Daifuku Co., Ltd.

Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

Shoji Tada

Yasuhiro Takeda

Yoshifumi Yasuda

Junichi Miura

Yoshito Kaida

An apparatus for transferring vehicles onto a conveyer comprises: a front wheel supporting device () on an elevator (), which is provided with a pair of front and rear wheel supporting arms () that freely open and close in a horizontal direction between a closed posture supporting front wheels (Wf) at a predetermined position in terms of the convey direction and an opened posture releasing the front wheels (Wf) to the convey direction; a rear wheel supporting device () on the elevator (), which is provided with a wheel supporting plate () that supports rear wheels (Wr) without determining the position thereof in terms of the convey direction and can switch its posture between a horizontal posture and a front-down tilted posture in terms of the convey direction; and a posture switching device () that changes the wheel supporting plate () of the rear wheel supporting device () to the tilted posture, at least when the elevator (), supporting a vehicle (C) with the wheel supporting arms () of the front wheel supporting device () in the closed posture and the wheel supporting plate () of the rear wheel supporting device () in the horizontal posture, is at the lowermost position for transferring the vehicle (C) onto a conveyor ().

Apparatus for transferring vehicles onto conveyor

A friction-drive carriage type conveyor includes a carriageso supported as to run in a running direction along a track, which includes a linear path and a turning path. The carriagehas a frictional surfacecontinuing linearly along its whole length. The conveyor is fitted with first friction drive rollersfor contact with the frictional surface, which are positioned near the linear path. The conveyor is also fitted with second friction drive rollersA&#x2013;C for driving the carriagesmoothly and reliably even along the turning path. The second friction drive rollersA&#x2013;C are spaced at intervals along the turning path, which are shorter than the frictional surface. The second friction drive rollersA&#x2013;C are so supported that each of them can move between an advance limit position and a retraction limit position. The advance limit position is on the locus described by the frictional surfacewhen the carriagepasses along the turning path. The retraction limit position is outside the locus. Each of the second friction drive rollersA&#x2013;C can be biased toward the associated advance limit position by a biasing means, which may be a hydraulic cylinder. Each of the second friction drive rollersA&#x2013;C comes into compressive contact with the frictional surfaceof the carriagedriven forward by the just upward friction drive roller and drives the carriage to a position where the frictional surface comes into compressive contact with at least the just downstream friction drive roller.

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Hinocho, Japan

Shoji Tada