Patent GB-1438301-A (GB)
Title: Warehousing systems
IPC: G06Q10/08
Filed: 1973-07-10
Abstract: 1438301 Storage systems RAPISTAN Inc 10 July 1973 [17 July 1972] 32869/73 Heading A4T [Also in Division G3]  A warehousing system has access aisles flanked by storage bins and a transverse aisle along which a "trans-aisle" vehicle moves carrying a mobile transfer vehicle for discharge into and recovery from the access aisles. The transfer vehicle has means to pick up or deposit loads and its own control means for predetermining travel along the aisles and load handling, the control means being programmed, preferably by a device on the transaisle vehicle when it is carrying the transfer vehicle. The trans-aisle vehicle may elevate the transfer vehicle to a selected storey of the bin arrangement in the access aisles. The invention permits operation in bin assemblies having horizontal dividing floors, thus reducing fire hazards. System layout Figs. 1-3. In one arrangement, the trans-aisle vehicle, a mobile vertical lift 100, travels on a monorail 16 between rows of bins 10 separated by access aisles 12. Palleted loads 210 enter the system on a conveyer 322 and leave on a conveyer 345. Mobile transfer vehicles 200 are held in a storage magazine 350 from which rails 358, 375 lead, the former supporting vehicles while they unload on to the conveyer 345 and the latter leading to e.g. an assembly line system. A shunt conveyer 385 may receive loads from vehicles on rails 375. A "bridge" 400 is movable to connect the rails 358 and 375 when the lift 100 is not at the "home" station 300. An operation may control the system from a console through a computer 330. Rails 395 may lead to a repair facility. In another arrangement, Fig. 25 (not shown), there are three load input-output stations to which a lift 100 transfers vehicles 200 for unloading or loading. In a further system, two mobile lifts operate on opposite sides of a bin structure, Fig. 24 (not shown). Mobile lift 100 Figs. 3, 5, 11. The lift runs on wheels 103, 105 on the rail 16 with overhead guidance by a rail 14. Racks 15, 17 adjacent these rails are engaged by pinions driven by a motor 130 on the lift to traverse the latter. A lifting platform 150 is raisable by cable means 162 passing to a winding motor 167. A base member 172 is pivoted to the platform 150, the pivoting facility permitting ready alignment of rails 154, on which the vehicle 200 is supported, with rails 18 along the aisles, Figs. 3, 11. The rails 154 carrying pivoted aligning means 160 which, when the platform 150 raises the vehicle 200 to the desired level, swing in to bridge the gap between rails 154 and 18, Fig. 11. Means is provided to raise the rails 154 slightly above the level of the rails 18 and then lower them to give a positive interlocking connection, Figs. 12, 13 (not shown). The lift speed may be variable to provide for fast approach and creep when near the desired location. Transfer vehicle 200 Figs. 1, 3, 5, 14, 14a. The vehicle 200 carries its own power means in the form of batteries 222 chargeable in the magazine. Power may also be received through the rails 358, 375 to conserve the batteries. A platform 245 which can be raised and lowered, carries lift forks 240 each in three sections 232, 234, 236, Fig. 3, extensible to either side of the vehicle. The forks are operated by rack, pinion and chain means and may act independently for half-width loads, Figs. 16, 17 (not shown). Retractible locating means 290 may engage the upright 20 of a bin. A photoelectric detecting means 265 co-operates with indicia on labels 11, Figs. 3, 14a adjacent the bins to identify the latter and detect their positions. Labels 11 may also be arranged at bin levels on the lift 100, Fig. 5. The vehicle may have means to reduce speed as it approaches the desired location. Programming controls Figs. 1, 2, 3, 5, 22. An operator may control operations from the console, as earlier stated, or operations may be programmed by a remote computer. Three control circuit units, Figs. 20-23 (not shown) are described, the first of which may be, in semi-automatic operation, equipped with a card reader and data keyboard and have a cable connection 325, Figs. 2, (20) with the lift 100. The lift has its own unit Fig. 21 (not shown) which may be programmed by the cable or at the home station and is influenced by limit switches in contact with cams mounted in vertically spaced array on horizontal bin support rails 22, Fig. 3. The mobile transfer vehicle 200 also has its own unit, (Fig. 23) programmed by the lift and influenced by limit switches and cams. Both lift 100 and transfer vehicle 200 have information transfer panels 650, Fig. 22, which are face-to-face when the vehicle is on the lift with an array of photo-electric detectors 654 of the one opposed to light emitting diodes 658 of the other and vice-versa. The detectors are in 'store' and 'retrieve' groups, as shown. The lift 100 also has a panel for co-operating with panels 370, Fig. 1, at the home station and panels 370, Fig. 2 may be provided at the aisle ends for programming the vehicle 200 in the aisles instead of on the lift.