Patent ID: 7516859

Claim:
An overhead traveling vehicle including: a lateral movement mechanism for moving a transfer apparatus for an article toward left and right sides of a traveling direction; the lateral movement mechanism including: a fixed base unit having drive means; a middle unit supported by the base unit, the middle unit being slidable laterally, and movable by the drive means toward both of the left and right sides, the middle unit being provided at an intermediate position below the base unit; a front unit supporting the transfer apparatus, the front unit being supported by the middle unit and being slidable in a lateral direction, the front unit being provided at a front end position below the middle unit; a first rail in the base unit and a second rail in the middle unit being provided in parallel between the base unit and the middle unit; a first freely moveable linear guide guided by the first and second rails being provided for guiding the middle unit by the base unit, a third rail in the middle unit and a fourth rail in the front unit being provided in parallel between the middle unit and the front unit; and a second freely moveable linear guide guided by the third and fourth rails being provided for guiding the front unit by the middle unit, wherein the second rail in the middle unit and the fourth rail in the front unit have stoppers at both ends respectively, and wherein the stoppers push and move the linear guides in accordance with the movement of the middle and front units.