Europaisches Patentamt

J ) European Patent Office Publication number: 0 318 2 6 4

Office europeen des brevets A1

EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION

Application number: 88311078.5 int. ci.4: B66C 19/00

Date of filing: 23.11.88

Priority: 24.11.87 IE 3194/87 Applicant: Hanafin, Daniel A.

Knockreigh
@ Date of publication of application: Miltown County Kerry(IE)
31.05.89 Bulletin 89/22
Inventor: Hanafin, Daniel A.
Designated Contracting States: Knockreigh
BE DE ES FR GB GR IT NL SE Miltown County Kerry(IE)

Representative: Parry, Christopher Stephen et

al
Page White & Farrer 5 Plough Place New
Fetter Lane
London EC4A 1HY(GB)

Travelling container crane.

A travelling container crane comprises a mobile

gantry (10) mounted for sideways movement on
fixed ground rails (14) and two parallel spaced-apart
beams (16, 17) supported by and extending horizon-
tally from the gantry (10) in a direction perpendicular
to the direction of motion of the gantry. A respective
mobile trolley (22, 23) is supported under each
beam on rails fixed to the beam for to-and-fro move-
ment of the trolley along the beam on the beam
rails, and a respective hoistable container-lifting de-
vice (33) is suspended from each trolley. In the
preferred embodiment, a third mobile trolley (30)
and associated container-lifting device (33) is sup-
sported between the two beams on further rails fixed
^ t o the two beams, whereby the third trolley may
move to and fro along the space between the beams
on the said further rails.
CM
00
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Xerox Copy Centre

