GB2046706A - Upright for lift truck - Google Patents

Abstract

A truck upright having a fixed upright section (20), three or more telescopic upright sections (24, 28, 32), and a load carriage (36) mounted e.g. on section (32). An asymmetric lift piston-and-cylinder assembly (80) is located adjacent one side of the upright and is operatively connected at its upper end to a first telescopic upright section (24) for operating first lifting chain structure (94) which is arranged as shown to lift section (28). A third telescopic upright section (32) on which is mounted the load carriage (36) is itself mounted for elevation relative to the second telescopic section (28). Second lifting chain structure (110, 112), is secured at one end to the third telescopic section (32) and at the other end to the first telescopic section (24). A second piston-and-cylinder assembly (60) is mounted on inner section (32) for elevating thereon the load or fork carriage (36), a third lifting chain structure (72) having one end connected to the load carriage (36) and the other end connected to the third telescopic section (32). <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Upright for lift truck This invention relates to uprights for lift trucks and the like.

In lift trucks of the type contemplated it has been one of the most persistent problems encountered in the art over the years to provide an upright construction which both affords the operator of the truck good visibility through the upright and which is of relatively simple and low cost construction, particularly in quad stage uprights. Heretofore various means have been devised for improving, or which may incidentally improve, operator visibility through telescopic uprights in lift trucks, including upright structures such as are disclosed in United States Patent Nos.

2,394,458,2,456,320, 2,855,071,3,394,778, 3,830,342, and German Patent 1,807,169, but none have satisfied adequately the above criteria.

It is an abject of the invention to provide an improved upright structure having three or more telescopic upright sections for use on lift trucks and the like in which irnproved operator visibility is provided through the upright Another object is to provide improved operator 'visibility in such upright structures while providing an upright of relative simplicity and low cost.

The present invention provides an upright structure for lift trucks and the like, the upright structure comprising a fixed upright section including transversely spaced vertical rails first, second and third telescopic upright sections each including transversely spaced vertical rails mounted for elevation relative to each other, a sole asymmetric lift piston-and-cylinder means mounted in the upright structure which is operatively connected to said first, second and third telescopic sections, said operative connection including elongated flexible lifting structure operatively connected to said pistonand-cylinder means and to said first, second and third telescopic sections, a first portion of said flexible lifting structure having one end structure thereof secured substantially first portion of said flexible lifting structure having one end structure thereof secured substantially outwardly of one side only of the piston-and-cylinder means and having the other end structure thereof secured to one of said telescopic sections and a second portion of said flexible lifting structure being connected to the other two of said telescopic sections, said piston-and-cylinder means together with said flexible lifting structure being adapted to elevate said third section relative to said second section, said second section relative to said first section and said first section relative to said fixed section, the piston-and-cylinder means being located substantially at one side of the upright structure such that it projects at least partially into the area of interference by an adjacent vertical rail with the visibility of the operator from his normal line of sight through said adjacnet vertical rail when the upright is in use on a truck.

A cantilevered or second piston-and-cylinder assembly may be mounted centrally of the third section for elevating thereon a load carrier or fork carriage to a full free-lift position, further flexible lifting structure being reeved on sprocket (wheel) means operated by the second piston-andcylinder assembly and having one end of the flexible structure connected centrally of the load carrier and the other end thereof connected centrally of the third telescopic or inner upright section. A fluid pressure supply hose is connected between the base ends of the cylinders of the piston-and-cylinder assemblies, being reeved in the upright in a generally double-S form for vertical movement with certain of the telescopic sections.

It is an important principle of the invention that the lifting forces of the asymmetric piston-andcylinder assembly as applied through at least three telescopic sections and associated structure results in at least approximately balanced lifting force moments on the upright structure in the transverse plane of the upright.

