A cart alignment device of the present disclosure is used in a delivery system that delivers an article using a cart including a loading section for loading articles and a caster disposed in the loading section and having wheels capable of changing a movement direction of the loading section. The cart alignment device includes a rail member configured to guide the caster of the cart in a predetermined arrangement direction, and a disposition section configured to dispose and fix the rail member in a collection chamber for accommodating one or more carts.

An intermodal container includes a base (100) having a defined number of sides. The base is configured to support products during transport. The intermodal container further includes a removable cover (104) having a top and a defined number of sides matching the defined number of sides of the base. The removable cover is configured to be releasably secured to the base to define an enclosure in a use position and to be removed and flattened in a stored position.

A fixing device for fixing a swap body in or on the pick-up area of a vehicle. At least one support structure is positioned in the pick-up area, with at least one pick-up floor positioned in the pick-up area, with at least one rail-style guide element spaced from the pick-up floor which is fixed to the support structure or the swap body and which demonstrates a guide surface. At least one support element is positioned on a swap body or on the support structure which is positioned between the guide element and pick-up floor when transferring the swap body into the pick-up area or out of the pick-up area. At least the guide surface of at least one guide element demonstrates an incline in relation to the pick-up floor.

A loading system for laterally loading and unloading an upper body structure onto and from a vehicle platform includes loading gear rails mounted on respective lengthwise ends of the vehicle platform, the loading gear rails configured to jointly extend and retract from the vehicle platform by moving in a lateral direction of the vehicle platform, each loading gear rail having first gear teeth gear-engaging with a correspondingly formed platform gear wheel rotatably mounted on the vehicle platform and second gear teeth configured to engage a correspondingly formed upper body gear wheel at a respective lengthwise end of the upper body structure, wherein the platform gear wheel actuates lateral movement of the loading gear rails to engage the upper body structure with the loading gear rails at the upper body gear wheels and to load the engaged upper body structure onto the vehicle platform or to load and unload the engaged upper body structure from the vehicle platform.

A self-loading pallet system is disclosed where a three-dimensional basic structure can be manipulated horizontally and vertically and carry with it a cargo, loaded either directly into the structure, or onto a separate pallet structure inserted into the basic structure. The system is useful for loading and unloading cargo between ground level and the cargo floor of vehicles. The vertical loading steps are accomplished by a sequence of extensions and retractions of legs slidably attached to the basic structure. The vertical leg movements are powered by actuators that extend and retract their pistons attached to telescoping legs of the basic structure. Each actuator has an interior motor and a dedicated controller operating the motor. An exterior master controller communicates with each actuator controller, whereby the sequence of vertical loading steps can be pre-programmed to effectively automate the loading and unloading sequences. Actuator motors are powered by an exterior rechargeable battery.

A vehicle has an automated storage and retrieval system, the automated storage and retrieval system including an area for storage of items and having locations, each location being suitable for holding one or more of the items; an inductor that receives and inducts the items into the automated storage and retrieval system; a conveyor that conveys the items from the inductor to the area; and an extraction station. When an item is designated for removal from the area, the conveyor delivers the designated item to the extraction station and, after receipt of the designated item from the conveyor, the extraction station delivers the designated item to a designated recipient for extraction of the designated item from the automated storage and retrieval system.

Package sorting systems and methods of use are disclosed herein. An example system includes a platform of a vehicle, where the platform is arranged as a grid having a plurality of slots (including an open slot and a target slot). A plurality of slabs can be placed into the grid except for in the open slot. A slab moving assembly is used, to move the slabs in order to place a selected slab into the target slot on the platform.

The invention relates to a method for delivering mobile locker cabinets loaded with postal items to automatic parcel stations and for collecting empty mobile locker cabinets from automatic parcel stations by means of a delivery vehicle having a cargo space. In order to reduce the outlay associated with logistics of locker cabinets and thus to reduce the associated costs of logistics, depending on a delivery route, the locker cabinets loaded with postal items are arranged in a delivery sequence within the cargo space in such a way that a locker cabinet which forms a start of the delivery sequence and a locker cabinet which forms an end of the delivery sequence are accessible directly via a rear loading/unloading opening (8) of the cargo space.

A collapsible trunk for use with a vehicle having a wheel well. The trunk comprises a base wall and a side wall pivotally connected thereto. The side wall extends from the base wall and terminates at an upper edge. The side wall and base wall collectively define a storage cavity. The base wall and the side wall each have an expandable portion conformable to the wheel well in response to placement of the base wall and the side wall over the wheel well. The trunk is selectively transitional between a collapsed configuration and a deployed configuration. In the collapsed configuration, the base panels overlap each other, and in the deployed configuration, the plurality of base panels are co-planar to each other. The upper edge of the side wall moves away from the base wall as the trunk transitions from the collapsed configuration toward the deployed configuration.

The present invention is a method and a device for tracking the unloading and loading of containers from and onto carrying platforms of tracks, using unloading and loading motion activity time course patterns characteristic of a specific container in combination with a specific carrying platform of a truck. In the invention the device is connected to a specific container and records the tilting angle of the container in the time course of unloading and/or loading from and onto a specific platform of the truck. A digital data processor produces from the data a motion activity time course pattern curve which is compared and matched for fitness to a predetermined standard motion activity time course pattern curve for the specific container and specific carrying platform of a truck and sends the degree of fitness to a data receiving terminal system. If the fitness of the two curves is found to be in close fitness, together with GPS data from the device, it is possible to determine if, where and when unloading and loading of the specific container took place.