Driverless guided vehicle

Claim 1

A driverless guided vehicle movable along a guide path on a floor which vehicle comprises: (a) an elongated body including a pair of drive wheels disposed intermediate opposite ends thereof; (b) a pair of wheel support devices mounted on the opposite ends of said body, respectively, each of said wheel support devices comprising a base supporting a driven wheel for rotation about a horizontal axis, and a coil spring interposed and acting between said body and said base for permitting vertical movement of said wheel support device relative to said body, said driven wheel being in the form of a caster rotatable about a vertical axis; (c) a pair of arms extending horizontally along the length of said body and fixedly secured at their one ends to said bases, respectively; (d) a mounting plate mounted on said body intermediate opposite ends thereof, said pair of arms being connected together at their other ends and pivotally mounted on said mounting plate by a horizontally-disposed pin extending through the other ends of said arms and said mounting plate; the axis of said pin being disposed in a vertical plane in which the axis of each drive wheel lies, and said vertical plane being disposed perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of said body; and (e) a detecting means for detecting the guide path and sensible markings along the guide path, said detecting means being mounted on one of said bases.