US3765667A

US3765667A - Engine stand

Info

Publication number: US3765667A
Application number: US00133863A
Authority: US
Inventors: C Christiansen
Original assignee: Applied Power Industries Inc
Current assignee: Hein Werner Corp
Priority date: 1971-04-14
Filing date: 1971-04-14
Publication date: 1973-10-16
Anticipated expiration: 1990-10-16
Also published as: GB1365183A; CA952550A

Abstract

An engine stand for supporting an engine such as an automobile power plant for repair or other work including a support post having a slotted adaptor plate to which the rear portion of certain designs of engines can be solely supported. The engine is attached to the adaptor plate by adjustable brackets which readily allow the approximate longitudinal axis passing through the center of gravity of the engine to be aligned with the center line of the rotatable adaptor plate. A chain brake is utilized to secure the angular position of the adaptor plate whereby the engine being supported on the stand may be rotated and secured in any selected angular orientation. The engine stand further includes a removable second post member mounted in spaced relationship with the first post to mount engines on the stand, which because of their design, are not advantageously supported solely at the rear.

Description

United States Patent Christiansen Oct. 16, 1973 ENGINE STAND 521 Filed: Apr. 14,l97 1 [21] Appl. No.: 133,863

[52] US. Cl. 269/59, 269/77 [51] Int. Cl B23q 1/08 [58] Field of Search 269/59, 74, 57, 77-79, 269/83 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,802,585 6/1931 Collins .269/59 1,834,294 12/1931 Spahn 269/78 X 877,699 l/ 1908 Blackiston 269/78 Primary Examiner-James L. Jones, Jr. Assistant Examiner-E. F. Desmond Attorney-Petherbridge, ONeill & Lindgren |2 T3 25 7 I3 l 5 ll [5 7] ABSTRACT An engine stand for supporting an engine such as an automobile power plant for repair or other work including a support post having a slotted adaptor plate to which the rear portion of certain designs of engines can be solely supported. The engine is attached to the adaptor plate by adjustable brackets which readily allow the approximate longitudinal axis passing through the center of gravity of the engine to be aligned with the center line of the rotatable adaptor plate. A chain brake is utilized to secure the angular position of the adaptor plate whereby the engine being supported on the stand may be rotated and secured in any selected angular orientation. The engine stand further includes a removable second post member mounted in spaced relationship with the first post to mount engines on the stand, which because of their design, are not advantageously supported solely at the rear.

1 12 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures li. r 3

Patented Oct. 16, 1973 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIGZ / INVENTOR CLYDE R. CHRISTIANSEN BY FM. a'wwfl ATTORNEYS Patented Oct. 16, 1973 3,765,667

3 Shoots-Sheet i i l [In] f W M3 ll Huh |NVENTOR CLYDE R. CHR|ST|ANSEN flWJA/ /J MM ATTORNEYS.

Patented Oct. 16, 1973 3,765,667

3 Sheets-Shoat 3 INVENTOR. CLYDE R. CHRISTIANSEN ATTORNEYS.

ENGINE STAND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a support stand and, in particular, a stand for supporting engines and the like.

More specifically, the invention relates to a stand for supporting an engine for repair and other operations. The novel construction of the engine stand of the invention permits an engine to be readily attached and properly positioned thereon with a minimum of effort. The mounting means of the engine stand is adapted to support engines of certain designs solely from their rear so that the angular orientation thereof may be readily adjusted to insure that all portions of the engine are in convenient access for any desired operation. In the case where the engine is incapable of being solely supported by rear portions because of structural or other reasons, the novel design of the engine stand disclosed herein permits such engines to also be secured and mounted for repair.

For various reasons, it is desirable to support an engine upon a stand whereby access to the parts thereof are readily accessible to the user. One particular area in which engine stands are commonly utilized is in the field of automobile repair wherein it is often advantageous to remove an automobile engine from a vehicle to permit the performing of any desired operation on the motor. Numerous techniques for supporting an engine have been employed in the prior art; but many of these have had numerous shortcomings. For example, since an engine is a relatively heavy object it is desirable that the engine can be properly positioned and attached to an engine stand quickly and with a' minimum of effort. However, known engine stands have required a complicated series of operations in order to attach and align the engine so that it is adequately supported for repair.

