GB2459458A

GB2459458A - A means for rotating a cart

Info

Publication number: GB2459458A
Application number: GB0807326A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Jan Gromelski; Alexis Facey; Kelvin Green
Original assignee: Honda Motor Co Ltd
Current assignee: Honda Motor Co Ltd
Priority date: 2008-04-22
Filing date: 2008-04-22
Publication date: 2009-10-28
Anticipated expiration: 2028-04-22
Also published as: GB2459458B; JP2009262322A; GB0807326D0

Abstract

A cart rotation apparatus is provided that is capable of turning a cart, particularly a cart for containing parts on a vehicle assembly line. The cart rotation apparatus 1 includes: a flat base 2 to be placed on the floor; a travel portion 3 capable of travelling on an upper face of the base; a drive means 4 which drives the travel portion to advance from a first position (figure 1) to a second position (figure 3) on the base, and to retreat from the second position to the first position; and a rotary table 5 provided to be rotatable on an upper face of the travel portion. The second position is higher from the floor than the first position. The drive means may include a pair of piston and cylinders 42, 41 arranged to either side of the travel portion, the latter comprising two pairs of wheels 32, 33 which travel up on to the top of blocks 24 when the pistons are actuated, thus lifting the travel portion and the rotary table to its elevated second position. When elevated from the floor the cart may be rotated by a user.

Description

CART ROTATION APPARATUS

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a cart rotation apparatus.

Related Art In a well-known process of manufacturing vehicle, workers assemble parts onto work pieces which are conveyed on a production line. Carts containing the parts to be assembled are placed near the workers, with the aim of smooth flow of assembly work.

The workers can quickly grasp parts which are put in the front side of a cart. However, the workers need to reach out hands to grasp parts which are placed deep in the rear side of the cart. This is a problem which burdens workers.

The cart may then be turned around so that the parts placed in the rear side are constantly positioned in the near side of the workers. However, the weight of the parts is often so heavy that the workers cannot easily turn the cart around.

To address the problem as described above, for example, the use of a jack as follows has been proposed (see Unexamined Japanese Patent Application, First Publication No. 2003-12282) The jack has a seat, a link mechanism which lifts up and lowers down the seat, and a cylinder portion which drives the link mechanism. The link mechanism has a drive arm and a slave arm that stand up and lie down in accordance with reciprocation of a cylinder rod in the cylinder portion. A disk is provided to be rotatable on the seat.

According to the proposal as described above, the cart is located above the seat with the link mechanism laid down.

Next, the cylinder portion is driven to let the link mechanism stand up. Accordingly, the cart is lifted up by the seat. The cart is thereafter turned around to face in a reverse direction. Subsequently, the cylinder portion is driven to lay down the link mechanism. The seat is accordingly returned to the original height. In this manner, the direction of the cart is reversed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

However, the proposal as described above is configured so that the cart is lifted up by arms. The arms may, therefore, deform when a cart which is heavy in weight is lifted up.

The present invention hence aims to provide a cart rotation apparatus which is capable of rotating a cart even when the cart is heavy in weight.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a cart rotation apparatus (e.g., a cart rotation apparatus 1 described later) for rotating a cart, includes: a flat base portion (e.g., a base portion 2 also described later) that is placed on a floor face; a travel portion (e.g., a travel portion 3 also described later) that is capable of travelling on an upper face of the base portion; a drive portion (e.g., drive portions 4 also described later) that drives the travel portion to advance from a first position (e.g., a first position 21 also described later) to a second position (e.g, a second position 22 also described later) on the base portion and to retreat from the second position to the first position; and a rotary table (e.g., a rotary table 5 also described later) that is provided to be rotatable on an upper face of the travel portion, in which the second position is higher from the floor face than the first position.

According to the present invention, the cart rotation apparatus operates in a manner as follows.

First, the travel portion is positioned at the first position on the upper face of the base portion. In this state, an operator moves a cart so that the cart is positioned above the rotary table. In this state, a clearance exists between the rotary table and an under face of the cart.

Next, the drive portion is driven to move the travel portion to the second position from the first position. Then, the height of the travel portion from the floor face increases gradually. Accordingly, the height of the rotary table from the floor face also increases gradually. Since the rotary table is positioned under the cart, the rotary table supports and lifts up the cart in accordance with the increase in height of the rotary table from the floor face.

Next, the operator rotates the cart to turn around, and subsequently drives the drive portion to return the travel portion to the first position. The rotary table accordingly returns to the original position, and recovers the original height from the floor face. Support of the cart by the rotary table is thereby released.

Thus, the direction of the cart is rotated when the cart is supported by the rotary table. The direction of the cart can, therefore, be easily reversed.

According to the present invention, the direction of a cart is rotated with the cart supported by a rotary table. The cart can, therefore, easily be turned around.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cart rotation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which a travel portion is positioned at a first position; FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the cart rotation apparatus according to the embodiment; and FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the cart rotation apparatus according to the embodiment, in which the travel portion is positioned at a second position.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

An embodiment of the present invention is described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cart rotation apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, and shows a state in which a travel portion is located at a first position. Fig. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the cart rotation apparatus according to the embodiment.

The cart rotation apparatus 1 is to rotate a cart, which is not shown. The cart rotation apparatus 1 includes a flat base portion 2, a travel portion 3, a pair of drive portions 4, and a. rotary table 5. The base portion 2 is placed on a floor face. The travel portion 3 is capable of traveling on an upper face of the base portion 2. The pair of drive portions 4 drive the travel portion 3 to advance and retreat between the first position 21 and a second position 22 on the base portion 2. The rotary table 5 is provided on an upper face of the travel portion 3.

