Apparatus for positioning battery-operated road vehicles at battery replacement stations

Claim 1

Apparatus for positioning battery operated road vehicles which have battery compartments at battery replacement stations wherein fresh batteries are moved toward or spent batteries are moved away from the compartments of vehicles along a predetermined path, comprising a threshold structure which can be traversed by the wheels of a vehicle and includes a ground-contacting first carriage movable back and forth in a first direction, and a second carriage movable in said first carriage back and forth in a second direction substantially at right angles to said first direction, said second carriage being adapted to support the wheels of a single set of aligned wheels on a vehicle which is driven onto said structure in the general direction of movement of said first carriage and said second carriage having socket means arranged to receive at least one wheel of said single set of aligned wheels, the movement of said first carriage resulting in movement of the vehicle in said first direction and the movement of said second carriage resulting in a change of orientation of the vehicle about a substantially vertical axis while said set of aligned wheels is supported by said second carriage when the movement of at least one of said carriages is necessary to move the compartment of the vehicle at said station to an optimum position with respect to said path; and means for driving said second carriage in said second direction.