An abstract of the invention, released by the US Patent & Trademark Office, said: “The invention relates to a device for determining a load on a hoist of a crane for handling a container, including rope drum, drive motor as well as hoist transmission disposed between drive motor and rope drum and having a hoist transmission case which is swingably supported about an axis in parallel relationship to the rope drum axis and can be supported on its opposite end on at least one torque support, which a device for indirect determination of the load, suspended from the ropes, is assigned to.”
It added: “In order to create a device for determining a load on a hoist, whereby the load determination is protected from external mechanical influences and effected directly on the rope winch and which device is able to determine the entire load suspended from the ropes as well as also single loads and optionally centre of gravity positions of the load, it is proposed that in a hoist with two twin rope drums which are arranged on the same axis and operated in synchronism and which have each a pair of load-carrying ropes which can be spooled and unspooled in a same direction, a load-carrying rope of each pair of load-carrying ropes is guided in a common first load-guiding plane, which extends substantially horizontal and is tangent to the twin rope drums, and routed about deflection rollers into the vertical, and the other two load-carrying ropes of each pair of load-carrying ropes are guided vertically in a common second load-guiding plane which is tangent to the twin rope drums.”
The inventors were issued US Patent Number 7,267,241 on September 11.
The patent has been assigned to Gottwald Port Technology GmbH, Dusseldorf, Germany.
The original application was filed on February 6 2003.
