Vehicle cargo container and lift frame assembly with inflatable bag-assisted lift frame for vehicle

#The invention is related to the field of vehicle frames used for supporting removable loads such as a cargo body on a vehicle, and particularly related to improving a frame lift device for assisting the lifting function to protect cargo and a cargo body in use.

#Vehicles such as tractor trailer trucks that are used for hauling cargo, may have either detachable semitrailers that include cargo loaded bodies such as containers or boxes, wherein the semitrailers having a wheel base and/or may have include trailer frames that can support a cargo body (such as a container, box or other load). In a tractor trailer, the semitrailer is typically attached via a fifth wheel coupling. For detachable cargo bodies, unloading and reloading can be time-consuming. This can be particularly an issue also when the tractor trailer is dropping off a container and will do the next delivery using a different cargo body that has to be loaded on the trailer chassis frame. Lift mechanisms have been developed in the art to make such cargo loading and unloading easier.

#Solutions for easing this task have been presented over time. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,752,502 teaches addition of two pallets with lifting devices placed near two fifth wheel coupling assemblies on a pole trailer. Legs are extended beneath the pole trailer for unloading, and the lifting device near each fifth wheel coupling is raised to engage the pallet. The lifting devices are each an inflatable air bag attached to two metal plates mounted to the bottom of the fifth wheel coupling assembly and to the trailer frame in a box-like structure formed using hinge plates. The bags are inflated and deflated independently to assist in lifting. Braking cylinders are used to lock the plates which are generally flat.

#The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention, will be better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there is shown in the drawings embodiments which are presently preferred. It should be understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown. In the drawings:

#FIG. 1 is a top perspective view of one embodiment of a lift frame according to the invention wherein the lift frame includes two lift mechanism(s) which are both in a deflated position;

#FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a lift mechanism positioned near the front (truck-side) of the lift frame of FIG. 1 wherein the lift mechanism is deflated;

#A lift frame is provided herein which may be used with various vehicles. The lift frame may receive a cargo load of varying types including those included in standard cargo containers such as standard-sized container boxes, specialty cargo containers or boxes, direct cargo intended to sit on a frame, base or trailer thereof, another vehicle or another trailer being towed behind a first trailer (double trailer), or other types of semitrailer loads, as well as twin trailers (which may be configured to have a twin lift frame or to have one of the trailers include a lift frame as described herein). As used herein, and as will be understood by one skilled in the art reading this disclosure, a “cargo container,” may include any of the above which may benefit from a lift frame as described herein to support and assist loading and unloading cargo from a trailer frame, wherein the cargo container is intended to or could benefit from being detached from a trailer frame.

#As used herein, words such as “upper” and “lower,” “inner” and “outer,” “top” and “bottom,” “upperside” and “underside,” and words of similar import are intended to assist one of skill in the art in reading the disclosure and understanding the invention with reference to the drawings and are not generally intended to be limiting to the scope of the invention.

#Further, in the Summary hereof reference is made to “first” and “second” ends and sides of various components such as the frame body, lift mechanism, cargo container and other corresponding parts. It should be understood by one skilled in the art based on this disclosure that such “first” and “second” parts are intended to be consistent with each other in terms of position and to be distinct from one another but to be interpreted to refer to both a front to rear or rear to front configuration in order to cover variations in embodiments within the scope of the invention. That is, the “first end” may be used to indicate the vehicle-side or the rear-side (side away from the vehicle-side) of the frame body, lift mechanism, cargo container or other corresponding parts. When the “first end” is viewed as one of these sides, the “second end” would be the opposite end of the first end.