US 11,952,029 B2
Delivery rack and delivery vehicle
Kunihiro Iwamoto, Nagakute (JP); Yuta Itozawa, Nagoya (JP); Hirotaka Komura, Tokyo (JP); Yutaro Takagi, Tokyo (JP); Yoshiaki Nakamoto, Nisshin (JP); and Junya Ota, Tokyo (JP)
Assigned to TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Toyota (JP)
Filed by TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Toyota (JP)
Filed on Jan. 4, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/568,416.
Claims priority of application No. 2021-017491 (JP), filed on Feb. 5, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2022/0250669 A1, Aug. 11, 2022
Int. Cl. B62B 3/00 (2006.01); E05B 47/00 (2006.01); E05B 65/462 (2017.01)
CPC B62B 3/005 (2013.01) [E05B 47/0001 (2013.01); E05B 65/462 (2013.01)] 7 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A delivery rack comprising:
a casing;
M pairs of supports, with M being an integer not less than three, that are provided inside the casing so as to extend in a depth direction and arrayed in M tiers at regular intervals in a predetermined direction that is one of an up-down direction and a left-right direction; and
a lock mechanism that locks returnable containers housed while being supported so as to be slidable along the respective M pairs of supports,
the delivery rack being able to house all the returnable containers of one or more prespecified sizes, wherein:
the M pairs of supports are arrayed in N rows, with N being an integer not less than two, in an orthogonal direction orthogonal to the predetermined direction of the casing, and the delivery rack is able to house a maximum of (M×N) returnable containers;
the lock mechanism includes:
N first shafts that are provided for the respective rows so as to be movable in the predetermined direction, and each have a stem that is provided so as to extend across all the M pairs of supports arrayed in the predetermined direction and M branches that branch off from the stem so as to correspond to the respective M pairs of supports; and
M second shafts that are provided for the respective tiers so as to be movable in the predetermined direction, and each have a stem that is provided so as to extend across all the N rows of supports arrayed in the orthogonal direction of the casing and N branches that branch off from the stem so as to correspond to the respective N rows of supports;
the returnable containers are each provided with a first hole that engages with the branch of the first shaft and a second hole that engages with the branch of the second shaft; and
moving the first shafts in the predetermined direction enables switching between engagement and disengagement between the branches of the first shafts and the first holes, and moving the second shafts in the predetermined direction enables switching between engagement and disengagement between the branches of the second shafts and the second holes.