Title of Invention

AN APPARATUS FOR RAPIDLY LODING AND UNLOADING CARGO CONTAINERS

Abstract

Title: An apparatus for rapidly loading and unloading cargo containers. An apparatus for rapidly loading and unloading cargo containers from a ship and transporting them to a storage or ground transport area comprising: A grid formed over the ship and the ground transport area. A box structured container handling element forming a shell and having a slit. At least one bogie mounted on wheels. A container lifting mechanism attachable to said bogie. A traverser connected to the grid for suspending said container handling element. A control means remotely located from the element for controlling the movement of the winch and the movement of the traverser on the grid. The system in accordance with this invention envisages a transportation system where containerized cargo can be loaded and unloaded from a transport vehicle such as a ship, train, truck and the like. The system also envisages a port wherein a traverser is used to load and unload cargo at sea.

Full Text

FORM - 2 THE PATENTS ACT, 1970 (39 of 1970) & THE PATENTS RULES, 2003 COMPLETE Specification (See section 10 and rule 13) AN APPARATUS FOR RAPIDLY LOADING AND UNLOADING CARGO CONTAINERS KONKAN RAILWAY CORPORATION LIMITED an Indian Company of Belapur Bhavan, Sector II, CBD, Belapur, Navi Mumbai 400 614, Maharashtra, India THE FOLLOWING SPECIFICATION PARTICULARLY DESCRIBES THE INVENTION AND THE MANNER IN WHICH IT IS TO BE PERFORMED. Field of Invention: This invention relates to a transportation system. In particular, this invention relates to an apparatus for rapidly loading and unloading cargo containers from a ship and transporting them to a storage or ground transport area. In particular, this invention relates to a system for handling container cargo from a ships hold to a ground level storage/transport facility and vice versa. In particular, this invention relates to a system for speedily handling of containerized cargo in a vessel. Background of invention: Introduction: Countries throughout the world depend on their transportation system for the purpose of importing and exporting different types of products. These export and import activities involve the transportation of goods and products, which weigh more than a few 1000 tonnes at least. For the transportation of such magnitude, transportation by ships is comparatively more popular than other modes of transport, typically for overseas consignments. Ships as a mode of transport are extremely fast and economical. This has given impetus to the growth of the marine cargo industry. Traditionally the cargo is stacked properly, in a manner such that the heaviest containers are placed at the bottom, and the lightest at the top so 2 that it does not present a problem while transporting such large bulk of goods. However with the growth in trade the amount of cargo carried by a ship has increased manifold and at a time ships carry different kinds of goods. For the transportation of so many goods at a time it would become difficult to stack the goods or products as a little movement may disrupt the stack. For this reason marine cargo industry has adopted the use of containerized cargo for transportation. Goods and products to be shipped are loaded in large containers, which in turn are loaded to and from ships allowing for economical loading and unloading, thus considerably reducing the lay time for a sea going sea vessel. With the advent of liner shipping and container cargo trade, the demand on ports have become heavy both in terms of the level of capital investment as also demands for more efficient cargo handling systems. Ships having more than 3000 TEUs cannot be brought into ports due to the limitations of draft. Ships are now growing to a load carriage of 8000 TEUs in which case the cargo handling equipment may need to move as many as 330 containers an hour. For loading and unloading such a large number of containers there was a need for transport system, which could efficiently handle such load. A containerized cargo ship has numerous holds with cell guides and containerized cargo is loaded on board the ship within these holds. It is usual to store containers in the holds such that heavier containers are placed at the bottom and the lighter containers are placed on top to give the ship a favourable stability. 3 Typically for ships having vertical storage compartments, a fixed or movable crane, typically a tower crane or other hoisting devices are used either on the dock or at the harbour or tracks may be provided over the main deck of a ship and cranes mounted on gantries move these tracks for lowering and raising containers to and from the main deck of ships and leading them o a martialling yard. In the horizontal stowage system, the loader vehicle travels into the hold and a mechanized conveyor is required to transport the to transport the cargo unit from the pick up area to the storage position on the ship. Another feature necessary for the working and efficient functioning of such a transportation system is the designing of the dock or the harbour where the ships anchor for the purpose of loading and unloading cargo. The principle behind designing a dock or a harbour is the amount of water that a cargo carrying ship displaces. While designing care has to taken that the distance of the ocean floor from the surface of the water is able to accommodate the hull of the ship which is submerged in the water. There is a possibility that the orientation of the coastline is such that it does not permit ships beyond a certain displacement capacity to dock at the harbour. When such a problem is encountered the cargo ships cannot dock at such harbours, hence ships are forced to dock at a harbour nearest to the intended port and the cargo is then transported by other modes of transport thereby increasing cost of transportation. Hence there was a need for efficient transportation system for the purpose of transporting containerized cargo. 