Storage system for ships

Abstract

 A storage system for ships comprises at least one pair of guide rails (5), one rail of each pair being mounting along one side wall (2a) of the cargo hold of a ship and the other rail of each pair being mounted along the opposite side wall of the cargo hold of the ship, a plurality of pallets (10), sliding means to enable the pallets (10) to slide on the guide rails, and a lift (4) to convey pallets to the or each pair of guide rails.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a storage system which has particular applications for storing cargo on ships.

[0002] Many items of cargo cannot be stowed with great space efficiency directly on a ship as they are too fragile to be loaded on top of one another. Such items include motor vehicles, boxed electronic goods, parts for manufacturing processes, and so called "swap bodies" or flexible sided containers.

[0003] It has been the practice to load some of these items of cargo into standard sized rigid containers which are strong enough to be stowed efficiently on top of one another in or on a ship, but some items of cargo are not appropriate for containers for commercial and other reasons.

[0004] An alternative has been to load such items (when they do not have their own wheels) onto trailers which are then pulled or pushed onto decks in so-called roll-on, roll-off ships, otherwise known as ro-ro ships. Motor vehicles are also loaded into ro-ro ships using their own wheels rather than a trailer. In either case, the space taken up around the motor vehicles or trailers necessary to move or lash them into position constitutes wasted space, which adds to the cost of transport or could be used to increase the revenue earning capacity of the ship.

[0005] It is an object of the predent invention to obviate or mitigate these problems by providing a storage system which allows cargoes to be stowed in closer proximity to one another than has hitherto been possible, and which provides added versatility to conventional box cargo vessels by giving them ro-ro capability.

[0006] According to the present invention there is provided a storage system for ships comprising at least one pair of guide rails, one rail of each pair being mounting along one side wall of the cargo hold of a ship and the other rail of each pair being mounted along the opposite side wall of the cargo hold of the ship, a plurality of pallets, sliding means to enable the pallets to slide on the guide rails, and a lift to convey pallets to the or each pair of guide rails.

[0007] Preferably there are at least two pairs of guide rails.

[0008] Preferably the guide rails are mounted on vertical posts mounted against the side walls of the cargo hold of the ship.

[0009] The pallets and/or the guide rails and/or the vertical posts and/or the lift may be removable.

[0010] In one embodiment the lift is mounted amidships in the hold and pairs of guide rails extend forward and aft of the lift.

[0011] Preferably a pallet storage area is provided adjacent the lift. The pallet storage area may include a rack for storing the pallets.

[0012] In one embodiment of the invention the sliding means are wheels or rollers mounted on the ends of the pallets which slide in tracks in the guide rails. The guide rails may be substantially C-shaped in cross section to create a C-shaped track to receive the wheels or rollers of the pallets.

[0013] Preferably releasable coupling means are provided to connect two pallets together.

[0014] Preferably an actuating means is provided to move pallets from the lift onto the rails and to remove the pallets from the rails onto the lift.

[0015] Preferably the lift compacts, when not in use, into the cargo area of the ship. The lift may be formed from a cubic structure which slides on a pair of telescoping rectangular frames on either side of the ship.

[0016] An embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:-

Figure 1

shows a longitudinal cross-section view of part of a storage system in part of the hold of a ship;

Figure 2

shows a perspective view of a pallet, guide rails and sliding means; and

Figure 3

shows a perspective view of the lift.

[0017] Referring to Figure 1 there is shown part of a ship 1 having a hull with a bottom 2, a pair of opposing side walls 2a,2b (only one side wall 2a is shown) and hatch covers 3, a cargo hold being formed in the space in the hull between the bottom and the hatch covers.

[0018] At the centre of the cargo hold is a lift 4 described more fully below. Forward of the lift 4 are seven horizontal guide rails 5 mounted on vertical posts 6 to the side wall 2a of the hull 2. Mounted on the side wall 2b on vertical posts, but not shown, are seven horizontal guide rails opposite the guide rails 5 to form seven pairs of guide rails, each pair being at substantially the same height. Aft of the lift 4 are seven horizontal guide rails 7 mounted on vertical posts 8 to the side wall 2a of the hull 2. Mounted on the side wall 2b on vertical posts, but not shown, are seven horizontal guide rails opposite the guide rails 7 to form seven pairs of guide rails, each pair being at substantially the same height.

[0019] Mounted on a rack 9 are a plurality of pallets 10. The rack 9 forms a pallet storage area adjacent the lift 4.

[0020] Each pallet 10 is designed to span substantially the width of the cargo hold between pairs of forward guide rails 5 and pairs of aft guide rails 7. As shown in Figure 2, the pallets may typically be rectangular in shape with sliding means in the form of wheels lla,llb,llc,lld at the corners. Guide rails 5 (and 7), in this embodiment, are generally C-shaped in cross section to receive and form a track for the wheels lla,llb,llc,lld. A pallet 10 can thus slide in the guide rails. Two pallets 10 may be coupled to slide together by inserting pins 12a,12b on projecting arms 13a,13b on one edge of one pallet into apertures 14a,14b on one edge of another pallet. The pins and apertures form a releasable coupling means for the pallets. Pins 12a,12b on arms 13a,13b are provided on both opposing edges as shown so that coupling can take place between two pallets regardless of the direction of travel of one pallet towards another pallet on the guide rails.

