IL98360A - Method and apparatus for compactly storing and retrieving objects - Google Patents

Description

n'opomp rrm:. &>τπ ηκ ΐίΏΊ ΠΟΓΡΝ msi? ipnm ηυ·>κ? METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR COMPACTLY STORING AND RETRIEVING OBJECTS METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR COMPACTLY STORING AND RETRIEVING OBJECTS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for compactly storing and retrieving a plurality of objects. The invention is particularly useful for storing and retrieving automotive vehicles, and is therefore described below with respect to this application, but it will be appreciated that the invention could advantageously be used in other object storing and retrieving applications, such as warehousing of goods of various kinds.

Compact storage and convenient retrieval of objects are important in many applications, but are particularly important with respect to automotive vehicles in view of the high cost of off-street parking facilities. As a rule, adequate aisles must be provided to enable the vehicle to be parked in, and to be retrieved from, any selected location of the parking facility, but such aisles require considerable space. In order to minimize the large amount of aisle space required, some arrangements have been proposed to provide space above the vehicle to permit access to each selected parking space, but such arrangements substantially double the volume required, one-half the volume being for accommodating the vehicle in each parking space, and the other half of the volume being for providing access to and from the parking space.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for more compactly storing and retrieving a plurality of objects, which method and apparatus are particularly, but not exclusively, useful for parking automotive vehicles.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of compactly storing and retrieving a plurality of objects, comprising: storing the objects in a plurality of storage compartments arranged in a plurality of levels divided into vertical columns and horizontal rows, but leaving one level vacant; and retrieving a selected object from a selected compartment via a vertical conveyor by: temporarily moving the objects located in the horizontal row of the selected compartment between the selected compartment and the vertical conveyor towards the vacant level, until one of the moved objects occupies the vacant level, thereby vacating the compartments between the selected compartment and the vertical conveyor; moving the selected object from the selected compartment to the vertical conveyor via the vacated compartments; conveying the selected object via the vertical conveyor to a retrieval point; and returning the temporarily-moved objects back to their respective compartments .

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided apparatus for compactly storing and retrieving a plurality of objects, comprising: a supporting structure defining a plurality of storage compartments arranged in a plurality of levels and divided into vertical columns and horizontal rows; an object supporting member supported in each of the storage compartments; a vertical conveyor for conveying objects from the plurality of levels to a retrieval point; a vertical drive for temporarily and simultaneously moving the objects located in the horizontal row of a selected compartment, which objects are located between the selected compartment and the vertical conveyor, towards or away from a predetermined level which is normally left vacant, so as to bring one of the moved objects to occupy the vacant level and thereby to vacate the compartments between the selected object and the vertical conveyor; and a horizontal conveyor for conveying the selected object from the selected compartment to the vertical conveyor via the vacated compartments .

According to the preferred embodiment of the invention described herein, each of the object supporting members comprises a supporting platform having vertical posts carrying pins at one end and formed with sockets at the opposite end for receiving the pins of the vertically adjacent supporting platform to form a vertical stack of the platforms for each of the horizontal rows, there being a separate vertical drive for each of the vertical stacks of platforms; and the apparatus further includes locking means for locking each of the vertical stacks of platforms against vertical movement at any selected level, to enable the respective vertical drive to move the unlocked platforms of its respective vertical stack of platforms vertically while the locked platforms are locked to their respective levels.

According to further features in the preferred embodiment of the invention described below, the supporting structure further includes a plurality of hollow vertical columns for receiving the vertical posts of the vertical stack of platforms; the locking means comprising locking pins carried by the hollow vertical columns and receivable in openings in the vertical posts of the platforms.

As will be more readily apparent from the description below, the method and apparatus of the present invention are capable of compactly storing a plurality of objects in a minimum of volume while at the same time permitting each object to be individually stored and retrieved as and when required. The invention is particularly useful for parking automotive vehicles, and is therefore described below with respect to this application.

