Guided vehicle system for transporting loads
US6036427A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 29, 1997 |
| Grant date | Mar 14, 2000 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 29, 2017 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC B)Performing Operations; Transporting
- CPC primaryB61B13/00
- WIPO fieldHandling
- WIPO sectorMechanical engineering
Abstract
A vehicle transport system and accompanying guide device designed to serve in automated warehouses has a guide rail that guides the transport vehicle. The transport vehicle has a carrying platform. The vehicle runs along the rail astride it and linked by connecting guides. The guide rail is located beneath an upper surface of the carrying platform so that material carried thereon can be transferred across the rail to staging areas on the other side of the rail. By locating the vehicle astride the rail, the guide rail, which projects upwardly from the floor, does not interfere with access to the carrying platform. In an embodiment of the invention, the drive wheel of the vehicle is located at a longitudinal midpoint of the transport vehicle to minimize the parasitic effects on the guides connecting the vehicle to the rail generated by application of traction forces, applied by a drive wheel, to the side of the rail.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.