Importance

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Abstract

A shuttle rail assembly, capable of carrying a pair of pallets to which workpieces are fixtured, is mounted on a wheeled vehcile movable along a pair of tracks extending adjacent machine tools and set-up stations. The vehicle is positively driven by a DC motor and pinion, mounted on a adjustable eccentric, which meshes with a toothed rack secured to one of the pair of tracks. A vertical standard extending upward from the vehicle is slidable along power and control electrical buses contained within an enclosed overhead trolley. The shuttle rail assembly includes a pair of rails, extendable to either side of the vehicle by a hydraulic rail motor, mounted on a platform rotatable by a hydraulic index motor to 180.degree. positions when pallets are to be interchanged, and having a 90.degree. latched position during vehicle travel. The vehicle chassis includes a pair of tubular frames having sealed sections defining a fluid reservoir for containing hydraulic fluid pumped to a hydraulic circuit for the hydraulic motors and controls. The machine tools and set-up stations each include cams which mechanically unlatch the rails for extension, and hydraulic cylinders for lifting the pallets off the rails when extended into the rail guides.

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First Claim