GB993030A - Improvements in or relating to load handling apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

993,030. Masted lift trucks. LANSING BAGNALL Ltd. July 19, 1963 [June 29, 1962], No. 25031/62. Heading B8H. The lifting carriage of a fork lift truck is provided with jaws 37 for gripping part 38 of a pallet when the pallet is raised by the forks 26. As shown, Figs.. 2, 3, the jaws 37 are slidably mounted on rods 40, which are secured to brackets 41 on a bracing plate 29 of the lifting carriage, and are urged apart by compression springs 42. The usual chains 23 for raising the lifting carriage are secured to the pistons of hydraulic piston and cylinder devices, the cylinders of which are secured to the rear of the plate 29 and are connected by hoses to the cylinder of an hydraulic ram 43 pivoted between the jaws 37. The arrangement is such that when the forks 26 are raised into engagement with the underside of the upper deck of a pallet, further upward movement of the chains raises the pistons of the piston and cylinder devices so that hydraulic fluid is forced out of the cylinders into the cylinder 44 of ram 43 until the jaws 37 grip a block 38 secured to the underside of the upper deck of the pallet. Further upward movement of the chains then raises the lifting carriage in the normal way. The forks 26 are slidably mounted on a rod 31 on the lifting carriage and are locked in selected positions on the rod by pins 110 which pass through pairs of holes 111,112 in a bar 28 on the lifting carriage. In a second embodiment, Fig. 5, the jaws 61 have upright portions 62 pivoted on a pin 63 on the rear of plate 29 and are provided with lugs 66 to which the lifting chains 23 are secured. Upward movement of the chains 23 thus moves the jaws towards each other against the action of tension springs 69 to grip the block 38. In a modification (not shown), the jaws are moved towards each other to grip the block 38 by an hydraulic ram controlled by the truck operator, and in a further modification (not shown), the jaws are moved away from each other to engage two blocks on the pallet.