Side shift fork adjustable carriage

In a material handling vehicle (10) having a mast (14), a carriage assembly (12) connected to the mast (14) for vertical movement thereupon and first and second load lifting forks (16,18) each having a side, the improvement comprising:

• track means (22,24) for movably connecting said forks (16,18) to the carriage assembly (12) for movement of the forks (16,18) between a first position at which respective sides of each fork are in contact with one another and a second position at which the respective sides of each fork (16,18) are spaced one from the other, said track means (22,24) including a first (22) pair of tracks having first (22a) and second (22b) spaced apart tracks each connected to the carriage assembly (12) in a generally horizontal plane, said horizontal plane generally perpendicular to the vertical movement of the carriage assembly (12) and first (26) and second (28) sliding bars each having inner end portions (26a,28a) and being connected to a respective fork (16 or 18) and slidably connected to a respective track (22a or 22b), said forks (16,18) being oriented substantially perpendicularly relative to the tracks (22a,22b) and said sliding bars (26,28) each having a length (L) sufficient for maintaining said forks (16,18) substantially perpendicular relative to the track (22a or 22b) and said tracks being positioned one relative to the other at locations sufficient for overlapping of the inner end portions of sliding bars at the first position of the forks (16,18).