Patent GB-1004322-A (GB)
Title: Mechanical storage system
IPC: E04H6/28
Filed: 1962-01-19
Abstract: 1,004,322. Selective retrieval storage systems. S. JOHNSON. April 18, 1963 [Jan. 19, 1962]. No. 1980/62. Heading B8E. A multi-storey mechanical garage system, which may also be adapted for use as a warehouse for palletted goods, consists of storage positions on each storey and a lift from which there are at least two parallel paths of access to storage positions on a storey vertically aligned with the lift. The garage building (Fig. 4, not shown) comprises a plurality of annular parking floors and a central multi-decked lift each deck of which can receive two car-carrying pallets side by side, a car to be parked being delivered to such a pallet at the garage entrance and remaining on it throughout its storage in the system. The parking positions on each above-ground floor are as shown in Fig. 1, a pair of cars being parkable side by side on each of the pairs of axes Ao and Ae, Bo and Be &c. in positions adjacent the outside of the annulus constituting the floor. A further pair of cars may be parked inside these on alternate axis pairs Bo and Be, Do and De &c. Retrieval of cars so parked is made possible by the pair of pallet positions on the lift deck, the longitudinal axes PQ and RS of these positions being alignable with any pair of fixed axes such as Ao and Ae by rotation of the lift deck structure. Thus to retrieve car 34 or car 35, both of which are " blocked " by car 37, the latter is temporarily taken on to one of the pallet positions on the lift deck, the deck then being rotated until its other pallet position can receive the car required. The lowest parking floor is above ground level and the ground floor, Fig. 5, constitutes a loading and unloading area. It has retractable entry and exit ramps 600-shown retracted on axes D<SP>1</SP> and K<SP>1</SP> and extended for use on axes B<SP>1</SP> and H<SP>1</SP>-leading from ground level to a lift deck positioned at the level of the lowest parking floor. The axes F<SP>1</SP> and M<SP>1</SP> are occupied by underground pallet stores 700. Each store 700, Fig 14, accommodates three stacks of pallets 88 at vertical spacings corresponding to that of the three decks of the lift cage (described below). Operation of system.-A car to be parked is driven along an entry roadway at ground level - e.g. along the axis B<SP>1</SP> of Fig. 5-and halted at closed gates or barriers 630 (not shown in Fig. 5) until the ramp 600 has been extended, a pallet from store has been (if necessary) loaded on to the lift, and the lift deck bearing the pallet for the car is positioned at the top of the extended ramp. The gates are then opened to admit the car which is driven on to its pallet. The lift and car handling trolleys mounted thereon are then used to convey the pallet carrying the car to its assigned storage location. Lift construction.-The lift comprises a directly suspended frame 300, Fig. 8, within which is mounted the rotatable multidecked structure 100, Fig. 6. Each deck has a pair of parallel troughs 106 within which trolleys 200 for carrying the car supporting pallets ran. Car handling trolleys.-Each trolley 200, Fig. 7, has two pairs of driven wheels 202 and several pairs of guide wheels 229, 230. Its upper surface is provided by a frame member 201 with protrusions 231, 234 engageable with mating depressions 89, 90 in each car-handling pallet 88. The frame is elevatable relative to its wheels by means of a ram 219 so that loaded pallets may be picked up and set down. Power to the driving and elevating mechanisms is provided by a trailing cable 235 which is kept taut by a winding drum 236. Control system.-All operations within the garage are remotely controlled from a console 900, Fig. 15, connected by switching circuits (Fig. 10, not shown) to operating elements, such as the motors of the lift and trolleys, within the storage structure. The console includes a concave rack 902 which is a model of the storage structure and which accommodates a set of numbered tablets each corresponding to one of the garage pallets and each having an indicator whose condition shows whether this pallet is loaded or unloaded. Each tablet automatically follows the movements of the corresponding pallet, the rack thus providing a complete indication of the parking situation within the storage structure. The control system allocates parking spaces to incoming cars in accordance with the anticipated sequence of departure, to minimise retrieval times. The car owner, at entry, inserts coins in a parking meter to a value corresponding to the storage time required and from this his likely time of requiring the car's retrieval is computed and a location assigned accordingly.