Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
104~829
Loads of all kinds have to be handled in storage ware-
houses at great height with or without racks, and the main object
of the invention is to provide an installation for such handling
especially when the layout of the warehouse has to be frequently
modified.
Among the known types of handling installations served
by gangways giving passage to rolling trucks or units equipped
with carrying, lifting and stacking means for loads, it has al-
, ready been proposed to cause the units or trucks to run on rails
in the gangways, so as to avoid wear on the floor and to relievethe driver of steering operations in the gangways, but in this
case they are unable to leave the gangways by their own devices
(this is the general case as regards transporting robot devices),
or even to use the vertical surface of a section member in co-
operation with rollers having vertical shafts fast with the trucks
as guiding means. However, these means do not ensure the
stability of the truck.
I have disclosed in my French Utility Certificate
~o. 2.096.846 how to cause removable means connected to the
truck and capable of extending l'aterally, to bear either on a
fixed frame or on the ground. These arrangements ensure the
lateral stability of the truck, but they have the disadvantage
of being only capable of being used with the stopping of the
truck, previously brought into a precise position in relation
to the loading locations to be served, and in addition of not
preventing the longitudinal rocking of the truck under load.
However, a guiding or steering arrangement is known,
of which the rollers have vertical shafts, which arrangement can
prevent the rocking action by the rollers being held by their
rim beneath a horizontal strip. However, in this blocked posi-
tion, the rollers are unable to turn and any movement of the -
truck is excluded, as when it is locked on a fixed frame or on ~
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the ground. 1~4Z829 --
The present invention provides an installation compris-
ing, in combination, a load-storage zone having at least one gang-
way extending therein, each gangway being provided on either side
with fixed members, each including a track, and a vehicle for
loading and unloading said load-storage zone having support wheels
for carrying the vehicle on the floor external to each gangway, the
support wheels including driving wheels and steerable wheels and
the vehicle being further provided with rollers for supporting the
vehicle on the tracks during movement of the vehicle along a chosen
gangway, the rollers including means for guiding the vehicle on the
tracks, the tracks being disposed at a sufficient height above the
floor in the load-storage zone to maintain the support wheels off
the floor when the vehicle is in the gangway, an entrance to the
gangway having a surface means for the support wheels, the surface
means bearing the support wheels to maintain the rollers above the
level of the tracks until the vehicle is within the tracks, the
surface means then having a declining portion down which the sup- ~;~
port wheels go until the rollers ride on the tracks and the support
wheels clear the floor within the gangway, wherein the rollers com-
prise at least one driving roller and one idle roller and wherein
the driving roller and the idle roller are on different axles and
the diameter of the driving roller is smaller than that of the `
idle roller.
The invention further provides a vehicle having tyred
support wheels for carrying the vehicle on a floor, including one
or more driving wheels and one or more steerable wheels, and
flanged metal rollers for supporting the vehicle on substantially
horizontal support surfaces for movement along a gap extending
between the support surfaces, the flanged metal rollers having in-
ner flanges for guiding the vehicle along the gap and the height of
the horizontal surfaces being sufficient to raise the tyred support
wheels off the ground when the vehicle moves along the gap.
1~4Z829
The invention thus provides a simple solution for the
guiding and for the lateral stability of the vehicle by the
flanges of the rollers bearing on the tracks. Consequently, it
becomes possible to dispense with the use of supplementary
rollers with a vertical shaft for lateral guiding purposes, with
which the lifting devices running on rails and of the prior type
are generally equipped. A handling installation according to
the invention thus provides the advantage of ensuring the stabil-
ity of a vehicle in a service track provided with guiding section
members, through which it travels from one end to the other in a
load-storage zone, which may or may not be provided with storage
racks, whether the vehicle is in motion or at rest, loaded or ``
empty. As a result of the stability which is thereby assured,
it is possible, in an installation according to the invention,
to make use of the full available height of the load mast for the
handling of loads without any danger of the lifting carriage
overturning.
In the case where vehicles or trucks are concerned
which also have to carry loads outside gangways, as for example
fork-lift trucks, these have othér rollertrains as well as the
pairs of rollers and are usually equipped with wheels. It is
therefore possible to provide a relative disposition of the ` ``
rollers, tra~ks, wheels and floor so that the transition from
running on wheels on the floor outside the gangways to the running
of the rollers on the tracks in the gangways is easily effected.
For this purpose, the level of the floor of the gangway is offset ~ `
downwardly in relation to the mean horizontal plane of the
tracks, by a distance greater than that which separates a hori~
zontal plane containing the shafts of the rollers from the
tangent horizontal plane at a lower level than the wheels of the
truck.
