinion movement.
The above-described telescoping mechanism permits the use of a
relatively short piston and cylinder which can be operated with
great force.
The hoisting tackle includes a line reeved to cooperate with the
boom telescoping system so that the load ordinarily automatically
remains a fixed distance from a head sheave on the outer end of the
extension boom regardless of the extent to which the boom is
extended, and even while the boom is being extended or retracted.
The hoisting line can thus preferably be reeved over a sheave near
the outer end of the shipper boom, back through the shipper boom to
a sheave mounted near the inner end of the center boom, and thence
through the center and extension booms to the tackle at the outer
boom end. This arrangement automatically compensates for any boom
extension. In some assemblies, two lines can be advantageously
used, one at each side of the boom assembly. An alternative cable
arrangement using a movable sheave is especially effective in
certain preferred embodiments of the invention.
The invention also provides for the effective utilization of the
tensile strength of the hoisting cable to relieve the boom sections
of a large part of the load thereon when the booms are extended and
elevated.
A sensing arrangement can be effectively provided at the head
sheave at the boom end to prevent pulling the hoisting tackle
against the boom end. Instead of the complex and unreliable
electrical and mechanical arrangements which have been proposed and
sometimes used in the prior art, the safety mechanism of the
present invention uses a simple and effective wire that follows the
path of the hoisting cable itself from a sensing bar or ring near
the head sheave back to a control at the hoisting winch.
These and other new and advantageous features of the crane of the
invention will be more fully understood from the following detailed
description of a preferred embodiment of the invention when taken
in conjunction with the accompanying drawing
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
FIG. 1 is a schematic view from the side of a crane according to
the invention with a three section boom elevated and extended.
FIG. 2 is a side view similar to that of FIG. 1 with the boom
lowered and retracted.
FIG. 3 is a side view similar to those of FIGS. 1 and 2 with the
boom lowered but extended.
FIG. 4 is a view from above, of the crane in the position shown in
FIG. 3.
FIG. 5 is a side plan view of a three section boom according to the
invention in retracted condition with internal parts shown by
shadow lines.
FIG. 6 is a view of the boom of FIG. 5 in an extended
condition.
FIG. 7 is a view similar to that of FIG. 5 and showing a
two-section boom.
FIG. 8 is a view of the boom of FIG. 7 in extended condition.
FIG. 9 is a view from above of a topping mechanism of the crane
according to the invention.
FIG. 10 is a side view of the topping mechanism of FIG. 9 with an
elevated position shown in shadow lines.
FIG. 11 is a view in section of the mechanism of FIG. 10 taken
along the line 11--11 and looking in the direction of the
arrows.
FIG. 12 is a view similar to that of FIG. 5 and showing a safety
mechanism.
FIG. 13 shows the boom assembly of FIG. 12 with the safety
mechanism in operation
FIG. 14 is similar to FIG. 13 except that the safety mechanism is
in its normal inoperative state.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
An extensible crane having a telescoping boom assembly according to
the invention is shown generally in FIGS. 1-4 in which details have
been ommitted for the sake of simplicity. Thus FIG. 1 shows the
crane generally indicated by reference numeral 10 to comprise three
boom sections 11, 12 and 13, a turntable 14, a counterweight W, and
means 15 for rotating the turntable 14 with respect to a base (not
shown). When reference is made hereafter to a three section boom
assembly the first and largest boom section 11 will be referred to
as a shipper boom, the section 12 will be called a center boom and
the section 13 will be called an extension boom.
The extending and elevating motions of the boom assembly of the
crane 10 can be understood by comparison of FIGS. 1-4, wherein FIG.
2 shows the boom sections retracted and lowered to a generally
horizontal position; FIGS. 3 and 4 show the sections 11, 12 and 13
extended but not elevated and FIG. 1 shows the crane with the boom
assembly extended and elevated. When it is understood that the
crane is also rotatable about its base, all of the movements of
rotation (swinging), elevation (topping), extension (telescoping)
and hoisting being concurrently and/or independently operable, it
will be appreciated that the crane of the invention is highly
versatile and adaptable to a wide variety of uses. For example, the
crane of the invention is particularly well adapted to use on board
a ship, where weight and space limitations are important
considerations.
EXTENSION
Reference is now made to FIGS. 5 and 6 showing the boom assembly of
a crane according to the invention having three boom sections. In
FIGS. 5 and 6 the shipper boom 11 and the center boom 12 are shown
as being generally hollow, rectangular and box-like in
cross-section, whereas the extension boom 13 is of generally
rectangular cage construction for lightness in weight, but it
should be understood that any or all of the boom sections could be
of either box-like or cage construction if desired. The boom
section 13 is sized to fit telescopingly and slidably with the
center boom 12 and the center boom 12 is sized to fit telescopingly
and slidably within the shipper boom 11. Suitable bearings must, of
course, be provided for smooth sliding motion of the sections
during extension and retraction.