The invention will be more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figures 1A, 1B and 10 are a series of schematic figures which represent the positions of major components of an upright structure according to the invention in three representative positions, viz, fully collapsed, at full free-lift, and at maximum fork height; Figure 2 is a full rear view in elevation of one embodiment of an upright according to the invention in a collapsed condition; Figure 3 is a plan view of the upright of Figure 2; Figure 4 is a sectional view thereof taken along line 4-4 of Figure 2; Figure 5 is a view of the upright as in Figure 2 but reduced in scale, with the telescopic sections partially elevated; Figure 6 is a perspective view of the upright of Figure 2 in a condition of partial elevation;; Figure 7 is a plan view of a modified version of the upright of Figures 2 to 6; Figure 8 is a full rear view in elevation of another modified embodiment of an upright according to the invention in a collapsed condition; Figure 9 is a plan view of the modified embodiment of Figure 8; Figure 10 is a sectional view taken along line 10-10 of Figure 8; Figure 11 is a sectional view taken along line 11-11 1 of Figure 8; Figure 12 is a view of the upright of Figure 8, reduced in scale, with the telescopic sections partially elevated; and Figure 1 3 is a perspective view of the upright of Figure 8 in a condition of partial elevation with certain parts broken away.

Referring to the drawings and first to Figures 1 to 6, the upright assembly of the present invention is adapted to be mounted on a lift truck in known manner. A fixed mast section 20 includes a pair of transversely spaced opposed channel members 22 arranged to receive a first telescopic mast section 24 formed of two laterally spaced I-beams 26, which is in turn arranged to recieve a second telescopic mast section 28 formed of two laterally spaced I-beams 30, which is in turn adapted to receive a third telescopic upright section 32 formed of two laterally spaced I-beams 34, each of the telescopic upright or mast sections being guide roller supported in the next adjacent outer mast section in known manner for longitudinal movement relative thereto.A load or fork carriage 36 having a pair of transverse support plates 35 and 37 is guide roller mounted by pairs of rollers 38 in the rails of the inner mast section 32 for elevation of the load carrier therein, the known pairs of guide roller means supporting each telescopic mast section in the next adjacent outer section not being shown herein.

Fixed mast section 20 is cross-braced for rigidity by upper and lower transverse brace members 40 and 42, section 24 being crossbraced by brace members 44 and 46, section 28 being cross-braced by upper and lower brace members 48 and 50, and mast section 32 being cross-braced by upper, middle and lower transverse braces 52, 54 and 56. Additional particulars of the nested offset I-beam upright structure, the mounting of the load carriage thereon, and the like, are explained in United States Patent No. 3,213,967.

A primary cantilevered lift piston-and-cylinder assembly 60 is supported centrally of inner upright section 32 on brackets 62 and 64 which are secured to the outer cylinder barrel, as by welding, and to the cross braces 54 and 56. A single sprocket 66 is mounted for rotation by a bracket 68 at the end of the piston rod 70 of the assembly 60, a lifting chain 72 being reeved on the sprocket and secured at one end to an anchor plate 74 located on the cylinder of assembly 60, and at the opposite end secured centrally of carriage plate 37 by an anchor block 76.The lift piston-and-cylinder assembly 60 is substantially one-half the length of the inner upright section and when extended actuates the load carrier or fork carriage 36 at a 2:1 ratio to a full free-lift position as shown in Figure 1 B prior to the elevation of the three telescopic upright sections by a secondary asymmetric hydraulic lift pistonand-cylinder assembly 80 having a piston rod 82, shown in a position of partial extension in Figures 5 and 6.

Piston-and-cylinder assembly 80 is supported near the bottom from brace 42 by a collar 84 welded to the cylinder of the assembly and bolted to the top edge of the brace member, the piston rod 82 being secured by a pair of recessed studs 86 to a flat plate member 88 which is welded along its rear edge to the rear surface of brace 44, thus supporting the cylinder assembly from the top and bottom portions. A chain anchor block 90 is secured centrally of brace 50 at an anchor connection 92 of a secondary lifting chain 94 which extends upwardly and over a pair of spaced sprockets 96 and 98, and then downwardly to a fixed anchor connection 100 located in predetermined space relation from the outer side of cylinder assembly 80 on an anchor block 102 of a vertical plate member 104 which is secured, as by welding, to the inner surface of an adjacent side member 106 of brace 40.Sprockets 96 and 98 are mounted, as shown, in transverse spaced relation on stub shafts 107 and 108 which are secured to brace 44 of the first telescopic section.

