Material handling system

Claim 1

A material handling fork lift vehicle for handling palletized loads in a room having a ceiling, said vehicle comprising: a. a divided wheeled chassis having a forward section and a rearward section spaced apart from each other; b. a high-rise rack tower on said forward section of said chassis; c. said rack tower including a plurality of greater than three receiving compartments arranged vertically one above the other; d. a high-rise mast of fixed height secured in fixed position on said rearward section of said chassis and spaced rearwardly from said rack tower; e. the upper end portion of said mast being connected by a horizontal bridge portion to the upper end of saiD rack tower, whereby said rack tower, mast and bridge portion form an archlike structure having a through opening from the bridge portion down to the surface on which said wheeled chassis is supported; f. two horizontally disposed tie bars, each connected between one side of said mast and the corresponding side of said rack tower, each tie bar being vertically adjustable to provide structural support to said arch-like structure at any selected vertical level; g. roller means at said bridge portion adapted to cooperate with guide rail means supported from the ceiling to provide lateral support for said high-rise rack tower and mast; h. a carriage arranged for vertical guided movement along said mast, said carriage including an operator station which projects outside of said mast from that side of said mast which is opposite said rack tower; i. hydraulic cylinder means for raising and lowering said carriage; j. an overhead protective guard for said operator station and movable therewith; k. a fork lift assembly supported on said mast and having forks projecting therefrom; l. said fork lift assembly including pivot means for pivoting said fork through 180* to direct said fork toward either side of said chassis or toward said rack tower; m. said pivot means being mounted on said carriage and positioned between said mast and said rack tower; n. said fork lift assembly also including scissors-like extension and retraction means for moving said fork into and out of any selected one of said rack tower compartments and for moving said fork laterally outwardly to either side of said chassis through said opening in said arch-like structure, said arch-like structured chassis allowing said fork to engage a load on either side of said chassis at the level of the supporting surface for said wheeled chassis.