4 Prior Art: Already known in the prior art is the use of hammerhead cranes for lifting and transportation of the containerized along the deck of the ship as well as on the harbours and the docks. Such cargo transfer systems having generally a hammerhead crane carrying a trolley mounting a pair of hoists for travel from a position over the cargo containers stacked on the deck of a ship to a location over a vertical tower incorporated in a mobile transfer mounted for travel along the pierhead of a dock. The vertical tower mounts a pair of loading and discharge elevators elevatable from a position at least level with the bottom of the top layer of containers to a position with respective load and discharge accumulator conveyors, which feed the containers away from or onto support elevators. U.S. Patent No. 6802684 discloses a terminal and system for the automatic computerized unloading of containerized cargo from container ships to trucks, railroad cars, other ships and storage. The terminal system is equipped to store or transfer unloaded cargo automatically by using independent container transfer vehicles. The cargo ships are moored between quays of a terminal building constructed in or adjacent to a waterway. However the disclosed system proves to be inefficient and insufficient for handling cargo at comparatively shallow depth harbours. U.S Patent No. 5570986 discloses a method and apparatus for cargo container transfer in a cargo container handling gantry crane for reducing container handling cycle times. However the disclosed method and apparatus cannot be used to load and unload cargo if the ship cannot be berthed adjacent to the dock. 5 U.S Patent No. 5511923 discloses a method and apparatus for ASRS handling of loaded and empty oceangoing containers. Containers are stored in a multi-level loaded container facility in upland and pier banks of spaced rows and columns in a grill-like arrangement with each container in a particular space spaced from all other containers, commonly referred to in ASRS systems, as rack storage. However the disclosed method and apparatus proves inefficient if the ship cannot be berthed at the dock. U.S Patent No. 4973219 discloses a high productivity, high density container storage yard adjacent to a facility for loading and unloading containers, such as to and from ships, with the individual containers stored therein being stacked up to four containers high. However the disclosed invention can be used only for transportation of the cargo when the ship is berthed at the dock. U.S Patent No. 4770589 discloses a cargo handling system wherein containers straddle and are transported over a route that is formed by four types of conveyor modules: lateral transfer modules, turntable/elevator modules, shore bound modules and shipboard modules for stowage of cargo. However the disclosed system is not capable of handling cargo which is heavy and cannot be used is the ships are not berthed at the dock. All the aforementioned systems and apparatus are capable of loading and unloading only one container at a time thereby increasing the time required for transportation and the operating cost of the transportation equipment. This invention seeks to overcome the limitations of the prior art. 6 The object of this invention is to provide an efficient and economical system for handling containerized cargo. Another object of this invention is to provide a cargo handling system where the ship need not come to the port and an integral multiple traverser is provided at sea which is connected seamless to a multiple or vertical traverser provided on land. An elevated track structure seamless connects the two traversers. The ship to be loaded or unloaded is brought and positioned under the traverser at sea. A plurality of container handling elements traverse horizontally on the traverser cantilevered over a moored ship bearing a plurality of containers in holds or on deck. Each of these container handling elements are fitted with a bogie adapted to move on rails provided within the container handling elements and the bogies are fitted with at least two hoisting winches to raise or lower load picking-up means fastened to hoisting cables. The load pick up means is adapted to function as a spreader for picking up ISO containers. Another object of this invention is to provide a system wherein movement of the container handling elements is computer controlled and the elements are positioned over the desired containers to be picked up in a single pass. After picking up the container the container handling elements will reverse on the horizontal traverser and align at one end of the traverser to form a train of container handling elements secured end to end with the fails within the container handling elements aligned. The aligned rails in the container handling elements are themselves aligned to an external track seamlessly. The container handling elements are then held in place and the bogies with the containers suspended from the under carriage are moved via traveling 7 mechanisms train like from the rails in the container element to the external tracks from sea to land until the container train with the bogies and the suspended containers reach a land traverser and are inserted and aligned within container handling elements in the land traverser. Summary of the invention: An apparatus for rapidly loading and unloading cargo containers from a ship and transporting them to a storage or ground transport area comprising: (i) a grid formed over the ship and the ground transport area; (ii) a box structured container handling element forming a shell and having a slit in its undercarriage and rails on either side of the slit; (iii) at least one bogie mounted on wheels adapted to move on said rails; (iv) a container lifting mechanism attachable to said bogie, consisting of a winch from which a rope means can be extended having container attachment fittings at the extremity which can latch on a container said winch means adapted to raise or lower said container attached thereto from a transport vehicle be it a ship, or a vehicle in the ground transport area such as a train or a trailer; (v) a traverser connected to the grid for suspending said container handling element and adapted to move along the grid with at least one container handling element with to without a suspended container; (vi) control means remotely located from the element for controlling the movement of the winch and the movement of the traverser on the grid. 8 Typically, the rails are imbedded in each of the element and the rail imbedded in one element aligns with the rails in an adjacent element. Typically, the rails extend slightly beyond the element to provide for seamless movement of the bogies on the rails 16 by means of the rail wheels. Typically, one element of the bogie such as for example the suspender beam extends slightly beyond or may be extendable in an aligned configuration to provide for seamless movement of the bogies on the rails by means of the rail wheels. Typically, the rail members of the aligned elements are adapted to automatically lock with each other. Typically, the bogie members of each element are adapted to lock with one another. The land traverser envisaged in accordance with this invention could be a vertical traverser where the container handling elements with the bogies inserted therein are lowered to and elevated rail height say 10 meters above the ground, the