Crane apparatus

Abstract

A load carrying apparatus for suspending and carrying a load, such as a container crane, said apparatus comprising a trolley, a pair of sheaves provided adjacent to each corner of the trolley, a suspending device having a sheave adjacent to each of its corners, load suspending ropes wound on take up drum means provided on a crane girder and adapted to be unwound therefrom, each of said ropes being passed between one of said pairs of sheaves on the trolley and a corresponding one of said sheaves on the load suspending device, further pairs of sheaves provided on said trolley at four other positions, pairs of sheaves provided on said suspending device at two positions thereon, swing movement suppressing ropes wound on the take up drum means on the crane girder and adapted to be unwound therefrom, each of said swing movement suppressing ropes being passed between each of said further pairs of sheaves on the trolley and a corresponding pair of sheaves on the suspending device so as to form a V-shape. With this arrangement, the crane apparatus is not required to apply an additional force to the suspending ropes for suppressing its swinging movement and it becomes possible to provide the drum means for the swinging movement suppressing rope on the crane girder.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present invention relates to a crane apparatus, and more particularly to a load carrying apparatus for suspending and carrying a load by rope means.

One of big problems in a load carrying apparatus having rope means for carrying a load is that the load is frequently subjected to a swinging movement which produces various troubles as well known to those skilled in the art. In order to suppress such a swinging movement of a load, various proposals have already been made. However, these proposals have their own problems. For example, there has been proposed to provide a swinging movement suppressing rope between the trolley and the load suspending device. This arrangement requires a drum for winding the swinging movement suppressing rope thereon as well as driving means therefor, and the drum and the driving means must be provided on the trolley. Therefore, the weight of the trolley is undesirably increased and there is produced a very difficult problem in crane design. Further, there has also been proposed to design the load suspending ropes in such a manner that they also serve as swinging movement suppressing ropes. However, this arrangement is not recommendable from the view point of safety because the load suspending ropes are subjected to an increased load.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has a primary object to provide a crane apparatus including a trolley, a load suspending device, load suspending ropes extending between said trolley and said load suspending device, and swinging movement suppressing ropes extending between said trolley and said load suspending device for suppressing swinging movement of load, said crane apparatus further including take up drum means for said swinging movement suppressing ropes and drive means therefor which are not mounted on said trolley.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a crane apparatus which can accomplish the above object and in which said drum means for the swinging movement suppressing ropes can also serve for taking up the load suspending ropes.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a crane apparatus which can accomplish the above object and in which the size of the trolley can be decreased.

According to the present invention, there is provided a crane apparatus comprising a trolley having pairs of sheaves provided one pair adjacent to each corner portion thereof, a load suspending device having a sheave provided adjacent to each corner portion thereof, load suspending ropes wound on take up drum means provided on a crane girder and adapted to be unwound therefrom, and swinging movement suppressing ropes wound on the take up drum means on the crane girder to be unwound therefrom and each extending between one of the pairs of sheaves provided on said trolley each adjacent to corner thereof and a corresponding pair of sheaves provided on said suspending device so as to define a V-shape.

Further, according to a further aspect of the present invention, it is also intended that said load suspending rope and said swinging movement suppressing rope are wound on the same drum. For this purpose, according to the present invention, the crane apparatus includes load suspending ropes which extend between a trolley and a load suspending device in such a manner that they cannot by themselves suppress the swinging movement of the load, and swinging movement suppressing ropes disposed in such a manner that they suppress the swinging movement of the load, the distance as measured along a plane of the trolley between the point of support of the load suspending rope on the trolley and the point of support on the load suspending device being equal to that between the point of support of the swinging movement suppressing rope on the trolley and the point of support on the load suspending device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of the present invention, showing particularly rope arrangement therein, and,

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to the drawings, there is shown a crane apparatus which includes a trolley 1 adapted to be moved along a girder (not shown). The trolley 1 has pairs of sheaves 2A and 2B; 2C and 2D; 2E and 2F; and 2G and 2H provided one pair adjacent to each corner of the trolley 1 and also pairs of sheaves 3A and 3B; 3C and 3D; 3E and 3F; and 3G and 3H provided at four other positions. The crane apparatus further includes a load suspending device 5 for suspending a load in the form of a container 4. The suspending device 5 has on its upper surface sheaves 6A, 6B, 6C and 6D provided one at each corner of the device 5. The device 5 further has two pairs of axially aligned sheaves 7A and 7B; and 7C and 7D.

