Automated loading/unloading equipment

An automated loading/unloading system having operable traveling lift trucks for loading and unloading cargos, comprising:

• a motor for hydraulically steering a driving wheel in the lift truck;
• a first mechanism for hydraulically moving multiple forks of the lift truck vertically;
• distance sensor means installed at the tip of the forks and at a rear end of the lift truck for determining a cruisable safe distance at both its front and rear;
• pressure sensor means installed in a hydraulic line interconnected to the motor for controlling movement of the lift truck.
• limit sensor means installed in the lift truck for determining upper and lower limits between which the vertical movement of the forks is confined;
• rotational direction sensor means installed in a turntable for determining the direction of rotation and the rotational angle of the turntable;
• the rotatably disposed turntable provided to form part of a transport passage adapted for traveling of the lift truck, the turntable including a second mechanism for hydraulically turning and altering the orientation of the lift truck;
• external drive means having a high-pressure low-delivery pump which provides high-pressure, low-delivery fluid to the motor, the first mechanism and the second mechanism through a directional control valve means and a low-pressure high-delivery pump which provides low-pressure, high-delivery fluid to the motor through a directional control valve means;
• and
• an external control system which, in accordance with a loading/unloading program, controls the external drive means to actuate the driving wheel, the forks of the lift truck and the turntable in timed relation in response to signals from the distance sensor means, the pressure sensor means, the limit sensor means and the rotational direction sensor means.