height of the sea traverser and the tracks associated therewith being about 60 meters in height. On reaching the elevated train level the bogies once again leave the container handling elements and the bogies constitute a sky train at a suspended elevated rail system with containers suspended in air from the under carriages. The train will then travel to a martialling yard where the 9 containers can be directly loaded by lowering on to ground level and positioned trailers. In accordance with this invention that over 20 containers could be offloaded or on loaded on a ship simultaneously. In accordance with a preferred embodiment of this invention the rails in the container handling elements are imbedded in box structures and the rail tracks between traversers are also in the form of rails imbedded in box structures ensuring high speed transit. The traversers and sea land tracks are typically on elevated beam and box structures similar to the sky bus transport system developed by the same inventor and disclosed in Indian Patent application No 715/MUM/2001. In accordance with this invention the cable stayed beam structure constructed on land and at sea will optimize resources and reduce any adverse impact on the environment and the fragile eco systems on land and at sea. The traverser at sea is basically made typically on the Hyson cell design construction of wall structures to optimize on costs. The bogies or rolling stock of the both lift and lower the containers and at the same time move the containers from sea to land and vice versa on guided rails. 10 In accordance with a preferred embodiment of this invention, the traveling mechanism of the bogies or rolling stock has a 3 phase AC-DC-AC asynchronous motor using VVVF controls for the guided rail traction. The guided traction systems, swing arrestor and derailment arrestors disclosed in our co pending Indian patent applications can also be advantageously used for the rolling stock in accordance with this invention. It is envisaged that in accordance with an advance embodiment of this invention, intelligent lifting devices pick and place the containers on the basis of control signals from neural networks, which send controls after image processing. It is within the scope of this invention that in addition to the horizontal and vertical trasversers, rotational traversers may be provided to reduce deviation enroute and assist in movement over difficult terrain and sharp routes. Additional vertical traversers may also be provided for this purpose. It is further envisaged that the movement of the container handling elements and the rolling stock and bogies is controlled and monitored with the help of sophisticated monitoring equipment including but not limited to strain gauges, video monitoring, image processing, thermal processing, radar, Doppler interferometry, ultrasound techniques, position and movement control systems, radio frequency identifiers, tachometers and local positioning systems. This invention is also useful to intermodal facilities for transferring containers between different types of container transporting systems, such as 11 between container cargo ships, railway goods trains and trailers In such intermodal facilities, in the prior art, containers are frequently unloaded, such as from a ship, and may be placed into temporary storage prior to being loaded onto other transportation equipment, which may be the same type such as a second ship, or may be different such as railway shipping cars. The present invention relates primarily to a high-density container transport system where containers are directly moved seamless from one system to another without the need for any temporary storage of containers being transferred in such intermodal facilities. Brief description of the accompanying drawings: The invention will be described in detail with reference to a preferred embodiment. Reference to this embodiment does not limit the scope of the invention. Figure 1 of the drawings shows a front schematic view of a container handling element in accordance with this invention; Figure 2 shows side schematic of two container elements suspended from a bar of a traverser; Figure 3 shows a typical technique showing the rail alignment of individual container handling elements showing the track alignment with the external tracks and the movement of the elements on the traversers; Figure 4 illustrates the suggested scheme of tracks showing the horizontal traverser at sea positioned over a ship, the extending tracks leading from the horizontal traverser at sea to a vertical traverser on land and the extending tracks of the suspended transport system on land; 12 Detailed description of the invention: The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to figures 1 to 4 of the accompanying drawings. Figure 1 illustrates a typical container handling element is indicated generally by the reference numeral (10). The container handling element (10) has a box structure having a slit in its undercarriage and rails (16) on either side of the slit. A bogie (18) mounted on wheels (14) is adapted to move on the rails (16). To the bogie (18) is attached the container lifting mechanism consisting of a winch (20) from which a rope (24) can be extended having container attachment fittings (28) at the extremity which can latch on a container (30). By raising and lowering of the rope (24) by means of the winch (20) the container (30) can be raised or lowered from a transport vehicle be it a ship, a train or a trailer. It is envisaged that the movement of the winch (20) and the attachment fitting (28) can be remotely controlled from a controller cabin. The features (22) and (26) are typical attachments to prevent derailment and stabilize the movement of the container like its swing during its travel. Figure 2 illustrates a portion of the traverser arrangement. As seen in figure 2 each element (12) is itself suspended from a traverser (32). Figure 2 shows two elements (12) aligned. In this configuration, the rails (16) imbedded in each of the element (12) align with the rails in the adjacent element. The bogie (18) is illustrated conceptually only and extra features have been dropped for clarity purposes. As seen in the figure the container (30) is suspended from the bogie member (18). Fort seamless movement, as 13 seen in figure 2, on method of alignment is to extend the rails slightly beyond the element (12) and similarly one element of the bogie such as for example the suspender beam [not shown in figure] may extend slightly beyond or may be extendable in an aligned configuration to provide for seamless movement of the bogies on the rails (16) by means of the rail wheels (14). Thus controls may be provided which