Another difficulty associated with prior art stands has been the lack of adaptability thereof to support various different designs of engines. Certain engine designs are not advantageously supported solely at their rear because of its particular structure. Accordingly, many previous stands are capable of carrying an engine with one technique but were deficient in maintaining engines with a plurality of alternative procedures depending on the particular object being attached to the stand.

It is also desirable to readily manipulate an engine on a stand to perform various tasks. One known technique of effecting manipulation of the object being supported on the stand is to align the longitudinal axis passing through the center of gravity of the engine with the center of an adaptor plate upon which the power plant is positioned. In the prior art, the positioning of the center line longitudinal axis in alignment with the axis of rotation of the adaptor plate has been accomplished by cumbersome and unreliable procedures. Most of the past methods of aligning the engine on the stand do not permit centering with a minimum of steps or by the approximate and quick visual judgment of the operator. Therefore, it is desirable to provide an engine stand which is effective in supporting various types of engines in a simplified and improved manner.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is, therefore, an object of this invention to improve engine or like stands.

Another object of this invention is to simplify the mounting of an engine or other object to a stand.

A further object of this invention is to facilitate the mounting of a variety of different types of engines or other objects to a mounting stand.

Still another object of this invention is to facilitate mounting of an engine with its center of gravity passing through the axis of rotation of the mounting plate of the engine stand.

A still further object of this invention is to allow an engine to be manipulated into various orientations after being secured to an engine stand.

These and other objects are attained in accordance with the present invention wherein there is provided a novel engine stand for mounting an engine or the like for repair and other operations. The engine stand of the invention is capable of supporting various types of engines through alternative mounting techniques. One method of mounting an engine to the novel stand is to solely support an engine at the rear portion thereof on an adapter plate which permits the engine to be rotatably mounted to the stand for selected orientation. Moreover, if the engine is of a design which is not desirably supportable at its rear, the engine stand of the invention readily supports such power plants through alternative mounting methods. When mounting a suitable engine solely by its rear portion, the novel stand of the invention allows the engine to be easily oriented in various angular positions for securement by a braking means. The mounting of an engine for this rotatable adjustment is readily accomplished by the improved alignment techniques of the invention. Therefore, the invention overcomes numerous problems of prior art stands by providing a support device which permits mounting and dismounting of an engine thereto with a minimum of operations and which also accommodates the mounting of engines and the like having various designs.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Further objects of this invention together with additional features contributing thereto and advantages accruing therefrom will be apparent from the following descriptions of several embodiments of the invention when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side schematic illustration of one embodiment of the engine stand of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic end illustration of the engine stand of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional illustration of the brake mechanism taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective side illustration of a bracket member for use in an engine stand of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an end illustration taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 1 showing the typical mounting of an engine to the engine stand of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a side schematic illustration of another em-' typical mounting of an engine to the engine stand of FIG. 6;

FIG. 9 is a perspective illustration of one of a bracket for mounting an engine in the engine stand of FIG. 6;

FIG. 10 is a perspective illustration of another bracket for use in the engine stand of FIG. 6.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 there is illustrated one embodiment of the engine stand made in accordance with the present invention. Engine stand 1 includes an elongated frame member 2 which integrally supports a pair of oppositely disposed front lateral members 3 and back lateral members 4. Although not intended to be so limited, for purposes of lending strength and balance of the stand, the lateral members are shown having a tapered longitudinal shape with the front lateral member being shorter in length than the back lateral member. At the outer ends of each of the oppositely disposed front lateral members 3 are front wheel brackets 6 which rotatably support respective wheels 5 pivotally on a vertical axis. Similarly, a pair of back wheel brackets 6 are supported on an end of the pair of back lateral members 4 which rotatably carry back wheels 7. A front kick stop 8 and back kick stop 9 are threadedly positioned in the bottom of each end of frame member 2 to prevent the engine stand from moving when desired. The user of the engine stand rotates the lever 9 of the respective stops till the ends thereof engage with sufficient force to prevent movement of the stand. The materials utilized for construction of the frame member 2 and lateral members 3 and 4 may comprise any suitably strong material such as metal.