A single relatively heavy chain 94 should suffice but it may sometimes be found preferable for safety reasons to use two or more smalier chains reeved as is chain 94 on modified single sprockets or on multiple side-by-side sprockets as desired. Recitations in the claims of "sole flexible lifting means", and the like include such multiple side-by-side lifting elements which will perform the same function as does the single lifting chain 94 as shown.

In order to substantially balance the force moments acting in the transverse plane of the embodiment of the upright assembly as disclosed, the connection of the chain to anchor block 90 should be located at or substantially at the transverse centre of mast section 28, and the connection of piston rod 82 to plate member 88 in combination with the location of chain anchor 100 should be such that the piston rod is connected to plate 88 at or near two-thirds of the distance towards the right side of the upright between the chain anchor locations as projected in the transverse plane of the upright.Then the forces passing through upright sections 20, 24, and 28 create either substantially no unbalanced moments or calculated small unbalanced moments in the transverse plane of the upright because the asymmetric piston-and-cylinder assembly is so located in a multiple stage upright as described herein as has been found, between the said projected locations of the chain anchors.

Of course, the force moments acting on the upright assembly in respect of the operation of central primary piston-and-cylinder assembly 60 are balanced.

A pair of tertiary chains 110 and 112 are mounted on sprockets 114 and 116, respectively, which are stub shaft mounted from brace 48 of mast section-28. The chains are transversely spaced and in parallel, the inner ends thereof being secured centrally of lower brace 56 of inner mast section 32 on an anchor plate 118 by anchors 120 and 122, and being secured at the outer ends to anchor members 124 and 126 (Figures 3 and 5) on cantilevered anchor blocks 128 and 130 which are secured and extend inwardly from the edges of the inner rear flange rails of mast section 24.

A hydraulic hose sheave 132 is mounted to rotate on the shaft of sprocket 11 6, it being adapted to receive a flexible pressure supply conduit 134 which is reeved in a double-S in the upright between a pair of fluid junction blocks 136 and 138 mounted from the base of the cylinders of piston-and-cylinder assemblies 80 and 60, respectively, and which are connected to hose 134 and to each other by non-flexible conduits 140 and 142. One section of hose is located preferably in the vertical central plane of the upright while the other section is guided in a pair of spaced vertical guide members 144 and 146 mounted from the mast sections 24 and 20, respectively, (Figures 4 and 5) for guiding movements of the hose in known manner.It will be noted that the vertical hose sections tend to nest behind other parts of the upright assembly, such as the rail sections and the central chains and cylinder assembly, thereby minimizing interference with operator visibility.

The upright is adapted to function in theoretical force moment balance. Of course, such theoretical conditions do not exist in practice, and side thrusts or torque loading on the upright such as result from unbalanced moments effected by off-centre loads on the fork, for example, may be resisted by upper and lower pairs of carriage side thrust rollers operating on the outer flange edges of Ibeams 34 in known manner (one transverse pair is shown at 1 50 in Figure 3).

It should be noted that the weight of the upright section 24 will impart a slight unbalanced moment in a counterclockwise direction as seen in Figure 5, for example, on the asymmetric pistonand-cylinder assembly 80, so that if desired the latter unbalanced moment may be compensated by adjusting the location of the piston-andcylinder assembly slightly inwardly of its said prior theoretically balanced position between the projected chain anchor locations 92 and 1 00. On the other hand any such inward adjustment of the piston-and-cylinder assembly location may tend to interfere somewhat with maximum visibility through that side of the upright, depending upon the operator's normal transverse location on the truck and longitudinal distance from the upright.

Also, any such unbalanced force moments are relatively minor and should in most upright designs be readily acceptable in the overall design, which usually includes some provision for resisting side thrust such as by pairs of side thrust rollers 150.

It will be apparent that the rest of the upright sections and the load carrier are substantially balanced in the transverse plane'of the upright in the use of the centre mounted piston-and-cylinder assembly 60 and the centered and symmetrical mounting of chains 110, 112 and associated structure.

