Abstract: A horizontal goods transfer apparatus includes a horizontal fixed rail extending in the back-and-forth direction and being capable of mounting thereon a plurality of items in a row in the longitudinal direction. A back-and-forth movement rail is arranged to be substantially parallel to the fixed rail and is placed to be reciprocally movable in the back-and-forth direction. A reciprocating air cylinder moves the back-and-forth movement rail for a predetermined distance. A vertical movement rail is supported by the back-and-forth movement rail to be vertically movable and capable of being located at an upper position higher than the fixed rail and a lower position lower than the fixed rail. A flexible tube is placed on the back-and-forth movement rail and under the vertical movement rail to extend along the vertical movement rail. This flexible tube is inflated/deflated upon supply/discharge of compressed air, thereby vertically moving the vertical movement rail to the upper and lower positions.

Abstract: A horizontal transfer apparatus for transferring distribution pallets includes two horizontally movable rails extending horizontally in a direction of transfer. The horizontally movable rails are adapted to mount thereon those end portions of each distribution pallet which are located perpendicular to the transfer direction, with friction reducers interposed between the rails and the end portions. A vertically movable brake rail is able to be brought into contact with the bottoms of the distribution pallets, and extending between the horizontally movable rails and parallel thereto such that the distance between the vertically movable brake rail and one of the horizontally movable rails is larger than the distance between the vertically movable brake rail and the other of the horizontally movable rails.