The back end of frame member 2 supports a vertically extending support post 10 which is attached to the top of frame member 2 by any conventional attaching technique such as bolts, welding and the like. Support column 1 is formed as a flat rectangular member constructed of a suitably strong material such as metal. A hollow metal tube 11 is welded or otherwise attached to the top end of the support column. A shaft 12 is positioned within the hollow tube 11 and extends for a length somewhat greater than tube 11. Inner shaft 12 is shown in FIG. 2 as being a hollow shaft although it is within the scope of the invention to utilize a solid shaft if desired.

An adaptor plate 13 is affixed to one end of inner shaft 12 by welding or other attachment technique wherein the adaptor plate includes three angularly ex' tending

arms

13a, 13b and 13c. Arm 13a extends radially of inner shaft 12 and possesses a radially extending open-ended slot 14. The other two

arms

13b and 130 extend radially from the shaft 12 but include an angular end portion each having an open-ended slot 15. Openended slot 15 in the

arms

13b and 13c includes a common longitudinal axis such that the longitudinal axis of the two bottom slots lies perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of upper slot 14. When shaft 12 is mounted within hollow tube 11, adaptor plate 13 is shown as positioned directly adjacent'one end of the hollow tube. At the other end, shaft 12 extends beyond the end of hollow tube 11 and includes at least two diametrically opposed holes 16 which receive a removable lever 17 for rotating the shaft 12. From the foregoing, it should be apparent that an operator may rotate the shaft 12 through the use of the lever means 17 to effect positioning of adaptor plate 13 to any selected angular orientation.

To secure the adaptor plate in the selected angular position, a chain brake 20 is utilized. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 3, the chain brake used for preventing relative motion between shaft 12 and tube 11 is most clearly illustrated. Chain brake 20 includes a plate 21 which is affixed to the outer surface of hollow tube 11 by welding or other attachment technique. A chain 22 is attached to the bottom edge of plate 21 and extends around the grooved periphery of inner shaft 12 immediately adjacent the end of hollow tube 11. The other end of chain 22 is attached to an end member which extends through a hole located in the upper part of plate 21 wherein the end member 23 is in the form of a bolt having threads extending beyond the plate. A nut 24 is attached to the threads of end member 23 wherein the nut member 24 includes a handle 25 to allow the nut to readily be rotated. The location of the nut on the bolt section of end member 23 will effect either a tightening of the chain around inner shaft 12 or a loosening of the chain. The tightening of the chain around the shaft increases the bias of inner surface of the hollow tube 11 against inner shaft 12. When an adequate bias is applied to the two members, relative motion between the shaft and hollow tube 11 is prevented and thus the selected angular position of the adaptor plate is achieved.

Referring now to FIGS. 4 and 5 there is illustrated a typical manner for attaching an engine to the engine stand of the invention. Engine stand 1 can be utilized to support an engine solely at its rear end if the engine is of the type which can be so supported without incurring structural damage. Many of the commercially available engines in the field are capable of support by their rear end for any desired work or repair. Referring in particular to FIG. 4, there is illustrated an example of a bracket which is utilized in conjunction with adapted plate 13 for mounting the engine to the engine stand. Bracket 30 comprises a member having two substantially equal length arms 31 disposed perpendicular to each other.