 1 EP 0 318 264 A1
TRAVELLING CONTAINER CRANE
This invention relates to a travelling container
crane.
The storing of freight cargo in steel containers
for the purpose of transportation by sea or land is a
relatively recent practice, dating from the 1950s,
and such cargo containers have a range of stan-
dard dimensions to permit ready transfer between
ships, trucks, railway wagons, etc.
The width of such containers has been standar-
disesd at 8 or 8.5 feet, and their height is generally
8 feet also, although some 4 foot "half-height"
containers are used and sometimes the height may
be 9 or 9.5 feet. The great majority of cargo
containers used in international trade have a length
of either 20 feet or 40 feet, although there are small
numbers of containers with lengths of 35, 45 and
48 feet.
In order .to lift such cargo containers to and
from, for example ships, railway wagons and
trucks, a special type of crane, known as a travel-
ling container crane, has been developed. This is a
type of crane comprising a mobile gantry mounted
for sideways movement on rails fixed in or to the
ground, a beam supported by and extending hori-
zontally from the gantry in a direction perpendicu-
lar to the direction of motion of the gantry, a mobile
trolley supported under the beam on rails fixed to
the beam for to-and-fro movement of the trolley
along the beam on the beam rails, and a hoistable
container-lifting device ("spreader") suspended
from the trolley. The hoist itself may be mounted
on the trolley or located in a machinery house
carried on the rearward portion of the beam.
Although not limited thereto, the present inven-
tion is especially concerned with ship-to-shore or
quayside cranes, of the type where the gantry is of
generally arched configuration having two front and
two rear legs respectively which travel on the fixed
ground rails, and where the beam extends at least
under the front (or seaward side) of the arch, i.e.
between the tops of the front two legs, and usually
also projects beyond the rear (or landward side) of
the arch, i.e. from between the rear two legs.
In such ship-to-shore cranes the portion of the
beam forwardly of the arch (i.e. the portion which
extends out over the edge of the quayside) is a
derrick boom which can be raised from its horizon-
tal position to provide clearance to allow the dock-
ing of ships to be unloaded and vice versa.
Most specialised container ships are desig-
nated LO-LO (lift-on, lift-off) vessels to distinguish
them from roll-on, roll-off vessels. It is with the
former that travelling quayside container cranes are
used, the latter being loaded and unloaded with, for
2
example, fork-lift trucks.
On LO-LO vessels the cargo containers are
almost always stowed with their longitudinal axes
parallel to the axis of the vessel, so that when the
5 vessel is docked the container axes are parallel to
the side of the quay. The quayside travelling crane
is arranged for sideways motion along the quay-
side, i.e. parallel to the axes of the containers in
the vessel, so that the beam extends out over the
10 cargo hold in which the containers are stowed in a
direction perpendicular to the container axes.
The containers are usually stowed in the vessel
in such a manner that containers of the same
length (usually 20 foot or 40 foot long) are located
75 in alignment side-by-side in adjacent rows across
the width of the ship, i.e. perpendicular to their own
axes and to the axis of the ship, so forming a
rectangular matrix or "layer" of containers, there
being a number of such layers superimposed upon
20 one another.
To unload a ship so loaded with containers, the
quayside crane is moved to a position with its
beam located centrally over one of the rows of
containers, the trolley is moved to a position di-
25 rectly over a container to be unloaded, and the
container hoist is lowered for fixing to the container
by means of the spreader.
Then the container is lifted clear of the other
containers and any other obstructions, and the trol-
30 ley is moved rearwardly along the beam rails until
it is directly over, for example, a truck or railway
wagon located on the quay (usually within the area
of the gantry between the quayside rails).
Finally the container is lowered onto the receiv-
35 ing vehicle and the spreader disconnected. The
trolley is normally controlled by an operator situ-
ated in a cabin attached to the rear of the trolley
for good visibility of the cargo container at all
times.
40 Without moving the gantry, (except for minor
adjustments required to engage the container) this
procedure is repeated for all of the containers in
the particular row aligned with the beam of the
crane. Adjacent rows are then unloaded by moving
45 the gantry until the beam is centrally located over
the desired row, and the containers removed one-
by-one for each row as described above. Succes-
sive "layers" of containers are similarly unloaded.
Clearly, the procedure for loading a vessel is the
so reverse of the above.
The existing method of loading/unloading ships
as described above suffers from a number of limi-
tations.
In order to. pass the maximum length of con-
tainer through the front legs of the crane's gantry,
2
 3 EP 0 318 264 A1
these have to be spaced about 55 feet apart (48
foot container plus 3.5 feet clearance at each end).
In addition to this 55 foot space, the gantry struc-
ture itself occupies further space on each side of
the centre space.
Further, as is well known, the gantry legs usu-
ally run on the ground rails be means of a system
of rocker beams, wheel bogies and wheels, the
rocker beams ensuring an equal distribution of the
cumulative vertical loading of the crane between
the various wheels. A typical large container crane
has 8 wheels per leg, and it is the distance apart of
the outermost ends of the rocker beams and bog-
ies which determines the overall width of the gan-
try.
Despite crane manufacturers' attempts to keep
the overall crane width to a minimum so that two or
more cranes standing side-by-side can approach
as closely as possible to each other in order to
"work" the ship more intensively, practical con-
straints such as leg spacing as referred to above
and crane stability mean that in practice the closest
that two cranes can get is about 80 feet as mea-
sured from the centre lines of the beams of each
crane.
Accordingly, two side-by-side cranes can only
work every fourth row of 20 foot containers or
every second row of 40 foot containers at the same
time.
It is therefore an object of the present invention
to provide a construction of travelling container
crane which can provide more intensive working of
cargo containers arranged in layered matrix fashion
as described above, whether on a vessel or else-
where, for example in a freight storage depot.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a
travelling container crane of the kind comprising a
mobile gantry mounted for sideways movement on
fixed ground rails, a beam supported by and ex-
tending horizontally from the gantry in a direction
perpendicular to the direction of motion of the
gantry, a mobile trolley supported under the beam
on rails fixed to the beam for to-and-fro movement
