Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
~061~
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates a shelf storage system, in
which the goods to be stored are placed on a mobile storage
and transport unit in shelves equipped with rails, conve-
~!ing mechanisms being provided for transport of the goods
in the storage system and auxiliary mechanisms for loading
and unloading of the shelves and also for the drive, braking,
position maintaining, counting and position changing of the
storage and transport units.
2. ~escription of the Prior Art
In order to remove a storage unit from a shelf, for example
fork lift trucks are used as conveying vehicles which travel
throuyh the lanes between the shelves and the lifting fork
of which is applied to the respectively desired shelf from
which a unit is to be removed. A take-over apparatus is moun-
ted on the lift fork. On account of the lateral displaceabi-
vl~ ~
lity of the take-over apparatus it is made possible that
the pallets can be removed from the shelf without the fork
lift truck having to be swung-in transversely to the shelf
row, which allows in turn a very narrow design of the rows
of shelves, possibly to a width which is only a few centimet-
res beyond that of the conveying vehicle.
Since the individual shelf compartments are provided with
rails which are inclined and on which the storage units run,
there have to be provided at the end of the shelf compartments
stop devices which reliably prevent an overtravelling of the
end of the rail and, consequently, a falling of the storage
units out of the shelf compartment. To this end the stops are
formed in a hook-like manner, so that also a jumping-up of
the rolling pallet, brought about by the travelling against
the stop, with a possible over-jumping of the stop is preclu-
ded. On the other hand~ however, it can easily be seen that
such hook-like stops make a removal of the rolling pallet from
the shelf compartment substantially more difficult, more es-
pecially since it is desirable to design the stops not so as
to be swung out of the way of the storage unit. Then one can-
not do otherwise but provide unlocking means which release
the rolling pallets from the stops and raise same above these
latter.
It has already been proposed to use, for the unlocking, two
rollers which are arranged within the rails of the shelf in
the region of the stops and which are arranged in planes
parallel to the rails so as to be freely rotatable on a
common shaft, the two shaft ends being received in lateral
slotted guides which make possible a parallel displacement
of the shaft with simultaneous raising of the rollers. With
this solution, however, one cannot manage without hydr,aulical-
ly actuatable plungers which are mounted on the conveying ve-
hicle and which are intended for the parallel displacement of
the shaft in the slotted guides with the conveying vehicle
coupled up.
An improved device of the said type which is a little simpler
in design, comprises unlocking means which release the rolling
storage units from the stops and raise same over the safety
hooks. The unlocking means have rollers which are mounted on
that end of thetake-out device which is turned towards the
shelf opening and which are mounted so as to be freely ro-
tatable on a shaft which is perpendicular to the direction
of displacement of the take-over apparatus, the ends of which
shaft project beyond the rollers and form guide bolts which
are intended-to co-operate with guideways situated in the
region of the shelf opening.
Although this system has given quite good results, it has al-
so the disadvantage the there are provided a number of mo-
ving parts which need maintenance and which are subject to
failure of proper operation.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invent.ion is to provide
an improved shelf storage system of the aforementioned type,
which no longer involves the disadvantages indicated above
and enables the mobile storage units to be removed from the
shelves without providing any additional moving parts neither
on the shelf nor on the take-over apparatus~
SUMMARY 0~ THE INVENTIO~
According to the present invention, there is provided
10 a storage system comprising:
a rectangular stand formed of vertical members connec-
ted to each other by horizontally extending front and rear
transverse members;
a pair of longitudinal trackway members resting on
the ends of said transverse members of said stand, the one end
of said stand having the trackway members at a higher elevation
than at the other end of said stand to form a falling grade
at the receiving end of the shelf of said stand;
a mobile storage and transport unit' and
a load of goods on a pallet on said transport unit,
said mobile storage and transport unit load supporting a four
sided frame supported on two pair of identical rotatable rollers
disposed at opposite sides of said frame, said rollers having
their front and rear transverse members supported in said frame
and their axes of rotation above the load supporting surface
of said frame,
-- 4 --
~. ,.
