Device for rotating the forks of a forklift 180 degrees

Abstract

The present invention relates to a device that is installed on any type of forklift and allows the forks to rotate 180 degrees, rotating either 90 degrees to the left or 90 degrees to the right. This enables the forklift to lift loads laterally, in addition to conventional front lifting, and it keeps the forklift from having to turn several times in an aisle, thereby reducing the space taken up by aisles in a warehouse. Said device comprises a vertical moving carriage, a horizontal moving carriage, a support extension and a fork-holder carriage. The vertical moving carriage is directly installed on the forklift mast; the horizontal moving carriage is mounted on the vertical moving carriage; and the support extension is mounted on the horizontal moving carriage and supported by a set of screw guide bearings to rotate the 180 degrees, moving the fork-holder carriage.

Description

[0001] DEVICE FOR ROTATE THE FORKS OF A FORKLIFT 180 DEGREES

[0002] TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] The present invention falls within the technical field of mechanics and heating, as it is a device that is installed in any type of forklift and allows the forks to turn 180 degrees, either 90 degrees to the left or 90 degrees to the right, so that the forklift can lift loads laterally in addition to the conventional frontal manner, preventing the forklift from having to turn several times in an aisle, allowing the aisle space in a warehouse to be reduced.

[0004] BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0005] Forklifts are vehicles used to lift and move heavy loads from one place to another. A conventional forklift includes a fork carriage at the front that supports a pair of forks spaced apart. This carriage moves vertically on a mast to raise or lower the forks, which are then positioned as required by the operator to lift the load.

[0006] Conventional forklifts must be positioned in front of the load to lift it, so they require space to perform several maneuvers to lift and then move it. Warehouses therefore reserve space for aisles, losing space for storage shelves. To try to solve this problem, forklifts with fixed side forks have been designed, allowing loads to be lifted laterally without having to maneuver the forklift. However, this has economic disadvantages, as two types of forklifts are now required: front-mounted and side-mounted.

[0007] Attempts have been made to develop forklift attachments that offer greater movement and versatility. For example, Chinese patent application published as CN103613054A describes a sideshifter for a forklift's retractable fork, comprising a front frame and a rear frame, with fixing plates symmetrically incorporated into the inner sides of two front frame plates, and a wedge portion is fixed to the upper end face of the lower side of the plate. The wedge portion is provided with a limiting plate that is fixed to a handle-shaped bracket. The bracket comprises a lower cross plate and two support plates, the lower cross plate being fixedly connected to the limiting plate, and a sideshift oil cylinder is connected between the two support plates.The piston rods at both ends of the side-shifting oil cylinder are connected to the front frame via fixing plates. The upper ends of the two support plates are connected to the rear frame via connecting pin rollers. The rear frame comprises two support column plates and a lower crossbeam connected to the lower ends of the two support column plates. A tilting oil cylinder is fixedly arranged on the lower crossbeam, and a piston rod of the tilting oil cylinder is connected to the lower support crossplate. Thanks to this invention, the forklift can travel left and right and stack loads obliquely forward and backward.

[0008] On the other hand, the US patent published as US10717636B2 describes a fork carriage apparatus for a forklift that includes: (a) a mounting frame assembly that can be mounted on the forklift for vertical movement; (b) a side shift frame assembly slidably mounted on the mounting frame assembly; (c) a pivot frame assembly pivotally mounted on the side shift frame assembly to move therewith; (d) a fork assembly mounted on the pivot frame assembly to pivot therewith; and (e) at least one load pulling connector mounted on the pivot frame assembly and configured to connect a load to the fork carriage apparatus to pull the load.

[0009] Some disadvantages of these inventions include the fact that they cannot be applied to all types of forklifts; they are complex in design and expensive to acquire; or they only allow the forks to rotate on their own axis. Ideally, a device would be available that would allow the forks to move freely laterally to the forklift and that could be adapted to any type of forklift to lift loads frontally or laterally.

[0010] OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

[0011] The object of the present invention consists of a device that is installed in any type of forklift and allows the forks to rotate 180 degrees, either 90 degrees to the left or 90 degrees to the right, so that the forklift can lift loads laterally in addition to the conventional frontal manner, preventing the forklift from having to turn multiple times in an aisle, allowing aisle space in a warehouse to be reduced; said device comprises a vertical moving carriage, a horizontal moving carriage, an extension support and a fork-carrying carriage.

[0012] DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0013] The characteristic details of the invention are clearly shown in the following description and in the accompanying figures, followed by reference numbers to indicate the parts shown.

[0014] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0015] Figure 1 shows the complete device ready to be installed on the forklift, which can be used with any brand of forklift and with any power source, whether gas, gasoline, diesel, or electric.

