Loading and unloading of vehicles

Claim 1

Apparatus for moving a load on an elongated vehicle having a chassis and means attached to the chassis for alignment and attachment to a dockside coupling, said apparatus comprising in combination, a pair of laterally spaced-apart continuous chains adapted to bear said load on their side plates and extending substantially the whole length of the vehicle, an upper strand of each chain being supported in a respective channel of the chassis, a drive shaft spanning the two chains and bearing sprockets for driving each chain, an hydraulic motor operably connected with said shaft to rotate the sprockets to move the chains relative to their respective channels, a source of hydraulic power to drive said hydraulic motor, means to control said source of hydraulic power to move each chain, and a pair of hydraulic struts acting between a fixed point in the chassis and the drive shaft to tension said chains, the hydraulic struts being driven by said hydraulic source to a tension suitable for conveying said load on the chains along the chassis.