The shipper boom 11 has a pair of rearwardly and downwardly
extending ears for pivoting connection to an elevating linkage to
be described hereinafter. A piston and cable arrangement is
utilized to telescopically extend and retract the boom assembly
whereby a piston having a stroke about one-fourth the length of the
maximum boom extension serves to project the center and extension
booms to their fully extended length. Thus if the piston moves
through a ten foot stroke, the center boom will be extended by a
length of 20 feet and the extension boom will be extended by a
distance of 40 feet.
As shown in FIG. 5 and 6, the shipper boom 11 carries an internally
mounted hydraulic cylinder and boom extending piston assembly 17. A
piston rod 18 mounted for sliding motion in and out of the cylinder
carries a gear 19 at its forward end to cooperate with upper and
lower racks 20 and 21 fixedly mounted on the center boom 12 and the
shipper boom 11 at the lower portions thereof. Preferably there
will be two sets of racks 20 and 21, one set at each side of the
boom assembly to distribute stresses evenly. In an arrangement with
two laterally spaced sets of racks 20, 21 there would be two
cooperating gears or pinions 19, one gear 19 cooperating for rack
and pinion drive with each set of racks 20 and 21. Two such gears
19 can, as will be understood by those acquainted with mechanical
apparatus, be carried by a transversely extending crosshead mounted
at the forward end of single centrally located piston rod 18. The
hydraulic cylinder assembly 17 can suitably be equipped with an
over-center balanced valve mounted on the lower side of the
cylinder with a pilot line connected to a false load piping
arrangement to compensate for the low pressure which would be
required to extend the boom in the horizontal direction as in FIGS.
2-4, or the possible negative pressure when the boom is positioned
below horizontal.
The telescoping spur gear and rack can, for example, advantageously
comprise two 19-tooth spur gears and 12 rack sections, six of said
rack sections being bolted to the underside of the center boom and
six other rack sections mounted on a frame that is bolted to the
underside of the shipper boom. To remove the hydraulic cylinder
assembly 17, 18, the rack frame can be lowered to unmesh the
gears.
It will be understood that the rack and pinion movement effectively
doubles the piston stroke of the rod 18 in extending and retracting
the center boom 12. Instead of the prior art technique of using
another piston to extend the boom 13, which is troublesome since
such a piston would have to move with the center boom 12, a cable
arrangement is used.
Inside the center boom 12, a pair of laterally spaced cables 25,
(one such cable being shown in FIGS. 5 and 6) form closed loops
running over sheaves 26 and 27. Both ends of the cable 25 are
secured to the shipper boom 11 near the forward end of the shipper
boom at 28 and 28' and the sheaves 26 and 27 are mounted
respectively within the center boom 12 near the rear and front ends
thereof. At a point 29, a central portion of the cable 25 is
secured to the rear end of the extension boom. Accordingly, when
the center boom 12 is advanced by the piston 18 through the rack
and pinion arrangement 19, 20, 21, the cable 25 travels around the
sheaves in a clockwise direction and the point 29 advances toward
the right as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. This serves to advance the
extension boom at twice the speed of the center boom.
The cables 25 can suitably be strong wire ropes welded or otherwise
fixedly connected at the points 28, 28' to the wall structure of
the center boom 12. To equalize pulling tension in both cable loops
25, a bearing arrangement can be used to carry the sheaves of the
respective cables at opposite ends of a bar mounted transversely
accross the boom section and journalled for limited angular
movement about its midpoint.
An extensible boom assembly having two boom sections instead of the
three sections already described is shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, wherein
the boom section 41 generally resembles the shipper boom 11 of
FIGS. 5 and 6, and the forward boom section 42 is constructed
similarly to the center boom 12 described with respect to FIGS. 5
and 6, with pivot ears 46 and box-like cross-section. The two boom
section arrangement has no cable extension arrangement, the boom
section 42 being extensible and retractible by means of a cylinder
47, piston rod 48, gear 49 and racks 50 and 51 generally
corresponding to the elements 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 described in
the three boom section assembly. There are certain important
differences between the three section and two section boom
assemblies which will be apparent from the following description of
the cable reeving arrangements for hoisting a load in the different
embodiments.
HOISTING
As shown in FIGS. 5-8, a hoisting winch generally indicated by the
reference numeral 60 is mounted at the rearward end of the shipper
boom 11. The winch 60 is preferably hydraulically powered and
should have its own built-in holding brake. The hoisting drum 61 of
the winch sized to hold enough windings of cable or rope for all
operations of the crane. In a typical embodiment a crane according
to the invention with a full boom extension of about 60 feet could
have a hoisting drum with a bare diameter of 16 inches for 3/4
hoisting rope. Such a drum can have a capacity of 400 feet or more
of 3/4 inch wire rope.