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104Z8Z9
In practice, this arrangement determines the height
position of the tracks relatively to the fioor of the gangways
as a function of that of the rollers relatively to the wheels on
the truck. Depending on whether the warehouse is to be con-
structed or, on the contrary, whether the floor of the warehouse
has already been provided for the running of trucks or vehicles
(it may be expensive to modify it over large areas), the con-
structor will have the choice between two variants. In the first
case, he will be able to provide, throughout the storage zone,
including gangways, only a very rudimentary arrangement of the
floor, since the latter will not have to support any rolling
action. It is then convenient to select the levels in such a
way that the level of the mean horizontal plane of the tracks
coincides with the level of the horizontal plane containing the
shafts of the rollers when the truck or carriage is rolling by
means of its wheels on the floor outside the gangways and in the
vicinity thereof; in the gangways, the wheels will lose contact
with the floor, by the latter being arranged so that its level -
is lower than that of the floor outside the gangways. In the
second case, the constructor will probably find it more simple
only to prepare the ends of the gangways; he is then able to
select the levels so that the level of the horizontal mean plane
: .
of the tracks is higher than the level of the horizontal plane
containing the shafts of the rollers when the vehicle is running
on its wheels on the floor outside the gangways. It is then con-
venient to arrange for the floor to slope at this position so as ~
to obtain a difference in level which brings the horizontal plane ;
containing the shafts of the rollers to the same level as the
horizontal mean plane of the tracks, this permitting of keeping
the floor of the gangways and the floor outside the gangways at ~ -
the same level, thereby avoiding costly modifications. The
preparation of the floor, thus provided, then consists in a ridge
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11)4Z8Z9
or hump, or even a single inclined plane, on which the truck is
engaged at the end of the gangway for bringing the rollers into
contact with the lower track. It must be noted that it is not
unimportant to provide the hump, or the inclined plane for the
running of the wheels or the running of the rollers. Actually,
if it is the rollers which rise on the inclined plane, there is
every chance that the truck will slip, whereas if the inclined
plane has been provided for the running of the wheels, the
adhesion of the tyres on said wheels will enable the rollers to
be brought without any difficulty to the height necessary for
them to engage with the lower track. Tt is this last solution
which is provided by the invention.
In order to facilitate the manoeuvering of the driver
who wishes to enter a gangway, it is opportune to provide him
with markers for enabling him to engage the rollers in a good ;
transverse position in the tracks: the simplest means for this
purpose consists in drawing two lines in the extension of each
of the ends of the gangways, which lines show a longitudinal
vertical plane on which a truck driver aligns a sighting line on
the vehicle at his approach to the gangway. However, quite
obviously the manoeuvre will also be faciliated by the tracks
being extended slightly outside the gangway and by simultaneously
increasing their transverse spacing, so that a first directional
contact of the flange against a track (on the right or left) ~;
contributes to guiding the vehicle into the axis of the gangway.
Furthermore, in order to ensure a suitable speed of
advance of the truck or vehicle as soon as the rollers become
bearers on the lower track, the invention provides the combina-
tion,of a sensitive device detecting the commencement of the
bearing action of the rollers with a movement acceleration device,
for example, for the vehicles with two electric motors, auto-
matically changing the series coupling to parallel coupling.
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11)4Z8;~9
Finally, it would be contrary to the scope of the
invention to necessitate vehicles or trucks of a special form of
manufacture, and even of not being adaptable to already existing
vehicles. As the provision of a second motor for the rollers
in order to move the vehicle in the gangways is excluded, the
simplest solution is to make the shafts of one driving wheel or
one pair of driving wheels coincide with the common shaft of a
pair of rollers, the same motor and the same transmission, per-
haps with a supplementary step-down ratio in one of the cases,
will on the one hand drive the driving wheel or wheels and on
the other hand the driving pair of rollers. In such cases, for
the purpose of consequently-establishing the diameter of the
rollers relatively to the diameters of the wheels, it will be -
quite simple for a roller to be bolted in a fixed position on a
driving wheel flange and the construction, like the modification
of the previously existing vehicle, will be consequently less
expensive. However, the best possible utilisation of the possi-
bilities of the vehicle leads to adopting only a reduced number
of pairs of driving rollers, and very often a single pair, each
roller o the other pair or pairs being individually free, It
will also be seen from one example that it is expedient to give
the driving rollers a diameter which is slightly smaller than
that of the free rollers in order to faciliate the movements of
the vehicle in a position of controlled unbalance, and in the
case of the gangways between racks, to fix their uprights and a
rail of the lower track on load distribution plates.
