Heavy object cassette transferring apparatus and a transferring method thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9340401-B2
Application number	US-201013519677-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 25, 2010
Priority date	Feb 25, 2010
Publication date	May 17, 2016
Grant date	May 17, 2016

Abstract

A transferring apparatus is provided with a heavy object cassette which is a heavy object contained in a cassette integrally, a common steel plate to which support rods are fixed, the support rods being inserted in holes formed horizontally in the heavy object cassette, and a play mechanism which allows adjustment of a relative position between the holes and the support rods by adjusting a position of the common steel plate, a base unit having thereon the play mechanism and a lifting and lowering device, and a slide mechanism which supports the base unit and is movable forward and backward relative to a main body of the transferring apparatus.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A transferring apparatus for a heavy object cassette, comprising:
a common plate member to which a plurality of support rods is attached on a support side of the plurality of support rods, the plurality of support rods being inserted in a plurality of holes formed in the heavy object cassette;
a play mechanism which allows adjustment of a relative position between the plurality of holes and the plurality of support rods by adjusting a position of the common plate member, the play mechanism including a ball joint which is configured to support the common plate member rotatably and swingably;
a lifting and lowering device configured to lift and lower the common plate member to which the support rods are attached and the play mechanism;
a base unit on which the lifting and lowering device is installed; and
a slide mechanism configured to support the base unit, the slide mechanism being movable forward and backward relative to a main body of the transferring apparatus.

2. The transferring apparatus for the heavy object cassette according to claim 1 ,
wherein at least one of the plurality of support rods is an eccentric support rod configured to penetrate the common plate member and having an eccentric part with a certain amount of eccentricity with respect to the common plate member, and
wherein the transferring apparatus further comprises:
a cassette immobilizing mechanism configured to immobilize the heavy object cassette by rotating the eccentric part of the eccentric support rod to move the eccentric support rod in a radial direction and changing a relative position between the eccentric support rod and another one of the plurality of support rods.

3. The transferring apparatus for the heavy object cassette according to claim 2 ,
wherein the eccentric support rod is disposed below the other one of the plurality of support rods.

4. The transferring apparatus for the heavy object cassette according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a locking mechanism configured to activate a brake on the main body of the transferring apparatus in a state in which a gate-type support is moved from a center part of the main body of the transferring apparatus by the slide mechanism.

5. The transferring apparatus for the heavy object cassette according to claim 4 ,
wherein the locking mechanism is configured to be activated in a state in which the lifting and lowering device lifts the gate-type support by a certain amount or more.

6. A method for transferring a heavy object cassette using a heavy object cassette transferring apparatus which transfers the heavy object cassette by a rolling motion of a wheel while maintaining the heavy object cassette via a plurality of support rods inserted in a plurality of holes formed in the heavy object cassette, the method comprising the steps of:
inserting the plurality of support rods which is fixed to a common plate member in the plurality of holes formed in the heavy object cassette;
in the inserting step, adjusting a relative position between the plurality of holes and the plurality of support rods by adjusting a position of the common plate member;
immobilizing the plurality of support rods, at least one of the support rods being an eccentric support rod which penetrates the common plate member and has an eccentric part with a certain amount of eccentricity on a front side of the common plate member, by rotating so that the eccentric support rod is moved in a radial direction of the eccentric support rod to displace a relative position between the eccentric support rod and another one of the plurality of support rods, and
after the immobilizing step, moving the heavy object cassette using a slide mechanism.

7. The method for transferring the heavy object cassette according to claim 6 ,
wherein a brake is applied to a main body of the transferring apparatus when the plurality of support rods is inserted in the plurality of holes of the heavy object cassette using the slide mechanism or when the heavy object cassette is removed from a placement table for the heavy object cassette using the slide mechanism.

Assignees

• Takeuchi Yukio
• Nooka Satoru
• Mitsubishi Heavy Ind Ltd

Inventors

• Takeuchi Yukio
• Nooka Satoru

Classifications

• B66F9/185

  by internally expanding grippers · CPC title

• B66F9/18 Primary

  Load gripping or retaining means · CPC title

• B66F9/06

  movable, with their loads, on wheels or the like, e.g. fork-lift trucks (vehicle aspects B60 - B62; vehicles predominantly for transporting loads and modified to facilitate loading or unloading B60P1/00; low-lift hand trucks for transporting goods B62B3/06) · CPC title