Patent ID: 9643781
Date: 2017-05-09
CPC Classifications: B65G

Claim:
1. A storage rack for use with carts comprising: a plurality of upright elements arranged in a grid; a plurality of support brackets, each upright element having a plurality of the support brackets mounted to it at different heights, each height corresponding to a layer in the storage rack, the support brackets being attached to the upright elements by fasteners without welding; a plurality of first horizontal elements extending in a first direction to connect adjacent upright elements, the first horizontal elements being attached via fasteners without welding, at least some of the first horizontal elements forming an aisle track for an aisle cart having a conveyor thereon, the aisle track having a loading position at one end; a plurality of second horizontal elements attached to the support brackets extending in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, two adjacent second horizontal elements mounted to support brackets on adjacent upright elements forming a row track for a row cart with each of the second horizontal elements forming one side of the row track, the aisle cart being movable along the aisle, the row cart being configured to be carried by the aisle cart and to be movable off the aisle cart along a row while carrying an item, the row tracks configured for storing items thereon placed by the row cart, the second horizontal elements being attached to the support brackets via fasteners without welding, whereby the weight of the row tracks and any item stored thereon is supported by the upright elements via the support brackets; and a lift substantially adjacent the rack for lifting items to the respective loading positions for the layers, the lift including a platform having a lift platform conveyor in the form of an endless loop conveyor, each layer of the rack including a rack conveyor in the form of an endless loop conveyor adjacent the loading position for transferring items between the lift platform conveyor and the aisle and row carts at the loading position, the rack conveyor sized to as to be able to hold at least one item thereon so that the rack conveyor can move items onto one of the lift platform conveyor and the aisle cart while the row cart is located in a given row, the row cart being independently drivable off the aisle cart to perform at least one of placing or retrieving an item in the given row while the aisle cart moves along the aisle spaced from the given row.