GB965601A - Improvements in or relating to forks for handling stacks of articles - Google Patents

Abstract

965,601. Fork lift trucks; tines for gripping loads. J. H. PARRY, and R. WILDMAN. April 16, 1963 [April 12, 1962], No. 14111/62. Heading B8H. Each tine except one of a brick-carrying fork is provided at one side with a series of gripper pads 20 each pivotally mounted on a pin 19 connecting links 10, 16 which are connected to a tubular actuating rod 7, through a spring- loaded lost-motion connection, and to a portion 18 of the tine 1, respectively. The links 10 are pivoted on a pin 9 which is slidably mounted in a longitudinal slot 8 in the rod 7 and which supports guide rollers 12 and tie-bars 11, connected to a second pin 9 mounted in a second slot 8 in the rod 7. A compression spring 15, mounted between spacers 13 on the second pin 9 and a peg 14 secured to the rod 7, urges the two pins 9 towards the left. When the rod 7 is moved to the left by an hydraulic ram, the spring 15 is compressed and the links 10 are deflected outwardly to cause the gripper 20 to press the adjacent two rows of bricks sideways into contact with the vertical base portion of the next channel section tine 1. Each actuating rod 7 is associated with a row of four gripper pads and the rods 7 are coupled to a doubleacting ram, Fig. 3 (not shown), or, alternatively, each rod may be coupled to its own ram. Springs 31 are mounted between the trailing end of each gripper pad 20 and the associated link 16 to provide a toe-in to prevent the leading end of a pad catching the corner of a brick during insertion of the fork. Detachable packing strips are provided along the backs of the second and third tines of a five-tine fork so that the two double rows of bricks engaged with these tines will be displaced to the right, viewed from the front, by an amount approximately equal to the leftwards displacement of the other two rows during the clamping action.