Further features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention is herein described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: Fig. 1 is a side elevational view illustrating one form of apparatus, particularly a building structure for parking automotive vehicles, constructed in accordance with the present invention; Fig. 2 is a front elevational view illustrating one vertical column in the building structure of Fig. 1 ; Fig. 3 is a front elevational view illustrating the building structure of Fig. 1 defining a plurality of vertical columns of parking spaces, and also illustrating one form of horizontal conveyor included in the building structure; Fig. 4 illustrates the vehicle supporting member provided for each parking space in the building structure of Figs. 1-3; Figs. 5 and 6 are front and top views, respectively, more particularly illustrating one of the object supporting members in the .building structure; Fig. 7 is a top plan view illustrating the horizontal conveyor and its cooperation with the vehicle supporting member in the building structure; Figs. 8 and 9 are side and top views, respectively, more particularly illustrating the arrangement for locking the vehicle supporting members at any particular level in order to permit the introduction of a vehicle into, and its retrievel from, any selected location in the parking building structure; and Figs. 10a, 10b and 10c are diagrams illustrating one manner of retrieving a vehicle from a selected compartment in the building structure.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As indicated earlier, the invention is particularly useful for compactly storing and retrieving automotive vehicles, and therefore the drawings illustrate a building structure for parking automotive vehicles. Briefly, the building structure, generally designated 2, is divided into a plurality of storage compartments or parking stalls, each adapted to receive a vehicle, generally designated 4. The parking stalls are arranged in a plurality of levels and are divided into vertical columns and horizontal rows.

Fig. 1 illustrates the building structure as comprising five levels L^-L^, with level being the street level. While Fig. 1 illustrates only one horizontal row at each level, it will be appreciated that the building structure would normally include a plurality of horizontal rows, each as illustrated in Fig. 1 .

Each horizontal row of all the levels may be served by a separate vertical conveyor or elevator 6 movable in an elevator shaft 7. Alternatively, the building structure may include a single elevator 6 which is also movable horizontally so as to service all the horizontal rows in the building structure.

Elevator 6 conveys the vehicle in a selected parking stall to the exit or retrieval point 8 at the ground level .

As shown particularly in Fig. 3, the building structure 2 includes a framework of a plurality of hollow vertical columns or posts 1 0 . A pair of rails 1 2 are secured to the opposite sides of each pair of vertical posts 10 for each horizontal row of parking stalls at each level of the building structure. Fig. 3 illustrates only the upper three L^-L.. levels of the building structure, whereas Fig. 2 illustrates all five levels L^-L...

Each of the parking stalls includes a vehicle supporting assembly, generally designated 20 (Figs. 2 , 4). Each such vehicle supporting assembly comprises a supporting platform 21 having a plurality of rollers 22 on the opposite sides of its upper face, and a pallet 23 movable on rollers 22. Pallet 23 receives the vehicle 4 initially, and remains with the vehicle when it is conveyed to its parking stall and also when it is conveyed therefrom to the exit point 8 of the building structure .

Each vehicle supporting assembly 20 further includes a pair of posts 24 fixed to the opposite sides of its platform 21 and extending vertically above that platform. Bracing rods 25 (Fig. 4) may be provided for securely fixing the vertical posts 24 to platform 21. As shown particularly in Fig. 7, the vertical posts 24 pass through the hollow columns 10 of the building frame .

As shown particularly in Fig. 8, each of the vertical posts 24 is of hollow rectangular configuration and is closed at its upper end by a pin 26 of smaller dimensions. The opposite end of each post 24 is open and serves as a socket for receiving the pin 26 of the post in the underlying level.

It will thus be seen that the vehicle supporting assembly 20 of one parking stall may be supported by the vehicle supporting assembly of the underlying parking stall by merely inserting the pins 26 of the vertical posts 24 of the underlying assembly into the hollow sockets 28 of the vertical posts 24 in the overlying assembly. A vertical column or stack of vehicle supporting assemblies 20 may thus be formed for each of the horizontal rows of parking stalls in the building structure.