of the trolley along the beam on the beam rails,
and a hoistable container-lifting device suspended
from the trolley, wherein at least two parallel beams
are provided supported in spaced apart side-by-
side relationship by the gantry, each beam having
a respective mobile trolley and associated hoista-
ble container-lifting device.
The advantage of the invention is that by pro-
viding two beams on a common gantry, these can
be located closer together than two beams on the
gantries of two separate cranes, so that with suit-
able beam spacing alternate rows of 20 foot con-
tainers and adjacent rows of 40 foot containers can
be worked simultaneously by a single crane.
Although such a crane would be wider than a
4
normal single beam crane, it would nevertheless be
narrower than two separate single beam cranes
side-by-side, and this provides the possibility that a
second such crane can be brought up to the first
5 crane, providing a more intensive working of the
containers than two single beam cranes side-by-
side.
In a particularly preferred embodiment of the
invention, a third mobile trolley and associated
io spreader is supported between the two beams on
further rails fixed to the two beams, whereby the
third trolley may move to and fro along the space
between the beams on the said further rails.
Clearly with suitable beam spacing this ar-
75 rangement will permit three adjacent rows of 20
foot containers to be worked simultaneously by the
single crane or, as before, two adjacent rows of 40
foot containers.
A further advantage is that if one trolley is
20 subject to mechanical or other breakdown, there
will still be at least one operative trolley.
In the preferred embodiment referred to above,
it is advantageous that rather than having one oper-
ator per trolley as in single beam cranes, there
25 may be one mobile operator cabin supported be-
tween the two beams in the same manner as the
third trolley and which during operation of the
crane is located towards the front end of the beams
for controlling all three trolleys during loading and
30 unloading of containers from, for example, a vessel,
and a second operator cabin (which may likewise
be mobile and supported between the beams) to-
wards the rear of the beams for controlling loading
and unloading on the land side of the beams,
35 control of each trolley being passed from one oper-
ator to the other at an intermediate point along the
beam. The second operator cabin may alternatively
be fixed to the gantry structure.
Thus not only does the multiple beam structure
40 of the preferred embodiment permit more intensive
working, this can be achieved with one less oper-
ator than using separate single beam cranes.
Naturally, since there will be little clearance
between adjacent containers being simultaneously
45 worked, they will need to be lifted to different
heights for transport along the beams to avoid
collision by sideways swaying. This can be con-
trolled either automatically or by the operators, and
an automatic safety system can readily be devised
so which would monitor and correlate the heights of
the containers and their positions along the beams
to provide an automatic cut-out or alarm if sufficient
separation of the containers or of the trolley struc-
tures was not maintained at all times.
55 Clearly the principle described above can be
extended to cranes having more than two parallel
beams supported by the gantry, with a respective
mobile trolley supported under each beam and a
3
 5 EP 0 318 264 A1
respective trolley supported in the space between
each adjacent pairs of beams.
As mentioned previously, the invention is par-
ticularly applicable to quayside cranes, and there-
fore it is additionally preferred that the gantry is of
generally arched configuration having two front and
two rear legs respectively which travel on the fixed
ground rails, wherein the beams extend at least
under the front of the arch and preferably also
project beyond the rear of the arch, and wherein
the portion of each beam forwardly of the arch is a
derrick boom which can be raised from its horizon-
tal position to provide clearance to allow the dock-
ing of ships to be unloaded and vice versa.
An embodiment of the invention will now be
described, by way of example, with reference to
the accompanying drawings wherein:
Figure 1 is a perspective view of a quayside
travelling container crane having two parallel
beams,
Figure 2 is a side view of the crane of Figure
1,
Figure 3 is a plan view of the front part of
the crane of Figure 1,
Figure 4 is a partial front view illustrating the
crane of Figure 1 in operation loading and/or un-
loading 20 foot containers,
Figure 5 is a partial front view illustrating the
crane of Figure 1 in operation loading and/or un-
loading 40 foot containers, and
Figure 6 is a schematic front view of a
modification of the crane of Figure 1.
In the Figures it will be appreciated that the
crane drive and control mechanisms are not shown,
but they may be of conventional design and their
adaptation to the embodiment shown would not
present any great difficulty for the person skilled in
the art. Thus they are usually electro-mechanical
with either solid state or Ward Leonard speed
regulation. Power supply to the crane may be by
diesel generator or conductor rails or may be taken
from the port's mains supply and fed to the crane
by a flexible cable which is reeled/unreeled on a
cable reeling drum on the crane. Power is distrib-
uted to the individual trolleys by further flexible
cables which "concertina" along the length of the
beams.
Referring first to Figures 1 to 3, the crane
comprises a mobile gantry 10 of generally arched
configuration, having two front legs 11 and two rear
legs 12, and various bracing and cross members
13. The gantry 10 is adapted for sideways move-
ment on a pair of rails fixed in or to the ground
parallel to the quayside 15 (Figure 2), only the rail
14 most remote from the quayside 15 being
shown. In particular, the front legs 11 travel on the
rail (not shown) nearest the quayside 15, while the
6
rear legs 12 travel on the rail 14 furthest from the
quayside.
As mentioned above, the gantry legs 11 and 12
run on the ground rails by means of a system of
5 rocker beams, wheel bogies and wheels. However,
these are not shown in the Figures for simplicity
and because they may be of generally conven-
tional construction, except that there would typi-
cally need to be ten to sixteen wheels per leg
10 rather than the conventional eight in order to carry
the extra weight.
Two parallel beams' 16 and 17 are supported
by and extend side-by-side horizontally from the
gantry 10 in a direction perpendicular to the direc-
75 tion of sideways motion of the gantry. In particular,
the beams 16 and 17 extend under the cross
member 13 joining the tops of the front legs 11,
fully through the arched gantry 10, and finally to
emerge from under the cross member 13 joining
20 the tops of the rear legs 12 to project beyond the
rear of the arch.
The portion of each beam forwardly of the
arched gantry 10 is a derrick boom which can be
raised from the horizontal position shown to a near-
