Warehousing system

Claim 1

IN AN ARTICLE HANDLING SYSTEM, THE COMBINATION OF ARTICLE STORAGE MEANS INCLUDING A PLURALITY OF STORAGE MEMBERS ARRANGED IN A HORIZONTAL ROW, EACH OF SAID STORAGE MEANS CONTAINING A PLURALITY OF IDENTICAL ARTICLES DIFFERENT FROM ARTICLES IN OTHER OF SAID STORAGE MEANS; A FRAME MOVABLE ALONG SAID ROW OF STORAGE MEANS; STOCK PICKING MEANS ON SAID FRAME INCLUDING A PLURALITY OF HORIZONTALLY SPACED RECIPROCATING PICKING MEMBERS; ARTICLE RECEIVING MEANS ON SAID FRAME; GRAVITY FEED DELIVERY MEANS ON SAID FRAME FOR DELIVERING PICKED ARTICLES FROM SAID PICKING MEANS TO SAID RECEIVING MEANS; CONVEYOR MEANS BENEATH SAID FRAME PARALLEL TO SAID ROW OF STORAGE MEMBERS, SAID ARTICLE RECEIVING MEANS BEING HORIZONTALLY POSITIONED BETWEEN SAID STORAGE MEMBERS AND SAID CONVEYOR MEANS; SORTING MEANS ON SAID FRAME FOR MOVING ARTICLES FROM SAID RECEIVING MEANS TO SELECTED TRANSVERSE POSITIONS ON SAID CONVEYOR MEANS INCLUDING MEANS FOR TRANSPORTING ARTICLES FROM SAID RECEIVING MEANS TRANSVERSELY ACROSS SAID CONVEYOR MEANS AND MEANS FOR TRANSFERRING THE ARTICLES FROM SAID TRANSPORTING MEANS TO SAID CONVEYOR MEANS AT SAID SELECTED TRANSVERSE POSITIONS, SAID TRANSPORTING MEANS INCLUDING A PLURALITY OF TRANSPORTING PORTIONS SPACED LONGITUDINALLY ALONG SAID CONVEYOR MEANS EACH CONSTRUCTED AND ARRANGED TO TRANSPORT THE ARTICLES PICKED BY ONE OF SAID PICKING MEMBERS AND SAID TRANSFER MEANS INCLUDING A TRANSFER MEMBER AT EACH OF SAID SELECTED TRANSVERSE CONVEYOR POSITIONS FOR EACH OF SAID TRANSPORTING PORTIONS; AND MEANS FOR SIMULTANEOUSLY ENERGIZING A SELECTED PICKING MEMBER AND A SELECTED ONE OF SAID TRANSFER MEMBERS AT SAID TRANSPORTING PORTION ASSOCIATED WITH SAID PICKING MEMBER.