1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus primarily for the purpose of nonintrusive scanning of cargo containers for nuclear based weapons which is intended for use during container transfer between a ship and land transportation.
More particularly it relates to a buffer crane having radiation emission scanning apparatus arranged for nonintrusive interrogation or inspection of cargo containers while each container is being transferred between a ship and quay side land transportation without slowing the quay crane container transfer cycle.
Still more particularly, the present invention is a mobile cargo container buffer and scanning crane which transfers cargo containers between land transportation and a quay crane pickup buffer position and which suspends the cargo container being transferred at a predetermined inspection position for radiation emission examination by a craneboard apparatus before depositing the cargo container at the intended transfer buffer deposition position.
Specifically it relates to a mobile platform having a bridge crane mounted thereon for transferring cargo containers between either a quay crane pickup position, or quay side land transportation, and a predetermined inspection position on said platform where it can be non-intrusively inspected by a longitudinally reciprocating radiation emission inspection apparatus while functioning as a buffer operation. The container is then either deposited on land transportation such as a truck trailer chassis or deposited on the buffer position for pickup by a quay crane for transfer to a ship.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In view of recent terrorist activities throughout the world, considerable effort is being given by analysts to improving security measures with respect to the maritime industry and United States port operations. At the present time, based on the Automated Tracking System, an intelligence based search system used by U.S. Customs, it has been estimated that the probability that contraband will be discovered in containers that are entering the U.S. is less than 50 percent. Thus, the maritime industry provides a delivery system for weapons of mass destruction and every other container could possibly conceal an atomic weapon which, if exploded in a U.S. port, in addition to causing massive destruction, would essentially end international trade.
The methods to be employed to improve U.S. port security may prove severely detrimental to port productivity. The ideal performance standard is 100 percent inspection of inbound containers to U.S. ports. Rather than physically unloading and inspecting the contents of every container, a more efficient alternative is to non-intrusively inspect each container such as by x-ray, and when more sophisticated means of nonintrusive inspection are developed, such as gamma ray scanning and neutron analysis, implementing the use of those developments in addition to x-ray based systems.
The use of x-ray machinery in one manner or another for the purpose of inspecting containers is discussed in the prior art literature. However, implementing prior scanning systems has essentially added processing steps to port operations, and the size of the machinery and complexity of the processing steps have essentially interrupted the established system of port operations. This factor causes problems when attempting to integrate the technology into cargo container handling.
The problem with instituting high-energy x-ray scanners for cargo container examination, apart from safety concerns, is that the equipment will reduce port productivity by disrupting highly developed port operations and consuming valuable terminal space. The primary disadvantage is the interruption of the cargo container transfer process between ship and shore. Most importantly, it interferes with the quay crane offloading cycle time which is crucial to a ship's berthing time at the dock which must be kept at a minimum.
The inspection procedure requires holding a container immobile so that it can be x-rayed. While the cycle times for the x-ray process may ultimately be reduced by improved technology, all of the presently considered means for effecting the x-ray process require either stopping the container movement for processing (usually during unloading in U.S. ports and, if required, during loading at foreign ports) or multiple additional handling steps of the container during the transfer process by taking it out of the normal handling cycle, and to an extra handling step, at an x-ray position for processing, and then returning the container into the transfer cycle.
The present invention permits integration of the x-ray process into the buffer station method of crane operation disclosed in applicant's above-referenced patents such that the inspection process can occur concurrently with the cargo container transfer between ship and shore without interruption of the quay crane transfer cycle.
The mobile cargo container scanning crane contemplated according to the present invention departs substantially from the conventional concepts and designs contemplated by the technical literature, and, in doing so, provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of nonintrusive cargo container inspection during transfer between ship and shore as described above, but it accomplishes the result in a different and improved manner by producing a transfer cycle with a buffer-inclusive procedure for container inspection which is easily integrated into the container transfer cycle for faster processing times and more efficient port operation.