Laser lighting assembly mounted on a forklift

• US 6,411,210 B1
• Filed: 11/20/2000
• Issued: 06/25/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Donald A. Moser, Forrest D. Sower
• Original Assignee: Donald A. Moser, Forrest D. Sower
• Inventors: Sower, Forrest D., Moser, Donald A.
• Primary Examiner(s): La, Ahn V
• Application Number:
  US09/718,184
• Time in Patent Office: 582 Days
• Field of Search: 340/557, 340/555, 340/556, 340/903, 340/686.2, 340/686.6, 180/167, 250/491.1, 356/152.2, 356/138
• US Class Current: 340/557
• CPC Class Codes: B66F 9/0755 Position control; Position detectors

Abstract

A laser lighting assembly, mounted on a forklift, will be projecting a light beam parallel to and in the same plane as a fork, which itself is parallel to a floor or ground level. Until the forks are parallel to the floor or ground level the laser light will not be continuously on. When an operator of the forklift is adjusting the forks to be level, and then parallel to the floor or ground level, as the level positions are being approached, the laser light appears in a blinking sequence with the off periods initially being longer and then becoming shorter as the level positions are approached. Then when the level positions of the forks are reached the laser light is on full time. In addition, a laser light beam is provided which projects as a planar beam of light to match the planar location of both of the projecting forks of the forklift, and the operator then, if necessary, adjusts his or her controls of the forklift to insure the forks will also be in the same planar location of the fork receiving volume of the loaded pallet while remaining parallel to the floor or ground level.

Claims

1. A directable high intensity beam of light assembly, which is a laser light assembly, mountable on a forklift or a lifting and carrying equipment, so a beam of light, when turned on and projected forwardly, will always be parallel to and in the same horizontal plane of the forks of the forklift or the lifting and carrying equipments, which themselves, in respect to their respective lengths are both horizontal and parallel to a floor level or a ground level, and when the beam of light reaches a load on a pallet the reflections of the projected light beam will always be essentially observable by an operator of the lifting and carrying equipment or the forklift, until the reflections disappears, when the forks are moved to the level of a fork receiving volume of the pallet, and when the reflections disappear, the operator moves the forklift toward a loaded pallet and the forks enter the receiving volume of the pallet without any unwanted contact of the forks with any portion of the load, and without any unwanted tilting of the pallet which otherwise might cause the load to slidably tilt, thereby avoiding any possible damage to the load, which might otherwise occur when the movement of the forklift is undertaken with the forks improperly positioned comprising:

a) a first housing to receive some of components of said directable high intensity beam of light assembly, which is a laser light creating unit, is adaptable for securement to the fork of the lifting and carrying or the equipment or the forklift, so a beam of light projecting axis of the laser light assembly is arrangeable to be parallel to an extended axis of the fork or a projecting support;

b) the directable high intensity beam of light assembly, which is the laser light assembly, further comprising;

i) said laser light creating unit secured in the first housing;

ii) a circuitry for extending between the components of the laser light assembly;

iii) a second housing being adaptable to be secured to a vertical support directly supporting a horizontal portion of the fork, whereby the second housing internally positions portions of the circuitry, and other components of the laser light assembly;

iv) a manually operated switch positioned by the second housing and connected to the circuitry and moved to be in a selected position of three positions which are off, continuous, and automatic;

v) automatically operated switches positioned by the second housing and connected to the circuitry to respectively shut off electrical energy going to the laser light creating unit during respective operating times of the forklift when the manually operated switch is positioned in the automatic position, and

vi) connectors to connect the circuitry to a source of the electrical energy.

