Lift truck comprising a loading stop

Abstract

A forklift truck mounted on wheels comprises a drive system and tilting lifting means, a fork (1) adapted to lift loads with the aid of two substantially parallel arms (2) carried by uprights (3) which are substantially vertical or oblique depending on the working position, said fork (1) comprising a loading stop (10) disposed on each of the uprights (3) of the fork, each stop (10) comprising a bearing face (11) for loads having a straight profile and an angled docking face (12) for loads having a circular arc profile.

Claims

1. A forklift truck mounted on wheels comprising a drive system and a fork adapted to lift loads, the fork having two substantially parallel arms carried by uprights which are substantially vertical or oblique depending on a working position, wherein the fork comprises a loading stop disposed on each of the uprights of the fork, each loading stop comprising a bearing face for loads having a straight profile and an angled docking face for loads having a circular arc profile, and wherein each bearing face is substantially perpendicular to the arms of the fork and each docking face is on an inside edge of an upright, adjacent to each bearing face.

2. The forklift truck according to claim 1, wherein each docking face is inclined inward at an angle a to a bearing face, the angle a being between 15° and 75°.

3. The forklift truck according to claim 1, wherein the fork pivots.

4. The forklift truck according to claim 1 further comprising a load sensing module bearing against each of the loading stops and configured to generate a loading conformance signal when both modules are actuated.

5. The forklift truck according to claim 4, wherein each loading stop comprises a lever mounted to pivot between a deployed position corresponding to a load being absent or to not bearing against the loading stop and a retracted position corresponding to a load bearing against the loading stop.

6. The forklift truck according to claim 5, wherein each angled docking face extends longitudinally over at least a portion of each of the pivoting levers.

7. The forklift truck according to claim 5, wherein each loading stop consists of a longitudinal body adapted to be positioned along a lifting axis of the fork, the pivoting lever including a pivot pin substantially at a mid-height of the longitudinal body.

8. The forklift truck according to claim 7, wherein the deployed position of the pivoting lever corresponds to a position in which a free end of the pivoting lever is at a distance from a base of the longitudinal body.

9. The forklift truck according to claim 7, wherein the retracted position of the pivoting lever corresponds to a position in which a free end of the pivoting lever is substantially docked with a base of the longitudinal body.

10. The forklift truck according to claim 5, wherein the load sensing module includes a position sensor adapted to detect the retracted position of the pivoting lever.

11. The forklift truck according to claim 10, wherein the position sensor is an inductive-type sensor.

12. The forklift truck according to claim 4, wherein the load sensing module comprises a positioning anomaly detection submodule adapted to generate an anomaly signal when only one of the two actuatable loading stops is activated.

13. The forklift truck according to claim 5, wherein a free end of the pivoting lever comprises a longitudinal finger enabling the pivoting lever to be extended on an outside of the adjoining arm independently of an angular position of the pivoting lever.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

(1) Full execution details are given in the following description, complemented by FIGS. 1 to 5, which are provided by way of nonlimiting examples only and in which:

(2) FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view from above of one example of a forklift truck with a detection system according to the invention;

(3) FIG. 2A shows the truck from FIG. 1 seen in elevation with the pivoting lever in the deployed position;

(4) FIG. 2B shows the truck from FIG. 1 seen in elevation with the pivoting lever in the retracted position;

(5) FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the truck from FIG. 1 carrying a spool or a stack of spools to be transported;

(6) FIG. 4 is an enlarged side view of the truck from FIG. 3;

(7) FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the truck from FIG. 1 with a variant load.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(8) FIG. 1 and FIGS. 2A and 2B show one embodiment of a fork truck 1. A truck conventionally comprises two uprights 3 that are usually substantially vertical or oblique depending on the working position. The uprights 3 carry arms 2 extending toward the front of the truck. These arms are substantially parallel and are generally inserted in insertion tunnels of various types provided in transport pallets. The uprights 3 enable the arms 2 to be lifted to lift a pallet to be transported and to enable a pallet to be placed or picked up at a height.