,~ ';
that improvement consisting of an unloading mechanism
for said shelf storage system to remove a single storage and
transport unit to a fork lift transport vehicle fitted with
lifting conveyor means, said unloading mechanism comprising:
a stop mechanism including vertical stop means at each
of the outermost trackway members adjacent the fork lift which
prevents the stored and loaded mobile storage and transport units
from moving over the ends of said trackway, and
a cam having a hump shape located on said trackway
between the ends of each of the trackways, the hump elevation of
said cam raising the transport unit a little higher than the
effective height of the stop members to facilitate level removal
of the load, pallet and transport unit by raising the front two
wheels and pulling and then raising the rear two wheels and
pulling by the lifting conveyor of said fork lift transport
vehicle.
It is of importance that the height of the hump
elevation be more than the effective height of the stop means.
Moreover, the distance of the top of said elevation from the
stop means shall be substantially equal, but preferably a
little less, than the distance between the axis of rotation
of the roller of the mobile storage unit from said transverse
member of said unit.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In order that the invention may be more fully under-
stood, an embodiment of the invention will now be described, by
way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings,
in which:
-- 5 --
.~
".~ .""
Fig. 1 shows a view of part of two storage-shel~es,
forming part of the storage system, as well as a
partial view of a transfer apparatus,
Fig. 2 a perspective view of part of a rail trackway
as disposed in one of the shelves1
igs. 3to 7 schematical side views of the take-out end of
the shelf and of the take-over apparatus, ex-
plaining different phases of the removal of a
loaded storage unit.
ESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The basic structure of a storage system is already known. Only
the parts which are of interest in connection with the present
invention are therefore illustrated and described in greater
detail below.
rectangular stand can be seen in Fig. 1. This stand ac-
commodates storage and transport units on pallets 2~ ioaded
with the goods 1. The stand comprises a number of vertical
members 3, which are connected to each other through hori-
zontally extending transverse members 4. Longitudinal track-
way members 5 rest on the transverse members 4. The members
5 are preferably constructed as bars and have a slight fal-
ling gradient, relative to the horizontal, in the direction
38~
of arrow P, that is to say from a higher location at the
top of Fig. 1 to lower location at the bottom of the figure
and~ in the direction of the receiving end of the shelf thus
formed. A stop mechanism 10 is installed on the end of the
bars 5, thus preventing the storage and transport units 2
passing over the end of the bar.
A mobilç conveyor vehicle 8 (Fig. 1) is provided in a known
manner on the front surface of the shelf. This vehicle 8 is
equipped with a transfer mechanism 9 for loading and un-
loading of the shelves.
Referring now to Fig. 2, there can be seen a part of the
trackway 5 in greater detail, i.e. the end part leading to
the removal end of the shelf. There are two trackway mem-
bers 5 and 5' in each shelf, resting on horizontally ar-
ranged transverse members 4, the latter forming part of the
shelf structure as shown in Fig. 1. In the region of the end
of the trackways, there are provided stop mechanisms, gen-
erally denoted by 10, fastened to the outer side of each
trackway 5 and 5'. The stop mechanism 10 comprises an up-
wardlySprojecting part 11, which reaches above the top of
the trackway member. Said part 11 is fastened to a horizon-
tally extending carrier member 12, running substantially
parallel to the trackway member 5, resp. 5'. The carrier
member 12 is received in a sleeve 13 rigidly fastened to the
trackway member, there being provided means to allow elasti-
3_0~
-- 8 --
cally dampened displacement of the carrier 12 in relationto sleeve 13 in order to dampen a hit caused by the trans-
port unit pushing against the part ll of the stop mechan-
ism lO.
As can clearly be seen in Fig. 2, there is a certain di-
stance between the end of the trackway member 5 9 resp. 5'
and the stop mechanism, the purpose thereof will be ex-
plained later. In the end region of the trackway members,
i.e. between stop mechanism lO and end of the member 5, resp.
5', there are provided hump-li~eor gibbous elevations 14 on
the top or running surface of the trackway members 5, resp.
5', the purpose thereof will be explained later, too.
