Abstract: Lifting machinery is often unable to securely hold onto stacked crates and this presents a safety hazard. The invention may be embodied by a crate lifter 1 comprising a support mast 3, a carriage 8 engaged with the mast and rollers 6, 7 that enable the lifter to be moved. The carriage has clamps 9 that move laterally to grip one or more crates 2 so that they can be moved by the carriage up and down the mast. The carriage has a keeper 14 arranged to swing in response to the clamps 9 engaging the crate 2, or the lowest crate to be moved if there is more than one, to bring a ledge 14b of the keeper 14 into engagement with that crate to prevent it dropping free from the carriage.

Abstract: Items such as loaves of bread are typically held for transport in a plastic crate. Often such crates are stacked on one another in a factory-bakery, a warehouse, a freight vehicle or a retail outlet. It can be problematic move stacked crates as lifting machinery is often not able to adequately hold on to them. If they are not held securely then crates may drop from the stack, which is inconvenient, not to mention a safety hazard. An object of a preferred form of the invention to address this problem by way of a crate lifter 1 comprising a main support mast 3, a carriage 8 engaged with the mast and rollers 6, 7 that enable the lifter to be moved. The carriage has clamps 9 adapted to move laterally with respect to the mast 3 to grip one or more crates 2 so that the crate(s) can be moved by the carriage up and down the mast.