2. The directable high intensity beam of light assembly, which is the laser light assembly, mountable on the forklift or lifting and carrying equipment, as claimed in claim 1, whereby to only have the electrical energy going to the laser light creating unit when the forks have arrived at a pre set elevation and have gone above this pre set elevation, an arrangement of infra-red wave energy components are included in the high intensity beam of light assembly, comprising:

a) an infra-red generator and emitter, having its own housing, a replaceable battery within its housing to supply the electric energy, Land in adjustable attaching means to position its housing on a selected high frame portion of the forklift, so the lowest elevation of the emitted infra-red wave energy will be received when the second housing has reached a specific locale above the floor or ground level during operations of the forklift;

b) an infra-red receiving module is positioned in the second housing, so when the second housing secured to the vertical support, supporting the horizontal portion of the fork, reaches the specific locale, when the pre set elevation of the forks has been reached if exceeded, the infra-red wave energy will be received to operate one of the automatic switches, to thereafter direct the electrical energy to the laser light creating unit, so the reflections of the laser light beam will be readily observed at the higher elevations of the forks, when the forks have not as yet reached a selected fork receiving volume of the pallet, yet when the selected fork receiving volume of the pallet is reached, the reflections of the laser light beam will no longer be observable by the operator and he or she may move the forklift forward to successfully lift the pallet without damaging the load, yet when the operator is raising and lowering the forks at the lower elevations, the laser light creating unit will not be receiving electrical energy, and therefore no reflections will be observable, nor will any person walking in the operational area be able to directly look into the laser beam of light thereby avoiding being startled or perceivably being concerned about directly looking into the laser beam of light.

3. The directable high intensity beam of light assembly, which is the laser light assembly mounted on the forklift or lifting and carrying equipment, as claimed in claim 1, whereby to only have the electrical energy going to the laser light creating unit when the forks are parallel to the floor level or ground level, one of the automatically operated switches positioned by the second housing and connected to the circuitry includes a level sensing component which senses whether or not the forks are parallel to the floor level or the ground level, and when the forks are so level, the automatically operated switch closes and the electrically energy is directed to the laser light creating unit.

4. The directable high intensity beam of light assembly, which is the laser light assembly mountable on the forklift or lifting and carrying equipment, as claimed in claim 3 whereby, to assist the operator of the forklift in adjusting the forks to be parallel to the floor level or the ground level, the automatically operated switch and the associated circuitry include an means used to commence the blinking of the laser light beam, first having long intervals between blinks, and then shortening the intervals between blinks until the forks become parallel to the floor or ground level, when the electrical energy is automatically fully switched through the automatically operated switch to reach the laser light creating unit, thereby providing a constant laser light beam directable upon maneuvering the forklift toward the loaded pallet, where the reflections of the laser light beam are observable on the load, and the reflections are not observable, when the laser light beam enters the fork receiving volume of the pallet.

5. The directable high intensity beam of light assembly, which is laser light assembly mountable on the forklift or lifting and carrying equipment, as claimed in claim 2, whereby to only have the electrical energy going to the laser light creating unit when the forks are parallel to the floor level or the ground level, one of the automatically operated switches positioned by the second housing and connected to the circuitry includes a level sensing component which senses whether or not the forks are parallel to the floor level or the ground level, and when the forks are so level, the automatically operated switch closes and electrically energy is directed to the laser light creating unit.

6. The directable high intensity beam of light assembly, which is the laser light assembly mountable on the forklift or lifting and carrying equipment, as claimed in claim 5, whereby to assist the operator of the forklift in adjusting the forks to be parallel to the floor level or the ground level, the automatically operated switch and the associated circuitry include a means used to commence the blinking of the laser light beam, first having long intervals between blinks, and then shortening the intervals between blinks until the forks become parallel to the floor level or ground level, when the electrical energy is automatically fully switched through the automatically operated switch to reach the laser light creating unit, thereby providing a constant laser light beam directable upon maneuvering the forklift toward loaded pallets, where the reflections of the laser light beam are observable on the load, and the reflections are not observable, when the laser light beam enters the fork receiving volume of the pallet.

7. The directable high intensity beam of light assembly, which is the laser light assembly, mountable on the forklift or lifting and carrying equipment, as claimed in claim 1, whereby to only have the electrical energy going to the laser light creating unit when the forklift is being operated, a means is provided to detect when the forklift has not moved for a preset time period, and then one of the automatically operated switches is opened to stop the flow of the electrical energy to the laser light creating unit, until the operator again moves the forklift and this switch is automatically closed again.