In the embodiment of FIGS. 5 and 6 it will be seen that the
hoisting rope 62 passes above the outside upper part of the shipper
boom 11 to a reversing sheave 63 mounted in a housing atop the
forward end of the shipper boom. After passing over the reversing
sheave 63 the rope 62 is carried back to pass around an idler
sheave 64 mounted within the rearward end of the center boom, where
the rope 62 again reverses direction to pass forward within the
center boom 12 and through the extension boom 13 to a further idler
sheave 65 near the forward end of the extension boom 13 and thence
to a head sheave 66. A load hoisting hook is shown at 67.
It is an important feature of the hoisting arrangement of the
present invention that the reeving of the hoisting rope is so
arranged that the distance between the hook 67 and the center of
the head sheave 66 does not change during extension and retraction
motions of the boom sections unless the winch 60 is in operation.
This automatic load levelling is effected in the triple boom
arrangement of FIGS. 5 and 6 by the fact that the length of the
portion of the hoisting rope 62 taken up in its passage back to and
forward from the idler sheave 64 automatically compensates for the
amount of extension of the center boom 12 and extension boom
13.
A similar load-levelling arrangement is effectively provided in the
two-boom section assembly of FIGS. 7 and 8 by the employment of a
sheave 74 that is mounted for longitudinal motion within and with
respect to the boom section 41. In FIGS. 7 and 8, as in the
three-section boom arrangement of FIGS. 5 and 6, there is shown a
hydraulic winch 70 with its drum 71 and a hoisting rope 72
extending to and over a reversing sheave 73. From the reversing
sheave 73 the hoisting rope 72 passes back to and around the
movable sheave 74 and thence to the idler sheave 75 and the head
sheave 76 at the forward end of the boom 42. Unlike the idler
sheave 64 shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the sheave 74 is not fixed in
position at the rearward end of the boom section 42, but is free to
move forward with respect to the boom 41 at a slower rate than the
boom section 42. Comparison of FIGS. 7 and 8 will show that as the
boom section 42 moves from its retracted position in FIG. 7 to its
extended position in FIG. 8, the sheave 74 moves forward only about
half as far as the boom section 42, thus compensating by taking up
less of the length of the hoisting rope 72 when the boom assembly
is extended.
The extent of the forward motion of the sheave 74 upon extension of
the boom assembly is controlled by a cable 80 attached at one end
at 81 to a point on the rear end of the boom 42. The cable 80
passes over a sheave 82, back through the boom section 41 and over
sheaves 83 and 84 to the sheave 74 to which the other end of the
cable 80 is secured. Thus the cable 80 is played out over the
sheave 82 as the boom section 42 is extended forward and the sheave
74 attached to the other end of the cable 80 is allowed to advance
at a rate half as fast as the speed at which the boom 41 moves
forward. This arrangement automatically keeps the hook 77 at a
constant distance from the center of the head sheave 76 when the
winch 70 is not in operation.
ELEVATION
The elevation or topping of the boom assembly in a crane according
to the invention can best be understood with reference to FIGS. 9 -
11 of the drawing.
In FIGS. 9-11 the lower end of the shipper boom 11 of the boom
assembly is shown mounted for pivotal topping motion about an axis
90 provided by a rod 91 firmly journalled in a support fixture
provided by fixed members 92 mounted on the platform 14 as shown in
FIGS. 1 and 11. Power for the topping movement is provided by a
hydraulic cylinder 93 mounted in a generally horizontal position
beneath the lower end of the boom section 11. The boom elevating
piston 94, movable upon hydraulic actuation in and out of the
cylinder 93, carries a crosshead 95 linking the piston 94 to both
sides of the boom section 11 through a linkage which converts
generally horizontal movement of the piston 94 into elevating
motion of the boom assembly about the axis 90. The arrangement of
the topping linkage according to the invention causes the piston 94
to exert its greatest topping effort when the boom is horizontal,
that is, when such effort is most needed. An over-center balanced
valve is preferably mounted on the lower end of the cylinder 93
with a pilot line connection from the line supplying fluid to the
piston end of the cylinder, requiring power for lowering the boom
and thus acting as a safety device in case the fluid power line to
the cylinder should be accedentally severed.
Referring to FIGS. 9 and 10 it will be seen that the crosshead 95
is pivotally connected at its ends 96 to rearwardly extending links
97 which are in turn pivotally jointed at 100 to short linking
pieces 101. The linking pieces 101 are themselves pivotally secured
to the ears 16 at the lowermost end of the boom section 11 by means
of strong pins 102. Through this linkage, forward, generally
horizontal, motion of the piston 94 and crosshead 95 is converted
to downward and forward motion of the ears 16 of the shipper boom
11, and consequent topping movement of the boom assembly.
