JP2002145596A - Forklift - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a forklift capable of simply positioning forks against the insertion hole of a battery without requiring much labor and time. SOLUTION: Masts 12 are fitted to the vehicle body 11 of this forklift 10, lift brackets 13 are vertically movably fitted to the masts 12, and the forks 15 are vertically moved by the lift brackets 13. An oscillating means 20 swingable in the right and left directions is provided on each lift bracket 13 of the forklift 10, a shifting means 30 slidable in the right and left directions is provided on the oscillating means 20, and the fork 15 is fitted to the shifting means 30.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a forklift, and more particularly, to a forklift having a swinging means for swinging a fork in the left-right direction and a shift means slidable in the left-right direction.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In order to operate a forklift continuously for a long time, if the frequency of battery replacement of the forklift is high, the forklift is generally used for battery replacement. For this reason, as shown in FIG. 7, a pair of insertion holes 73 is formed in the bottom of the battery 72 for inserting the fork 71 of the forklift 70. These insertion holes
Insert the fork 71 of the forklift 70 into the forklift 73 as shown by the arrow, and remove the battery 72 from the forklift 75.

At this time, it is difficult to align the fork 71 with the insertion hole 73 of the battery 72 by running the forklift 70. Therefore, the forklift 70 is placed on the forklift 70 while the forklift 70 is stationary.
Swing means for swinging the fork 71 in the left-right direction and shift means for sliding the fork 71 in the left-right direction are provided.

[0004] Thus, after the forklift 70 is moved to position the fork 71 in the insertion hole 73 of the battery 72 to a certain extent, the forklift 70 is kept stationary.
The fork 71 is finely adjusted by the swinging means or the sliding means to align the fork 71 with the insertion hole 73 of the battery 72.

[0005]

When the fork 71 is finely adjusted by the swinging means or the shifting means and the fork 71 is aligned with the insertion hole 73 of the battery 72, FIG.
(A) There are two methods from the state shown. That is, the first
First, the swinging means 78 swings the fork 71 rightward about the pin 97 as shown by the arrow, and the fork 71
Is aligned parallel to the insertion hole 73 of the battery 72 (see FIG. 8C), and then the fork 71 is slid rightward as indicated by an arrow by the shift means 77, and the tip of the fork 71 is To the insertion hole 73. In this method, since the fork 71 is moved obliquely with respect to the battery 72, there is a problem that positioning is more difficult than when the fork 71 is moved in parallel with the battery 72.

On the other hand, in a second method, as shown in FIG. 8A, first, the fork 71 is slid rightward as indicated by an arrow by a shift means 77, and the tip of the fork 71 is inserted into the insertion hole of the battery 72. After adjusting to 73 (see FIG. 8 (B)), swinging means
The fork 71 is swung rightward as indicated by an arrow with the pin 79 as an axis at 78, and the fork 71 is oriented parallel to the insertion hole 73 of the battery 72 (see FIG. 8C). At this time,
The tip of the fork 71 is shifted from the insertion hole 73 of the battery 72.

Therefore, the tip of the fork 71 is aligned with the insertion hole 73 of the battery 72, and the orientation of the fork 71 is
In order to adjust the fork 71 in parallel with the insertion hole 73 of the fork 71, it is necessary to finely adjust the fork 71 a plurality of times by the shift means 77 and the swing means 78. Therefore, there is a problem that the work of positioning the fork 71 in the insertion hole 73 of the battery 72 is troublesome, and the replacement of the battery 72 cannot be easily performed. Although the tip of the fork 71 of the forklift 70 can be opposed to the insertion hole 73 of the battery 72 with a certain accuracy, it is conventionally possible that the tip of the fork 71 and the insertion hole 73 of the battery 72 are aligned. There is a problem that delicate positioning is uncertain and complicated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a forklift capable of easily positioning a fork with respect to a battery insertion hole without trouble.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, according to the present invention, a mast is attached to a vehicle body, and a lift bracket is attached to the mast so as to be able to move up and down. In a forklift for raising and lowering a fork with the lift bracket, the lift bracket is provided with a swinging means capable of swinging in a lateral direction, and the swinging means is provided with a shifting means slidable in a lateral direction. It is characterized by a fork attached.