Arms 31 extend from a central portion 32 of the bracket wherein center portion 32 includes a threaded hole 33. Each of the arms 31 possesses an elongated closed slot which extends for substantially the entire length thereof. Although it is possible to utilize any desired type bracket or numbers thereof with the adaptor plate of the engine stand of the invention, three such brackets are shown in solely supporting the rear end of an engine in FIG. 5. The three brackets 30 are generally coupled to a respective slot of

arms

13a, 13b and 130. Although the brackets may be of identical size, it is often desirable that the arms of the brackets utilized in conjunction with arm 13a of the adaptor plate be longer than the two brackets utilized with the other two arms, 13b and 130.

Viewing FIG. 5 an engine 40 is shown mounted for service or repair upon engine stand 1. Specifically, an

engine capable of being supported solely at its rear end includes a bolt pattern which is utilized for such purposes as mounting the clutch housing or torque converter housing to the engine. To mount such an engine to the stand of the invention, such bolts are removed and selected holes on the engine block are relied upon to receive bolts 41 attaching brackets 30 to the engine. Further, a bolt 42 is utilized for insertion into threaded hole 33 of each of the brackets whereby bolt 42 includes a flange 42 to effect sliding disposition thereof in open-ended

slots

14 and 15 of adaptor plate 13.

When mounting the engine to the stand, it is advantageous that the axis passing through the center of gravity of the engine coincides with the longitudinal axis of shaft 12 so that the engine on the stand may be readily rotated to any desirable position without creating an imbalance on the stand and further to reduce the effort needed to rotate the engine. Before mounting the engine on the stand, the adaptor plate is removed from the stand. Typically, the bolt pattern at the rear of an engine is arranged in pairs around the center line of the engine. Therefore, upper bracket 30 is attached to the engine by insertion of bolt 41 into each pair of corresponding holes wherein visually the longitudinal position of bolt 41 in their respective slots 31 of the brackets is adjusted to be approximately equal. After the distances of the two bolts in their respective slots are estimated, the bolts are securely fastened to attach upper bracket 30 to the engine. Thereafter, an arm of the two lower brackets 30 are attached loosely to another pair of lower engine bolt holes to permit lower brackets 30 to rotate as the adaptor plate is positioned on the adaptor brackets. Alternatively both arms of each lower brackets 30 may be attached to a pair of engine bolt holes located on a respective side of the centerline of the motor longitudinal if the design of the engine permits such attachment.

The three brackets are then attached to the respective open-ended

slots

14 and 15 of the adaptor plate by the use of bolts 42. However, bolts 42 are loosely tightened in

slots

14 and 15 in order to allow the brackets to slide therein. The adaptor plate is moved upward relative to the engine whereupon the upper bolt 42 slides in slot 14 to a position where the axis of the shaft 11 coincides approximately with the center of gravity centerline which is generally at the location of the cam shaft of the engine. In this position, the particular position of each of the bolts 41 in the respective arms of the lower brackets 30 are checked to determine whether they are positioned at approximately equal distances in each bracket. Then the bolts 42 for the two lower brackets and the upper bracket are tightened as well as bolts 41 for the two lower brackets. Thus the engine is balanced with respect to the axis of rotation of the adaptor plate and upon placing the shaft 12 in hollow tube 11, the engine can conveniently be rotated into any selected angular orientation for securement.

Referring now to FIG. 6, there is illustrated another embodiment of the improved engine stand of the invention. The engine stand of FIG. 6 is identical to the engine stand illustrated and described with reference to FIG. 1 and 2 except that a front post 50 is attached to the engine stand. Utilization of both of a front post 50 and the original back post 10 permits engines incapable of being solely supported by their rear end to be carried by the engine stand by an alternative method. The engine stand of FIG. 1 can readily be modified to effect the desired attachment of front post 50 to the frame. Such attachment is achieved by drilling a plurality of spaced threaded holes (not shown) on the top surface of the frame member 2 to selectively attach front post 50 to the engine stand.

