Abstract: The present invention relates to a pallet loader which can be used for carrying and unloading pallets on which goods are loaded. The pallet loader of the present invention includes an initial wheel-turning driving mechanism which enables a wheel disposed between both side wheels to turn; a jack plate where a control mechanism is provided to control opening and closing of a fluid passage which is provided to pass a fluid between a pump and a hydraulic jack.

Abstract: A side-loading all-terrain fork lift vehicle for handling heavy loads which are long relative to their width, e.g., junked cars, and are stored in multi-level racks separated by narrow aisles and having restricted vertical clearance between levels. The vehicle body, which is about 28 feet long, has a longitudinal, low-slung, load-carrying frame section in front of an operator's cab and at its front and rear ends is mounted by hydraulic piston and cylinder units on front and rear ground wheels which can be independently driven and steered in forward or reverse through a full 180.degree. arc for straight ahead and sideways movements, for radius turning movement, and for crabwise movement. The mast is mounted on a trolley guided for reciprocal movement along a pair of transverse beams in the mid-region of the frame section which can be lowered by the hydraulic units so as to rest on the ground during on-loading and off-loading for maximum stability of the vehicle.

Abstract: An apparatus for depositing long pieces of material, such as pipes, rods, etc., in a shelf unit that has a number of receiving spaces for the long pieces of material. The apparatus includes a movable tray-like receptacle that is open at its ends and conveys the long pieces of material. A drive mechanism is provided for introducing one of the ends of the receptacle into the receiving spaces. The receptacle is equipped with CATERPILLARS that are guided over chain wheels provided at the ends of the receptacle.

Abstract: A vehicle mounted roll-off hoist having a main hoist frame pivotally mounted at its rearward end to a vehicle such as a semi-trailer or truck, and including a pair of hydraulic lift actuators adapted to move the main hoist frame between a horizontal position and a rearwardly inclined position. A hydraulic actuator apparatus is provided for pulling a container onto the main frame of the hoist or setting off the container from the hoist. An extensible and retractable stop carriage is slidably connected to the forward end portion of the hoist main frame. Hydraulic actuator and locking elements are associated with the stop carriage for placing the container in the optimum position for transport on the vehicle. The hoist is capable of handling containers of both the outside rail and the inside rail type.

Abstract: A method for the formation of a transport unit which includes a bed assembly and a cargo thereupon comprises the following steps of placing a cargo on a first bed of a plate-like structure; positioning a second bed, which has a grid-like structure with a plurality of openings and defines a floor structure for a transport container, on top of a handling mechanism; positioning a transfer device connected with a handling mechanism above the top surface of the second bed inside the interior of the container; carrying the cargo placed on the first bed by transfer mechanisms above the second bed inside the interior of the container; and displacing the transfer device relative to the second bed below its top surface, whereby the first bed along with its cargo is set upon the second bed to be supported and the container is provided with a unitary bottom defined by the first and second beds.

Abstract: A retractable arm assembly (10) suitable for use on a refuse vehicle for loading refuse comprises a first arm (11) and second arm (12) pivotally connected to each other and the vehicle so as to extend and retract substantially tranversely of the vehicle to engage a bin (56) and in a reciprocating motion empty the bin into a hopper on the vehicle. A guide in the form of a guide rail (27) located in a guideway (35), stabilizes the arm assembly (10). The arm assembly (10) is under hydraulic control and can be operated by a single operator from within the vehicle cabin.

Abstract: A dual track substrate handling and processing system includes an entrance load lock station, an exit load lock station and a plurality of substrate processing stations, all positioned above a transfer vacuum chamber. The load lock station and each processing station are configured to hold two vertically oriented workpieces. A transport system conveys workpieces two at a time from parallel input cassettes to the entrance load lock station. The transport system includes a transport assembly that simultaneously advances two workpieces from each station to the next station; thus workpieces are processed two at a time in the same environment in each processing station and system throughput is correspondingly increased.

Abstract: A tiltable truck body is specially adapted for loading, transport, and unloading of recyclable waste materials. Plural interior waste compartments are separated by independently controlled inner doors. Side mounted buckets mounted on roller tracks and connected to a hydraulic drive assembly by hinged lift arms permit separable curbside loading and dumping of waste material in confined areas.

Abstract: In an apparatus for discharging a silo (1), at the bottom (3) of the silo, a discharge mechanism (9) with at least two arms is mounted in bearings on an eccentric trunnion (7) of a vertical drive shaft (5) centrally disposed in the silo. The movement of the discharge mechanism is guided by rollers (12) disposed at the ends of the discharge arms and by pins (11) disposed at the bottom of the silo, by way of which the rollers move along a substantially epicycloidal path around the pins (11) while the shaft rotates.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is a method of transporting boats into a dry boat storage building having a continuous outer wall, a doorway opening through the continuous outer wall, and a substantially annular boat storage rack within the boundary formed by the continuous outer wall and having a first plurality of boat storage cells arranged in a first arc centered about the doorway and extending through substantially 90.degree. of arc on each side of the doorway and having a second plurality of boat storage cells arranged in a second arc opposite the doorway and extending through substantially 180.degree.

