Claims
- 1. A fork lift truck including
- a pair of forks for supporting a load,
- means for raising and lowering said forks,
- means for tilting said forks relative to a body of the truck,
- a level sensor mounted on at least one of said forks for providing an indication of the level of said forks with respect to a horizontal plane,
- a display terminal including a screen mounted for viewing by an operator, and
- means responsive to said level sensor for displaying an indication of the level position of said forks with respect to the horizontal plane on said display terminal, including a reference bar on said screen representing the horizontal plane, and an indicator on said screen for showing the actual position of said forks with respect to the horizontal plane, thereby to assist the operator in adjusting the level of said forks prior to loading, moving or unloading a load from said forks.
- 2. The fork lift truck of claim 1 wherein said level sensor is mounted approximately midway the length of at least one of said forks.
- 3. The fork lift truck of claim 1 wherein said level sensor is an electrolytic tilt sensor.
- 4. In a fork lift truck including
- a pair of forks for supporting a load,
- means for raising and lowering said forks and for tilting said forks relative to a body of the truck,
- a camera mounted near a plane of said forks, said camera having a lens for viewing the scene immediately in front of the forks,
- a display terminal including a screen for presenting to an operator an image of the scene viewed by the lens,
- the improvement including
- a level sensor mounted on at least one of said forks for providing an indication of the level position of said forks with respect to a horizontal plane,
- means for displaying an indication of the level position of said forks on said display terminal, including a reference bar on said screen representing the horizontal plane, and an indicator on said screen for showing the actual position of said forks with respect to the horizontal plane, whereby the operator is provided with both an image of the scene in front of the forks and an indication of the level of the forks thereby to assist the operator in adjusting the vertical position and level of said forks prior to loading, moving or unloading a load from said forks.
- 5. The fork lift truck of claim 4 wherein said display terminal includes a television screen.
- 6. The fork lift truck of claim 4 wherein said camera is aligned to define the horizontal plane through its center of view, and
- means for generating a reticle, including a visual representation of said horizontal plane, on said display terminal to assist an operator in vertically positioning said carriage assembly.
RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a division of application Ser. No. 08/439,985, filed May 12, 1995, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,586,620, issued Dec. 24, 1996.
US Referenced Citations (9)
Foreign Referenced Citations (2)
Number |
Date |
Country |
2147600 |
Jun 1990 |
JPX |
2242670 |
Oct 1991 |
GBX |
Divisions (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
439985 |
May 1995 |
|