As best shown in FIG. 6, front post 50 is a flat column member which is essentially the same height and construction as back post 10. The bottom end of front post 50 includes a plate member 51 attached thereto by any convenient technique such as welding and the like wherein the plate forms a flange portion extending beyond the front and back edge of post 50. Each of the flanged portions formed by the plate 51 includes a hole (now shown) for receiving screws 52 which are inserted into the threaded hole (not shown) provided on the top surface of frame member 2. Screws 52 may also attach front post 50 to the frame in other positions whereby the relative position of the post 50 with respect to the frame member 2 may be selected according to the size of the engine being supported by the engine stand. A series of threaded holes may be drilled in the top surface of frame member 2 in order that the post may be selectively positioned as desired. A second plate 53 is shown interposed between the top surface of frame 2 and the bottom surface of plate 51 to aid in supporting post member 50.

Attached to the top end of front post 50 is a hollow tube 54 secured thereto by an securement means such as welding and the like. An inner shaft 55 is positioned within hollow tube 54 and shaft 55 includes a front adaptor plate 57 to be secured to the engine. Front adaptor 57 is similar in construction to adaptor 13 although it could encompass other suitable forms. Since the longitudinal axis of the engine supported by the double post is not aligned along the longitudinal axis of the frame, if the engine is supported solely at its rear, it is not necessary that the shaft 55 be rotatably supported in hollow tube 54 and therefore hollow shaft is secured against rotatable movement by a lock mechanism (not shown) and the like, although longitudinal adjustment between the members is desirable. I-Iowever, it is within the scope of the invention to use with front post 50 the chain brake and lever construction utilized in conjunction with back post 10 if desirable. Since front adaptor 57 is identical to the back adaptor 13 it should be apparent that adaptor 57 includes angular

disposed arms

58a, 58b and 58c having slots 14 and 15' which are similar to

slots

14 and 15 of adaptor 13.

Generally, the two post modification of the engine stand supports an engine in a manner such that a longitudinal axis of the engine is substantially transverse to the longitudinal axis of frame member 2. Referring to FIGS. 7 and 8, a typical mounting of an engine to the double post modification of the invention is illustrated. As stated previously, the double post embodiment is utilized to support engines which because of their design and construction are not desirably supported solely by their rear portions. Therefore, the two-post system supports both the rear of the engine and the front or side thereof. To accomplish such support, the brackets attached to the front adaptor 13 and back adaptor 57 are somewhat modified from the adaptors utilized in connection with the embodiment of FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 8, two brackets 30 similar to the bracket used in the embodiment in FIG. 1 are attached to the rear engine mounting holes by bolts 41. A pair of connector brackets 60 formed with a body having a longitudinal bend of substantially are attachedrespectively to one slot 15' of arm 58b of the front adaptor 57 and slot 15 of arm 13b of the back adaptor 13 by bolts 61. The other end of the connector brackets 60 is respectively attached to one of the brackets 30 attached to the rear of the engine by a screw 67 inserted in the threaded hole 33 of each of the brackets 30. The particular construction of connecting bracket 60 is most clearly shown in FIG. 9. Thus the rear end of the engine is supported through use of a connector bracket attached to back adaptor 13 and the front adaptor 57.

The front or side of an engine is supported on the embodiment of the engine stand of FIG. 6 by means of a bracket 70 as shown asexample in FIG. 10. Bracket 70 of FIG. 10 includes a plurality of adjustably interconnected angular linkages which are attached to both sides of an engine and to the slots and 15 of the respective arms 13c and 580 of the front and back adaptor. Bracket 70 is bolted to the engine in any of the available threaded holes existing in the side or front of the engine. In view of the varying sizes and designs of engine being supported between the two posts of the engine stands of the invention, it is desirable that the supporting brackets 70 be designed with the number of links with varying angles and adjustability to correspond with the particular engine being supported. It is only necessary that the brackets be attached to the bottom slot 13c and 580 of the front and back adaptor plate to interconnect such slots to the engine with adequate support. It is within the scope of the invention to utilize any such bracket combination which accomplish such a result.

In the above description, there has been disclosed an improved engine stand for supporting an engine. For convenience of illustration, the stand of the invention has been described for use for supporting an engine but it should be apparent that other objects may also be supported by the invention such as transmissions and the like. Further, the particular technique of attachment of the object to the stand may be modified according to encountered circumstances.

