Patent ID: 7398850

Claim:
A transport apparatus, comprising: a travel route having a plurality of retrieval locations that are continuous with the travel route; a plurality of article transporting vehicles that move along the travel route; control means for managing the plurality of article transporting vehicles; and connecting means, for each retrieval location, for selectively connecting one of the article transporting vehicles to a fixed portion provided near the retrieval location, the connecting means provided with connection detection means for detecting whether or not one of the article transporting vehicles and the fixed portion are connected; wherein each article transporting vehicle is provided with: connected members that are capable of connecting to the connecting means; vehicle-side communication means for communicating with control-side communication means provided in the control means; a detachable member that can be freely attached to and detached from each of the article transporting vehicles; and a coupled portion that can be coupled with the detachable member of another article handling vehicle, and that is provided with coupling detection means for detecting whether or not the detachable member of another article transporting vehicle has been coupled thereto; wherein the control means manages the plurality of article transporting vehicles through communication between the control-side communication means and the vehicle-side communication means; wherein the control means, based on information detected by the connection detection means and information detected by the coupling detection means, determines that all of the plurality of the article transporting vehicles are allowed to move along the travel route in the case of a first state, in which the detachable member of one article transporting vehicle is not coupled to the coupled portion of any of the other article transporting vehicles, and the connecting means is not connected to the connected member of any of the article transporting vehicles; and determines that article transporting vehicles other than those vehicles that are positioned in the retrieval locations are allowed to move along the travel route in the case of a second state, in which the connecting means is connected to the connected member of the article transporting vehicle that is positioned in the retrieval location, and the detachable member of the article handling vehicle that is positioned in the retrieval location is coupled to the coupled portion of another article transporting vehicle.