Fork lift truck cab

Details Fork lift truck cab Fork lift truck cab

1999-03-25

2001-08-21

Dayoan, D. Glenn (Department: 3612)

Land vehicles: bodies and tops

Bodies

Structural detail

C296S190100, C296S190030, C296S019000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06276750

ABSTRACT:

The present application claims foreign priority to German application Ser. No. 198 15 126.8 filed Apr. 3, 1998.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a cab of an industrial truck and, more particularly, to the cab of a fork lift truck.
2. Description of the Currently Available Technology
Industrial trucks with a driver workplace generally have a cab or roof that protects the driver from falling objects or falling parts of the load. In the prior art, the roof has been constructed both as a metal grid structure and also from sheet metal with an integrated window. These types of roofs represent a compromise between driver protection and a clear driver's view forward or diagonally upward.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a cab for an industrial truck that combines a high degree of safety with an improved field of vision for the driver.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention teaches that this object can be accomplished by a cab for an industrial truck having a roof made at least partly with substantially transparent bulletproof glass. The invention teaches that the roof is preferably substantially transparent for an improved field of vision and simultaneously provides the driver with optimal protection against falling objects. The bulletproof glass of the invention can be provided only in the roof area or, in a preferred embodiment, can also form a windshield and/or a rear window of the cab. For example, two or three separate bulletproof glass panels can be provided which protect the driver from the front, from the rear and overhead, which thereby allow the driver a good view in those directions. It is also possible that the glass panels can be constructed as one piece and can form the windshield and the roof, for example of the cab. In another embodiment, the one-piece glass panel runs continuously from the windshield, over the roof and to the rear window. The driver's field of vision is optimal in this embodiment. Only encircling metal frames that hold the glass panel and that form the frame for the doors or the side windows of the cab thus remain in the driver's field of vision.
In one preferred embodiment, the cab can be eggshaped or spherical. A spherical shape, for example, is inherently one of the most stable shapes possible, as is known from the use of this shape in conventional reactor vessels. The use of an egg-shaped cab makes it possible to have relatively thin walls while providing a high degree of safety and stability inherent in such an egg shape.
The driver's field of vision can be further improved if the side pieces that form the doors or the windows of the cab are also made of a transparent material, such as glass, e.g., bulletproof glass, or plastic. In this case, the driver has a clear view practically all the way around the cab.
Additional advantages, features and configurations of the invention are described in greater detail below, with reference to the exemplary embodiment illustrated in the accompanying drawing.


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