The travel portion 3 includes a travel portion body 31, a first pair of travel wheels 32, a second pair of travel wheels 33, and a frame 34. The travel portion body 31 has a rectangular flat shape. The first pair of travel wheels 32 is provided on a first end side of the travel portion body 31.

The second pair of travel wheels 33 is provided at a second end side of the travel portion body 31. The frame 34 is provided on the first end side of the travel portion body 31 and is connected to the drive portions 4.

The pairs of travel wheels 32 and 33 have parallel axles.

Therefore, the travel portion 3 is capable of reciprocating in fixed directions on the upper face of the base portion 2.

The rotary table 5 has a disk-like shape, and is supported rotatably on the upper face of the travel portion body 31.

The base portion 2 has a flat base 23, four protrusions 24, a pair of holding portions 25, and a pair of connection portions 26. The four protrusions 24 are provided on the base 23. The pair of holding portions 25 hold the pair of travel wheels 32 of the travel portion 3. The connection portions 26 are connected to the drive portions 4.

The base 23 has a substantially horizontal upper face 231.

The protrusions 24 each have a profile which substantially resembles a trapezoid. Each of the protrusions 24 has an upper face 242 substantially parallel to the upper face 231 of the base 23, and a slope 241 extending to the upper face 242 from the upper face 231 of the base 23.

Portions of the upper face 231 of the base 23 which contact with lower edges of the slopes 241 each are referred to as a first position 21. Portions of the upper faces 242 of the protrusions 24 which contact with upper edges of the slopes 241 each are referred to as a second position 22.

The height of each second position 22 from the floor face is, therefore, greater than the height of each first position 21 from the floor face.

The holding portions 25 extend beyond the upper faces 242 of the protrusions 24, and have top ends which are substantially parallel to the upper faces 242 of the protrusions 24. When the travel wheels 32 on a first end side of the travel portion 3 are positioned on the upper faces 242 of the protrusions 24, these travel wheels 32 are sandwiched between the top ends of the holding portions 25 and the upper faces of the protrusions 24.

The pair of drive portions 4 are provided so as to extend along lengthwise directions of the protrusions 24, with the travel portion 3 sandwiched between the pair of drive portions 4. Each pair of drive portions 4 has a cylinder 41, and a piston 42 which is disposed to be slideable in the cylinder 41. A control portion provided with a foot pedal not shown is connected to the drive portions 4. An operator drives the pair of drive portions 4 by stepping on the foot pedal.

The cylinders 41 are connected, at base end sides thereof, to the connection portions 26 of the base portion 2 by fastening members 43. The pistons 42 are connected, at top end sides thereof, to the frame 34 of the travel portion 3 by fastening members 43 as well.

In the drive portions 4, a fluid is fed and flows *into the cylinders 41 when the operator steps on the foot pedal.

The pistons 42 are thereby driven to advance along the lengthwise directions of the protrusions 24. Therefore, the travel portion 3 advances toward the second position 22 along with protrusion 24 from the first position 21.

On the other hand, the fluid is discharged from inside of the cylinders 41 when the operator steps on the foot pedal again. The pistons 42 are thereby driven to retreat along the lengthwise directions of the protrusions 24. Therefore, the travel portion 3 retreats from the second position 22 to the first position 21 along the protrusions 24 as travel rails.

Next, operation of the travel portion 3 is described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 3.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the cart rotation apparatus 1, and shows a state in which the travel portion 3 is positioned at the second position 22.

Firstly, the operator operates the control portion to retreat the pistons 42, so that the travel wheels 32 and 33 are positioned at the first position 21 on the upper face of the base portion 2 (see FIG. 1) In this state, the operator moves the cart to locate the cart above the rotary table 5. In this state, a clearance exists between the rotary table 5 and an under face of the cart.

Next, the operator operates the control portion to drive the drive portions 4 so that the travel wheels 32 and 33 of the travel portion 3 move from the first position 21 to the second position 22. Then, the height of the travel portion 3 from the floor face increases gradually. Accordingly, the height of the rotary table 5 from the floor face also increases gradually. Since the rotary table 5 is positioned under the cart, the rotary table 5 comes to support and then lifts up the cart in accordance with the increase in height of the rotary table 5 from the floor face.

Next, the operator turns the cart around to reverse the direction of the cart. By further operating the control portion, the operator controls the pistons 42 to retreat so that the travel portion 3 returns to the first position 21.

Then, the rotary table 5 also returns to the original first position 21, and the rotary table 5 accordingly recovers to the original height from the floor face. Support of the cart by the rotary table 5 is thereby released.

Thus, the direction of the cart is changed by rotating the cart with the cart supported on the rotary table 5. The cart can, therefore, be easily rotated to turn around.

According to the present embodiment, the following effect is attained.

1. With the cart positioned above the rotary table 5, an operator drives the drive portions 4 to move the travel portion 3 from the first position 21 to the second position 22. The cart is thereby lifted accordingly by the rotary table 5. Then, the operator rotates the cart and reverses the direction of the cart. Subsequently, the operator drives the drive portions 4 to return the travel portion 3 to the first position 21. Then, the support of the cart by the rotary table is released.

Thus, the operator turns the cart around with the cart supported by the rotary table 5. Accordingly, the direction of the cart can be reversed easily.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above, but modifications and improvements to the invention are also included in the scope of the invention insofar as the object of the invention can be achieved by such modifications and improvements.