As shown particularly in Figs. 1 and 2, each of the vertical stacks of supporting assemblies 20 is supported by a piston 30 movable within a cylinder 32 fixed in the basement of the building structure. It will thus be seen that actuating one of the cylinders 32 will cause its piston 30 to move upwardly (or downwardly), and to carry with it all the supporting assemblies 20 in the respective vertical stack. However, the illustrated building structure includes locking means for locking selected ones of the supporting assemblies 20 to their respective levels, so that only the unlocked ones will be free to move upwardly or downwardly by actuating the cylinder 32 for the respective stack.

The latter locking means, as illustrated particularly in Fig. 8, includes a locking pin 34 actuated by an actuator 36, such as a solenoid, so as to be seated within, or to be withdrawn from, a hole 37 formed in the vertical post 24 of the respective supporting assembly 20. Preferably, two such actuators 36 are fixed to the opposite sides of the vertical column 10 of the building frame structure at each level of the respective column, so as to firmly lock the vertical posts 24 at its respective level when the actuators are energized. When the actuators are not energized, the vertical posts 24 may freely move within the respective frame column 10, the latter being provided with ball bearings, as shown at 38, for this purpose .

Each row of parking stalls is provided with a horizontal conveyor 40 for each of the horizontal rows in the respective level. As shown particularly in Fig. 7, each horizontal conveyor 40 includes wheels 42 movable on the tracks 12 of the frame columns 10 towards and away from the vertical elevator shaft 7 by means of motors 43 carried by the horizontal conveyor.

Each horziontal conveyor further includes a pair of closed-loop chains 45 extending along the opposite sides of the conveyor and carrying a pair of coupling elements 46 for coupling to pallet 23 of the vehicle supporting assemblies 20. For this purpose, the horizontal conveyor 40 includes actuators 47 for actuating pins 48 carried by the coupling elements 46 of the conveyor into openings formed in coupling elements 49 of the pallet 23.

Thus, when a pallet 23 is coupled by coupling pins 48 to the chains 45 of the horizontal conveyor 40, the chains are rotated to move the pallet, including the vehicle thereon, over the horizontal conveyor, and then the wheels 42 of the horizontal conveyor are driven to move the horizontal conveyor, with the vehicle thereon, towards (or away) from the elevator shaft 7.

The operation of the illustrated apparatus will now be described with reference particularly to Figs. 10a-10c.

Fig. 10a illustrates the condition of the apparatus wherein it is filled to capacit with parked vehicles 4; that is, each of the parking stalls in the building structure 2 is occupied by a vehicle, except that the lowermost level L1 is left vacant of vehicles as shown in Fig. 10a. In this example, the shaded vehicle, designated 4^c, occupying the parking stall in the fourth level and the third position from the elevator shaft 7, is to be removed.

For this purposes, the actuators 36 (Fig. 8) for the two vertical stacks of vehicles supported by pistons 30a, 30b, are actuated at the fourth level L^. That is, the actuator pins 34 are received in the holes 37 of the vertical posts 24 at the fourth level L^, thereby locking the supporting assemblies 20 to the vertical frame columns 10 at that level, while the vehicle supporting assemblies 20 below the fourth level are permitted to move downwardly.

The two cylinders 32a, 32b are then actuated to lower their respective pistons 30a, 30b, so that the vehicles 42a, 42b, initially in level L2 move to the vacant stalls within the lowermost level , whereas the vehicles 4^a and ^^b' *ni-tially in level L^, move to level L.,, and likewise vehicles 4^¾ and initially in level L^, are moved to level . This is the condition illustrated in Fig. 10b, wherein it will be seen that the vehicles in level between the elevator shaft 7 and the vehicle 4 4.c to be retrieved, have now moved to level L^, thereby opening the way for vehicle 4^c to move horizontally to the elevator shaft 7.