25 ly vertical position to provide clearance for masts,
etc. to allow the docking of ships to be unloaded
and vice versa.
The derrick booms, i.e. the forward portions of
the beams 16 and 17, rotate upwardly about the
30 hinge points 18 and 19 respectively during
"derricking". However, during normal operation
they are maintained horizontal by holding arms 20
attached to A-frames 21. The beams are approxi-
mately 20 feet in width in this embodiment, and are
35 spaced apart by the same distance. However, in
order to accomodate the side-shift to be described
with reference to Figure 6, the width of the beams
would need to be increased by an amount which
depends on the length of side-shift required. Each
40 beam 16 and 17 forms a runway for a respective
mobile trolley 22 and 23 supported under the beam
on two rails fixed longitudinally on the beam,
whereby each trolley may travel along its rails to
and fro along substantially the full length of the
45 beam.
In particular, a respective inverted T-beam 24
is fixed to and depends from each outer edge of
each beam 16 and 17, and wheels 25 on each side
of each trolley 22 and 23 run on rails 26 supported
so by the two inward facing limbs 27 of the two T-
beams 24 supported by the outer edges of the
associated beam 16 and 17. A detailed view of this
arrangement is shown at the top of figure 4, but
generally this detail is omitted for simplicity.
55 Further rails 28 are fixed along the two outward
facing limbs 29 of the T-beams 24 at the opposing
edges of the two beams 16 and 17, and these form
a runway for a third mobile trolley 30 having
4
 7 EP 0 318 264 A1
wheels 31 on opposite sides thereof which engage
these rails 28. Thus this third trolley 30 is sup-
ported between the two beams 16 and 17 in a
similar manner as each of the trolleys 22 and 23 is
supported below its respective beam 16 and 17,
and may thus travel along its rails 28 to and fro
along substantially the full length of the space
between the beams 16 and 17, i.e. between and
parallel to the paths of travel of the two trolleys 22
and 23.
A similar supporting effect to that given by the
T-beams as above described can be obtained in
alternative ways, for example by having each of the
two trolley support beams consist of two outer I-
beams located vertically, with their upper portions
braced together with a lattice construction, allowing
the bottom of each I-beam to support two trolley
rails.
Each of the three trolleys 22, 23 and 30 has a
respective container hoist allocated thereto. These
hoists may be entirely conventional, and comprise
a winch/rope system 32 by which a so-called pul-
ley frame and spreader 33 may be raised and
lowered. Spreaders are known in the art, and are
lifting frames which can be attached to the four
corners at the top of .a container by twistlocks.
Spreaders either have fixed dimensions, so that
they have to be changed for different container
dimensions, or they can be telescopic to handle a
range of container sizes.
For controlling the crane, there is a first mobile
operator cabin 39 (shown only in figure 3) sup-
ported for travel along and between the two beams
16 and 17 in the same manner as the third trolley
30 and which during operation of the crane is
located towards the front end of the beams for
controlling all three trolleys during loading and un-
loading of containers from a vessel shown. If re-
quired for operational reasons, this cabin may be
equipped with a side-shift facility to give the oper-
ator a clearer vertical view into the particular hold
being served. Since the first operator cannot ac-
curately control from his position the motion of the
trolleys as they approach the gantry 10, a second
operator cabin (which is not shown but may either
be fixed to the gantry structure or mobile and
supported between the beams like the trolley 30) is
located towards the rear of the beams for control-
ling loading and unloading on the land side of the
beams, control of each trolley being passed from
one operator to the other at an intermediate point
along the respective beam.
Figure 4 illustrates how the two beam/three
trolley arrangement described can handle three 20
foot cargo containers in a continuous cycle of load-
ing and/or unloading. In figure 4 it is assumed that
the gap between the two beams 16 and 17 is
located centrally over one row A of 20 foot contain-
8
ers, and the two beams 16 and 17 on either side
are located centrally over two rows C and B of 20
foot containers immediately on either side of the
first row (see also figure 3).
5 It is clear that provided that the containers 35
from the row A are lifted to a different height to the
containers 34 and 36 from the rows C and B, they
may travel freely back and forth along the beams
in the same direction or in different directions, and
10 loading may be combined with unloading (i.e. con-
tainers carried in both directions). However, since
there is not enough clearance to permit all three
containers to be lowered or raised at the same
time, it is safer if the centre trolley 30 moves
75 seawards as the outer trolleys 22 and 23 move
landwards, and vice versa. This also tends to re-
duce the maximum load on the ends of the beams.
Figure 5 illustrates how 40 foot containers are
handled. In this case the centre trolley 30 is not
20 used and is parked on the land side of the beams
16 and 17. The beams 16 and 17 are positioned
centrally over adjacent rows D and E of 40 foot
containers, and containers 37 from row D may be
carried inwardly to the land side simultaneously or
25 alternately vith containers 38 from row E. Again,
the containers are kept at different heights, and
loading may be combined with unloading.
In the case of the less common 35, 45 and 48
foot containers, trolleys 22 and 23 are parked, and
30 only the centre trolley 30 is used. However, by
incorporating a side-shift facility as described be-
low, it is also possible to design the crane so that it
can handle two 35 or 45 or 48 foot containers with
the outer trolleys 22 and 23 in a manner similar to
35 that described above for handling two 40 foot con-
tainers.
One possible problem arising out of the afore-
said crane with mulitple beams and trolley supports
is that of "side-shift". Containers are not normally
40 stacked on board ship with their ends touching,
although this is theoretically possible and thus
must be designed for. The spacing between the
ends of adjacent containers is, therefore, a variable
with a minimum value of 0 ft. and a maximum of
45 about 6 ft., where container bays are separated
from each other by ship's bulkheads or hatch cover
mechanisms.
It is therefore, advantageous to provide a
"side-shift" facility on the spreader 33 carried by
so the two outer trolleys 22 and 23 to allow them to
operate on containers spaced by up to 6 ft., or
more on either side of a centre container. One
possible type of side-shift mechanism would be
one where each of the two outer trolleys 22 and 23
55 are equipped with a separate machinery house 40
(figure 6) containing the hoist drums 41 and asso-
ciated gear for that trolley (such machinery house
trolleys are relatively common on conventional con-
5
 9 EP 0 318 264 A1 10

