A wheeled vehicle includes: a front portion having a central support frame, a front wheel pivotally mounted on a front end of the support frame for steering the wheeled vehicle, a first axle mounted on a rear end of the support frame, the first axle including a first pair of wheels mounted thereon, and a multi-axis pivot mounted on the central support frame adjacent the first axle, the multi-axis pivot including a receiver; a rear portion having a frame portion and a second axle on a rear end thereof. The second portion is secured on the multi-axis pivot of the front portion at a front end of the rear portion.

A vehicle, a single-wheelset/double-wheelset trackless train and a tracking and steering control method therefor are provided in the invention. The method includes the following steps. During traveling of the vehicle, steering information of the vehicle is continually collected by the controller. Information about a guiding front wheel turning angle, a controlled rear wheel turning angle, a vehicle body position angle, an included angle between vehicle bodies, and a vehicle travel time and speed is collected; an interval for data collection is determined according to a distance between a guiding front wheel and a controlled rear wheel; and when the controlled rear wheel travels to a certain point near a front wheel travel track, the controlled rear wheel is controlled to travel in a travel direction same as that when the front wheel travels to the point. According to the rear wheel tracking and steering control method, the objective that a controlled rear wheel operates in a manner of highly approaching a guiding front wheel track can be achieved; and the higher a data collection frequency is, the higher a track fitting degree of the front wheel and the rear wheel is.

The invention relates to a route train trailer (2a; 2b; 2c) for a route train (1), wherein the route train trailer (2a; 2b; 2c) has a chassis (3; 3a, 3b) with at least one wheel (4). The wheel (4) is drivingly connected to an electric travel drive motor (7). The electric travel drive motor (7) is controlled by an electronic controller which actuates the travel drive motor (7) depending on an acceleration pulse (B) and/or delay pulse (V) acting on the route train trailer (2a; 2b; 2c).

A trailer including a hydraulic steering system includes: a trailer body; a plurality of axles connected to the trailer body; a steering cylinder connected to at least one axle of the plurality of axles and configured to turn the at least one axle; a sensing cylinder; a controller; and a hydraulic steering system. The hydraulic steering system includes a hydraulic circuit including a plurality of hoses and valves, and the steering cylinder is in fluid communication with at least one of the sensing cylinder and the controller. The hydraulic steering system is configured to transition between: (1) an automatic steering mode and (2) a manual steering mode. A towing system and a method of steering a trailer are also disclosed.

An improved cargo dolly for transporting cargo is described having a mobile dolly frame, a main shaft on the frame, a lever proximate to a first part of the frame (where the lever is movable relative to the frame and in responsive communication with the main shaft), a first set of transfer sprockets mounted to the main shaft, a secondary shaft rotatably disposed at a second part of the frame (where the first part is remote from the second part), a second set of transfer sprockets mounted to the secondary shaft, a chain disposed about the first set of transfer sprockets and the second set of transfer sprockets, and a locking pin having a first end fixed to the secondary shaft and a second end configured as an angled latch. Rotation of the lever responsively causes the locking pin to remotely rotate at the second part of the frame.

In one example, a mother cart is provided that is suitable for transporting a daughter cart. The mother cart includes a base frame having a group of wheels configured to allow the mother cart to be moved. The base frame, in turn, includes a loading bay for receiving the daughter cart, and a support surface for supporting the daughter cart. Finally, the base frame includes a primary restraint mechanism for engaging and securing the daughter cart in the loading bay.

A system and method for braking a tractor-trailer assembly is provided. The method includes generating a tractor brake pressure for application to a tractor brake for braking a tractor wheel, determining a tractor brake rate based on one or more of the generated tractor brake pressure, one or more parameters of the tractor brake, one or more parameters of the tractor wheel, one or more parameters of a final drive, and a mass of the tractor, and determining a trailer brake pressure applied to a trailer brake of a trailer wheel of a trailer, based on the determined tractor brake rate.

A materials handling vehicle comprising a path validation tool and a drive unit, steering unit, localization module, and navigation module that cooperate to navigate the vehicle along a warehouse travel path. The tool comprises warehouse layout data, a proposed travel path, vehicle kinematics, and a dynamic vehicle boundary that approximates the vehicle physical periphery. The tool executes path validation logic to determine vehicle pose along the proposed travel path, update the dynamic vehicle boundary to account for changes in vehicle speed and steering angle, determine whether the dynamic vehicle boundary is likely to intersect obstacles represented in the layout data based on the determined vehicle pose at candidate positions along the proposed travel path, determine a degree of potential impingement at the candidate positions by referring to the dynamic vehicle boundary and obstacle data, and modify the proposed travel path to mitigate the degree of potential impingement.

A method and apparatus for assisting in removing a wheels-on-ground type daughter cart from a mother cart, and a mother cart incorporating such a method and apparatus, utilize a daughter cart ejector apparatus mounted on a mother cart and having a selectively actuatable ejector element for urging the daughter cart to move out of engagement with the mother cart in an unloading direction. The ejector element is configured and operatively connected to bear against the daughter cart and apply force in a manner that assists in initiating movement of the daughter cart in the unloading direction and reorienting casters supporting the daughter cart on an underlying surface from a rolling orientation that is generally parallel to a transport direction of the mother cart, to a rolling orientation that is generally transverse to the transport direction and parallel to the unloading direction.

A steering control unit and to a method of controlling the steering of a multi-unit vehicle is provided, the vehicle having a plurality of vehicle parts movably connected to one another and a plurality of steerable axle units. A first axle control unit is in conjunction with a first steerable axle unit and at least one second axle control unit is in conjunction with at least one second steerable axle unit. The steering control system has a central control module that is connected to the axle control units via a common data line for exchange of steering angle data. The axle control units have data interfaces for communication via the data line. The data interfaces transfer mutually identical data formats, whereby the steering control system is set up in a modular manner with a variable number of axle control units that can be integrated.