are again remotely controlled from a control cabin by which in an aligned configuration, the rail members (16) of the aligned elements automatically lock. At the same time in such an aligned element the bogie members (18) also lock. So that the aligned and locked bogie members now act as a train of bogies which can move separate from the shell of the element (12) and move independently. Figure 3 conceptually illustrates the movement of the elements (12) on the grid of the traverser for alignment purposes. As seen in figure 3, two elements (12a) are aligned, whereas the element (12b) is in the process of alignment on the grid of the traverser. Movement on the traverser element (32a) causes all the elements (12a), (12a) and (12b) to align on the traverser element (32b). In this configurational position, the rail elements (16a), (16a) and (16b) will all be aligned. Again for the purposes of simplification, the bogies and the containers suspended therefrom are not shown in the figure but can be easily understood by interpolating these features from figures 1 and 2. Once rail track (16b) aligns with tracks (16a) a continuous seamless track is formed which again aligns itself on this grid element with the leading rail (36) of the box track (34) leading the bogie train formed bearing loaded containers as discussed with respect to figure 2 away from the traverser leaving behind the shells of the container handling elements (12) 14 on the traverser. These elements will await empty bogies that may arrive via the track (34). It can be easily understood that the movement of the bogies and the elements can be remotely controlled from a control cabin. In principle several such trains formed of loaded containers or 'empties' may be moving at simultaneously depending upon the dynamic requirement and demand of the situation. Figure 4 is a conceptually representation of the system as a whole which illustrates the working of the system. In figure 4 (38) represents the horizontal traverser at sea. It is envisaged that this traverser will have a cell grid structure on which a plurality of container handling elements will traverse under control of a cabin controller. The traverser has a grid structure extending over a moored anchored or berthed ship (46) having containers (46) on deck and in holds. It is envisaged that the horizontal traversers at sea will eventually be constructed such that the cantilevered or spanned grid will extend to a height of 60 metres to accommodate most ships therebelow as conceptually seen in figure 4. The cell structure of grid members may be lowered or raised on a central column or on spanned columns and the container ships will moor below these grids. It is envisaged that some of the members of the grid of the traverses-could be used as emergency or service members on which servicing or repair of the container handling elements may be done. The container handling element shells will remain on the horizontal traverser only and only bogies laden with filled containers or 'empties' i.e. no containers will move to and fro of the horizontal traverser. There may be siding line for bringing down a broken down shell to land via 15 a side track line. From the horizontal traverser at sea, tracks (36) will lead the container laden bogies to land in box track structures as illustrated in figure 3. It is envisaged that a plurality of box structures with branchings and extensions may be provided for directing containers or empties to different martialling yards or loading zones. As can be understood from figure 4, the tracks will travel at a height of 60 metres and thus the sea to land transfer of the containers will happen at that height. Support structures will be required to support the box structure tracks in mid air. It is envisaged that these columns will support both a down line and an up line on a single column. On land the tracks will lead to a vertical traverser (40) having vertical movement, which will bring down the container to 10 metres above ground level. The vertical traverser has container handling elements similar to the container handling elements in the horizontal traverser at sea. The bogies arriving on the tracks (36) will enter these vertical traverser element shells, which will travel downwards to bring the container, laden bogies to a suspended rail system (42) at a height of 10 metres. The suspended rail system will transport the containers to a suitable handling yard or the containers can be directly loaded using the winch mechanism described with reference to figure 1 directly on a trailer. 16 We claim 1. An apparatus for rapidly loading and unloading cargo containers from a ship and transporting them to a storage or ground transport area comprising: (i) a grid formed over the ship and the ground transport area; (ii) a box structured container handling element forming a shell and having a slit in its undercarriage and rails on either side of the slit; (iii) at least one bogie mounted on wheels adapted to move on said rails; (iv) a container lifting mechanism attachable to said bogie, consisting of a winch from which a rope means can be extended having container attachment fittings at the extremity which can latch on a container said winch means adapted to raise or lower said container attached thereto from a transport vehicle be it a ship, or a vehicle in the ground transport area such as a train or a trailer; (v) a traverser connected to the grid for suspending said container handling element and adapted to move along the grid with at least one container handling element with to without a suspended container; (vi) control means remotely located from the element for controlling the movement of the winch and the movement of the traverser on the grid. 2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the rails are imbedded in each of the element and the rail imbedded in one element aligns with the rails in an adjacent element. 17 3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the rails extend slightly beyond the element to provide for seamless movement of the bogies on the rails 16 by means of the rail wheels. 4. An apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein one element of the bogie such as for example the suspender beam extends slightly beyond or may be extendable in an aligned configuration to provide for seamless movement of the bogies on the rails by means of the rail wheels. 5. An apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the rail members of the aligned elements are adapted to automatically lock with each other. 6. An apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the bogie members of each element are adapted to lock with one another. Dated this 3rd day of February, 2006.