The designer of uprights of various widths and depths, truck seat locations, and the like, may choose any one of a number of viable combinations of such structure within the scope of the present invention. It should therefore be understood that recitations in the claims hereof relating to the substantial or approximate balance of force moments in the upright, or to the asymmetric position of the piston-and-cylinder assembly 80 substantially or approximately twothirds the outward distance between the projected chain anchor locations or the like, shall be interpreted to include a range of positions of the assembly 80 between the sprockets which best effects the desired result of good operator visibility through the upright and adequately balanced force moments acting on the upright in operation.

The design is such that the location of the piston-and-cylinder assembly 80 at one side of the upright combines with the location of the operator to provide an operators line of sight through the upright on the side at which the asymmetric cylinder assembly 80 is located so that said cylinder assembly interferes a relatively small amount or not at all with the operator's visibility through that side of the upright. In other words, the asymmetric piston-and-cylinder assembly 80 preferably projects substantially or entirely into the area of interference by the adjacent side of the upright when in a retracted or collapsed position with the visibility of the operator from his normal line of sight through that side of the upright.It has been found that in order to achieve most desirable results in terms of operator visibility, that pistonand-cylinder assembly 80 should be located such that it projects a distance into the aforementioned area of interference by the adjacent side of the retracted upright which is substantially equal to or greater than the diameter of the cylinder. In multistage uprights as described above it will be found that the asymmetric piston-and-cylinder assembly will in fact project a substantial distance into the longitudinal plane of the adjacent side of the upright, or project entirely into said plane as is the case with the structure of the embodiments of the invention described herein.

References made in the specification and claims hereof to the longitudinal plane of one side of the upright, or of the vertical rails of the upright, or terms of similar import, shall have the following meaning: The longitudinal plane of the one side of the upright shall mean a vertical plane extending longitudinally of the upright assembly bounded by the outer and inner surfaces of the vertical rail assembly on one side of the upright.

In operation, to elevate the upright from the position in Figure 1 A to that in Figure 1C pressure fluid is delivered by a hydraulic system simultaneously to piston-and-cylinder assemblies 60 and 80 and, as is known, the cylinder assemblies operate automatically in the sequence related to the load supported thereby, whereby cylinder assembly 60 functions initially to elevate load carrier 36 in mast section 32 to the full freelift position illustrated in Figure 1 B at a 2:1 ratio to the movement of piston rod 70.At the termination of this initial stage of operation the pressure fluid automatically sequences asymmetric cylinder assembly 80 to elevate the entire telescopic upright structure in outer mast section 20 from the Figure 1 B position to the Figure 1C position while the load carrier is maintained by cylinder assembly 60 in the aforementioned free-lift position; i.e. by the direct connection of cylinder assembly 80 to mast section 24 and to second telescopic section 28 by chain 94 and by the indirect connection thereof to third telescopic section 32 by the connection of pairs of chains 110 and 112 between sections 24 and 32 and by way of sprockets 114 and 116 on section 28.It will be apparent to persons skilled in the art that the chain reeving effects a 2:1 movement ratio as between each rail section and the next succeeding adjacent rail section, such that full extension of the asymmetric cylinder assembly 80 effects an extension of the upright structure from the position shown in Figure 1 B to that in Figure 1 C.

Lowering of the upright is effected by venting the cylinders of the assemblies 60 and 80 to the fluid reservoir, whereby a reversal of the abovementioned sequencing occurs as cylinder assembly 80 first fully retracts to the position of Figure 1 B, subsequent to which cylinder assembly 60 retracts the load carrier to the Figure 1 A position.

