Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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This in~ention relates to mechanici~ll handling
equipment and more particularly to equipment suitable for
loading and unloading,cargo vehicles.
In a materials handling application which
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5. requires the loading and unloading of pa~letised goods,
partlcu]arly into and onto the decks of containers and
lorl~s~ where the floor of the contàiner or lorry is
~ ~ abo~e the normal work area, there is difficulty in obtaining
;, ~ access to the interior of an enclosed container or lorry
10. by means of conventional fork lift *rucks. More particularly,
while a conventional fork lift truck can be used to lift a
~ loaded pallet onto the floor of a lorry or container, it
; ~ often cannot be used to move the pallet to a desired posit-
ion in the lorry or container. For example, when loading a
15. long container through open rear doors, a conventional fork lift
truck cannot be used to position a load against the front
end wall of the container because of the limited reach of
s~ the forks.
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~ Attempts have been made to o~ereome this
; ~ 20. problem by pro~iding loading bays and bridges or ramps to
, ~ enable fork lift trucks to drive onto the floor of the
container or lorry being loaded. This solution is not wholly
;~ ~ satisfactory however, since it limits the loading and
unloading of the lorry or container to specific locations
25- having the required facilities, and since the confined
~orking space and limited floor strength of a lorry or conta-
iner limit the size of fork lift truck which can be employed.
Further~ the use of large fork lift trucks
within the confined working space of a lorry or container is
¦ 30- not wholly satisfactory from the safety aspect and may result
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i in injury to personnel working in the vicinity, or damage
to the lorry or container or to the goods being loaded.
According to the present invention there is pro~
~` vided mechanical handling eguipment comprising: a power-
operated materials handling truck having self-contained
operating power storage means; a lift truck havillg a lift
carriage adapted to engage coupling means on the materials
- handling truck to couple the materials handling truck to the
lift truck whereby the lift truck can lift the materials
handling truck and a load together from the ground and
position the materials handling truck and the load on an
elevated surface with the load supported on the materials
handling truck; and control means mounted on the lift
truck ~or controlliny the operation of the materials handling
, truck
The term l'materials handling truck" às used herein
~"; means a truck capable of moving a load along a floor
surface to a desired location and there depositing the
~ load. The materials handling truck mayi for example, be
- 20 a pallet truck.
;~ The control means mounted on the lift truck may
comprise a control box mounted on the lift truck and oper-
able by the lift truck driver, and a control cable connec-
~; ting the control box to ~he powered materials handling truck~
In a particularly preferred embodiment, in addition to the
.,
~ control means mounted on the lift truck, control means are
. . .
; provided on the materials handling truck to enable an
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operator standing on or near the materials handling truck
to control at least some of its functions. This arrangement
is particularly advantageous when an operator sitting on
the lift truck cannot see the materials handling truck
f,j~, clearly because, Eor example, of an intervening obstruction.
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The inVention will be better understood ~rom the
~ollowing des~rip~ion of preferred embodimen-ts, given by way
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' I of ~xarrlple only, reference being had to the accompanying
drawings; whel~ein: , .
Figures 1 ~nd 2 show a first embodiment of
~ ' ¦ mechanica]. handling equipment; and
; 1 5~ , Figures 3 and 4 show a second embodiment of
mechanical handling equipment.
i ~ Figures 1 and 2 show a covered trailer 1 ~hich
is being loaded with a palletised cargo 9 one pallet load
¦ 2 of which is shown in the drawing. Loading the trailer
~ ~ lOo is a mechanical handling device comprising a fork lift truck
'' ¦ 3 having forks 4, and a self powered pallet truck 5. The
.
pallet truck may, for example, be an electric pallet truck
which derives its operating power from batteries housed
within i-ts 'oody. The pallet truck is designed to be lifted
15. from the ground by the fork carriage of the lift truck 3
.
; at the same time as a loaded pa].let is lifted, and to be
~ , positioned on the floor 6 of the lorry 1 with its forks 7
;` beneath the loaded palle-t (Figure 1) so that it can be used
,~l to move the loaded pal],et to a position remote from the
20. lift truck, The pallet truck is controlled by the lift
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:~ truck driver vi~ a control box and a control cable 8 which
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.~ extends between the control box and,the pallet truck.
~, ' Once the pallet truck has positioned a loaded
,., pallet at a desired location it lowers the loaded pallet
25. under the control of the lift truck driver and is recalled
(Figure 2) for removal from the trailer by the lift truck
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.~;' ready to load another pallet.
,~ In the case of the embodiment of ~igures 3 and
,'',' ~ 4, the lift -truck 3A is not provided with forks but with a
30. lift carriage 9 adapted to engage brackets on the pallet
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, ¦ truck Thus, when the pallet truck brackets are engaged
¦ with the lift carriage ~Figure 3), the forks 7 of the
pallet truck are, in effect, the forks of a fork lift truck.
To load a pallet on-to the trailer 1, the forks of the
j 5. pallet truck are inserted under the pallet and the pallet
I is raised by moving the pallet truck up the mast of the
; lif~ i!uck on the lift carriage. The palle-t truck is then
lowered onto the floor of the trailer 1, and is detached
¦ from the lift carriage~ The loaded pallet is then posit-
10. 1oned on the trailer as described with respect to Figures
1 and 2.
Preferably, -the controls of the materials
handling truck are duplicated, one set of controls being
~ithin the reach of the lift truck driver and the other set
15- being located on the materials handling truck so that if a
load is to be deposited precise]Ly or at a location out of
; the view of the lift truck driver, an operator standing on
or near the materials handling truck may control i-ts
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operationO
20. The control cable 8 may be a coiled extensible
cable, or may be a flexible cable wound on a suitable
dispensing reel on the li~t truck. The cable may include
separate conductors to control each function of the ~aterials
, handling truck, or may have less conductors than the number
25. f controlled functions, in which case the control box will
include suitable encoding circuitry and the materials handling
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truc~s will include suitable decoding circuitry. For
example~ a truck having raise/lower/steer left/ steer right/reverse
forward/ fast/slow/ and brake control functions may be
-; 30. controlled through a 5~core control cable if suitable diode, ,
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encoding circuitry is provided in the control box and adecoder unit is provided at the materials handling truck
end of the control ca~le.
Whiist the materials handling truck of the
~ ~ 5. preferred embodiment is an e]e-tric pallet truck, it
`~ ~ should be appreciated that any suitable self-powered
materials handling -truck may be sed, for example a
straddle truck or a counter-balanced truck or a stand-
on truck. If the materials handling truck is electrically
10. powered, the various control functions may be obtained
. ~ ~ using electric motors and mechanical transmissions or by
- ~ means o-f hydraulic drive devices fed from one or more
electrically powered pumps.
`~ The materials handling equipment described
~ 15. above can, of course, be used for unloading lorries and
!,/' ~ for other mechanical handling applications where more
~ reach than that offere^d by conventional fork lift trucks
,.! ~ iS desired. ~ ~
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