tainer cranes). The machinery house can be made
to travel left-to-right and vice versa (i.e. sideways)
on the trolley by fitting it with wheels 42 travelling
on rails (not shown) mounted on the trolley proper.
The overall width of the beams 16 and 17 is
increased, in the direction away from the centre
gap which remains at 20 foot, to permit the centre-
line 43 of each hoist to be displaced outwardly by
up to a distance L, e.g. at least 6 and preferably up
to 11 feet. By this means it is possible to greatly
increase the flexibility of the crane for container
handling purposes. If side-shift is required for the
centre trolley 30, the mechanism for achieving this
side-shift may be incorporated either on the trolley
itself or between the pulley frame (headblock) and
the spreader. It will be understood that in figures 1
to 5 the machinery house 40 and drums 41 are not
explicitly described but may be either located in a
fixed position on or between the beams 16 and 17
or fixed to each trolley 22, 23 and 30, rather than
being a separately movable part as shown in figure
6.
The major advantage of the invention is that it
provides a construction of crane which enables a
substantial increase in the efficiency of container
handling resulting in major cost and time savings.
between the beams and locatable towards the front
of the beams, and a second operator cabin located
towards the rear of the beams.
4. A travelling container crane according to
5 Claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the gantry is of generally
arched configuration having two front and two rear
legs (11, 12) respectively which travel on the fixed
ground rails, (14) wherein the beams (16, 17) ex-
tend at least under the front of the arch, and
10 wherein the portion of each beam forwardly of the
arch is a derrick boom which can be raised from its
horizontal position to provide clearance to allow the
docking of ships to be unloaded and vice versa.
5. A travelling container crane according to any
75 preceding Claim, wherein at least one of the mobile
trollies has an associated hoistable container-lifting
device (33) which is shiftable sideways.
6. A travelling container crane according to
Claim 5, wherein the mobile trolley comprises a
20 sideways shiftable housing (40) containing hoisting
means (41 ) for the container-lifting device (33).
25