(9) The fork includes two loading stops 10, i.e. a stop for each of the uprights 3 of the fork. As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, each stop 10 consists of a longitudinal body 16 adapted to be positioned along the lifting axis AL of the upright of the fork 1. As shown in FIG. 1 and more particularly in the enlarged area of FIG. 1, each stop 10 includes a pallet bearing face 11 for loads having a rectilinear profile, such as for example a pallet, and a docking face 12 suitable for loads having a circular arc profile, such as for example spools carrying cables or various strip products. The bearing face 11 is substantially perpendicular to the arm 2 of the fork 1 that extends in front of it. It occupies at least 50% of the width of the loading stop 10 on which it is disposed. This arrangement enables a load having a rectilinear leading face, such as for example a pallet, to bear on all of the width of the bearing face. The docking faces 12 are on the inside edges of the loading stops 10, adjacent to the bearing faces 11. The docking faces are inclined inwards relative to the bearing faces. As shown in the enlarged portion of FIG. 1, the angle α formed between the two faces is advantageously between 15° and 75°, and more preferably between 30° and 60°. The width of the docking face 12 is preferably less than 50% of the width of the bearing face 11.

(10) In accordance with a variant embodiment that is not shown, the docking face 12 is extended over the pivoting lever 13 so as to adapt to the profile of the load in bearing engagement. This embodiment enables the docking face to remain available for guiding the load from the deployed position of the pivoting lever 13 (see FIG. 2A) to its retracted position (see FIG. 2B).

(11) The stops enable the assurance of correct positioning of the load. The twin-profile stop is particularly effective in facilitating positioning of loads the contour of which is rounded or circular, such as for example spools carrying cables or various strip products.

(12) In the example from FIG. 1, a spool or a stack of spools 20 is loaded onto the arms 2 and comes to bear on the docking faces 12 of the stops 10. The distance E between the arms 2 is substantially slightly greater than the diameter D of the core of the spool.

(13) In one advantageous embodiment the lift truck also provides a module for detecting a load bearing against the stop 10, arranged at the level of each of the loading stops 10. FIGS. 2A and 2B enable the showing of the components of those modules and the mode of operation.

(14) FIG. 2A is a diagrammatic side view of the truck from FIG. 1. The loading stop 10 shown is positioned against an upright 3 of the fork 1 extending along the lifting axis AL. A pivoting lever 13 is fixed to the stop 10, in this example at mid-height of the stop, by a pivot pin 14. This arrangement enables the lever 13 to pivot between a deployed position shown in FIG. 2A, corresponding to an absent load, and a retracted position shown in FIG. 2B, corresponding to a load present and correctly positioned. The bearing face 11 and the docking face 12 described above are advantageously arranged as much at the level of the pivoting levers 13 as at the level of upper portions of the stops so as to extend over all the available height, thus making it possible to facilitate bringing any load into bearing engagement, whatever its height.

(15) The free end of the pivoting lever 13 is extended by a longitudinal finger 19 that is located on the outside of the adjacent arm 2. This finger is sufficiently long to extend under the arm regardless of the angular position of the pivoting lever 13. It enables detection of a possible thin load that would not be detected by one or the other of the faces 11 or 12.

(16) The load detection module is configured to generate a loading conformance signal when the two pivoting levers 13 are in the retracted position. To detect this position the stops 10 are advantageously provided with position sensors 15 (see FIG. 2A) adapted to detect the retracted position of each of the pivoting levers 13. Inductive, magnetic, vision cell, beams e.g. laser beams and other types of detectors are used for example.

(17) In order to alert operators to an abnormal or risk situation, the load sensing module preferably comprises a positioning anomaly detection sub-module able to generate an anomaly signal if only one of the two actuatable stops is activated.

(18) FIGS. 3 to 5 show examples of the configuration of a truck according to the invention. In FIG. 3 a spool or a stack of spools of industrial cable is placed on the arms. Note the retracted position of the levers and the correct alignment of the spool by means of the docking faces 12. FIG. 4 is a view of FIG. 3 to a larger scale in which is seen the position of the lever 13 bearing against the longitudinal body 16, indicating adequate positioning. FIG. 5 shows another example of use of the truck with a handling pallet 30, the multiple use characteristics of the truck being clearly shown.

REFERENCE NUMBERS EMPLOYED IN THE FIGURES

(19) 1. Fork 2. Fork arm 3. Fork upright 10. Loading stop 11. Pallet bearing face 12. Docking face 13. Pivoting lever 14. Pivot pin 15. Position sensor 16. Longitudinal body 17. Free end of pivoting lever 18. Base of longitudinal body 19. Longitudinal finger 20. Spool of cable or wire 30. Handling pallet AL Lifting axis