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:
May. 11, 2004
Filed:
May. 15, 2003
TCM Corporation, Osaka, JP;
Abstract
A fork lift with a laterally travelling system, wherein when a running mode is switched from a normal running in which right and left front wheels and rear wheels face in a longitudinal direction to a lateral running, rotating means is operated to rotate a turning member about a vertical axis in order to change the direction of the front wheels relative to that of a vehicle body, a change in running direction can be performed smoothly because the front wheels are formed integrally with a running drive device, and the front wheels are driven in forward and reverse directions by the running drive device after the front wheels are turned to face sideways so that a fork lift can run laterally and the rear wheels can be changed in direction in a follow-up manner by a turning caster system or can be changed in direction forcibly in the same manner as the front wheels, whereby the wheels of a drive system, though the fork lift is of a type capable of performing a normal forking operation, can be steered to face sideways so that it can run laterally to, for example, perform transportation of long materials with ease through a fork.