INTERCONNECTOR FOR FREIGHT CONTAINERS

摘要

An interconnector for coupling together an adjacent pair of freight containers (100, 101) having ISO corner fittings (102). The interconnector has a rotatable shaft (405) and a pair of clamping heads (403, 404, 1100) provided at each end of the shaft (405). The shaft (405) is mounted within a housing (401) and the clamping heads (403, 404, 1100) are capable of axial rotation with the shaft (405) relative to the housing (401). One clamping head (403, 404, 1100) has a profiled guide surface to be rotatable by engaging contact with the ISO corner fitting (102). The clamping heads (403, 404, 1100) are biased to a clamping position by a bias actuator, such that the interconnector may be regarded as an automatic or semi-automatic twist lock interconnector.

主权项

1. An interconnector for coupling two adjacent corner fittings of two respective freight containers end-to-end or side-by-side, where each of the corner fittings has a hollow interior and an entry aperture to receive a part of the interconnector within the hollow interior, the interconnector comprising:
a rotatable shaft; a housing in which the rotatable shaft is housed and capable of rotation about its longitudinal axis; a first and second clamping head provided at each respective end of the shaft, each head being rotatable about the longitudinal axis of the shaft by rotation of the shaft between a respective head entry position in which each head can pass into the respective entry aperture and a clamping position in which each head is retained within the respective hollow interior of the corner fitting; a bias actuator to bias the clamping heads to the clamping positions; wherein the second clamping head comprises a domed engaging end and a head base end that are elongate in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis, the engaging end separated from the base end by a main body that extends in the longitudinal axis direction, the main body being twisted along its length to provide at least one camming surface and/or ridge extending between the engaging end and the base end; and wherein an angular orientation of the elongate domed engaging end in the plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis is different to the angular orientation of the elongate base end in the plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis.