Abstract:
An industrial truck has a canopy with two columns arranged laterally on the vehicle, which support a crown equipped with one or more belts. The one or more belts are connected with an assembly plate having an opening for a glass roof, which is glued in a circumferential profile frame. The profile frame is thereby connected with at least one belt and/or support profiles extending between the belts.

Description:
FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to an industrial truck having an overhead guard, in particular a reach truck. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    An overhead guard for an industrial truck, which consists of two assemblies, each of which have two support struts, is known from DE 10 2005 015 978. The overhead guard thus has a total of four support struts arranged on the corners of the canopy. 
         [0003]    A counterbalanced forklift truck with a closed driver&#39;s cab, which is equipped with transparent window areas, is known from DE 102 08 889 A1. Furthermore, it is known to provide a glazed overhead guard and to clean it with a roof wiper. 
         [0004]    It is known to form an overhead guard for reach trucks with a crown supported by two columns. In particular, since reach trucks are used at great heights, the overhead guard must be transparent so that the driver has a good view of the load. For this, horizontal struts within the crown, which partially allows a view of the extended lift mast, are provided. The horizontal struts protect the driver from falling goods. When used with liquids or in moist environments, it is also known to provide on the horizontal struts a grill for small falling parts or a transparent pane of glass for dripping liquids. But the protective function of the overhead guard is thereby ensured by the horizontal struts and their arrangement within the crown. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0005]    An object of the invention is to provide an overhead guard that offers the best possible view of the lift frame without thereby foregoing the required protection for the driver. 
         [0006]    The industrial truck according to an embodiment of the invention is equipped with an overhead guard that has two columns arranged laterally on the vehicle. The columns support a crown equipped with one or more belts. The belts of the crown are connected with an assembly plate, in which an opening for an (e.g., glass) roof is provided. The glass roof is elastically connected with a circumferential profile frame, in particular glued in it. The glass roof is fastened on the crown via the profile frame. The profile frame is thereby connected with at least one belt and/or at least one support profile extending between the belts. The crown of an overhead guard designed according to the description herein fulfills the legal requirements with respect to the stability and power of resistance with respect to falling objects. The stability is achieved in particular through the pane of glass arranged on the circumferential profile frame wherein, in order to increase stability, the profile frame is fastened either directly on the belts or on support profiles. As a rule, the profile frame is connected with a belt on one or two sides and with support profiles on the remaining sides. For vehicles with lower rated capacity, the profile frame can be connected with one or more belts even without additional support profiles. 
         [0007]    A pair of support profiles, which extend in the vehicle&#39;s longitudinal direction between the belts, is provided in a preferred design of the industrial truck. Such an extension in the longitudinal direction means that the support profile forms an acute angle with the vehicle&#39;s longitudinal direction. Such support profiles can be arranged in a very stable manner between a belt pointing towards the front side and a belt pointing towards the back side, and thus offer good support for the profile frame in the crown. 
         [0008]    In a preferred further development, at least one cross profile is arranged between the support profiles extending in the longitudinal direction. The cross profile is connected with the support profiles extending in the longitudinal direction and forms a further support for the profile frame of the glass roof. 
         [0009]    In an expedient embodiment, additional support profiles are elastically connected, preferably glued, to the glass roof. The further support profiles are not required for safety-technical reasons, but rather give a user of the industrial truck a sufficient feeling of security, especially if the user previously worked under an overhead guard with horizontal struts. 
         [0010]    In a further preferred embodiment, the crown has a front belt and a rear belt, which are connected with the assembly plate and on their ends respectively with one of the columns. The surface surrounded by the belts is mainly square and has rounded corners, wherein the columns rest on the lateral edges of the rectangle. The front belt thus extends on both side edges of the crown and forms the front edge, while the rear belt forms the rear edge and also part of the two side edges lying behind the columns. 
         [0011]    In a particularly preferred embodiment, the assembly plate, which is arranged within the circumferential belts, is equipped with openings for the installation of additional devices at and/or on the overhead guard. The provided openings make it possible to install additional devices later on or to install the required additional devices on the vehicle depending on customer-specific equipping of the industrial truck. 
         [0012]    In a preferred embodiment, the glass roof is designed like a trapezoid. In order to have a good view of the lift frame through the overhead guard, the wide side of the trapezoid is arranged forward towards the lift frame, while the narrower side of the trapezoid is arranged towards the back away from the lift frame. 
         [0013]    The roof is preferably made of a safety glass, wherein laminated safety glass is expediently used. In a laminated safety glass, for example, two safety glass panes are interconnected via a film lying in between. 
         [0014]    The profile frame, in which the glass pane is installed, preferably has an L-shaped profile in cross-section, wherein the glass roof is glued in the profile. A circumferential gluing and simultaneously a sealing of the glass edges thereby takes place. This is important in particular in the case of laminated safety glass in order to prevent moisture from getting into the glass pane. 
         [0015]    In a preferred further development, the profile frame in the profile section arranged below the glass pane has at least one recess, through which a cutting wire can be guided through a gap between the glass pane and the profile side. With the help of the recess, it is possible to pass the cutting wire through the circumferential gap between the glass pane and the profile frame. The cutting wire lying below the glass pane is then bent by 90° towards the glass pane and the gluing between the profile frame and the glass pane is thus cut open along the profile frame. This allows a simple and easy replacement of the glass pane. 
         [0016]    In a preferred embodiment, the support profiles and the belt(s) have a rectangular cross-section, which preferably linearly has a considerably larger width than depth. The belts are mainly installed in the crown in a vertically standing manner. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0017]    A preferred embodiment of the overhead guard is explained in greater detail below with respect to the figures in which: 
           [0018]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a reach truck from the state of the art with an overhead guard, which has horizontal struts; 
           [0019]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of an overhead guard with a glass pane; 
           [0020]      FIG. 3  is a perspective view of the crown of  FIG. 2  from above with an inserted profile frame for the glass pane; 
           [0021]      FIG. 4  is a top view of the crown of  FIG. 2  with an assembly plate and support profiles; and 
           [0022]      FIG. 5  is a cross-sectional view of the glass pane inserted into the profile. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0023]      FIG. 1  shows a reach truck  10 , which has a drive part  12  and a lift mast  14 . The drive part  12  has a controlled and driven wheel  16  as well as two protruding support arms  18 , each of which are provided on their ends with a wheel  20 . (Only one support arm  18  and wheel  20  are shown in  FIG. 1 .) Between the support arms  18 , a mast holder (not shown) with the lift mast  14  is moveable in the longitudinal direction. 
         [0024]    The drive part  12  has a driver&#39;s cab  22 , in which a driver can be seated transversely to the longitudinal direction of the truck or vehicle  10 . The driver&#39;s cab  22  is protected via an overhead guard. The overhead guard has two columns  24  connected with the drive part  12 , which carry a crown  26 . In the case of the reach truck  10  from the state of the art shown in  FIG. 1 , the crown  26  is equipped with horizontal struts  28 , which protect the driver from falling objects. Despite a tilted and spaced arrangement of the horizontal struts  28 , these impair the driver&#39;s view of the lift mast  14  from his seat, in particular if it is fully extended. 
         [0025]      FIG. 2  shows the overhead guard  30  according to this disclosure, which comprises two columns  32 . The columns  32  are respectively fastened to the drive part  12  of the reach truck via a respective flange  34 . The columns  32  have a mainly flat, linear structure, which widens towards a head section or area  36 . In contrast to automobile cabins, which have four columns supporting the roof, the columns  32  are designed to deform in the event of strong, abrupt loads on the overhead guard or to divert the occurring impulse into the vehicle body. 
         [0026]    The head area  36  of the columns  32  is connected towards the back with a front belt  38  and on its rear side with a rear belt  40 . The front belt  38  extends on the front side of the columns  32  respectively under two rounded 90° angles in order to delimit the front section of the crown  41 . The rear belt  40  connects to the back side of the columns  32  and delimits the crown  41  towards the rear also under formation of two angle sections. As seen in  FIG. 2 , the front side of the front belt  38  is mainly straight while the back side of the rear belt  40  progresses in a slightly curved manner. 
         [0027]    The belts  38 ,  40  are connected with the columns  32  with their vertically progressing edges. Furthermore, each of the belts  38 ,  40  is connected with the assembly plate  42 . The assembly plate  42  serves to install additional devices, such as for example headlights, a lighting system, warning lights, DC converters, and other devices. The assembly plate  42  also carries a profile frame  44 , into which a pane of glass  46  is inserted. The glass pane  46  is not covered by struts or other assemblies but rather allows full view of the lift mast. 
         [0028]      FIG. 3  shows a more detailed structure of the crown without the inserted glass pane  46 . The progression of the rear belt  40  and the front belt  38  can be seen in  FIG. 3 . The belts  38  and  40  are welded with each column  32  in its head area  36  via their respective edges  48  and  50 . It can also be clearly seen in  FIG. 3  that the assembly plate  42  has a recess  52  laterally arranged, into which the respective column  32  dips in order to be welded flush with the front belt  38  and the rear belt  40 . 
         [0029]    The profile frame  44  can also be seen in  FIG. 3 , which consists of four profile bars arranged in a trapezoidal manner. The profile bar  54  pointing forward towards the lift frame, such as lift mast  14  in  FIG. 1 , is thereby connected with the front belt  38 . The rear profile bar  56  is arranged parallel to the front profile bar  54  and is supported on a multi-part cross strut  58 . The lateral profile bars  59  progressing diagonal to the longitudinal direction of the vehicle are connected with the front profile bar  54  and the rear profile bar  56 . The lateral profile bars  59  are also arranged on a respective support profile  60  progressing in the longitudinal direction. The support profiles  60  thereby extend between the front belt  38  and the rear belt  40  and serve to fasten the lateral profiles  59  of the profile frame  44 . 
         [0030]      FIG. 4  shows the structure without the inserted profile frame  44 . The assembly plate  42 , which consists of a first part  42   a  and an identical second part  42   b,  can be clearly seen. The assembly plate  42  is provided with a plurality of openings and bore holes  61 , which allow the installation of additional devices as well as the guiding of cables through the overhead guard. The support profile  60  is connected with the front belt  38  and the rear belt  40 . The connection of the support profile  60  to the front belt  38  takes place short before the bending  62  of the front belt  38 , with which it passes into its side wall section  64 . In this manner, the trapezoid has its maximum width on the side facing the lift frame. 
         [0031]    It can also be seen in  FIG. 4  that the cross strut  58  is arranged between the two support profiles  60  and consists of three profile sections  58   a,    58   b,    58   c.  The use of three profile sections has the advantage that the distance between the middle cross profile section  58   b  and the front belt  38  is less the distance between the edge profile sections  58   a,    58   c  and the front belt  38 . The profile frame  44  for receiving the glass pane  46  is welded with the front belt  38 , the support profiles  60  and the profile sections  58   a,    58   b,    58   c  of the cross strut  58 . 
         [0032]      FIG. 5  shows in a cross-sectional view the more detailed structure of the profile frame  44  for receiving the glass pane  46 . The profile frame  44  has an angle profile, which is arranged with its horizontal side  66  on the support profiles  60 . The glass pane  46  consists of two panes  68  and  70 , which are interconnected via a film  72 . The gluing of the glass pane  46  with the profile frame  44  takes place via a self-adhesive profile, for example an ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) profile  74 , which is arranged on one side on the supporting side  66  and glues the glass pane  46 . For the glass pane  46  and its hold in the profile frame  44 , it is also important that the joint between the glass pane  46  and the profile frame  44  as well as the connecting hollow space is jointed with joint compound  76 . The edges of the glass panes  68  and  70  and in particular the edge of the film  72  are hereby sealed. This means that the EPDM profile serves to ensure an even glue thickness and a cushioned mounting of the glass pane  46 . The actual fastening between the glass pane  46  and profile frame  44  takes place with an adhesive, which also simultaneously assumes the sealing of the edges. 
         [0033]    As shown in  FIG. 5 , the top edge  78  of the glass plane  42  can protrude over the top edge  80  of the profile frame  44  without safety being impaired by the glass roof. 
         [0034]    In contrast to the use of supporting glass panes in cabin constructions, such as for example in counterbalance trucks, attention is paid in the case of the arrangement of the glass pane in the profile frame and its fastening in the crown that the overhead guard has a considerably lower torsional stiffness than a cabin with its columns. All safety requirements specified by standards can be met when using a laminated safety glass.