8. The directable high intensity beam of first assembly, which is the laser light assembly, mountable on the forklift or lifting and carrying equipment, as claimed in claim 2, whereby to only have the electrical energy going to the laser light creating unit when the forklift is being operated, a means in provided to detect when the forklift has not moved for a pre-set time period, and then one of the automatically operated switches is opened to stop the flow of electrical energy to the laser light creating unit, until the operator again moves the forklift and this switch is automatically closed again.

9. The directable high intensity beam of first assembly, which is the laser light assembly, mountable on the forklift or lifting and carrying equipment, as claimed in claim 3, whereby to only have the electrical energy going to the laser light creating unit when the forklift is being operated, a means in provided to detect when the forklift has not moved for a pre-set time period, and then one of the automatically operated switches is opened to stop the flow of the electrical energy to the laser light creating unit, until the operator again moves the forklift and this switch is automatically closed again.

10. The directable high intensity beam of first assembly, which is the laser light assembly, mountable on the forklift or lifting and carrying equipment, as claimed in claim 4, whereby to only have the electrical energy going to the laser light creating unit when the forklift is being operated, a means in provided to detect when the forklift has not moved for a pre-set time period, and then one of the automatically operated switches is opened to stop the flow of the electrical energy to the laser light creating unit, until the operator again moves the forklift and this switch is automatically closed again.

11. The directable high intensity beam of light assembly which is the laser light assembly, mountable on the forklift or lifting and carrying equipment, as claimed in claim 1, comprising in addition the source of the electrical energy which is a battery.

12. The directable high intensity beam of light assembly, which is the laser light assembly, mountable on the forklift or lifting and carrying equipment, as claimed in claim 2, comprising in addition the source of the electrical energy which is a battery.

13. The directable high intensity beam of light assembly, which is the laser light assembly, mountable on the forklift or lifting and carrying equipment, as claimed in claim 3, comprising in addition the source of the electrical energy which is a battery.

14. The directable high intensity beam of light assembly, which is the laser light assembly, mountable on the forklift or lifting and carrying equipment, as claimed in claim 4, comprising in addition the source of the electrical energy which is a battery.

15. The directable high intensity beam of light assembly, which si the laser light assembly, mountable on the forklift or lifting and carrying equipment, as claimed in claim 7, comprising in addition the source of electrical energy which is a battery.

16. The directable high intensity beam of light assembly, which is the laser light assembly, mountable on the forklift or lighting and carrying equipment, as claimed in claim 1, 2, 3, or 4, wherein the laser light creating unit creates a laser light beam which upon reflection appears as a line, and then the line reflection is observed by the operator of the forklift to adjust the positions of the forks, so the forks are in the same horizontal plane, which plane is parallel to the floor or ground level, over which level the forklift is to be driven toward the loaded pallet.

17. A laser light assembly, mountable on a forklift, so a beam of laser light thereof, when turned on and projected forwardly, will always be parallel to and in the same horizontal plane of forks of which forklift , which themselves, in respect to their respective lengths are both horizontal and parallel to a floor level or a ground level, and when the beam of laser light reaches a load on a pallet the reflection of the projection laser light beam will always be essentially observable by an operator of the forklift, until the reflection, upon movement of the forks, disappears, when the forks are moved to the level of a fork receiving volume of the pallet, and when the reflection disappears, the operator moves the forklift toward a loaded pallet and the forks enter the receiving volume of the pallet without any unwanted contact of the forks with any portion of the load, and without any unwanted tilting of the pallet which otherwise might cause the load to slidably tilt, thereby avoiding any possible damage to the load, which might otherwise occur when the movement of the forklift is undertaken with the forks improperly positioned comprising:

a) a first housing to receive some of components of the laser light assembly, inclusive of a laser light creating unit thereof, is adaptable for securement to the fork of the forklift, so a beam of laser light projecting axis is arrangeable to be parallel to an extended axis of the fork of the forklift;

b) the laser light assembly, further comprising;

i) the laser light creating unit secured in the first housing;

ii) a circuitry for extending between the components of the laser light assembly,

iii) a second housing being adaptable to be secured to a vertical support directly supporting a horizontal portion of the fork of the forklift, whereby the second housing internally positions portions of the circuitry, and other components of the laser light assembly;

iv) a manually operated switch positioned by the second housing and connected to the circuitry and moved to be in a selected position of three positions which are off, continuous, and automatic;

v) automatically operated switches positioned by the second housing and connected to the circuitry to respectively shut off electrical energy going to the laser light creating unit of the laser light assembly during respective operating times of the forklift when the manually operated switch is positioned in the automatic position; and

vi) connectors to connect the circuitry to a source of the electrical energy.

