Mobile cross-dock with drop frame trailer
AssigneeFedEx Ground Package System, Inc.
InventorTravis Henderson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A mobile cross-dock includes a drop-frame trailer including: a first deck having a first height above the ground; a second deck having a second height above the ground that is greater than the first height, the second deck being located in a front portion of the trailer above a coupler assembly; side doors arranged on at least one longitudinal side wall of the drop-frame trailer; a back door on a back-end of the drop-frame trailer; a nose door on a front-wall of the drop-frame trailer; and a conveyor mounted longitudinally within the drop-frame trailer and extending from the back door towards the nose door.
Claims19
A mobile cross-dock comprising:
- a drop-frame trailer comprising:
- a first deck having a first height above the ground;
- a second deck having a second height above the ground that is greater than the first height, the second deck being located in a front portion of the trailer above a coupler assembly;
- a plurality of side doors arranged on at least one longitudinal side wall of the drop-frame trailer;
- a back door on a back-end of the drop-frame trailer;
- a nose door on a front-wall of the drop-frame trailer;
- and
- a conveyor mounted longitudinally within the drop-frame trailer and extending from the back door towards the nose door,
- wherein an interior, bottom portion of the nose door is recessed by at least a thickness of the conveyor.
A mobile cross-dock comprising:
- a drop-frame trailer comprising:
- a first deck having a first height above the ground;
- a deck having a second height above the ground that is greater than the first height, the second deck being located in a front portion of the trailer above a coupler assembly;
- a plurality of side doors arranged on at least one longitudinal side wall of the drop-frame trailer at locations corresponding with the deck;
- a back door on a back-end of the drop-frame trailer;
- a nose door on a front-wall of the drop-frame trailer;
- and
- a conveyor mounted longitudinally within the drop-frame trailer and extending from the back door to the nose door, the conveyor configured to extend through the nose door and mate with another conveyor mounted to a second drop-frame trailer, such that multiple drop-frame trailers can be arranged end to end, thereby, forming an extended cross-dock system,
- wherein the first height is substantially the same as a transport vehicle floor height, and
- wherein the conveyor is configured to convey packages from through the nose door to the second drop-frame trailer.
A mobile cross-dock system comprising:
- a first drop-frame trailer and a second drop-frame trailer, each of the first and second drop frame trailers comprising:
- a first deck having a first height above the ground;
- a deck having a second height above the ground that is greater than the first height, the second deck being located in a front portion of the trailer above a coupler assembly;
- a plurality of side doors arranged on at least one longitudinal side wall of the drop-frame trailer at locations corresponding with the deck;
- a back door on a back-end of the drop-frame trailer;
- a nose door on a front-wall of the drop-frame trailer;
- and
- a conveyor mounted longitudinally within the drop-frame trailer and extending from the back door towards the nose door,
- wherein the first drop-frame trailer is positioned in front of the second drop-frame trailer such that the nose door of the second drop-frame trailer is adjacent the back door of the first drop-frame trailer, and
- wherein the conveyor of the second drop-frame trailer extends through the nose door of the second drop-frame trailer and mates with the conveyor of the first drop-frame trailer, to form a continuous conveyor path between the first drop-frame trailer and the second drop-frame trailer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.