[0010] Here, the lateral swing means swinging the fork in the left-right direction or the front-rear direction when viewed from the worker riding on the forklift. The lateral sliding means the work on the forklift. Means moving the fork in the left-right direction or the front-back direction as viewed from the user.

In the forklift constructed as described above, the lift bracket is provided with a swinging means capable of swinging in a lateral direction, and the swinging means is provided with a shift means slidable in a lateral direction. Fork is attached.

Therefore, by swinging the swing means in the lateral direction, the shift means can swing together with the fork. Therefore, if the swing means is swung in the lateral direction and the fork is arranged in parallel with the insertion hole of the work, the shift means can be arranged in parallel with the work. Therefore,
By sliding the shift means in the lateral direction, the tip of the fork can be aligned with the insertion hole of the work while keeping the fork parallel to the insertion hole of the work.

In addition, by disposing the shift means in parallel with the work, the tip of the fork can be kept at a certain distance from the work when the shift means is slid in the lateral direction. The tip can be prevented from contacting the work.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, a forklift 10 according to the first embodiment has a mast 12 attached to a vehicle body 11, a lift bracket 13 attached to the mast 12 so as to be able to move up and down, and a forklift
An industrial vehicle that raises and lowers 15
A swing means 20 capable of swinging in the lateral direction is provided, and a shifting means 30 slidable in the transverse direction is provided on the swing means 20.
The shift means 30 is provided with a fork 15.

As shown in FIG. 2, the swinging means 20 has a base 22 attached to the lift bracket 13 via a support member 21, and is swingable in a lateral direction (left and right direction) via a pin 24 on the base 22. The swing part 26 is attached, the cylinder body 28 of the swing cylinder 27 is attached to the base 22, and the cylinder rod 29 (see FIG. 3) of the swing cylinder 27 is attached to the swing part 26.

Therefore, as shown in FIG.
By protruding and retracting the cylinder rod 29 from the cylinder body 28 of 27, the swing part 26 swings about the pin 24 in the lateral direction (left-right direction). Thereby, the shift means 30 and the pair of forks 15 slide in the left-right direction (the direction of the arrow).

As shown in FIG. 2, the shift means 30 has upper and lower hooks 31A and 31B slidably engaged with upper and lower rails 26A and 26B of a swing part 26 of the swing means 20, respectively.
Left and right hooks 31A and 31B are provided in the shift portion 31, and FIG.
The cylinder body 33 of the shift cylinder 32 is attached to the swing part 26 as shown in FIG.
Left and right cylinder rods 34 are attached. In addition, this shift means 30 is provided with a shift unit 31 as shown in FIG.
, A pair of forks 15 are attached at predetermined intervals (see also FIG. 2).

Therefore, the right and left cylinder rods 34 are protruded and retracted from the cylinder body 33 of the shift cylinder 32 shown in FIG.
31B slides in the lateral direction (left and right direction) along the rails 26A and 26B of the swing part 26. This causes the pair of forks 15 to slide in the left-right direction (the direction of the arrow) together with the shift portion 31, as shown in FIG.

Next, the operation of the forklift 10 will be described with reference to FIG.
A description will be given based on (A) to (C). First, FIG.
The forklift 10 is moved to position the pair of forks 15 near the pair of insertion holes 42 of the battery 40 as shown in FIG. The battery 40 has the same shape as the conventional battery 72 shown in FIG. 7, and has a pair of insertion holes 42 at the bottom.

Next, by operating the swing cylinder 27 of the swing means 20 while the forklift 10 is stationary, the shift means 30 and the fork 15 are moved together in the left-right direction ( Then swing rightward as shown by the arrow).

Thus, as shown in FIG. 6B, the pair of forks 15 can be arranged in parallel with the insertion hole 42 of the battery 40, and the shift means 30 can be arranged in parallel with the front surface 40A of the battery 40. . Next, the pair of forks 15 are slid in the left and right directions as indicated by the arrow (in the embodiment, leftward as indicated by the arrow) by the shift means 30.