The invention will now be described with reference to
- the accompanying drawings which show a preferred form thereof
and wherein: ;
Figure 1 and Figure 2 are perspective views of an
installation according to the invention,
including a framework (F:gure 1) serving as
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104Z829
support for racks, tracks for running,
stability and guiding purposes, and a handling
truck or vehicle engaged in a service gangway
(best seen on Figure 2),
Figure 3 is a plan view of a vehicle provided with
wheels and running rollers
Figure 4 is a side elevation of three positions A, B,
C of a vehicle wheel coaxial with a running
roller, before and after the said roller has
engaged between a lower track and an upper
track;
Figure 5 is a side elevation of three positions D, E,
and F, of a vehicle wheel coaxial with a
roller, before and after the said roller has
engaged between a lower track and an upper
track, the means for effecting passage into
these positions being a varient of that shown
in Figure 3; and
Figures 6 and 7 show the stabilising action of the
tracks on the~vehicle by its running rollers.
Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 shows part of a
storage warehouse, and in particular one of the ends of a frame- -
work comprising uprights 1, longitudinal members 2, cross members
3 and bracing members 4, by and between which are supported
storage racks (which are not shown so as not to make the drawing
too involved). A service gangway 5 is formed between the rows
of uprights la and lb and their coactingmembers, over the full
- height of the framework. Fitted between the rows of uprights
lb and lc is a double series of racks or compartments, back to ;
back, served on one side by the gangway 5 and on the other side
by the adjacent gangway 6 which is i~entical with the gangway 5.
At the front there is shown an end of one of the gangways. A
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11)4Z8Z9
variant has been shown in which the gangways are obstructed at
the end, over a fraction of their upper part, by low`cross
members, such as 7, which contribute with the bracing members 8
to the stability of the framework, but which can also serve a
part in the safety of the manoeuvring of the handling vehicles,
as will be explained later.
Also to be seen in Figure 1 is a travelling handling
vehicle 10 engaged in the gangway 5. as best seen on Figure 2,
this vehicle is here a fork-lift truck with bilateral engagement
and a front mast, equipped with four wheels such as 11 and a
cabin 12, coaxially with each wheel 11 is to be seen, projecting
relatively to the transverse frame of the truck, a running roller
13 which is provided on the truck side with a flange 14. In the
gangway, the wheels 11 are abbve and out of contact with the
floor, and the truck rests with its rollers 13 engaged between -
the two horizontal tracks 17 and 18, and on the lower track 17
belonging for example to a section member such as 15. The
transverse guiding of the truck is effected by contact of the
flanges 14 against the edges, such as 19, of at least one track
on each side. Also shown diagrammatically at 20 (Figure 1) is a
known means for regulating the height and the horizontal position
of the tracks on an upright la, but the tracks can also be fixed
in an adjustable manner at appropriate height above the floor by
any known means, without departing from the scope of the
invention.
A travelling handling truck 21 simiiar to the truck or
vehicle 10 of Figures 1 and 2 is shown in Figure 3, seen from
above. It comprises, for example, driving wheels 23 and 24, of
which the spindles or axles serve as shafts for the metal rollers
25 and 26, mounted on the outside of a transverse frame of the
vehicle. The wheels 23 and 24 thus serve for driving the truck
by its wheels on the floor outside the gangways and by its rollers
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1~42829
on the tracks in the gangways. There is also shown a pair of
wheels 28, 29 which are coaxial with the rollers 30, 31. These
wheels provide for the steering of the truck outside the gang-
ways. However, in the gangways, the truck is displaced in a
straight line, guided along the tracks, and the manual steering
becomes ineffective. However, it would also be possible to have
a single guiding or steering wheel positioned at 27; in this
case, each of the idle rollers 30 and 31 would be carried by an
axle fast with the truck chassis, these axles only becoming
aligned in a horizontal plane containing the axles or shafts of
the driving rollers 25, 26. Also shown at 33 on this same figure
is a sighting line on the vehicle, permitting a driver who is
approaching a gangway to engage the rollers in the tracks to
align the rollers transversely with the said tracks by sighting
this line with a suitably marked distant point. This can also
be useful if the steering position is not axially of the truck
and particularly in the case when entering a gangway in reverse.