On the stationary portion of the crane system, there is provided a pair of take up drums 8A and 8B which can be driven either simultaneously or separately from each other. And there is provided a drum 9 or list adjust on the opposite side of the girder. The drum 8A has load suspending ropes 10A and 10B and swinging movement suppressing ropes 11A and 11B taken up thereon. Similarly, the drum 8B has load suspending ropes 10C and 10D and swinging movement suppressing ropes 11C and 11D taken up thereon. The rope 10A is passed around the sheaves 2C and 2D and also around the sheave 6A. Similarly, the rope 10B is passed around the paired sheaves 2A and 2B and the sheave 6B, the rope 10C around the paired sheaves 2H and 2G and the sheave 6C, and the rope 10D around the paired sheaves 2F and 2E and the sheave 6D. The swinging movement suppressing rope 11A is passed around the paired sheaves 3C and 3D and the sheave 7B, similarly the rope 11B around the paired sheaves 3A and 3B and the sheave 7A, the rope 11C around the paired sheaves 3H and 3G and the sheave 7C, and the rope 11D around the paired sheaves 3F an and 3E and the sheave 7D. Thus, it should be noted that in this rope arrangement the swinging movement suppressing ropes 11A through 11D are disposed in a unique manner. The ropes 11A and 11B and the ropes 11C and 11D are arranged to form V-shapes between the sheaves on the trolley 1 and the sheaves on the load suspending device 5. It should further be noted that the support points of the load suspending ropes 10A through 10D on the trolley 1 are closely related to those on the load suspending device 5, and that the support points of the swinging movement suppressing ropes 11A through 11D on the trolley 1 are also closely related to those on the load suspending device 5. The distance A as measured along a plane of the trolley 1 between the support point of each of the load suspending ropes 10A through 10D on the trolley 1 and the support point of the same rope on the load suspending device 5 as measured for example between the common axis of the sheaves 2G and 2H and the axis of the sheaves 6C is equal to the corresponding distance B between the support point of each of the swinging movement suppressing ropes 11A through 11D on the trolley 1 and the support point of the same rope on the load suspending device 5 as measured for example between the common axis of the sheaves 3G and 3H and the common axis of the sheaves 7C and 7D. With this arrangement, the load suspending ropes (for example, the ropes 10C and 10D) at the same side of the apparatus cross with each other as shown in the drawings, while each of the load suspending ropes is arranged in parallel relationship with respect to one of the swinging movement suppressing ropes at the same side of the apparatus. In other words, with this arrangement, the load suspending ropes are always the same in length as the corresponding swinging movement suppressing ropes, so that it is possible to take up each of the load suspending ropes on the same drum as the corresponding one of the swinging movement suppressing ropes.

In the illustrated embodiment, a pair of load suspending ropes 10A through 10D at the same side of the apparatus are crossed with each other between the trolley 1 and the load suspending device 5. Although the invention is not limited to the crossed arrangement of the load suspending ropes, it should be noted that the arrangement is advantageous in that it is possible to decrease the horizontal distance A between the support point of each of the load suspending ropes 10A through 10D on the trolley 1 and that of the same rope on the load suspending device 5, the distance being measured for example between the common axis of the paired sheaves 2G and 2H and the axis of the sheave 6C. Therefore, it is possible to decrease the dimension of the trolley 1. Further, in the illustrated embodiment, each of the rope take up drums is used to take up both the load suspending ropes and the swinging movement suppressing ropes, however, it is of course possible to provided one or more take up drum for the swinging movement suppressing ropes separately from the take up drum or drums for the load suspending ropes.

The arrangements of the load suspending ropes and the swinging movement suppressing ropes will now be described in more detail. For example, the load suspending rope 10C is passed around the sheaves 2H and 6C and then around the sheave 2G. The swinging movement suppressing rope 11C is passed around the sheaves 3H and 7C, and then around the sheave 3G. When it is required to adjust the attitude of the load about the axis Y--Y in FIG. 2, the load suspending ropes 10A through 10D are connected to an adjusting drum 9. Thus, the rope 10A is taken up on the drum 9 from the lower side thereof, while the rope 10B from the upper side thereof. Similarly, the ropes 10C and 10D are taken up at the side opposite to the rope 10A and 10B on the drum 9 from the upper and lower sides thereof, respectively. When it is not required to adjust the attitude of the load about the axis Y--Y in FIG. 2 the load suspending ropes 10A through 10D may be secured to an end portion of the girder. When it is not required to perform trim adjustment of the load 4 about the axis X-X in FIG. 2, the swinging movement suppressing ropes 11A through 11D may be secured at their ends to an end of the girder, however, when it is required to perform the trim adjustment, the swinging movement suppressing ropes at the opposite sides of the apparatus may be connected at the adjacent ends in order to obtain an equalizing function.