While the invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation of material to the teaching of the invention without departing from its essential features.

What is claimed is:

l. A stand for supporting objects comprising a frame means including a vertical post mounted at one end thereof,

an adaptor rotatably mounted on the vertical post about an axis, said adaptor means including attachment means to secure an object to be supported to said adaptor means with an axis passing through the center of gravity of the object being in substantial alignment with the axis of rotation of the adaptor means,

said attachment means includes an adaptor plate having a plurality of angularly oriented and elongated open-ended slots,

one of the slots being oriented with its longitudinal axis extending laterally of the longitudinal axis of at least one of the other slots, and

brake means operatively connected to said adaptor means to maintain the angular orientation thereof at a selected position.

2. The stand of claim 1 wherein said adaptor plate includes three slots angularly disposed on a common plane.

3. A stand for supporting objects comprising a frame means including a vertical post mounted at one end thereof,

an adaptor rotatably mounted on the vertical post about an axis,

said adaptor means including attachment means to secure an object to be supported to said adaptor means with an axis passing through the center of gravity of the object being in substantial alignment with the axis of rotation of the adaptor means, and

brake means operatively connected to said adaptor means to maintain the angular orientation thereof at a selected position,

said attachment means includes an adaptor plate having a plurality of angularly oriented elongated slots,

said adaptor plate includes three slots angularly disposed on a common plane, and

one of said slots includes a longitudinal axis oriented radially of the axis of rotation of said adaptor means.

4. The stand of claim 3 wherein said other two slots extend along a common longitudinal axis disposed normal to the longitudinal axis of said first slot.

5. The stand of claim 4 further comprising three bracket members each having a pair of angularly disposed elongated slots adapted to receive respective securement means for attaching each of the three brackets to the object to be supported,

said bracket members having respective attachment means for attaching a bracket to each of the slots of said adaptor plate.

6. The stand of claim 5 wherein said pair of the an gularly disposed slots in the brackets extend perpendicular to each other.

7. A stand for supporting an object comprising a frame,

said frame including an upright post,

a hollow tube member attached to the top of the upright post,

a shaft member rotatably supported within the tube and having a first end projecting beyond the end thereof,

an adaptor plate secured to the second end of said shaft and disposed in a plane normal to the axis of the shaft,

rotation means coupled to the first end of the shaft for effecting rotation thereof,

brake means contacting the hollow tube and the shaft for selectively preventing rotation therebetween to angularly orient the adaptor plate to a desired position,

said brake means includes a plate member attached to the hollow tube and further includes tensioning means for selectively increasing the bias of the hollow tube and the shaft to provide a selective brake, and

said tensioning means is an elongated member in surrounding relation to a portion of the shaft and having one end attached to said plate and a second end attached to an adjustment member for varying the position of the second end relative to said plate.

8. The stand of claim 7 further comprising a second upward post spaced from the first post and detachably secured to the frame means.

9. A stand for supporting an object comprising a frame means including a first post member,

said first post member having an adaptor means mounted adjacent the top thereof,

said adaptor means including a first adaptor plate having a plurality of open-ended elongated slots for securing one side of an engine thereto,

a second upright post detachablysecured to said frame means in a spaced relationship to the first post member,

said second upright post including a second adaptor plate having a plurality of open-ended elongated slots for securing a second side of an engine thereto,

said first and second adaptor plates lying in a plane disposed in a substantially vertical orientation, and

one of the slots of either the first and second adaptor means having one of the slots being oriented with its longitudinal axis extending laterally of the longitudinal axis of at least one or the other slots.

10. The stand of claim 9 wherein at least two of the elongated slots in the first and second adaptor means are oriented along a common longitudinal axis of each of the respective adaptor plates thereof.

low tube and the shaft to provide a selective brake, said tensioning means is an elongated member having one end attached to said plate and a second end attached to an adjustment member for varying positions and relative to said plate,

said elongated member comprises a chain.

