Patent ID: 7320385

Claim:
A camera lifting apparatus for use in an industrial vehicle equipped with a cargo handling apparatus for lifting a cargo carrying carriage up and down along a mast provided on a vehicle body, said carriage having a cargo carrying apparatus, wherein said camera lifting apparatus comprises: a camera unit attached to said cargo carrying apparatus, said camera unit having a camera for picking up an image of a work area of said cargo carrying apparatus; a moving mechanism for moving said camera unit relative to said cargo carrying apparatus; an actuator for driving said moving mechanism; a height sensor for detecting a height of said cargo carrying apparatus and sending a detection signal; and a controller for controlling said actuator to be capable of arbitrarily moving said camera unit relative to said cargo carrying apparatus, wherein said moving mechanism is a lifting mechanism for lifting said camera unit up and down with respect to said carriage and allows said camera unit to be lifted to two positions, an image pickup position in which said camera unit projects below said carriage and a storage position in which said camera unit does not project from said carriage, wherein said controller drives said actuator using the detection signal from the height sensor in such a way that said camera unit can be moved from the image pickup position to the storage position during said cargo carrying apparatus moves down from a predetermined height to a lowest lift-down position, and wherein said controller drives said actuator in such a way that said camera unit is allowed to be lifted down to said image pickup position when the height of said cargo carrying apparatus is equal to or higher than the predetermined height, the predetermined height being determined based on a time period required for moving the camera unit from the image pickup position to the storage position and a descending speed of said cargo carrying apparatus.