[0016] Figure 2 shows a perspective view of the vertical moving carriage, a) corresponds to the front view and b) to a rear view, said vertical moving carriage is ready to be installed on the forklift mast and it runs through its lifting tower, which is made up of bearings for vertical and horizontal sliding through plate bases coupled together.

[0017] Figure 3 shows the horizontal shifting carriage, which can have three variants: a) The first variant consists of a rack, a single double-acting piston and a hydraulic motor; b) The second variant consists of two telescopic double-acting pistons and one single double-acting piston (all pistons are hydraulic); c) The third variant consists of a chain, a hydraulic motor and a single double-acting piston, load bar, guide rails and a quadrant plate, which is installed on the vertical shifting carriage.

[0018] Figure 4 shows the extension support, which allows the fork carriage to rotate to the left and right by means of hydraulic cylinders and a chain coupled together by a gear. This part as a whole is installed on the horizontal shifter carriage through bearings. The rotation can also be carried out by means of a hydraulic motor through two gears (a drive gear and a turning gear). This part as a whole is installed on the horizontal shifter carriage through bearings.

[0019] Figure 5 shows the fork carriage, which is made up of a set of plates and machined at the top to lock the forks and allow them to be moved manually according to the needs of the pallet to be worked. This part is installed through a pin inserted into the extension support bushings, thus providing a 180-degree turn.

[0020] The present invention relates to a device for rotating the forks of a forklift 180 degrees, preferably made of high-strength steel and comprising four sections:

[0021] 1. Vertical moving carriage (1), which is installed directly to the tower of the forklift, in its upper part it has a manifold (5) and a first set of guide bearings (6) incorporated, in its front face in its middle part it has load bearings incorporated (13) and in the lower part a second set of guide bearings (10), in its rear face it has mast bearings incorporated (14), side bearings (15) and a chain support (16), said vertical moving carriage (1) is pulled through chains and is applied by means of hydraulic cylinders for lifting;

[0022] 2. Horizontal moving carriage (2), which is mounted on the vertical moving carriage (1 ) and this applies to the action of lateral movements by means of three variants: a) The first variant is formed by an outer guide rail (17), a horizontal bar (18) incorporated under the outer guide rail (17), an inner guide rail (19) incorporated under the horizontal bar (18), a rack support (20), a rack (21 ), a side bar (22) and a load bar (23) incorporated in its central part; b) the second vahante has the same configuration as the first, only instead of the rack support (20) and rack (21 ) it has incorporated two telescopic pistons with double action (24) whose screw terminal is fixed with the extension support (3), chain (25) and a single piston with double action (26) whose base is fixed with the vertical moving carriage (1 ), and all the pistons are hydraulic;c) the third variant has the same configuration as the first, only instead of the rack support (20) and rack (21) it has incorporated in its central part a chain for extension travel (27), a hydraulic motor (28) and a single piston with double action (11) and with gears (29); and said horizontal moving carriage (2) is installed on the vertical moving carriage (1);

[0023] 3. Extension support (3), formed by a support bracket (32) that in its upper part has a manifold (5) incorporated and in its lower part a bushing (33), the extension support (3) is mounted on the horizontal displacement carriage (2) and is supported through a third set of screw guide bearings (30) to perform the 180 degree turn, 90 degrees to the right side and 90 degrees to the left side that move the fourth section or fork carriage (4), through two hydraulic cylinders (11) by means of a single or double chain and a hydraulic motor (31) by means of two gears (a drive gear and a turning gear), this part as a whole, is installed on the horizontal displacement carriage (2) through load bearings (9);

[0024] 4. Fork carriage (4), which is mounted on the extension support (3) through a load pin that slides through bushings (33), has a machined base that acts as a lock for the forks in its upper part and a slot for installing the forks, on the fork carriage (4) the forks are installed on which the final load to be maneuvered will be mounted.

[0025] PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

[0026] In Figures 1 to 5, it can be seen how the device is structured in four sections joined together by means of bearings and guide rails to perform movements smoothly.

[0027] The vertical moving carriage (1) is installed directly to the forklift tower, which is pulled by chains and is applied by hydraulic cylinders (11) for lifting.

[0028] The horizontal moving carriage (2) is mounted on the vertical moving carriage (1) and this applies to the action of lateral movements by means of three vahantes: The first variant is formed by a rack (7), a simple piston with double action (26) and a hydraulic motor (28); the second variant is formed by two telescopic pistons with double action (24), chain (25) and a simple piston with double action (26) (all pistons are hydraulic); the third variant is formed by a chain (25), a hydraulic motor and a simple piston with double action (26), a loading bar (23), guide wheels (17 and 19) and a plate quadrant, which is installed on the vertical moving carriage (1).

