The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 27, 1990
Filed:
Jul. 15, 1988
Laurence R Brickner, Marathon, NY (US);
Michael D Chun, Budd Lake, NJ (US);
Richard C Chou, Montrey Park, CA (US);
Carl von Isenburg, Winston Salem, NC (US);
Phillip Radzikowski, Bethesda, MD (US);
Sea-Land Corporation, Elizabeth, NJ (US);
Abstract
The present invention provides a high productivity, high density container storage yard adjacent to a facility for loading and unloading containers, such as to and from ships, with the individual containers stored therein being stacked up to four containers high. An integrated container handling system is designed to move the containers from the container storage yard to the loading and unloading facility, and includes an overhead grid rail system on which container carrying shuttle vehicles are routed to designated yard locations by a master control system. Passive switching mechanisms are utilized to selectively move the shuttle vehicles through the grid rail network, wherein the actual switch mechanism is carried on the shuttle vehicle rather than on the track. One disclosed embodiment of the loading and unloading facility comprises overhead cranes and associated buffers in a marine terminal for loading and unloading a container ship. The present invention is also particularly applicable to intermodal facilities for transferring shipping containers between different types of container shipping systems, such as between container transport ships and rail cars.