Referring now to Figs. 3 to 7, there are shown schematical
side views of part of the trackway at the removal end of a
shelf as well as a take-over apparatus 9 situated in front
of the shelf. On the trackway 5, there is a number of rol-
ling storage units 3 loaded with goods 1. In the present
example, each of the units 3 comprises a load receiving
platform 3' equipped with four wheels or rollers 15 ar-
ranged in the region o-f the four corners of the platform
3'. At the front, at 3", and at the rear of the storage unit
3, there are provided transverse members 16 projecting down-
wardly and intended to cooperate with stop members 11. I-t
can also be clearly seen that the axis of rotation of the
rollers 15 is a certain amount behind the frontal face of
said crossmember 16, ensuring that the periphery of the
- 9-
rollers lS is behind the members 16, the frontal face
therof being the foremost part of the storage unlt 3. Of
course, there is a corresponding situation at the rear of
unit 3, thus ensurin~ that the loaded units 3 can be put
onto the trackway in either direction.
The take-over apparatus comprises a schematically drawn
frame structure 17 to receive the movable part 9 thereof
which can be shifted towards the shelf and retracted from
the shelf. For simplicityls sake, in the drawings there is
shown only the most essential part of the part 9, i.e. an
endless chain or belt 18.
As shown in Fig. 3, the transport vehicle just had docked
on the shelf and the movable part 9 with its belt 18 of
the take-over apparatus has been shifted towards the shelf
and is now between the trackway 5 below the front part of
the foremost storage unit 3, which is ready for removal from
the shelf. The unit 3 pushes with its front crossmember 16
against stop members 11. As can be seen in Fig. 4, the entire
take-over apparatus has now been lifted somewhat and the
endless belt has been switched on. As a consequence there-
of, the crossme~ber 16 of unit 3 also is lifted and can pass
over the stop member 11. The rear rollers 15 roll on the
trackway 5, while the belt 18 is further actuated. The unit
3 is going to be pulled-out from the shelf. We have now the
situation as shown in Fig. 5. There can clearly be recog-
~ i
-- 10 --
nized that the rear crossmember 16 is going to approachthe stop members 11, preventing a further pulling out of
the unit 3.
In order to Overcome this, the humplike elevations 14 at
the end of the trackways 5 are provided. Just before the
rear crossmember 16 reaches the stop members 11, the rear
rollers 15 have reached the elevations 14 and roll up theron
forcing the rear part of unit 3, and therewith the rear
crossmember 16, to an upward movement. This situation is
shown in Fig. 6. The rear rollers have arri~ed at the top
of the elevations 16 and consequently the rear crossmember
16 cannot touch the stop members 11. Now the unit 3 can be
pulled out further and the rear cross member 16 also is
going to rest on the endless belt 18.
The second storage unit begins to move forwardly, due to
the inclined trackways 5, until its frontal crossmember16
pushes against the stops 11. If it is desired to take-over
also this second unit 3, the take-over apparatus is lowered
and lifted again to lift the front part of the second unit
3 and t-he beit 18 further actuated. The entire proceeding
as just described is repeated.
As soon as one or two of the units have been loaded onto the
take-over apparatus of the transport vehicle7 the moveable
part including belt 18 is retracted (Fig. 7), and the unit
or units 3 can be transported away to any desired destination.
~r.~
It is of importance, that the elevation 14 raises at least
a little more above the rolling surface of trackways 5 than
the effective length of the stop members 11. Moreover, the
distance between stop member 11 and top of elevation 14
must correspond to the distance between crossmembers 16
and axis of rotation of the rollers 15. In practise, the
distance between top of elevation 1~ and stop member il
must be a little less than the distance between the cross-
members 16 and the axis of the rollers 15 to avoid the
crossmembers 16 touching the stop members 11.
With a construction as herein described, there is given
a very simple, reliable and inexpensive solution to taking
over a`loaded rolling storage unit from a shelf to a trans-
port vehicle. No additional mobile parts are required,
neither on the shelf nor on the take-over apparatus, which
would require additional attention or maintenance and would
involve additional hi~h costs.