[0029] The extension support (3) is mounted on the horizontal shifting carriage (2) which is supported by a third set of screw guide bearings (30) to perform the 180 degree turn, 90 degrees on the right side and 90 degrees on the left side that move the fork carriage (4), to carry out each movement it is through two hydraulic cylinders (11) that perform this function by means of a single or double chain. The extension support (3) can also be carried out by means of a hydraulic motor (28) by means of two gears (a drive gear and a turning gear), this part as a whole is installed on the horizontal shifting carriage (2) through bearings.

[0030] The fork carriage (4) is mounted on the extension support (3) through a load pin that slides through bushings (33). The forks on which the final load to be maneuvered will be mounted are installed on the fork carriage (4).

[0031] The device is installed in different types of forklifts and is connected to the same hydraulic system of the equipment, taking advantage of the lifting of the tower, its inclination, the side of the horizontal moving carriage (2) and a fourth function to apply the rotation of the forks, the last two lateral hydraulic functions and rotation of the forks are regulated through flow pressure valves mounted on the same device and can be adjusted manually according to the needs of the operator, depending on the speed with which he wants to perform the movements.

[0032] METHOD OF OPERATION OF THE INVENTION

[0033] In order to make the 180 degree turn, the fork carriage (4) has a fixed gear that is driven through a chain which is pulled by two hydraulic cylinders (11), each cylinder generates a 90 degree travel to the gear on one side and 90 degrees to the opposite side thus generating the 180 degree travel of the fork carriage (4), when applying hydraulic fluid to the cylinders (11) to make the turn to either side (right or left), the cylinders (11) are fixed on the extension support (3) and are calibrated with the chain that is coupled to the gear that is fixed on the fork carriage (4) at 0 degrees and the cylinders (11) with the rod extended so that once they come into operation, they will pull the chain which will move the fixed gear on the fork carriage (4), achieving a 90 degree turn to each side, according to how the hydraulic function is applied to it.

Claims

CLAIMS Having sufficiently described my invention, I consider as a novelty and therefore claim as my exclusive property, the content of the following claims:

1. A device for rotating the forks of a forklift 180 degrees, so that the forklift can lift loads laterally in addition to the conventional frontal manner, characterized in that it comprises: a) A vertical moving carriage (1) that is installed on the tower of a forklift and allows the vertical movement of the device, in the upper part of which it has a manifold and a first set of guide bearings incorporated, on its front face in its middle part it has load bearings incorporated and in the lower part a second set of guide bearings, on its rear face it has mast bearings, side bearings and a chain support incorporated;b) A horizontal moving carriage, which is mounted on the vertical moving carriage to perform the lateral movements of the device and is formed by an outer guide rail, a horizontal bar incorporated under the outer guide rail, an inner guide rail incorporated under the horizontal bar, a rack support, a rack, a side bar and a load bar incorporated in its central part;c) An extension support, formed by a support bracket that has a manifold incorporated in its upper part and a bushing in its lower part, said extension support is mounted on the horizontal shifting carriage and is supported through a third set of screw guide bearings to perform the 180 degree turn, 90 degrees to the right side and 90 degrees to the left side that move a fork carriage, through two hydraulic cylinders by means of a single or double chain and a hydraulic motor by means of two gears, one for control and one for rotation, said extension support is installed on the horizontal shifting carriage through load bearings; and d) The fork carriage, which is mounted on the extension support through a load pin that slides through bushings, has a built-in; fixed gear that is driven through a chain which is pulled by two hydraulic cylinders, each cylinder generates a 90 degree travel to the gear on one side and 90 degrees to the opposite side thus generating the 180 degree travel of the fork carriage, when applying hydraulic fluid to the cylinders to perform the turn to either side, the cylinders are fixed on the extension support and are calibrated with the chain that is coupled to the gear that is fixed on the fork carriage at 0 degrees and the cylinders with the rod extended so that once they come into operation, they will pull the chain which will move the fixed gear on the fork carriage, managing to turn 90 degrees to each side, according to how the hydraulic function is applied;It has a machined base that acts as a lock for the forks on its upper part and a slot for installing the forks, on the fork carriage the forks are installed on which the final load to be maneuvered will be mounted.

2. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that the horizontal displacement carriage has a second embodiment where instead of the rack and rack support it has two telescopic pistons with double action incorporated whose screw terminal is fixed to the extension support, a chain and a single piston with double action whose base is fixed to the vertical displacement carriage, and all the pistons are hydraulic; and a third embodiment where instead of the rack and rack support it has incorporated in its central part a chain for extension travel, a hydraulic motor and a single piston with double action and with gears.

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