As a result, the tips 15A of the pair of forks 15 can be aligned with the insertion holes 42 of the battery 40 as shown in FIG. In FIG. 6, the relative angle between the forklift 10 and the battery 40 is exaggerated to facilitate understanding. In practice, the tip of the fork 15 of the forklift 10 is adjusted to fit the insertion hole 42 of the battery 40 in advance. It is possible to face with a certain precision. Therefore, the angle θ shown in FIG. 6C is extremely small in practice, and therefore, after the fork 15 is aligned,
Even if the fork 15 is advanced as it is, the fork 15 can be inserted into the insertion hole 42 of the battery 40 while absorbing the deviation within the allowable range of the left and right gap between the fork 15 and the insertion hole 42 of the battery 40.

When the angle θ shown in FIG. 6C is equal to or larger than a predetermined value, the tip of the fork 15 of the forklift 10 is slightly inserted into the insertion hole 42 of the battery 40 and then adjusted only by the shift means 30. By moving the forklift 10 forward while aiming, the fork 15 is gradually inserted into the insertion hole 42.

Here, the shift means 30 is connected to the front of the battery 40.
Since the pair of forks 15 are slid leftward by the shift means 30 as shown by the arrows, the tips 15A of the pair of forks 15
A can be kept at a constant distance L from A.

Therefore, it is possible to prevent the tip 15A of the fork 15 from contacting the front surface 40A of the battery 40. As a result, the positioning of the fork 15 with respect to the insertion hole 42 of the battery 40 can be easily performed.

After the positioning of the fork 15, the forklift 10 is advanced toward the battery 40,
15 is inserted into the insertion hole 42 of the battery 40. Next, the pair of forks 15 is raised to remove the battery 40 from the body of the forklift. Next, a new battery is placed on the forklift from which the battery 40 has been removed. Thus, when removing the battery 40 from the forklift,
Since the positioning of the fork 15 with respect to the insertion holes 42 of the 40 can be easily performed, the replacement of the battery 40 can be easily performed.

The forklift 10 of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be appropriately modified and improved. For example, an example has been described in which the oscillating means 20 is provided with an oscillating cylinder 27 and the fork 15 is swung in the left-right direction by operating the oscillating cylinder 27, but a oscillating motor is used instead of the oscillating cylinder 27. It is also possible. Further, the example in which the battery 40 is replaced by the forklift 10 has been described, but the same effect can be obtained by applying this forklift 10 to other works.

In addition, the material, shape, size, form, number, location, and the like of the swing means 20, shift means 30, etc. of the forklift 10 exemplified in the above-described embodiment are arbitrary as long as the present invention can be achieved. Yes, not limited.

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention, as described in claim 1, the lift bracket is provided with a swinging means capable of swinging in the lateral direction, and the swinging means is provided with the swinging means. Is provided with slidable shift means, and a fork is attached to the shift means.

Therefore, by swinging the swing means in the lateral direction, the shift means can swing together with the fork. Therefore, if the swing means is swung in the lateral direction and the fork is arranged in parallel with the insertion hole of the work, the shift means can be arranged in parallel with the work. Therefore,
By sliding the shift means in the lateral direction, the tip of the fork can be aligned with the insertion hole of the work while keeping the fork parallel to the insertion hole of the work.

In addition, by disposing the shift means in parallel with the work, the tip of the fork can be kept at a certain distance from the work when the shift means is slid in the lateral direction. The tip can be prevented from contacting the work. As a result, the positioning of the fork with respect to the insertion hole of the battery can be easily performed, and the battery can be easily replaced without any trouble.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a forklift according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view showing a main part of the forklift according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a plan view illustrating a state in which the fork of the forklift according to the present invention swings in the left-right direction.

FIG. 4 is a view taken in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a plan view illustrating a state in which the fork of the forklift according to the present invention slides in the left-right direction.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the forklift according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view illustrating a state where a battery is replaced by a conventional forklift.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating the operation of a conventional forklift.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Forklift 11 Body 12 Mast 13 Lift bracket 15 Fork 20 Swing means 30 Shift means

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A forklift in which a mast is attached to a vehicle body, a lift bracket is attached to the mast so as to be able to move up and down, and a fork is moved up and down by the lift bracket. A forklift, wherein the swing means is provided with a shift means slidable in a lateral direction, and the fork is attached to the shift means.