According to the present invention described above, since the pairs of the load suspending ropes 10A, 10B; and 10C, 10D respectively extend from sheaves at the spaced apart positions on the trolley 1 to the sheaves at the spaced apart positions on the load suspending device 5, the ropes effectively works only in lifting the load but do not contribute in suppressing lateral swinging movement of the load 4 when it is transferred by the crane apparatus. However, since each of the swinging movement suppressing ropes 11A, 11B, 11C and 11D extends from sheaves supported separately two points on the trolley 1 to a sheave supported point at one on the load suspending device 5 to form a V-shape, it effectively serves to suppress the swinging movement of the load 4. Therefore, any additional load due to the swinging movement suppressing action is not implied to the load suspending ropes 10A through 10D but only to the suppressing ropes 11A through 11D. Thus, even under a critical condition, a sufficient margin of safety can be assured in the load suspending ropes 10A through 10D. Further, it is not necessary to provide one or more drums for the swinging movement suppressing ropes on the trolley 1, so that the weight of the trolley can be reduced.

Further, it is also possible to adjust the attitude of the load about the axis X-X in FIG. 2 by operating the drums 8A and 8B separately or simultaneously and about the axis Y--Y in FIG. 2 by operating the take up drum 9, with the swinging movement suppressing ropes 11A through 11D disposed as shown. It is not necessary to provide an additional power of driving a rope drum system of swinging movement suppressing rope. According to a further aspect of the present invention, the horizontal distance between the point of support of each load suspending rope on the trolley and that of the same rope on the load suspending device is equal to the horizontal distance between the point of support of each swinging movement suppressing rope on the trolley and that of the same rope on the load suspending device, so that each of the load suspending ropes is always equal in length with a corresponding swinging movement suppressing rope. Thus, it is possible to take up the load suspending rope and the swinging movement suppressing rope on the same take up drum.

Claims

We claim:

1. A crane apparatus comprising a trolley having a periphery, a load suspending device, load suspending rope means disposed at an incline between said trolley and said load suspending device in such a manner that the rope means does not suppress swinging movement of a load, and swinging movement suppressing rope means disposed at an incline between the trolley and the load suspending device in such a manner to suppress the swinging movement of the load, the distance as measured along a plane of said trolley between a support point of at least one of said load suspending rope means on said trolley and a support point of the same rope means on the load suspending device being equal to the distance as measured along the plane of the trolley between a support point of at least one of the swinging movement suppressing rope means on the trolley and a support point of the same suppressing rope means on the load suspending device.

2. A crane apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the swinging movement suppressing rope means are supported on said trolley at locations inside of the load suspending rope means with respect to the periphery of the trolley, wherein at least one swinging movement rope means extends between the trolley and the load suspending device in a V-shape manner with another similarly extending suppressing rope means, and wherein at least one suspending rope means crosses with another suspending rope means between the trolley and the load suspending device.

3. A crane apparatus comprising

a trolley movable along a crane girder, said trolley having a first set of trolley sheave means located thereon at a first set of positions, a further set of trolley sheave means located thereon at a set of positions different from said first set of positions,

a load suspending device having a first set of suspending device sheave means located thereon at a first set of positions, and a further set of suspending device sheave means located thereon at a set of positions different from said first set of positions,

line means interconnecting said trolley and said device in a load-lifting relationship comprising

load suspending line means and swinging movement suppressing line means, each of said load suspending line means extending between a respective one of said first set of trolley sheave means and a respective one of said first set of suspending device sheave means, each of said swinging movement suppressing line means extending between a respective one of said further set of trolley sheave means and one of said further set of suspending device sheave means in such a manner that it forms a V-shape with another similarly extending swinging movement suppressing line means, and take up means spaced from said trolley for taking up said load suspending line means and said swinging movement suppressing line means.

4. A crane apparatus according to claim 3, in which at least one of said take up means which takes up the swinging movement suppressing line means also takes up at least one of the load suspending line means.

5. A crane apparatus according to claim 4, in which the distance as measured along the plane of the trolley between the support point of each of said further set of trolley sheave means and the support point of corresponding suspending device sheave means is equal to the distance as measured along the plane of the trolley between the support point of each of said first set of trolley sheave means and the support point of a corresponding one of said suspending device sheave means.

6. A crane apparatus according to claim 4, in which each of said load suspending line means crosses with another similarly extending line means.

7. A crane apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said sheave means have axes extending parallel to one another, and wherein said crossing line means are symmetrically arranged with respect to a plane which extends between said trolley and said load suspending device and which extends parallel to said axes of said sheave means.

8. A crane apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said at least one take up means is a take up drum.

9. A crane apparatus according to claim 4, wherein each line means extends from a take up means around a respective trolley sheave means to a respective suspending device sheave means.

