Warehousing and inventory control of automobile and truck tires

Claim 1

A structure for warehousing round objects comprising a building subdivided into a plurality of chutes positioned adjacent each other in vertical and horizontal rows, each having a discharge opening and an inlet opening elevated with respect to said discharge opening, said openings of each chute being connected by a runway that is inclined downwardly from the inlet opening to tHe discharge opening, a first set of pressure-responsive switches positioned, one in each chute near the inlet opening thereof, a second set of pressure-responsive switches positioned, one in each chute near the discharge opening thereof, an ejector arm movably mounted in each chute, said ejector arm being normally positioned at rest in the path of a first object located adjacent the discharge opening of the chute, a brake arm movably mounted in each chute normally positioned at rest out of the path of a second object located adjacent said first object in said chute, control means for selectively moving said ejector arm out of the path of said first object and for moving the brake arm into the path of said second object so that only the first object is discharged from said chute, visual numerical display means connected with said first and said second set of switches for providing a visual display representing the number of objects placed into each chute and the number of objects discharged from each chute, conveyor means associated with said chutes for receiving objects discharged therefrom and conveying the same away therefrom, deflector means suspended adjacent the discharge openings of said chutes operable to direct an object discharged from a chute onto the conveyor means, and door means for selectively closing the inlet openings of said chutes, said door means being provided with a plurality of thermostatically-controlled fire extinguishing units mounted thereon, with one unit being disposed adjacent each inlet opening with said door means in a closed position.