Documents:

150-mum-2005-abstract (complete).doc

150-mum-2005-abstract (complete).pdf

150-mum-2005-abstract(7-11-2008).doc

150-mum-2005-abstract(7-11-2008).pdf

150-mum-2005-cancelled pages(7-11-2008).pdf

150-mum-2005-claims (complete).doc

150-mum-2005-claims (complete).pdf

150-mum-2005-claims(granted)-(7-11-2008).doc

150-mum-2005-claims(granted)-(7-11-2008).pdf

150-mum-2005-correspondence(7-11-2008).pdf

150-mum-2005-correspondence(ipo)-(28-11-2008).pdf

150-mum-2005-correspondence-received.pdf

150-mum-2005-description (complete).pdf

150-mum-2005-description (provisional).pdf

150-mum-2005-drawing(7-11-2008).pdf

150-mum-2005-drawings.pdf

150-mum-2005-form 1(11-2-2005).pdf

150-mum-2005-form 18(10-11-2006).pdf

150-mum-2005-form 2(granted)-(7-11-2008).doc

150-mum-2005-form 2(granted)-(7-11-2008).pdf

150-mum-2005-form 3(11-2-2005).pdf

150-mum-2005-form 5(3-2-2006).pdf

150-mum-2005-form-1.pdf

150-mum-2005-form-2 (complete).doc

150-mum-2005-form-2 (complete).pdf

150-mum-2005-form-2 (provisional).doc

150-mum-2005-form-2 (provisional).pdf

150-mum-2005-form-26.pdf

150-mum-2005-form-3.pdf

150-mum-2005-form-5.pdf

150-mum-2005-power of attorney(30-11-2007).pdf

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