Abstract: The sacks bound into packs by straps are unbound during their travel towards a sack application device by cutting the strap or straps which bind them, making the cut in a portion of the strap or straps which has been spaced apart from the pack. The cut straps are removed from the unbound pack, which then reaches the sack application device. The arrangement comprises conveyors for conveying the bound sacks to a station for cutting and removing the strap or straps, and from this to a sack application device.

Abstract: A rubbish segregating and collection system makes use of a transporter that is placed at a town dump. The transporter has several containers to receive different classes of rubbish, each of which containers is removable from the transporter. When filled, the transporter is placed on a carrier and replaced with another transporter. The filled transporter is carried to a central collection and segregation facility where the individual containers tare weights may be determined following which their contents are dumped and inspected as necessary. The segregated rubbish is then transported to the appropriate reclamation centers for each class of rubbish. The preferred type of bottom jaw-like opening individual container is also claimed.

Abstract: A bale handling apparatus, particularly for loading, stacking and retrieving large rectangular bales, includes an elongated bed mounted on a vehicle adapted for forward loading of bales into a loading cradle pivotally connected to the front of the bed. The loading cradle includes two sections pivotally connected to each other such that the angle between the two sections changes during the loading cycle to support the bale and then push the bale onto the elongated bed. Curved loading forks projecting from one of the loading cradle sections are adapted to slide under a bale to be loaded and also aid in stabilizing the bales accumulated on the bed as the bed is pivoted from the horizontal loading position to a vertical position to create a bale stack that may be retrieved by the apparatus at a later time.

Abstract: A knock-down pallet truck utilizes a tubular construction as its fork assembly (43) such that each fork is separately removable from the carriage. Each light-weight fork (43) includes a pair of spaced apart tubular members (39) joined at a tip (41) and affixed to a pair of rigid connection splines (36) which are detachably affixed to a receptacle unit (18, 19) on the body (14) of the pallet truck.

Abstract: An apparatus for gripping and lifting closely packaged objects formed in rows and adjacent one another having a main horizontal beam, end gripper units adjustable through power means and self-positioning cross gripper units intermediate the end grippers. The grippers having elongated fingers which depend from the gripper units are powered toward the object to grip it and powered away from the object to release it. The objects are shaped and positioned to form spaces therebetween even when tangent to one another.

Abstract: An article transfer and storage system provided with a stationary stocker capable of storing a plural number of articles and a stock handler located movably on the front side of the stationary stocker. The travel drive mechanism for the stock handler is received in a lower portion of the stationary stocker. The stock handler includes an arm mechanism having a drive arm and a follower arm flexibly connected to each other by an intermediate shaft, and an article holder provided at an end of the follower arm. An operating mechanism translates rotation of a drive shaft into horizontal movement of the article holder. Each one of the arms has a hollow box-like shape to accommodate the operating mechanism.

Abstract: A mobile lifting apparatus, such as a fork truck or a fork lift, comprises a fork carriage vertically displaceable along guides in a mast, the fork carriage comprising two parallel, horizontal transverse girders. The two transverse girders guide and support two L-shaped forks, each transverse girder having a roller bracket with rollers at the top and bottom end of its body, the roller brackets rolling on the top and bottom transverse girder. The forks are displaceable on the transverse girders by corresponding hydraulic cylinders connected between the fork in question and the fork carriage. At least one of the transverse girders is a substantially U-shaped section bar, and at least one cylinder, preferably both cylinder, is arranged in substantially the recess of the section bar. As a result the hydraulic cylinders do not impede the view of the driver onto the operating area of the forks.

Abstract: A storage bin arrangement especially suited for receiving, storing and discharging, in accordance with a combination of induced vertical flow and impelled retrieving concepts, bulk solid materials, in one embodiment of which essentially the entire bin itself is arranged for responding to a circular conveying type vibratory helical stroke movement generated by a pair of electric motors secured to the opposite sides of the bin in oppositely oriented positions to dispose their respective driving shafts at opposite, typically, 45 degree angulations with respect to the horizontal, and with each such motor shaft driving a pair of eccentrically oriented weights, with the bin having a low profile bottom section equipped with one or more off center located, vertically oriented, vertically rectilinear, discharge chute arrangements and having one or more internally applied baffles, either of inverted cone type or one or more rows or levels of internally applied centerless, radial, sidewall mounted type, in spaced relati

Abstract: A material transport system having a material container for receiving material to be transported, motive members connected to the material container for allowing the material container to move from one place to another, and an unloader device positioned within the material container for unloading material therefrom. The material container has a generally flat floor extending between a pair of sidewalls. The unloader includes a tractor extending between the sidewalls of the material container and a shovel articulated to the tractor. The shovel has a size suitable for fitting between the sidewalls of the material container. The material container comprises a plurality of railroad cars having a generally flat roadway extending throughout the plurality of railroad cars. Each of the railroad cars is articulated to an adjacent car. The floor comprises a series of floor segments overlapping each other in the same direction.

Abstract: An apparatus is provided for transferring disks with center holes such as semiconductor wafers from one cassette of an ordinary kind to another having a different pitch. The apparatus has an elongated rod on which an array of disk-shaped pieces each capable of supporting a wafer from its center hole is slidably mounted. These pieces are so connected that the separation between each of mutually adjacent pairs can vary but not to exceed a predetermined maximum distance. The piece at one end of the array is affixed to the rod and the one at the other end is attached to a power source and is moved along the rod.