Claims
30
1. A travelling container crane of the kind com- .
prising a mobile gantry (10) mounted for sideways
movement on fixed ground rails (14), a beam (16)
supported by and extending horizontally from the
gantry (10) in a direction perpendicular to the di- 35
rection of motion of the gantry, a mobile trolley (22)
supported under the beam (16) on rails (26) fixed
to the beam for to-and-fro movement of the trolley
along the beam on the beam rails, and a hoistable
container-lifting device (33) suspended from the 40
trolley, characterised by at least two parallel beams
(16, 17) supported in spaced apart side-by-side
relationship by the gantry (1 0), each beam having a
respective mobile trolley (22, 23) and associated
hoistable container-lifting device (33). 45
2. A travelling crane according to Claim 1,
further including a third mobile trolley (30) and
associated container-lifting device (33) supported
between the two beams (16, 17) on further rails
(28) fixed to the two beams, whereby the third 50
trolley may move to and fro along the space be-
tween the beams on the said further rails.
3. A travelling container crane according to
Claim 1 or 2, further including a first mobile oper-
ator cabin (39) supported between the two beams 55
(16, 17) for movement to and fro along the space

6
EP 0 318 264 A1
P 0 318 264 Al
EP 0 318 264 A1
EP 0 318 264 A1

LO
EP 0 318 264 A1
 Application Number

EP 88 31 1078

D O C U M E N T S C O N S I D E R E D TO BE R E L E V A N T

category Citation of document with indication, where appropriate, Relevant CLASSIFICATION OF THE
of relevant passages to claim APPLICATION a. C1.4)
EP-A-0 236 976 (P.H.B. WESERHUTTE AG)
* Figures; a b s t r a c t ; column 4, l i n e s B 66 C 19/00
1-12; claim 1 *

EP-A-0 061 790 (FRANS SWARTTOUW B . V . ) 1,4

* Figures; page 3, l i n e s 19-33; page 5,
l i n e s 10-19 *

DE-A-1 481 840 (TAX) 1,3,4

* Figures 1 - 4 , 6 , 7 ; page 8, l i n e s 1-19;
page 9, line 17 - page 10, line 2 *

A FR-A-2 283 852 (CONRAD-STORK B . V . ) 1,3,4

* Figures; page 3, l i n e s 3-13 *

A DE-C- 189 300 (BENRATHER 1,2,3,5

MASCHINENFABRIK AG)
* Whole document *

A DE-A-1 902 638 (CRAIG) 1,3

* Figures *
TECHNICAL FIELDS
SEARCHED ant. C1.4)
A DE-B-1 088 209 (M.A.N.)
* Figures * B 66 C

The present search report has been drawn up for all claims
-iace ot searcft Date of completion of the search Examiner
THE HAGUE 24-02-1989 GUTHMULLER J . A . H .
CATEGORY OF CITED DOCUMENTS T : theory or principle underlying the invention
E : earlier patent document, but published on, or
X : particularly relevant if taken alone after the filing date
Y : particularly relevant if combined with another D : document cited in the application
document of the same category L : document cited for other reasons
A : technological background
O : non-written disclosure &: member of the same patent family, corresponding
P : intermediate document document