Shown in Figure 4 is one of the modified forms of the
means which can be used in the installation for permitting the
transfer, in a progression of the truck or vehicle in the direc-
tion of the arrow f, from the running of the carriage on its
wheels 41 on the floor 35 outside the gangways to a running by
means of its rollers 45 on the tracks, of which the lower and
upper horizontal surfaces in this figure bear respectively the
references 43 and 44. This modification corresponds to the case
where the floor 40 in the gangway is at the same level as the
floor 35 outside the gangway. First of all, it can be seen-at C
that the distance "d" separating the axis 39 of the rollers 45 -
from the lower tangent horizontal plane 34 to the wheels 41,
increased by the clearance between the rollers and the tracks,
is smaller than the-distance "D" from the mean plane 39 of the
tracks 43 and 44 to the floor of the gangway 40. For this
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104Z829
reason, the wheels 41 have lost, at C, contact with the floor
of the gangway, have become inoperative and the truck or vehicle
only advances because of its rollers.
It can then be seen at A that the level of the horizon-
tal plane 37 is higher than that of the axis 39 of the rollers
when the vehicle is running on its wheels 41 on the floor 35 out-
side the gangway. In order to ensure that the rollers 45 pass
between the tracks 43, 44 with the advance of the wheels in the
direction of the arrow f, it is then necessary to have a means
for raising the axis 39 to the level of the plane 37. This means
is represented at B in the particular form of a hump 50 provided
locally on the floor in the immediate extension of and outside -
the gangway, so as to reach at its apex a suitable difference in
level with the floor outside the gangway. On the entry slope 50a,
50, the vehicle rises by means of its wheels and the rollers 45
are adapted to engage bilaterally above an extension 51 (sloping
downwardly to facilitate the engagement) of the lower track 43. `
When the wheels, continuing their advance, run on to the slope
50, 50b, the rollers are applied to and roll on the lower track
43, and the advance of the vehicle continues under the driving
action of the rollers 45 (or of another pair of driving rollers
already engaged further to the front of the vehicle) and the -
wheels 41 lose contact with the floor 40 of the gangway.
The modified form which has just been described is
advantageous for converting an already existing installation, in
which the floor is at the same level outside the gangway as inside
the latter, into an installation according to the invention. For
achieving this, it is sufficient to position humps such as 50,
whlch can be easily removable chocks, to mount rollers 45 on the
axles of the vehicle wheels, externally of the transverse frame ;
of the latter, and to place tracks in position at a suitable level -
and spacing at either side of each gangway, or even on one side
.
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1~)4Z8Z9
in the case of end racks or compartments.
It will also be seen at B in Figure 4 that, at the apex
50 of the hump, the axis 39 of the rollers has assumed a slightly
higher position 39', which is not strictly necessary for coin-
ciding with the plane 37. This is however useful when using
wheels 41 fitted with tyres, of which the circumference when new
is indicated at 41a and when badly worn is indicated at 41b:
depending on the state of wear of the wheels, it is therefore
necessary that the axis 39' of the rollers at least reaches the
10 level of the plane 37 at the top 50 of the hump; the downward
slope given to the toe 51 extending the lower track 43 co-operates
with this conditlon, because this track will necessarily bring
the roller 45 into position in the gap 43, 44, possibly making
contact with its periphery for ending the ascending movement.
Figure 5 corresponds to an installation in which the
mean horizontal plane of the tracks 37 coincides with the hori-
zontal plane in which the axis 39 of the rollers is displaced
above the floor 35 outside the gangway. It is then no longer
necessary to have a hump, as in the modified form described by
20 reference to Figure 4. It is sufficient to establish the floor
40 of the gangway at a level slightly below that of the floor 35
outside the gangway, by digging a shallow pit, for ~xample, and
connecting 35 and 40 by a gentle inclined plane 52. The inclin-
ation of the toe 51 extending the lower track 43 is still useful
for-compensating for the difference in level which is established
with the wear on the tyres of the wheels. This wear has not been
shown in Figure 5.
In each of the two examples represented in Figures 4
and 5, a symmetrical arrangement of the points of access to the
30 gangway and of the toes of the track is also provided at the
other end of the gangway, so that each of the ends can serve
equally well for the entry and exit of the vehicle.
