Container and container carrier with piston-cylinder devices for lifting containers on to, off and along the carrier

A container and a container carrier with a chassis frame comprising:

• a subframe adapted to be mounted on said chassis frame;
• a column device mounted on said subframe for movement forward and back;
• a column moving means for moving said column device forward and back on said subframe;
• a carrier top connecting member mounted on said column device for movement vertically;
• a container loadable onto said container carrier and having a container top connecting member thereon with which said carrier top connecting member is engageable, whereby the carrier top connecting member can pull the container top connecting member and container up and down as well as pull and push the container top connecting member horizontally;
• a carrier bottom connecting member mounted on said column device for movement vertically and in substantial vertical alignment with said carrier top connecting member, said container having a container bottom connecting member movable up and down on the container and with which said carrier bottom connecting member is engageable, whereby the carrier bottom connecting member can pull the container bottom connecting member up and down as well as pull and push the container bottom connecting member and container horizontally;
• a lift chain, one end of which is fixed to said carrier top connecting member and the other end of which is connected to said column device;
• a lift sprocket around a portion of which is wound said lift chain.
• a first fluid piston-cylinder device connected to said lift sprocket for raising and lowering said lift sprocket by the extension and contraction of said first piston-cylinder device and having a piston-piston rod part and a cylinder part, one of said parts being a movable part connected to said lift sprocket and the other part being a fixed part;
• a subsprocket connected to the movable part of said first piston-cylinder device;
• a second fluid piston-cylinder device connected to said carrier bottom connecting member for raising and lowering said carrier bottom connecting member by the contraction and extension of said second piston-cylinder device;
• fluid conveying lines connecting said first fluid piston-cylinder device and said second fluid piston-cylinder device in parallel;
• a single control valve in said fluid conveying lines selectively operable in a first position for directing the flow of fluid in a first direction causing said first fluid piston-cylinder device to extend and said second fluid piston-cylinder device to extend simultaneously in an opposite direction from the direction in which said first fluid piston-cylinder device expands and selectively operable in a second position for directing the flow of fluid in a second direction causing said first and second fluid piston devices to contact;
• and
• a subchain, one end of which is fixed to the top of said column device and the other end of which is fixed to said carrier top connecting member, and which is wound around a portion of said subsprocket;
• whereby when said valve is in one of said first or second positions said first fluid piston-cylinder device and said second fluid piston-cylinder device are driven for loading the container on the subframe, said carrier top connecting member is engaged with the container top connecting member to lift the container to a selected raised position while the carrier bottom connecting member is engaged with the container bottom connecting member, and causes the container bottom connecting member to be raised relative to the container, and when the control valve is selectively operated in another one of said first and second positions to direct fluid in a second direction which would normally cause the first and second fluid piston-cylinder devices to be driven, the movement of the first fluid piston-cylinder device is constrained by the engagement of the carrier top connecting member with the container top connecting member, and the carrier top connecting member is temporarily held and the carrier bottom connecting member is raised to raise the container bottom connecting member.