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AssigneeKEURO Besitz GmbH & Co. EDV-Dienstleistungs KG
InventorValentin Meier
Estimating the term…
A gantry crane for storing (or removing) long cassettes containing rod-shaped material on (or from) racks for supporting such cassettes at both rack ends travels on rails raised above the bottom of an array of such racks, but only part way up to the tops of the racks which the crane bridges over with its traveling bridge. There are aisles between the parallel racks and each rack can be loaded on either of its sides. Load-lifting forks at each rack end can be lowered into an aisle from above and then, with a movement of the crane, inserted below a cassette on either side of the aisle to remove it, center it in the aisle, lift it above the racks and transport it to another aisle for lowering into a work place or storing it in a different place. The load-lifting forks are guided in a usual way above the rails, but a guide member that does not otherwise extend below the rail level is constrained to be moved with a load-lifting fork when that fork moves below the rail level, in order to guide the load-lifting forks in that height range. The constraints are provided by chains, some of which are driven, and two of which have one end connected to a counterweight.
A gantry crane apparatus for long article storage racks in the form of a traveling crane having crane columns (8) and a bridge member (9) bridging said storage racks, and mounted on rails for traveling over a parallel and aligned array of said storage racks in aisles between the storage racks,
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.