Material or article handling – Plural – static structures for supporting discrete loads and... – Load-underlying members
Patent
1994-12-05
1996-10-15
Bucci, David A.
Material or article handling
Plural, static structures for supporting discrete loads and...
Load-underlying members
414661, B65G 104
Patent
active
055648800
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a shelf storage system with a storage container that has a gripping zone for a handling device designed for pulling and pushing the storage container, where the gripping zone is affixed on at least one frontal end of the storage container and has a notch at both sides, which is structured in such a way that a stud of the handling device can be brought into engagement in physically locking and/or force-locking fashion in each instance.
In shelf storage systems, particularly in high-shelf storage facilities, it is usual to place and remove storage containers in a fully automatic manner. For this purpose, so-called shelf manipulation devices are used as handling devices; these can be moved to any desired shelf compartment and have a gripping and activation mechanism with which the storage containers can be pushed into or pulled out of the shelf compartment in question.
In a shelf system according to DE patent 33 24 349, a gripping device for the storage container consists of plates which are compressed in a complicated manner and thereby grasp the storage containers from the side. In addition to the great effort for the gripping mechanism, there is another disadvantage in that a container picked up at a slant will be put down at a slant again, so that tolerances can add during movements.
European patent application 04 61 735, proposes to solve this problem, each storage container having an open slit guide for a carrier on its frontal end facing the shelf manipulation device, which guide projects out of an endless carrier pulling element which is guided around deflection wheels, the distance between which is at least as long as the insertion depth of the storage container into the compartments of the shelf.
In this device, however, there is the possibility that the synchronicity between the two carriers is not absolutely guaranteed and/or that the pulling mechanism, including carriers, has an amount of play that cannot be avoided with the design, so that it cannot be precluded that the storage container will be tipped when handled by the shelf manipulation device. Another disadvantage consists of the fact that a tilted position of the storage container as compared with the gripping mechanism, i.e., the carriers can result in incorrect engagement of the carriers in the slit guides, so that secure handling of the storage containers is not guaranteed. Since the slit guides must have sufficient play with regard to the carriers to guarantee the intended guidance function without any problems, the carriers can only enter into a physical lock with the slit guides in the pulling or pushing direction, but first the play has to be overcome. Tilting of a storage container around its longitudinal and/or lateral axis can have the result, in this device, that one or both carriers jump out of the slit guide. These possible disadvantages can particularly occur if shelf systems are being manipulated where static deviations of the geometrical conditions can occur due to their size and the stresses which occur.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention overcomes these problems in the prior art by providing a shelf storage system of the type stated initially in such a way that it can be securely handled by a specially designed end element of a gripping mechanism.
This task is accomplished by the fact that each stud has a thickened region on at least one end, and that the notches are narrower at the engagement point than the thickened region. This ensures that the storage container can be handled without tilting, also with regard to its lateral and longitudinal axis.
By the interaction of the notches with a correspondingly shaped stud, the handling of the storage container can be further improved. The shape of the stud can be selected in such a way, in this instance, that it already enters into a force lock with the notches at its engagement point, so that a torque around one axis or around several axes is compensated by the force lock.
If the stud which has eng
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patent: 5120101 (1992-06-01), Vranish
patent: 5213463 (1993-05-01), Rothlisberger et al.
Bucci David A.
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
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