Referring now to the modification shown in Figure 7 wherein similar parts have been numbered the same as in Figure 3, modifications of main significance comprising the relocation of the pairs of sprockets 96, 98 and 114, 116. In Figure 7 sprockets 96 and 98 are spaced transversely at a substantially greater distance apart than in the first embodiment wherein inner anchor 92 of chain 94 is located in the vertical central plane of the upright to provide a closecoupled relationship between the sprockets and the asymmetric piston-and-cylinder assembly.In the modification, as will be observed, the sprockets are spaced so that anchor 92 is located not centrally of the upright but towards the opposite side thereof, it being centered in a vertical longitudinal plane which extends midway between sprockets 114 and 1 16 which are mounted on stub shafts 160 and 162 which are supported from brace 48 of the second telescopic section.The shafts also support a pair of hydraulic hose sheaves 132 concentric with sprockets 114 and 116. A single chain 164 is reeved on sprockets 114 and 1 16; the inner end is secured to a centrally located anchor 1 66 mounted on a centilvered anchor block 118 which is connected to brace 56 of the third telescopic section, and the outer end is anchored at 168 to the one rail of mast section 24 by an anchor block 1 70.

The operation of the modified structure is the same as described above, the structure of the first embodiment being preferred as providing better visibility than the modified structure. The upright may be theoretically balanced in the transverse plane thereof because asymmetric piston-andcylinder assembly 80 is located approximately two-thirds of the transverse distance between the central vertical plane of load carrier 36 and chain anchor 100 towards the right side of the upright.

Chain 94 is operated thereby, anchor 1 66 of chain 1 64 being in the central vertical plane of load carrier 36, and anchor 92 being projected midway between anchors 166 and 168.

Referring now to the modified embodiment shown in Figures 8 to 13, many of the parts are the same or similar to those shown in figures 2 to 6 and those parts have been numbered the same as in that embodiment. New parts are identified by new numbers.

As will become apparent from an examination of Figures 8 to 13, the structure is essentially similar to the structure of Figures 2 to 6, except for the chain reeving, mounting and sprocket structure associated with the asymmetric pistonand-cylinder assembly, the locations of the anchor connections of chains 110 and 112, and the reeving and mounting of the hydraulic hose and sheave structure which connects the bases of the two lift piston-and-cylinder assemblies. The -description which follows will relate only to the above modified structure, the remaining strucutre of the upright being apparent from the embodiment of Figures 2 to 6 and from the numbering of similar parts as applied to the structure of Figures 8 to 1 3.

As illustrated, a transverse brace and sprocket support member 200 is formed in the particular showing thereof to have a relatively narrow end portion 202 and a relatively wide end portion 204, the member being secured at 206 and 208 to the upper ends of the rear flanges of l-beam rails 26.

A pair of sprockets 210 and 212 are mounted for rotation on a shaft 214 in a slot or opening 216 of wide end 204, a second transversely spaced and rotationally aligned sprocket 218 being mounted on shaft 219 in a recess 220 at the narrow end 202 of brace 220. A first chain 222 is secured at anchor 224 to an anchor block 226-secured to the side of fixed rail 22 and reeved on the one sprocket 212. The chain extends down through opening 216 and is connected at its opposite end by an anchor 228 to a bracket 230 which is secured to the rear of the adjacent side of lower brace 50 of telescopic section 28. A second chain 232 is secured by an anchor 234 to anchor block 226 and is reeved as shown on sprockets 210 and 218 transversely across the upright and downwardly at the opposite side to an anchor 236 secured by a bracket 238 to the rear side of the remote end of brace 50.

In order to substantially balance the fqrce moments acting in the transverse plane of this embodiment the connections of chains 222 and 232 to anchors 228 and 236 should be approximately equally spaced on opposite sides of the longitudinal central vertical plane of load carriage 30, and it has been found that the location of the connection of the piston rod 82 of piston-and-cylinder assembly 80 to brace and support member 200 by a pair of bolts 240 should be at or near one-third of the sum of the projected or transverse distances from the said central plane of load carriage 30 to the two chain anchors 224 and 234. It should be noted that the relative locations and spacing either longitudinally or transversely of the upright of anchors 224 and 234 may be varied to suit design requirements so long as the above distance relationship between the connection of the piston rod 82 to the telescopic section 24 and the sum of said transverse distances is maintained, whereby considerable design flexibility is possible in this respect.

In such a design the forces passing through the respective upright sections create substantially no unbalanced moments or a calculated small unbalanced moment in the transverse plane of the upright the result being similar to that explained above in respect of Figures 2 to 7.

