Fork lift

A fork lift truck including a U-shaped frame, the legs of the U-shaped frame being parallel;

• a pair of front wheels mounted on the legs, one wheel on each side of the frame at the open end of the U;
• a caster wheel mounted on the frame at the closed end of the U;
• a seat for a driver secured to said frame adjacent the caster wheel mounting;
• steering and elevation control components mounted on the frame in proximity to the seat;
• a lift assembly mounted for horizontal travel on said legs including a fork prong vertically movable between ground level and an upper portion;
• means connected to said frame for moving said lift assembly horizontally along said legs;
• and hydraulic and chain means in combination for moving the fork prong vertically on a mast, the improvement comprising:
• said combination of hydraulic and chain moving means including at least four chains and at least four sprockets combined for mechanically forcing said fork prong to move either up or down,
• said lift assembly including a hydraulic piston and cylinder combination, said piston including a piston rod extending upwardly from said cylinder, a horizontally extending axle attached to said piston rod and each of said sprockets rotatably attached to said axle,
• said mast including two vertically extending, spaced apart shafts,
• two of said chains being attached to said prong, extending upwardly and over two of said sprockets and downwardly to connect with a lower horizontal crossbar, said lower crossbar being immovably connected to said mast shafts,
• the other two chains being attached to an upper horizontal crossbar, extending downwardly and under the other two sprockets and upwardly to connect with a crossbeam rigidly connected to a vertically movable frame, said movable frame being mounted to vertically reciprocate between said spaced apart shafts of said mast, said upper crossbar being immovably connected to said mast shafts.