Container storage installation

Claim 1

In a container storage installation comprising: a warehouse having a plurality of elongated, container-receiving cells arranged in an array of rows and columns, a servicing passageway common to said cells and into which each cell opens by one end, and a container loading- and unloading unit displaceable horizontally and vertically in the said passageway for loading and unloading a container lengthwise into and from a selected cell, each cell having floor members supporting a container in the cell, and wherein the container comprises a standard corner block at each of its four lower corners, the improvement wherein: the said floor members in each cell comprise a pair of transversely spaced guide rails extending longitudinally of the cell throughout substantially the whole length of the latter, and a trolly bridging the rails and having a container-supporting upper surface providing a support for a restricted lower front-edge region only of the container substantially corresponding to the lower corner blocks at that end, said trolly being freely rollable on the rails under a thrust applied thereto by a container during loading and unloading into and from the cell; the rails in each cell are sloping towards the passageway whereby, as the leading end of a container being pushed into a cell takes its support on the trolly, the latter is entrained by the container to climb along the rails thereby to gradually lift the said leading end of the container; the said loading- and unloading unit comprises a horizontally elongated elevator platform capable of supporting a container on its upper face, and a carriage displaceable on said face from one end to the other end of the platform, said carriage having thereon first means for gripping a container on the platform by an end pair of the corner blocks at the lower rear-edge region of the container to push and pull the container lengthwise thereof for respectively loading and unloading a cell and second means engageable with said end pair of blocks at the lower rear-edge region of said container to raise and lower said rear-edge region relative to said carriage to assist in the transfer of said container; and wherein the end section of the platform adjacent the warehouse comprises transfer means for delivering to the trolly the said lower front-edge region of a container supported by the platform as the container is pushed by the carriage, said transfer means comprising a power-actuated pad in the upper face of the platform arranged to reciprocate longitudinally of the platform while lifting the said end region of the container by engagement with a corner block in said region.