18. The laser light assembly, as claimed in claim 17, whereby to only have the electrical energy going to the laser light creating unit when the forks have arrived at a pre set elevation and have gone above this pre set elevation, an arrangement of infra-red wave energy components are included in the light assembly, comprising:

a) an infra-red wave generator and emitter, having its own housing, a replaceable battery-within its housing to supply the electrical energy, and an adjustable attaching means adaptable to position its own housing on a selected high frame portion of the forklift, so the lowest elevation of the emitted infra-red wave energy will be received when the second housing has reached a specific locale above the floor or ground level during operations of the forklift;

b) an infra-red wave receiving module is positioned in the second housing, so when the second housing secured to the vertical support, supporting the horizontal portion of the fork, reaches the specific locale, when the pre set elevation of the forks has been reached or exceeded, the infra-red wave energy will be received to operate one of the automatic switches, to thereafter directs the electrical energy to the laser light creating unit, so the reflections of the laser light beam will be readily observed on the load at the higher elevations of the forks, when the forks have not as yet reached a selected fork receiving volume of the pallet supporting the load, yet when the selected fork receiving volume of the pallet is reached, the reflections of the laser light beam will no longer be observable by the operator and he or she may move the forklift forward to successfully lift the pallet without damaging the load, yet when the operator is raising and lowering the forks at the lower elevations, the laser light creating unit will not be receiving the electrical energy, and therefore no reflections will be observable, nor will any person walking. in the operational area be able to directly look into the laser beam of light thereby avoiding being startled or perceivably being concerned about directly looking into the laser beam of light.

19. The laser light assembly, as claimed in claim 18, whereby to only have the electrical energy going to the laser light creating unit when the forks are parallel to the floor level or ground level, one of the automatically operated switches positioned by the second housing and connected to the circuitry includes a level sensing component which senses whether or not the forks are parallel to the floor level or a ground level, and when the forks are so level, the automatically operated switch closes and the electrically energy is directed to the laser light creating unit.

20. The laser light assembly, as claimed in claim 19 whereby, to assist the operator of the forklift in adjusting the forks to be parallel to the floor level or the ground level, the automatically operated switch and the associated circuitry include a means used to commence the blinking of the laser light beam, first having long intervals between blinks, and then shortening the intervals between blinks, until the forks become parallel to the floor or ground level, when the electrical energy is automatically fully switched through the automatically operated switch to reach the laser light creating unit, thereby providing a constant laser light beam directable upon maneuvering the forklift toward loaded pallet, where the reflection of the laser light beam is observable on the load, and the reflection is not observable, when the laser light beam enters the fork receiving volume of the pallet.

21. The laser light assembly, as claimed in claim 20, whereby to only have the electrical energy going to the laser light creating unit when the forklift is being operated, a means is provided to detect when the forklift has not moved for a preset time period, and then one of the automatically operated switches is opened to stop the flow of the electrical energy to the laser light creating unit, until the operator again moves the forklift and this switch is automatically closed again.

22. The laser light assembly, as claimed in claim 21, wherein the laser light creating unit creates a laser light beam which upon reflection appears as a line, and then the line reflection is observed by the operator of the forklift to adjust the positions of the forks, so the forks are in the same horizontal plane, which plane is parallel to the floor or ground level, over which level the forklift is to be driven toward the pallet.

23. The laser light assembly, as claimed in claim 22, comprising in addition the source of electrical energy which is a battery, and utilizing the connectors to connect the circuitry to this battery.

24. The laser light assembly, as claimed in claim 23, wherein the battery is positioned in the second housing and is connected to the circuitry therein.

25. The laser light assembly, as claimed in claim 23, wherein the battery utilized is a battery of the forklift.