Of course, again as in Figures 2 to 7, the weight of upright section 24 will impart a slight unbalanced moment on the asymmetric pistonand-cylinder assembly which may be compensated by adjusting its location slightly inwardly of the upright as previously explained.

In all the embodiments hereof the forces passing through the respective upright sections create substantially no unbalanced moments, or create a calculated unbalanced moment in the transverse plane of the upright.

Hydraulic hose and sheave construction connecting the base ends of the cylinders of piston-and-cylinder assemblies 60 and 80 and mounted from the upper end of telescopic section 28 is similar to that described in respect of the embodiment of Figures 2 to 6, but adapted for mounting in the dual chain construction of this embodiment as distinct from the single chain construction of the first embodiment operating between upright sections 20, 24 and 28.

In the present embodiment a pair of transversely spaced hose sheaves 250 and 252 are mounted for rotation on stub shafts 254 and 256 which are supported from a hose sheave mounting plate 258 which is connected to chain sprocket mounting pins 260 and 262. The flexible hose 134 is reeved on sheaves 250 and 252 transversely of the upright and is coupled at its opposite ends with tubing 266 and 268 mounted on the respective cylinder bases. The hose also is mounted in hose guides 270 and 272 mounted from the upright sections 20 and 24, respectively, similar to the previous embodiment for guiding movements of the hose in known manner. It will be noted that as previously the vertical hose sections tend to nest behind or adjacent to other parts of the upright assembly, namely the side rail sections of the upright, thereby reducing interference with operator visibility.

The anchor connections of chains 110 and 112 are reversed from the connections thereof in Figures 2 to 6 and accordingly are designated by the same reference numerals primed. Connections 120' and 122' are spaced transversely outwardly of inner central anchor connections 124' and 126'. The former are connected to the third telescopic section and the latter are connected to the first telescopic section. The reason for reversing said connections is to maintain good visibility through the upright.

The operation of the present embodiment is basically the same as in the operation of the embodiment of Figures 2 to 6 with reference to Figures 1 A, 1 B and 1 C, the essential difference, as explained above, being in the dual chain and sprocket and associated structure which, of course, does not affect the sequence of operation as previously described.

It will be understood by persons skilled in the art that modifications and design variations in upright designs other than those described above may be found feasible without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Depending upon such things as the axial distance of the operator from the upright, the width of the upright, and the transverse position of the operator when seated or standing in a normal operating position on different lift truck types, the most desirable precise location of the asymmetric piston-and-cylinder assembly based upon the various factors may be established. As noted previously, the most critical combination of factors affecting the selection of the asymmetric pistonand-cylinder assembly location is operator visibility and force moment balance on the upright, both of which may be compromised from the ideal within the scope of the invention as required to effect the most desirable combination.

However, before the particulars of any given upright design are finalized, it is important to understand that in any multi-section upright of four or more upright sections using this invention, the asymmetric piston-and-cylinder assembly should be located such that it projects at least partially, and preferably substantially or wholly, into the previously defined area of interference by the adjacent side of the upright and into the longitudinal plane of that side of the upright It will be noted that this is the case even in the Figure 7 modification wherein the asymmetric piston-andcylinder assembly and associated sprocket and chain structure are substantially spread out transversely of the upright in comparison with the structure of the preferred embodiment.

Claims (12)

1. An upright structure for lift trucks and the like, the upright structure comprising a fixed upright section including transversely spaced vertical rails, first, second and third telescopic upright sections each including transversely spaced vertical rails mounted for elevation relative to each other, a sole asymmetric lift piston-andcylinder means mounted in the upright structure which is operatively connected to said first, second and third telescopic sections, said operative connection including elongated flexible lifting structure operatively connected to said piston-and-cylinder means and to said first, second and third telescopic sections, a first portion of said flexible lifting structure having one end structure thereof secured substantially outwardly of one side only of the piston-andcylinder means and having the other end structure thereof secured to one of said telescopic sections and a second portion of said flexible lifting structure being connected to the other two of said telescopic sections, said piston-and-cylinder means together with said flexible lifting structure being adapted to elevate said third section relative to said second section, said second section relative to said first section and said first section relative to said fixed section, the piston-andcylinder means being located substantially at one side of the upright structure such that it projects at least partially into the area of interference by an adjacent vertical rail with the visibility of the operator from his normal line of sight through said adjacent vertical rail when the upright is in use on a truck.