10. A crane apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said further set of suspending device sheave means are arranged in coaxial pairs.

11. A crane apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the take up means are structurally remote from the trolley.

12. A crane apparatus according to claim 3, wherein all of said sheave means have parallel axes.

13. A crane apparatus according to claim 3, wherein each of said take up means comprises a take up drum.

14. A crane apparatus according to claim 3, wherein each of said load suspending line means and swinging movement suppressing line means extends between the trolley and the load suspending device in such a manner that they define parallel planes.

15. A crane apparatus comprising

a trolley movable along a crane girder, said trolley having a first set of trolley sheave means located thereon at a first set of positions, a further set of pairs of trolley sheave means located thereon at a set of positions different from said first set of positions, a load suspending device having a first set of suspending device sheave means located on said device at a first set of positions, a further set of pairs of suspending device sheave means located on said device at a set of positions different from said first set of positions on said device, line means interconnecting said trolley and said device in a load-lifting relationship comprising

load suspending line means and swinging movement suppressing line means, each of said load suspending line means extending between a respective one of said first set of trolley sheave means and a respective one of said first set of suspending device sheave means, each of said swinging movement suppressing line means extending between and being so disposed as to pass around a respective one of said pairs of trolley sheave means and one of said pairs of suspending device sheave means in such a manner that it forms a V-shape with another similarly extending swinging movement suppressing line means.

16. A crane apparatus according to claim 15, further comprising take up means spaced from said trolley for taking up said load suspending line means and said swinging movement suppressing line means.

17. A crane apparatus according to claim 16, in which at least one of said take up means comprises a drum element which takes up at least one of the swinging movement suppressing line means and at least one of the load suspending line means.

18. A crane apparatus according to claim 17, in which the distance as measured along the plane of the trolley between the support point of each of said further set of pairs of trolley sheave means and the support point of corresponding suspending device sheave means is equal to the distance as measured along the plane of the trolley between the support point of each of said first set of trolley sheave means and the support point of a corresponding one of said suspending device sheave means.

19. A crane apparatus according to claim 17, in which each of said load suspending line means crosses another similarly extending line means.

20. A crane apparatus according to claim 19, wherein said sheave means have axes extending parallel to one another, and wherein said crossing line means are symmetrically arranged with respect to a plane which extends between said trolley and said load suspending device and which is parallel to said axes of said sheave means.

21. A crane apparatus according to claim 15, wherein said V-shape forming swinging movement suppressing line means share a common pair of suspending device sheave means.

22. A crane apparatus according to claim 15, wherein said further set of suspending device sheave means are arranged in coaxial pairs.

23. A crane apparatus according to claim 22, wherein said first and further sets of suspending device sheave means have mutually parallel axes.

24. A crane apparatus according to claim 23, wherein each of said load suspending line means and swinging movement suppressing line means extends between the trolley and the load suspending device in such a manner that they define parallel planes.

25. A crane apparatus comprising

a substantially rectangular trolley movable along a crane girder, said trolley having first pairs of sheaves provided one pair adjacent to each corner of the trolley and further pairs of sheaves provided at four positions different from those of said first pairs of sheaves,

a substantially rectangular load suspending device having a first set of sheaves provided one adjacent each corner of the device and pairs of sheaves provided at two positions on the device other than those of said first set of sheaves,

take up drum means spaced from said trolley taking up load suspending line means and swinging movement suppressing line means which interconnect said trolley and said device in load-lifting relationship, each of said load suspending line means being so disposed that it passes around one of the pairs of sheaves disposed adjacent to the corners of said trolley and one of the sheaves disposed adjacent to the corners of the load suspending device, each of said swinging movement suppressing line means being so disposed that it passes around one of said further pairs of sheaves on the trolley and one of said pairs of sheaves provided on said load suspending device in such a manner that it forms a V-shape with another similarly disposed swinging movement suppressing line.

26. A crane apparatus according to claim 25, in which at least one of said drum means which take up the swinging movement suppressing line means also serves to take up at least one of the load suspending line means.

27. A crane apparatus according to claim 26, in which the distance as measured along the plane of the trolley between the support point of each of said further pairs of sheaves on the trolley and the support point of a corresponding pair of sheaves on said load suspending device is equal to the distance as measured along the plane of the trolley between the support point of each of said pairs of sheaves on the trolley and the support point of a corresponding one of said sheaves provided adjacent to the corners of said load suspending device.

28. A crane apparatus according to claim 25, in which said load suspending line means at the same side of the apparatus are so disposed they cross with each other between said trolley and said load suspending device.