The Procter Gamble Company

Harry B Maddox

Christopher James Binski

Charles William Fisher

Gary Gordon Heaton

Larry Rudolph Genskow

Andrew Weatherston

James Frederick Kirkpatrick

Kevin B Clendenien

One aspect of the invention is directed to an autonomous mobile surface treating apparatus having a chassis, a drive mechanism mounted to the said chassis by a suspension, and a substantially rigid shell movably mounted to the chassis. The suspension includes a resilient member interposed between the drive mechanism and the chassis so that when the shell is pushed toward the supporting surface with a predetermined force the resilient member compresses to permit the drive mechanism to move and the shell and/or the chassis to contact the supporting surface. A second aspect of the invention is directed to the movable support of shell relative to the chassis. The shell is supported by a plurality of elongated elastic supports received within plurality of elongated openings in the chassis. Preferably, a passive portion of a collision detection sensor is attached to a central portion of the shell. A third aspect of the invention is directed to a non-skid lower edge member movably attached to the shell to adjust a clearance between the non-skid lower edge member and the supporting surface. A fourth aspect of the invention is directed to a vacant volume that defines a module receiving area adapted to removeably receive a surface treatment module, preferably a plurality of types of surface treatment modules including a pressure adjusting module. A fifth aspect of the invention is directed to a surface treatment module adapted to be removably received in a surface treatment module receiving area of an autonomous mobile surface treating apparatus.

Autonomous mobile surface treating apparatus

An apparatus and method for transferring a unit load from one pallet to another pallet or slip sheet without creasing the containers constituting the unit load. In one embodiment the unit load containing pallet and the empty pallet are aligned side-by-side on a platform. The platform is selectively moveable about an axis parallel to the adjacent sides of the pallets between a horizontal position and a tilted position in which the empty pallet is lowermost. A push plate moveable relative to the platform transfers the unit load onto the empty pallet or slip sheet while the platform is tilted. The force required to transfer the unit load is reduced, when contrasted to horizontal transfer, since the component forces of the unit load are changed by the tilting.

Unit load transfer device and method

Growing community of inventors

Cincinnati, OH, United States of America

Harry B Maddox