[0021] Referring to Figure 3, there is shown in more detail the lift 4. Lift 4 is formed from a cubic structure 15 having a floor 16. The height of the structure 15 is just less than the height of the cargo hold. On the floor 16 is an actuator means in the form of a pair of endless conveyers 17a,17b which are mounted on platforms which are movable along the conveyor axes to extend beyond the edge of the floor 16 of the lift. The structure 15 is movable up and down by use of hydraulic rams 18a,18b and slides on a pair of telescoping rectangular frames 19a,19b and 20a,20b respectively. The lift compacts, when not in use, into the cargo area of the ship.

[0022] In use of the storage device, the lift is operated until the floor 16 is just below the height of a pallet on the rack 9. The conveyers are extended under the pallet floor and movement of the conveyer then removes a pallet from the rack onto the floor 16. The lift is then raised until the pallet reaches hatch cover level and the pallet is loaded with cargo such as vehicles. The pallet is then lowered to a desired pair of guide rails and moved by the conveyer onto the pair of guide rails. This process is repeated so that a second loaded pallet is moved onto the same guide rail pair.

[0023] As the second pallet is lowered to the level of the first the pins 12a,12b of the second pallet engage with the apertures 14a,14b of the first pallet. As the second pallet is moved onto the rail pair it shunts the first pallet further along the guide rails rather like a train. This process is repeated until all the cargo is loaded. The ship is thus filled with pallets interconnected to create a variety of "decks".

[0024] When unloading, this process is reversed. It will be apparent that when removing one pallet onto the lift from a row of interconnected pallets on a pair of guide rails, the one pallet will pull the remaining pallets towards the lift so that at any one time there is a pallet adjacent the lift.

[0025] Pallets can be stored on different guide rails depending on the height of the cargo. For example half the ships hold could be filled with motor vehicles stored on decks created by interconnected pallets on every other pair of guide rail and half the ships hold could be filled with swap bodies on every third pair of guide rails. Alternatively the forward end of the ship's hold could be filled with pallets, and the rear left empty to receive solid containers or other cargo. In this latter respect, the lift itself could form a storage rack for pallets to make use of the space occupied by rack 9. The storage system of the invention provides a flexible use of the ship's hold.

[0026] The pallets and/or guide rails and/or vertical posts and/or lift may be removable. Thus a ship with a standard hold can have the storage system of the invention fitted for a period and then removed to revert the ship to its original design.

[0027] The vertical posts may be designed to support the guide rails at variable heights so that the heights of the guide rails and the distance between them can be varied.

[0028] The pallets 10 may include fixing points or features to secure cargo thereto, e.g. ribs to create troughs to receive wheels of vehicles. It should be noted that as the cargo is secured to the pallets at deck level then no space need be provided around the pallets to allow space for the crew to secure the cargo. The distance between interconnected pallets may also be adjustable to take different lengths of cargo such as large or small cars, e.g by making the arms 13a,13b adjustable in length. Also, as the engines of cars or other vehicles are not used in the hold then no special ventilation system is required to vent exhaust fumes from the hold.

[0029] The embodiment in the drawing shows one lift amidships. If desired two or more lifts could be provided. For example two lifts, one near the bow end of the hold and the other near the stern end of the hold, could load pallets onto guide rails extending the length of the hold between the two lifts.

[0030] In a modification of the embodiment described the conveyors 17a,17b are replaced by hydraulic rams which are engageable with, and disengageable from, lugs on the pallets to move the pallets on and off the floor 16 of the lift.

[0031] The number of pairs of rails is variable different to suit types of load and sizes of ship. In general the vertical spacing of the rails establishes the minimum incremental change between the heights of different loads.

Claims

1. A storage system for ships comprising at least one pair of guide rails, one rail of each pair being mounting along one side wall of the cargo hold of a ship and the other rail of each pair being mounted along the opposite side wall of the cargo hold of the ship, a plurality of pallets, sliding means to enable the pallets to slide on the guide rails, and a lift to convey pallets to the or each pair of guide rails.

2. A storage system as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that there are at least two pairs of guide rails.

3. A storage system as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, characterised in that the guide rails are mounted on vertical posts mounted against the side walls of the cargo hold of the ship.

4. A storage system as claimed in any preceding claim, characterised in that the pallets and/or guide rails and/or vertical posts and/or lift may be removable.

5. A storage system as claimed in any preceding claim, characterised in that the lift is mounted amidships in the hold and pairs of guide rails extend forward and aft of the lift.

6. A storage system as claimed in any preceding claim, characterised in that a pallet storage area is provided adjacent the lift the pallet storage area including a rack for storing the pallets.

7. A storage system as claimed in any preceding claim, characterised in that the sliding means are wheels or rollers mounted on the ends of the pallets which slide in tracks in the guide rails the guide rails being substantially C-shaped in cross section to create a C-shaped track to receive the wheels or rollers of the pallets.

8. A storage system as claimed in claim 7, characterised in that releasable coupling means are provided to connect pallets together.

9. A storage system as claimed in claim 7 or claim 8, characterised in that an actuating means is provided to move pallets from the lift onto the rails and to remove the pallets from the rails onto the lift.

10. A storage system as claimed in any preceding claim, characterised in that the lift compacts, when not in use, into the cargo area of the ship, the lift being preferably formed from a cubic structure which slides on a pair of telescoping rectangular frames on either side of the ship.

Drawing