Method and apparatus for transporting vehicle bodies, and vehicle

Abstract

In a vehicle assembling line in which parts are assembled to a vehicle body while the body is passed through each of working stations by a plurality of transporting means, the vehicle body is positioned and supported by a pallet and transported by each of the transporting means, wherein transferring of the body between the transporting means is carried out through the pallet. A transporting path, on which a self-travel carriage as the transporting means travels, is laid within a pit concavely provided below a floor plate of a working floor. Arranged above the floor plate are a carriage frame, a lift table and a turn rest for supporting the pallet, which constitute an upper portion of the self-travel carriage. The transporting path is disposed substantially along the assembling line from its starting point to its terminal point, and an automated assembling zone and a manually assembling zone are coexistently disposed along the assembling line. An automatic machine is disposed in a working station of the automated assembling zone for advancing and retreating movement, and there is provided means for positioning and fixing the self-travel carriage together with the pallet in such working station. An overhead conveyor for transporting the self-travel carriage separated from the pallet in a hung manner is used as one of the transporting means.