Driverless guided vehicle

Claim 2

1 ' A driverless guided vehicle movable along a guide path on a floor which vehicle comprises: (a) a body; (b) a wheel support device for supporting-a wheel disposed in rolling engagementwith the floor, said wheel support device being resiliently mounted on the body for vertical movement relative to said body; and (c) a detecting means for detecting the guide path and sensible markings along the guide path, said detecting means being fixedly secured to said wheel support device.

Claim 3

A driverless guided vehicle according to claim 1, in which said wheel support device comprises a resilient means through which said wheel support device is resiliently mounted on said body.

Claim 4

A driverless guided vehicle according to claim 2, in which said wheel support device comprises a base, the wheel being rotatably connected to said base, said resilient means being interposed between said base and said body, and said detecting means being mounted on said base.

Claim 5

A driverless guided vehicle according to claim 3, in which said body has a mounting portion, a shaft projecting upwardly from said base and extending slidably through said mounting portion, said shaft having at its upper end a retaining portion for preventing said shaft from becoming withdrawn from said mounting portion, and said resilient means being mounted around said shaft and interposed between said base and said mounting portion.

Claim 6

A driverless guided vehicle according to claim 3, in which said body has a mounting portion, a spline hub projecting upwardly from said base and extending sliclably through said mounting portion, said spline hub having a its upper end a retaining portion for preventing said hub from becoming withdrawn from said mounting portion, a vertical spline shaft being fixedly secured to said body at Its upper end and received in said spline hub for longitudinal movement therealong, and said resi- lient means being mounted around said spline shaft. and interposed between said hub and said body.

Claim 7

A driverless guided vehicle according to claim 4 or claim 5, in which said resilient means comprises a compression coil spring.

Claim 8

A driverless guided vehicle according to claim 4 or claim 5, in which said resilient means comprises a plurality of compression springs, said compression springs having different heights so thattheir upper ends being vertically spaced.

Claim 9

A driverless guided vehicle according to claim 7, in which each compression spring has a greater spring cnstantthan its adjacent longer compression spring has.

Claim 10

A driverless guided vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 8 in which said body comprises a 4 GB 2 121741 A 4 pair of drive wheels disposed centrally of the length of said body and a free wheel disposed at one end of said body, said first-mentioned wheel being a free wheel disposed at the other end of the body.

Claim 11

A driverless guided vehicle according to claim 9, in which said free wheel at the one end of said body is also supported by another wheel support device identical in construction to said wheel support device. Printed for Her Majesty's Stationery Office, by Croydon Printing Company Limited. Croydon. Surrey. 1984. Published by The Patent Office, 25 Southampton Buildings. London, WC2A lAY, from which copies may be obtained. f W 1 41