Low profile fork lift for mine vehicles

A mine vehicle comprising:

• a frame;
• a pair of axles;
• wheels supporting said axles from the ground;
• hydraulic suspension means supporting said frame from said pair of axles and being adjustable for said position of said frame relative to said pair of axles;
• a pair of support plates extending from the frame of said mine vehicle;
• a pair of hydraulic cylinders, having extending and non-extending ends, disposed between said pair of support plates and connected at their non-extending ends to said mine vehicle frame;
• a base plate pinned in proximity to its top to said pair of supports and being positioned in front of said hydraulic cylinders;
• a stop connected to the base plate beneath its connection to said pair of support plates to limit movement of said base plate;
• a fork lift plate, spaced apart from said base plate;
• a pair of forks extending from said fork lift plate;
• link means connecting said base plate and said fork lift plate for maintaining said base plate and said fork lift plate parallel while permitting relative movement;
• operating lever means, disposed between said base plate and said fork lift plate, for moving said fork lift plate relative to said base plate;
• and,
• connecting means for connecting the extending end of said hydraulic cylinder to said operating lever means so that operation of said hydraulic cylinders moves said fork lift plate relative to said base plate.

In a mine vehicle having a pair of operating hydraulic cylinders disposed at the front and thereof between a pair of bucket support gussets with a fork lift assembly disposed at the front end and supported by the gussets and operated by the movement of the operating rods of the hydraulic cylinders, said fork lift assemblies comprises:

• a first plate connected to the support gussets having openings through which the operating rods of the hydraulic operating cylinders extend;
• a second plate separated from said first plate;
• a pair of forks extending from said second plate;
• a plurality of equal length links connected between said first and second plate to maintain said first and second plate parallel while permitting relative movement;
• operating arms extending from a pair of the plurality of links, between the first and second plates, for engaging the operating rods of said hydraulic cylinder, said operating arm being shorter than the length of the links.