Freely positionable load carrying attachment for an automatic guided vehicle

A material handling arrangement for automatically moving loads from a stored location in a facility to a shipping position located on a load carrying transporter located at a docked location relative to the facility, comprising:

• an automatic guided vehicle having a frame and being adapted to traverse an underlying surface in response to preprogrammed instructions;
• a lift mast having spaced apart substantially parallel uprights and being mounted on the vehicle frame;
• a carriage assembly mounted on the spaced apart uprights and elevationally movable along said uprights between elevationally spaced apart locations;
• a supporting frame connected to the carriage assembly and extending elevationally from the carriage assembly;
• a load engaging frame having at least one load engaging device extending in a direction substantially normal to the direction of elevationally movement of the carriage assembly;
• means for pivotally connecting the load engaging frame to the supporting frame and guiding the load engaging frame for movement in a preselected plane in directions transverse the uprights, said load engaging frame being freely transversely movable in said plane;
• means for guidably forcibly urging a load carried on the load engaging device to transversely move the load engaging frame and position the load relative to the docked location of the transporter in response to the automatic guided vehicle traveling toward the transporter.