The horizontal conveyor 40 is now operated to move along the rails 12 from the elevator 6 to the supporting assembly supporting vehicle 4^c; its actuator 47 is then actuated to couple pallet 23 of that supporting assembly to the chains 45 of the horizontal conveyor; and the chains are rotated to move pallet 23, including vehicle 44c thereon, over the horizontal conveyor. The horizontal conveyor is then operated to convey pallet 23 and vehicle 4^c to elevator 6 (Fig. 10c), and the elevator is lowered to the ground level permitting the vehicle to leave via the exit point 8.

The horizontal conveyor 40, with the pallet 23 still thereon, is then lifted by elevator 6 back to the fourth level L^, and the horizontal conveyor 40 is operated to return the pallet to its initial position.

The two cylinders 32a, 32b are then operated to return the temporarily-moved vehicles in these two columns back to their initial positions, whereupon the apparatus is now in condition for removing any other selected vehicle.

It will be appreciated that the vehicles are parked in their respective parking stalls in the same manner as described above for retrieving them, namely by: operating the appropriate cylinders 32 to temporarily move the vehicles located in the horizontal row of the selected parking stall between it and the elevator shaft 7 towards the vacant level ; moving the vehicle to be parked onto its pallet 23, then onto the horizontal conveyor 40, and then onto the elevator 6; raising the elevator to the appropriate level; conveying the vehicle to its preselected parking stall; returning the horizontal conveyor back to the elevator; and then returning back to their initial positions all the vehicles which had been temporarily moved in order to make the selected parking stall accessible for parking the vehicle.

While the invention has been described with respect to one preferred embodiment for parking automotive vehicles, it will be appreciated that the invention could also be used for storing or warehousing other objects in a compact arrangement, and that many other variations and modifications of the invention may be made.

Claims (17)

PA 98360/2 - 14 - WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A method of compactly storing and retrieving a plurality of objects, comprising: storing the objects in a plurality of storage compartments arranged in a plurality of levels divided into vertical columns and horizontal rows, but leaving one level vacant; and retrieving a selected object from a selected compartment via a vertical conveyor by: temporarily moving the objects located in the horizontal row of the selected compartment between the selected compartment and the vertical conveyor towards said vacant level, until one of the moved objects occupies the vacant level, thereby vacating the compartments between the selected compartment and the vertical conveyor; moving the selected object from the selected compartment to said vertical conveyor via said vacated compartments ; conveying the selected object via the vertical conveyor to a retrieval point; and returning the temporarily-moved objects back to their respective compartments.

2. The method according to Claim 1, wherein said objects are automotive vehicles.

3. Apparatus for compactly storing and retrieving a plurality of objects, comprising: PA 98360/2 - 15 - a supporting structure defining a plurality of storage compartments arranged in a plurality of levels and divided into vertical columns and horizontal rows ; an object supporting member supported in each of said storage compartments; a vertical conveyor for conveying objects from said plurality of levels to a retrieval point; a vertical drive for temporarily and simultaneously moving the objects located in the horizontal row of a selected compartment, which objects are located between the selected compartment and the vertical conveyor, towards or away from a predetermined level which is normally left vacant, so as to bring one of the moved objects to occupy the vacant level and thereby to vacate the compartments between the selected object and the vertical conveyor; and a horizontal conveyor for conveying the selected object from the selected compartment to said vertical conveyor via said vacated compartments.

4. The apparatus according to Claim 3 , wherein : each of said object supporting members comprises a supporting platform having vertical posts carrying pins at one end and formed with sockets at the opposite end for receiving the pins of the vertically adjacent supporting platform to form a vertical stack PA 98360/2 - 16 - of said platforms for each of said horizontal rows, there being a separate vertical drive for each of said vertical stacks of platforms; and said apparatus further includes locking means for locking each of said vertical stacks of platforms against vertical movement at any selected level, to enable the respective vertical drive to move the unlocked platforms of its respective vertical stack of platforms vertically while the locked platforms are locked to their respective levels.

5. The apparatus according to Claim 4, wherein said supporting structure further includes a plurality of hollow vertical columns for receiving said pins of the vertical stack of platforms; said locking means comprising locking pins carried by said hollow vertical columns and receivable in openings in said vertical posts of the platforms.

