Importance

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Abstract

An automatic material handling crane system services a plurality of stations in an industrial plant. The system includes a crane which is movable on a track, a mast which is carried by the crane, and a material handling mechanism which is carried by the mast. Position encoders provide signals indicative of the position of the crane on the track and the mast with respect to the crane. Both manual and remote controls are provided to operate the crane system. The manual control is carried by the crane and provides manual control signals. The remote control is positioned at a remote location with respect to the crane and stores a schedule of operations of the crane, mast and material handling mechanism. The remote control signals provided by the remote control are based on the schedule and on status information relating to the crane, the mast and material handling mechanism. A crane-carried control provides control signals to control the positioning of the crane and the mast, and to operate the material handling mechanism as a function of signals from the crane and mast position encoders and either the manual control signal or the remote control signals. The crane-carried control also provides the status information to the remote control as a function of the signals from the crane and mast position encoders. A communication link transmits the remote control signals to the crane-carried control, and transmits the status information to the remote control.

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First Claim