Apparatus for transferring a motor vehicle and multistory parking lot

An apparatus for transferring a motor vehicle, comprising:

• a frame body;
• two pairs of slide forks, each of which holds front wheels and rear wheels of a motor vehicle, respectively, and moves the motor vehicle, said two pairs of slide forks moving in a direction perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the frame body;
• a first pair of said two pairs of slide forks being positioned on a side of said frame body corresponding to the front wheels, and a second pair of said two pairs of slide forks being positioned on a side of said frame body corresponding to the rear wheels;
• a first adjusting means for adjusting a distance between said first pair of slide forks and said second pair of slide forks to be equal to a distance between a shaft of the front wheels and a shaft of the rear wheels, said first adjusting means being positioned on at least one side selected from the side of said frame body corresponding to the front wheels and the side of said frame body corresponding to the rear wheels, and said first adjusting means moving at least one pair of said two pairs of slide forks in a longitudinal direction of the frame body;
• and
• a second adjusting means for adjusting a hold distance between slide forks forming each of said first pair of slide forks and said second pair of slide forks, said hold distance being adjusted to a diameter of tires on each of said wheels;
• said second adjusting means comprising a fork position detection means, a hold distance control means and a hold distance changing means;
• said fork position detection means having a position sensor mounted at an end of each pair of said two pairs of slide forks and a position calculation means for calculating a relationship between a position of the tires and one of said two pairs of slide forks by receiving a signal from a position sensor mounted on a respective one of said two pairs of slide forks;
• and
• said hold distance control means controlling a distance between one pair of said two pairs of slide forks by driving the hold distance changing means in response to an output signal from the position calculation means corresponding to the relationship between a position of the tires and such one pair of slide forks.

An apparatus for transferring a motor vehicle, comprising:

• a frame body;
• two pairs of slide forks, each of which holds front wheels and rear wheels of a motor vehicle, respectively, and moves the motor vehicle, said two pairs of slide forks moving in a direction perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the frame body;
• a first pair of said two pairs of slide forks being positioned on a side of said frame body corresponding to the front wheels, and a second pair of said two pairs of slide forks being positioned on a side of said frame body corresponding to the rear wheels;
• a first adjusting means for adjusting a distance between said first pair of slide forks and said second pair of slide forks to be equal to a distance between a shaft of the front wheels and a shaft of the rear wheels, said first adjusting means being positioned on at least one side selected from the side of said frame body corresponding to the front wheels and the side of said frame body corresponding to the rear wheels, and said first adjusting means moving at least one pair of said two pairs of slide forks in a longitudinal direction of the frame body;
• and
• a second adjusting means for adjusting a hold distance between slide forks forming each of said first pair of slide forks and said second pair of slide forks, said hold distance being adjusted to a diameter of tires on each of the wheels;
• said second adjusting means comprising a fork position detection means, a hold distance control means and a hold distance changing means;
• said hold distance control means having an alarm device for stopping advancement of the two pairs of slide forks by outputting an alarm when the relationship between the tires and an associated pair of said two pairs of slide forks is judged as being abnormal.

A multistory parking lot comprising:

• an entrance of the multistory parking lot;
• a rack for containing a motor vehicle;
• an apparatus for transferring a motor vehicle to the rack for containing a motor vehicle, said apparatus having:
• a frame body;
• two pairs of slide forks, each of which holds front wheels and rear wheels, respectively, and moves the vehicle, said two pairs of slide forks moving in a direction perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the frame body;
• a first pair of said two pairs of slide forks being positioned on a side of said frame body corresponding to the front wheels, and a second pair of said two pairs of slide forks being positioned on a side of said frame body corresponding to the rear wheels;
• a first adjusting means for adjusting a distance between said first pair of slide forks and said second pair of slide forks to be equal to a distance between a shaft of the front wheels and a shaft of the rear wheels, said first adjusting means being positioned on at least one side selected from the side of said frame body corresponding to the front wheels and the side of said frame body corresponding to the rear wheels, and said first adjusting means moving at least one pair of said two pairs of slide forks in a longitudinal direction of the frame body;
• and
• a second adjusting means for adjusting a distance between the first pair of slide forks and the second pair of slide forks, the distance between the slide forks being adjusted to a diameter of tires on each of the wheels;
• and
• a safety apparatus positioned at the entrance of the multistory parking lot, said safety apparatus comprising:
• a positioning means for guiding a motor vehicle and determining a stop position of the motor vehicle, said positioning means rising and guiding said front wheels and said rear wheels of the motor vehicle when the motor vehicle approaches the entrance and positioning at least one of the front wheels and the rear wheels of the motor vehicle;
• a motor vehicle position detection means for detecting whether a position of a stopped motor vehicle is appropriate or not, said motor vehicle position detection means having a plurality of sensors for detecting a stop position of a motor vehicle;
• an area sensor means for detecting a position of wheels different from wheels whose position is determined by the positioning means, said area sensor being arranged along a path positioned at a predetermined distance from the positioning means and having a predetermined length;
• a shaft distance calculation means for calculating a distance between a shaft of said front wheels and a shaft of said rear wheels of a motor vehicle having entered the multistory parking lot, said shaft distance calculation means calculating a distance between the shaft of said front wheels and the shaft of said rear wheels on the basis of a signal from the area sensor means, a position stored previously, a distance from the area sensor means and a length of the area sensor means;
• and
• an output means for sending various information to the apparatus for transferring a motor vehicle.