6. The apparatus according to Claim 4 , wherein said separate vertical drive for each of said vertical stacks of platforms comprises a cylinder fixed to said supporting structure, and a piston movable in said cylinder and carrying its respective vertical stack of platforms.

7. The apparatus according to Claim 4, wherein each of said platforms includes rollers supporting a pallet for receiving an object, and wherein said horizontal conveyor includes means for PA 98360/2 - 17 - receiving said pallet and the object supported thereon, and for conveying same to the vertical conveyor.

8. The apparatus according to Claim 7 , wherein said supporting structure includes a plurality of horizontal rails for each horizontal row and vertical column of storage compartments; said horizontal conveyor including traction wheels engaging said rails and driven by motors carried by the horizontal conveyor.

9. The apparatus according to Claim 8, wherein said horizontal conveyor further includes a closed loop chain movable over its upper face, and coupling means for coupling each object pallet to said chain for loading the selected object pallet onto the horizontal conveyor.

10. The apparatus according to Claim 3, wherein said supporting structure is a building structure for storing and retrieving a plurality of automotive vehicles.

11. Apparatus for compactly storing and retrieving a plurality of vehicles, comprising: a building structure defining a plurality of storage compartments arranged in a plurality of levels and divided into vertical columns and horizontal rows ; a vehicle supporting member supported in each of said storage compartments; PA 93360/ 2 - 18 - a vertical conveyor for conveying vehicles from said plurality of levels to a retrieval point; a vertical drive for temporarily and simultaneously moving the vehicles located in the horizontal row of a selected compartment between the selected compartment and the vertical conveyor towards or away from a predetermined level which is normally left vacant, so as to bring one of the moved vehicles to occupy the vacant level and thereby to vacate the compartments between the selected vehicle and the vertical conveyor; and a horizontal conveyor for conveying the selected vehicle from the selected compartment to said vertical conveyor via said vacated compartments .

12. The apparatus according to Claim 11, wherein: each of said vehicle supporting members comprises a supporting platform having vertical posts carrying pins at one end and formed with sockets at the opposite end for receiving the pins of the vertically adjacent supporting platform to form a vertical stack of said platforms for each of said horizontal rows, there being a separate vertical drive for each of said vertical stacks of platforms; and said apparatus further includes locking means for locking each of said vertical stacks of platforms against vertical movement at any selected PA 98360/2 - 19 - level, to enable the respective vertical drive to move the unlocked platforms of its respective vertical stack of platforms vertically while the locked platforms are locked to their respective levels.

13. The apparatus according to Claim 12 , wherein said building structure further includes a plurality of hollow vertical columns for receiving said pins of the vertical stack of platforms; said locking means comprising locking pins carried by said hollow vertical columns and receivable in openings in said vertical posts of the platforms.

14. The apparatus according to Claim 12, wherein said separate vertical drive for each of said vertical stacks of platforms comprises a cylinder fixed to said supporting structure, and a piston movable in said cylinder and carrying its respective vertical stack of platforms.

15. The apparatus according to Claim 12, wherein each of said platforms includes rollers supporting a pallet for receiving a vehicle, and wherein said horizontal conveyor includes means for receiving said pallet and the vehicle supported thereon, and for conveying same to the vertical conveyor .

16. The apparatus according to Claim 15, wherein said building structure further includes a plurality of horizontal rails for each horizontal row PA 98360/ - 20 - and vertical column of storage compartments; said horizontal conveyor including traction wheels engaging said rails and driven by motors carried by the horizontal conveyor .

17. The apparatus according to Claim 16, wherein said horizontal conveyor further includes a closed loop chain movable over its upper face, and coupling means for coupling each vehicle pallet to said chain for loading the selected vehicle pallet onto the horizontal conveyor. For icant, Benjamin J . SJan' sh Advocate , Parent Attorney P . O . B . 23008 Te-Avi v , 61 230