Besides the pivotal connection to the linking piece 101, each link
97 has an upwardly projecting portion 103, pivotally joined through
a pin 104 to a generally L-shaped member 105. Each of the L-shaped
members 105, at its end remote from the pin 104, is joined
pivotally to the adjacent fixed member 92 by a pin 106. The pivotal
connections provided by the pins 106 are substantially directly
above the axis 90 about which the boom section 11 pivots in its
topping motion. The L-shaped members 105 accordingly constrain the
links 97 and thereby the piston 94 to move in a generally
horizontal direction. The shadow lines of FIG. 10 show the boom
elevated through a substantial angle with respect to the generally
horizontal orientation shown in solid lines. It will be noted that
the piston 94 is only slightly raised from the horizontal with the
boom in its elevated position.
It will be understood by those acquainted with the mechanical arts
that by using a piston moving in a generally horizontal direction,
power is very effectively controlable. The weight of the piston is
not an important consideration. Actually, when the boom assembly
according to the invention is elevated through a very substantial
arc, say of 70.degree. or 80.degree. above the horizontal, the
piston will tend to move slightly upward out of the horizontal
direction, and a pivotal connection is indicated at 110 at the rear
of the cylinder 93 to permit such minor pivoting motion as may be
required. But through most of the useful range of elevating and
lowering motion of the crane, the cylinder 93 and piston 94 operate
in a substantially horizontal orientation.
In some applications it may be desirable to operate a crane with
its boom extending somewhat downwardly in an orientation below
horizontal. It will be readily understood that suitable adjustments
can be made in the linking mechanism of FIGS. 9 - 11 to keep the
cylinder 93 at or near horizontal through the most widely used
range of degrees of elevation of the crane boom.
SAFETY DEVICE
Yet another feature of the crane of the invention is a novel safety
arrangement illustrated in FIGS. 12-14 for keeping hoisting tackle
from being damaged or jammed by forceful abutment against the boom
end or head sheave. For this purpose a flexible wire 120 can be led
along a path corresponding in length and direction to the path
followed by the hoisting cable from an on/off switch 121 near the
winch to a safety ring 122 above the hoisting tackle. Thus when the
hoisting tackle contacts the ring 122, the wire 120 will
mechanically carry a force to the switch to stop the winch. Such a
safety system is more readily applicable to a crane of the type
described, with its mainly internal arrangement of the hoisting
cable 62, than to other types of cranes, which in the past have
utilized complicated and unreliable electrical safety systems.
As shown in FIGS. 12--, the ring 122 is flexibly supported by a
wire 123 haging from a mechanical fastener or the like 124 in the
very forwardmost end of the extension boom 13. The inner, or lower
end of the ring hangs from the end of the wire 120. Thus when the
block, shown at 66 approaches too close to the end of the boom 13,
the ring 122 is tipped, the wire 120 is loosened, and the switch
121, which is suitably spring-biased, is released to turn off the
winch. The pulleys or sheaves carrying the wire 120 can be suitably
mounted adjacent to, and optionally on the same axis as, the
sheaves for the hoisting cable 63, 64 and 65. Accordingly similar
reference numerals 63a, 64a, and 65a designate the pulleys carrying
the wire 120.
The ring 122 could be an annulus, or could be horseshoe shaped or
of some other form, but must be free to move upon contact by the
block 126 or other tackle.
OPERATION
Besides the aforementioned flexibility of the crane of the
invention which permits topping and extending of the boom assembly
to be acutated independently and/or concurrently, it will be
understood that by mounting the power cylinder 93 on the platform
14, it is also possible to slew or swing the crane independently
of, or concurrently with, the other crane operations. Such an
arragement provides for simplicity of power transmission and weight
reduction in comparison to prior art cranes.
The effective distribution of load forces in a crane according to
the present invention is yet another advantage provided by the
cooperating piston and cable arrangement for boom extension.
Referring again to FIGS. 5 and 6 it will be seen that the cables 25
pass through the upper portions of the boom when the boom is viewed
as horizontal, whereas the piston rod 18 is positioned at the lower
portion of the boom. When the boom is topped, all of the weight of
the boom and whatever load is being carried is not borne by the
piston alone, but some of this load is borne by the cable 25 as
tension forces. Thus the distribution of forces tends to be
self-centering within the boom assembly, with the result that
lighter weight construction is possible.
The several embodiments of the crane of the invention will suggest
numerous modifications and adaptations within the spirit and scope
of the present invention to those acquainted with the art. What has
been disclosed is a new and versatile crane.
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