Patent ID: 11938517
Assignee: OPEX CORPORATION
Field: Chemical engineering (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC B  Y | IPC B

Claim 9:
10. A method for sorting items using a plurality of vehicles operable within an aisle with a first group of sort locations located along a first side of the aisle and a second group of sort locations located along a second side of the aisle, comprising the steps of:
loading a first item onto a first of the vehicles while the first vehicle is in the aisle at a loading location;
loading a second item onto a second of the vehicles while the second vehicle is in the aisle at the loading location;
displacing the first vehicle with the first item horizontally and vertically along a first path forming a first vertical loop within the aisle, comprising the steps of:
displacing the first vehicle along the first vertical loop from the loading location to a first sort location that is one of either the first or second groups of sort locations; and
displacing the first vehicle along the first vertical loop from the first sort location back to the loading location;

stopping the first vehicle along the first vertical loop adjacent the first sort location;
transferring the first item into the first sort location by displacing the first item in a horizontal direction that is transverse the first vertical loop;
displacing the second vehicle with the second item along a second vertical loop within the aisle toward a second of the first and second sort locations during the step of displacing the first vehicle with the first item along a first vertical loop;
transferring the second item into the second sort location; and
displacing the second vehicle along the second vertical loop back to the loading location.