Transport vehicle with tiltable chassis
First Claim
1. A transport vehicle comprising a tractor, a chassis releasably attached to said tractor for transport therewith, said chassis having a flatbed supported on a wheeled tandem, a removable and reusable freight hauling and storing container mounted on said flatbed, said container having retractable and extensible wheels, selectively operable means for retracting and extending said wheels, said container being supported in an immobile condition on said flatbed when said support wheels are in a retracted position, means for releasably securing said container to said bed when said wheels are in said retracted position, said container being supportable by said wheels on said bed when said wheels are in an extended position for longitudinal rolling movement with respect to said flatbed, said tandem supporting said flatbed for relative sliding and tilting movement, means for selectively positioning said flatbed longitudinally relative to said tandem, pivot means on said tandem for pivotably supporting said flatbed and about which said flatbed pivots regardless of the relative longitudinal position of said flatbed to said tandem, and means connected between said chassis and flatbed for tilting said flatbed relative to said tandem to permit removal of said container longitudinally off the end of said flatbed.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An improved over the road transport vehicle and method of unloading its cargo container. The transport vehicle includes a chassis having a wheeled tandem support and a flatbed that is selectively positionable relative to the tandem and may be tilted on the tandem to permit a container support thereon to be moved longitudinally off the flatbed to either ground level or to an elevated loading platform.
51 Citations
18 Claims
- 1. A transport vehicle comprising a tractor, a chassis releasably attached to said tractor for transport therewith, said chassis having a flatbed supported on a wheeled tandem, a removable and reusable freight hauling and storing container mounted on said flatbed, said container having retractable and extensible wheels, selectively operable means for retracting and extending said wheels, said container being supported in an immobile condition on said flatbed when said support wheels are in a retracted position, means for releasably securing said container to said bed when said wheels are in said retracted position, said container being supportable by said wheels on said bed when said wheels are in an extended position for longitudinal rolling movement with respect to said flatbed, said tandem supporting said flatbed for relative sliding and tilting movement, means for selectively positioning said flatbed longitudinally relative to said tandem, pivot means on said tandem for pivotably supporting said flatbed and about which said flatbed pivots regardless of the relative longitudinal position of said flatbed to said tandem, and means connected between said chassis and flatbed for tilting said flatbed relative to said tandem to permit removal of said container longitudinally off the end of said flatbed.
- 13. A transport vehicle comprising a tractor having a chassis mounting extension, a chassis connectable to said tractor extension for transport with said tractor, said chassis including a straight one piece flatbed and a wheeled tandem, one end of said flatbed being positionable on said tractor extension and releasably secured thereto, a removable and reusable freight hauling and storing container mountable on said flatbed, said container having retractable and extensible wheels, selectively operable means for retracting and extending said wheels, said container being supported in an immobile condition on said flatbed when said support wheels are in a retracted position, means for releasably securing said container to said bed when said wheels are in said retracted position, said container being supportable by said wheels on said bed when said wheels are in an extended position for longitudinal movement with respect to said flatbed, said tandem having two longitudinally spaced sets of wheels and a support frame mounted for pivotable movement about a horizontal pivot point centrally located between said sets of wheels, said tandem frame supporting said flatbed for relative sliding movement, means for selectively positioning said flatbed longitudinally relative to said tandem frame, and means connected between said chassis and flatbed for tilting said flatbed and tandem frame about said tandem pivot point to permit removal of said container longitudinally off the end of said flatbed.
Specification