12. The stand of claim 11 wherein the midportion of the chain surrounds a portion of the shaft.

Claims

1. A stand for supporting objects comprising a frame means including a vertical post mounted at one end thereof, an adaptor rotatably mounted on the vertical post about an axis, said adaptor means including attachment means to secure an object to be supported to said adaptor means with an axis passing through the center of gravity of the object being in substantial alignment with the axis of rotation of the adaptor means, said attachment means includes an adaptor plate having a plurality of angularly oriented and elongated open-ended slots, one of the slots being oriented with its longitudinal axis extending laterally of the longitudinal axis of at least one of the other slots, and brake means operatively connected to said adaptor means to maintain the angular orientation thereof at a selected position.

3. A stand for supporting objects comprising a frame means including a vertical post mounted at one end thereof, an adaptor rotatably mounted on the vertical post about an axis, said adaptor means including attachment means to secure an object to be supported to said adaptor means with an axis passing through the center of gravity of the object being in substantial alignment with the axis of rotation of the adaptor means, and brake means operatively connected to said adaptor means to maintain the angular orientation thereof at a selected position, said attachment means includes an adaptor plate having a plurality of angularly oriented elongated slots, said adaptor plate includes three slots angularly disposed on a common plane, and one of said slots includes a longitudinal axis oriented radially of the axis of rotation of said adaptor means.

5. The stand of claim 4 further comprising three bracket members each having a pair of angularly disposed elongated slots adapted to receive respective securement means for attaching each of the three brackets to the object to be supported, said bracket members having respective attachment means for attaching a bracket to each of the slots of said adaptor plate.

6. The stand of claim 5 wherein said pair of the angularly disposed slots in the brackets extend perpendicular to each other.

7. A stand for supporting an object comprising a frame, said frame including an upright post, a hollow tube member attached to the top of the upright post, a shaft member rotatably supported within the tube and having a first end projecting beyond the end thereof, an adaptor plate secured to the second end of said shaft and disposed in a plane normal to the axis of the shaft, rotation means coupled to the first end of the shaft for effecting rotation thereof, brake means contacting the hollow tube and the shaft for selectively preventing rotation therebetween to angularly orient the adaptor plate to a desired position, said brake means includes a plate member attached to the hollow tube and further includes tensioning means for selectively increasing the bias of the hollow tube and the shaft to provide a selective brake, and said tensioning means is an elongated member in surrounding relation to a portion of the shaft and having one end attached to said plate and a second end attached to an adjustment member for varying the position of the second end relative to said plate.

9. A stand for supporting an object comprising a frame means including a first post member, said first post member having an adaptor means mounted adjacent the top thereof, said adaptor means including a first adaptor plate having a plurality of open-ended elongated slots for securing one side of an engine thereto, a second upright post detachably secured to said frame means in a spaced relationship to the first post member, said second upright post including a second adaptor plate having a plurality of open-ended elongated slots for securing a second side of an engine thereto, said first and second adaptor plates lying in a plane disposed in a substantially vertical orientation, and one of the slots of either the first and second adaptor means having one of the slots being oriented with its longitudinal axis extending laterally of the longitudinal axis of at least one or the other slots.

11. A stand for supporting an object comprising a frame, said frame including an upright post, a hollow tube member attached to the top of the upright post, a shaft member rotatably supported within the tube and having a first end projecting beyond the end thereof, an adaptor plate secured to the second end of said shaft and disposed in a plane normal to the axis of the shaft, rotation means coupled to the first end of the shaft for effecting rotation thereof, brake means contacting the hollow tube and the shaft for selectifely preventing rotation therebetween to angularly orient the adaptor plate to a desired position, said brake means includes a plate member attached to the hollow tube and further includes tensioning means for selectively increasing the bias of the hollow tube and the shaft to provide a selective brake, said tensioning means is an elongated member having one end attached to said plate and a second end attached to an adjustment member for varying positions and relative to said plate, said elongated member comprises a chain.