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16~4Z829
A means for assisting the driver in transversely align-
ing the rollers on the tracks for engaging them in the gangway
has been mentioned above in connection with Figure 3. Another
simple means which can be provided is to give the toes 51 and
even 36 of the tracks a widened-out ~orm in plan view relatively
to the axis of the gangway, that is to say, the spacing of the
extended track outside the gangway increases, so that a lower
track or even an upper track, commences at the earliest its
directional effect on a flange (right or left) of the first pair
of rollers entering the gangway; however, it is necessary for
the slope of the toes to be studied as a function of the travel
of the roller so that there is no danger of the flange jumping
laterally over the toe, causing the vehicle to be derailed. -~
As already stated above and better explained herein-
after, while thevehicle is in the gangway and thus in the
operational position for raising, lowering, removing or deposit-
ing loads of which the centre of gravity can be outside the
supporting polygon of the vehicle, the said vehicle is stabilised
against lateral and longitudinal rocking by its two pairs of
rollers being maintained between the lower and upper tracks;
this advantage makes possible a change in position under load and
a saving of time in the operation by simultaneously effecting the
shifting of loads relatively to the vehicle, at least in part,
and the longitudinal displacement of the vehic~e in the gangway'
however, there would on the other hand be a danger of rocking if
the load was still too high when the vehicle, leaving the gang- -
way, loses the exceptional stability which is imparted to it by
the engagement of the rollers in the tracks. This incorrect
manoeuvre is prevented by the presence at each end of the gang-
way of the low cross members 7 and bracing members ~ already -
mentioned in connection with Figure l; obviously, the height of
the cross members 7 is chosen so as only to allow passage of
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1~4Z8Z9
loads which are sufficiently lowered so that turning movements
or acceleration of the vehicle do not jeopardise its stability
when it is travelling with a load outside the gangways, that is
to say, when it is reduced to its true stability, this point is
all the more important when such a vehicle may be very substan-
tially lightened relatively to an ordinary vehicle, which would
only have its weight for ensuring its stability with the man-
oeuvring of loads outside its supporting polygon. However, it
is also possible to ensure the safety by other known means, such
as a member for sensing the position of the vehicle in the rails,
capable of either preventing excessive lifting of the load or of
moving the vehicle when it is off the rails.
Shown in Figure 6 is-a transverse view of a pair of
idle or free rollers (left 45a, right 45b) with a common axle 39
between the lower tracks (left 43a, right 43b) and upper tracks
(left 44a, right 44b) in the position they occupy when the
vehicle supporting a load has a centre of gravity G tending to
cause it to rock towards the left and bringing it into controlled
unbalance. This tilting movement lifts the roller 45b by a few
millimetres until it is stopped against the upper track 44b.
This clearance has been exaggerated in the figure for clarity of
illustration. The upper track thus stops the transverse rocking
movement, In this position, the vehicle can be displaced
longitudinally under the action of the pair of driving rollers.
Actually, the transverse guiding action continues to be assured
by the flanges 14a and 14b; the rollers 45a and 45b turn in
opposite directions in contact with the tracks 43a and 44b, and ;
this is possible, since they are individually free on their axle.
It would not be the same (without a special arrangement which
would complicate the transmission) if the rollers as illustrated
were driving rollers, However, it is seen that, whatever may be
the side of the tilting movement, if the diameter of the pair of ~ -
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~4ZI~Z9
driving rollers is slightly smaller than that of the pair of
free rollers, one of the two driving rollers is in contact with
a lower track (on the tilting side), while the other driving
roller is lifted, but not to a sufficient extent to come into
contact with the upper track, It is sufficient for the chassis
of the vehicle to be fairly rigid, so that its flexion in such a
case does not reach the difference in the diameters. This other
roller can thus turn idly in the same direction as the driving
roller in contact with the lower track, which by itself assures
the longitudinal movement of the vehicle.
Represented in Figure 7 is a side view of two rollers
45c and 45d belonging to two different pairs, one being a driving
roller and the other a free roller, of a single vehicle engaged ;
between the lower and upper tracks 43 and 44, respectively, in
the position which they occupy when the vehicle manoeuvring under
load is subjected to a longitudinal rocking torque K indicated by
the arrow, bringing it into controlled unbalance. This tilting
movement lifts the roller 45d by a few millimetres until it is
stopped against the upper track 44; this clearance has been ~-
exaggerated in the figure for clarity of illustration. The upper
track thus stops the longitudinal rocking movement. In this
position, the vehicle can still be displaced longitudinally under
the action of the pair of driving rollers, which may be either
the pair 45a or the pair 45b, because the transverse guiding is
still assured by the flanges against one or other track, as in
Figure 6, and the two rollers of a single pair are in contact ~ -
with the same lower or upper track, and therefore turn in the
same direction.
Having shown the stabilizing action of the upper track
against a transverse or longitudinal rocking movement, while
still permitting the displacement o the vehicle, it follows
that the same stabilization is assured when the position of the
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1~4Z8Z9
centre of gravity of the loaded vehicle is such that it tends to
cause simultaneously a longitudinal rocking and transverse rock- .
ing movement, there is in effect a composition of two actions
related to two orthogonal axes, terminating in a tilting movement ~ :
with controlled unbalance. The driver of the vehicle consequently
does not have to concern himself with any rocking movement while :
he is manoeuvring the load and moves the vehicle while leaving ~ ~
at least two pairs of rollers engaged in the space between the : ~:
two tracks. ~ -
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