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US 6,206,127 B1Granted
Lead wheel steering system for a gantry crane
AssigneeMi-Jack Products, Inc.
InventorsDaniel Brian Zakula, Sr., Myron Glickman, David A. Eckerd
Life of this patent
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AssigneeMi-Jack Products, Inc.
InventorsDaniel Brian Zakula, Sr., Myron Glickman, David A. Eckerd
Estimating the term…
A steering apparatus and method are provided for a gantry crane with four corner-mounted wheel assemblies having steerable wheels. The crane is a type which drivable in either longitudinal or transverse directions, wherein steering control is automatically switched steering control to the “leading” wheels, or more particularly the wheels of the “leading” pair of wheel assemblies. The system detects which two of the wheel assemblies are leading, whether the crane is moving longitudinally frontwardly or rearwardly, or transversly rightward or leftward. The system includes a steering controller which controls steering actuators in such a manner that the wheels of the then-leading wheel assemblies are moved according to steering control input, while the wheels of a remaining pair of then-“trailing” wheel assemblies are moved to and/or held in, a straight alignment.
A steering system for a gantry crane having at least four wheel assemblies arranged in a quadrilateral pattern, each said wheel assembly includes at least one wheel, the wheels being cooperatively pivotable such that said crane is selectively operable along either a longitudinal axis or a perpendicular transverse axis, the steering system comprising:
A gantry crane having:
A method for steering a gantry crane, the gantry crane having a rigid frame, a right front wheel assembly, a left front wheel assembly, a right rear wheel assembly and a left rear wheel assembly, mounted to the frame in a generally quadrilateral manner, each of the wheel assemblies includes one or more wheels, each of the wheels being pivotable for alignment to roll in a selected forward or rearward direction along a longitudinal axis or in a rightward or leftward direction along a transverse axis perpendicular to the longitudinal axis, the method comprising the steps of:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.