2. An upright structure according to claim 1, wherein said first portion of said flexible lifting structure is reeved on first and second wheel elements operatively connected to said asymmetric piston-and-cylinder means, said first and second wheel elements being mounted in substantial longitudinal rotating alignment and spaced relation one to the other, said piston-andcylinder means being located intermediate of said first and second wheel elements and of said one and other end structures of said flexible structure such that the lifting force of said piston-andcylinder means is located at approximately twothirds of the projected distance between said one and other end structures in a direction outwardly of said other end structures.

3. An upright structure according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said piston-and-cylinder means is located intermediate the central longitudinal plane of the third telescopic section and the said one end structure of the flexible lifting structure, said one end structure comprising a pair of anchor means for said flexible lifting structure, the projected or transverse distance from said central plane of the telescopic section to the axis of the piston-and-cylinder means being approximately equal to one-third of the sum of the projected or transverse distances from the said central plane to the said pair of anchor means.

4. An upright structure according to claim 1,2 or 3 wherein said first portion of the flexible lifting structure comprises first and second flexible lifting elements reeved on first and second wheel elements and operatively connected to said piston-and-cylinder means, the one ends of the lifting elements comprising said one end structure and the other ends of the lifting elements comprising said other end structure, said other end of the first lifting element being secured to said one telescopic section adjacent the adjacent side of the upright and the said other end of the second lifting element being secured to said one telescopic section adjacent the opposite side of the upright.

5. An upright structure according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said piston-andcylinder means projects at least partially into the longitudinal plane of an adjacent vertical rail on the said one side of the upright structure.

6. An upright structure according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein a load carriage is mounted for elevation relative to said third telescopic section, a second lift piston-andcylinder assembly is adapted to elevate said load carriage relative to said third telescopic section, and an inverted U-shaped conduit connects hydraulically the base ends of the cylinders of the asymmetric piston-and-cylinder means and the second lift piston-and-cylinder assembly, said conduit being supported from the upper end portion of one of said telescopic sections.

7. An upright structure according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said asymmetric piston-and-cylinder means is located intermediate said one and other end structures of said first portion of the flexible lifting structure in such a manner that the lifting force of said asymmetric piston-and-cylinder means is applied at approximately two-thirds of the projected distance between said one and other end structures in a direction outwardly of said other end structure.

8. An upright structure according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein said asymmetric pistonand-cylinder means is located intermediate said one and other end structures of said first portion of the flexible lifting structure in such a manner that the lifting force of said asymmetric piston-andcylinder means is applied at approximately onethird of the sum of the projected distances between the central vertical plane of said second telescopic section and said one end structure in a direction outwardly of said central plane.

9. An upright structure according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said second portion of said flexible lifting structure comprises first and second flexible lifting elements mounted independently from first and second transversely spaced wheel elements which are supported from said second telescopic section, the one ends of said flexible lifting elements being connected to one of said telescopic sections and the other ends of said flexible lifting elements being connected to another of said telescopic sections.

10. An upright structure according to claim 9, wherein said first portion of said flexible lifting structure comprises a single flexible lifting element mounted from a pair of transversely spaced wheel elements, said other end structure thereof being connected to said second telescopic section.

11. An upright structure according to claim 9, wherein said first portion of said flexible lifting structure comprises a first flexible lifting element mounted from a pair of transversely spaced wheel elements, one end of said flexible lifting element being secured substantially outwardly of the one side of the asymmetric piston-and-cylinder means and the other end thereof being secured to said one telescopic section at a location adjacent the opposite side of the upright

12. An upright structure for a lift truck or the like, substantially as herein described with reference to Figures 2 to 6, Figure 7 or Figures 8 to 1 3 of the accompanying drawings.