A raising/lowering conveyance device for a container for conveying an article includes a container gripping mechanism having multiple container support pins which are arranged so as to be capable of freely protruding and retracting. A spring for biasing the container gripping mechanism upward is interposed between the container gripping mechanism and a columnar support member for supporting the container gripping mechanism such that the container gripping mechanism can be freely raised and lowered. As a result of the upward biasing force of the spring, the container gripping mechanism is held at an equilibrium height in equilibrium with the weight thereof and is capable of movement vertically with the equilibrium height serving as the center of the movement. When the container gripping mechanism lifts a container, the mechanism receives the weight of the container, descends from the equilibrium height, and is supported at the fixed height of the columnar support member.

A load handling device is provided for lifting and moving containers stacked in a storage system including a grid framework. The load handling device includes a vehicle body housing a wheel drive mechanism and a wheel assembly. A container lifting assembly comprising a container gripping assembly, a plurality of winch assemblies each includes a rotatable drum and a lifting tether anchored at a first end to the gripping assembly and at a second end to the drum, and a drive assembly configured to drive rotation of the drums to raise the gripping assembly into a container receiving space. Each drum has an outer surface configured to accommodate a plurality of axially displaced turns of the lifting tether across the drum.

A hoist for transferred materials in an underground auxiliary transportation system and a method thereof. The hoist includes a hoist body, guiding plates mounted at two ends of the hoist body through bolts, twist locks mounted at four ends of the hoist body, a driving unit configured to drive twist locks to rotate, transmission assemblies configured to connect the twist locks with the driving unit, ejector pins configured to prevent the twist locks from rotating mistakenly, and a sensor configured to control the hoist to operate and provide protection safety.

Embodiments of this document provides improved safety logic for a mobile container handler of the reach stacker or top pick type. The improved logic involves limitations surrounding the hoist function of the machine subsequent to attaching to a shipping container. This improvement addresses damage to the container spreader caused by abrupt joystick hoist inputs by the operator immediately subsequent to attaching onto a shipping container. Due to space between the spreader arms and spreader body, which is so designed to facilitate movement of the arms inside the spreader body, sudden vertical movement of the spreader results in impact forces being exerted on various parts of the spreader body and spreader arms. These impacts accelerate fatigue leading to premature catastrophic failure of the spreader body and/or spreader arms' structural steel.

A container security system is disclosed that includes force sensors and acceleration sensors attached to a lifting beam of a container handling device or to another part of a frame of the container handling device. The container security system also includes an electronics unit and an oscillation device attached to the lifting beam of the container handling device or to another part of the frame of the container handling device. The oscillation device creates oscillation of a container and contents of the container, and the container security system recognizes (i) a change in a condition of the container or the container contents as well as (ii) a change in an amount of the container contents between different container handling stages.

A container catching system, which is sea proof, includes a frame with a base on which a container is to be positioned, hinge pins secured to the frame above the base, and arms situated around the base, each arm having an abovementioned hinge pin. Arm portions situated above the hinge pin contact, in the unfolded state, a container to be lowered to guide the container towards the base, and arm portions situated below the hinge pin move outwards when they contact the container, thereby causing at least the top arm to engage the container.

There is provided improved accuracy in cargo handling by a spreader (306) including a distance sensor (308a, 308b) transmitting optical signals. The handled cargo (312) includes a plurality of interconnected sides (312a, 312b). The transmission directions of the optical signals are selected and distances are measured by reflected optical signals transmitted in the selected directions. The measured distances are used to determine a reference line that matches a shape of at least one of the interconnected sides (312a, 312b) of the cargo (312).

A spreader for lifting an intermodal transport container includes a main beam extending in a longitudinal direction, the main beam formed of a first, upper C-beam of a relatively thicker material thickness and a second, lower C-beam of a relatively thinner material thickness; and an indicator configured to provide an indication if a distance in a transversal direction between a pair of twist-locks is set in a wide-body position when lowered onto respective lifting castings provided with top openings separated by a transversal distance corresponding to a standard position.

A side lift spreader (1) for handling empty containers (6), and a method for adjusting a main frame (10) of an inverted side lift spreader. The inverted side lift spreader (1) comprises a main carriage (8) which is connectable to a lifting device (2) to be movable along a front side (39) of a mast (4) of the lifting device (2), the main frame (10) being carried by and sideways movable with respect to the main carriage (8), and main frame guiding means (27) for guiding a movement of the main frame (27) comprises at least two links (30, 31, 32, 33), one first portion (52, 56, 60, 64) of each link (30, 31, 32, 33) being connected to the main frame (10) and one second portion (54, 58, 62, 66) of each link (30, 31, 32, 33) being connected to the main carriage (8). The second portions (54, 58, 62, 66) of the links (30, 31, 32, 33) are arranged at the main carriage (8) at respective points of attachments (76, 78, 80, 82) which are located, in use of the spreader (1), at an opposite side (84) of the mast (4) compared to the front side (39).

The invention relates to an interconnection unit (124) connecting modules of a container coupling arrangement (120), which are configured to be releasebly attached to a lifting arrangement (110) and to couple a container (130) with the lifting arrangement, wherein the modules comprise at least a head block module (122) and a spreader module (123), the interconnection unit comprising one or more head block fastening units (1241, 1242), which are provided with an anchor point (1243, 1244), wherein the anchor point is configured to releasebly attach to the head block module of the lifting arrangement, each head block fastening unit movably coupled to a corresponding displacement unit (1245, 1246), the interconnection unit (124) further comprising the one or more corresponding displacement units, being movably coupled to the corresponding head block fastening unit and movably coupled to a spreader fastening unit (1247), the interconnection unit further comprising a plurality of locking arrangements.