GB2144090A - Mobile hoisting equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

Hoisting equipment for raising barrels and the like from below ground level (e.g. in a public house cellar) comprises a wheeled platform 16 which is positioned adjacent the opening (e.g. a lowering way to such a cellar) and has a mast 20 at the top of which is an eye or loop 30 for a cable 34 adapted to be drawn in or paid out by means of a low-geared hand- operated winch 32 having automatic means to prevent uncontrolled back run. After raising to just above ground level, the load (e.g. barrel) is lowered onto the platform, whereafter the equipment can be converted for use as a trolley by turning handle 24. The load can subsequently be raised, e.g. to a suitable height for depositing upon a wagon platform by returning the handle to the illustrated position and operating the winch 32. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Mobile hoisting equipment This invention concerns mobile hoisting equipment.

It is becoming more and more important to improve safety for and to minimise the physical effort expanded by personnel involved in the lifting, stowing, loading and otherwise handling heavy objects and articles, such as crates, containers and the like. This is particularly so in relation to the lifting of containers, such as barrels, from public house cellars, through lowering-way doors, up to street level. Very special difficulties arise in cases where full barrels have to be lifted up to street level, as may happen in the case where a barrel's contents become unusable for same reason.A full barrel may weigh, for example, as much as a quarter of a ton (250 kilogrammes) or even more and the manual raising of such a barrel for loading it onto a vehicle so that it may be returned to the brewery, by traditional techniques with three men using ropes is laborious, and particularly hazardous.

An object of the present invention is to provide a form of mobile hoisting equipment which is particularly suitable for use in the raising of objects, such as barrels, in circumstances such as have just been described, which apparatus is relatively simple in its form, economical to produce, enables quite heavy loads to be raised safely and with the minimum of physical effort, and which can be used, if desired, not only for hoisting, but also for shifting or moving a load once it has been raised.

With this object in view, the present invention provides mobile hoisting equipment comprising a wheeled platform supporting an upstanding mast to the upper end of which is connected a manually-operable winch whereby a suspension cable or the like, depending from the mast, may be raised and lowered, and strut means, connected to the mast for strutting the latter in a vertical or substantially vertical disposition during a hoisting operation.

The mast may be telescopically extensible, and to facilitate manoeuvring of the equipment, the upper part of the mast may form a handle by which the equipment may be propelled after the manner of a trolley.

The upper part of the mast forming the handle may be angled relative to the rest of the mast.

In a preferred practical embodiment of the equipment of the invention, the strut means comprises a pair of legs each of which is detachably connected to the mast, so that they can be stowed away when not required for use.

Each leg may then comprise an angled upper socket part which fits onto a respective spigot projecting laterally from the mast so that the legs may simply be slipped on and off the respective spigots as desired.

The legs may be telescopic, and they preferably diverge downwardly.

The equipment of the invention may further inciude a restraining strap or the like to enable it to be anchored stationarily, e.g. by connecting such strap to an appropriate fixed or heavy object.

The invention will be described further, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a diagrammatic perspective view illustrating a practical embodiment of the mobile hoisting equipment of the invention; Figure 2 is a diagrammatic part-sectional side elevation illustrating schematically how the equipment of Fig. 1 will be set up ready to raise a load disposed below ground level e.g. in the case where a barrel is to be lifted from a public house cellar through a lowering way; Figure 3 is a view comparable with Fig. 2, but illustrating the load having been raised to ground level; Figure 4 is a view comparable with Figs. 2 and 3, but showing how the equipment may be used for moving the load over the ground, e.g. for loading onto a wagon;; Figure 5 is a view comparable with Figs. 2, 3 and 4 but illustrating the equipment in position adjacent a wagon and the load raised ready for transferring onto the wagon; and Figure 6 is a view comparable with Fig. 5, but showing the load deposited on the wagon.

In the drawings, a preferred embodiment of the mobile hoisting equipment of the invention, which is particularly suitable for use by brewers' delivery persons in connection with hoisting barrels 10 from a public house cellar indicated schematically at 12, but suitable for use in most environments where a load is required to be raised, comprises a robust platform 1 6 which may be flat or may be shaped or of openwork configuration according to the loads with which it is likely to be used. This platform 1 6 is fitted with two freely-rotatable wheels 1 8 adjacent the ends of one longitudinal side thereof, so that then it will adopt a stable substantially horizontal disposition when resting on the ground such as is shown in Fig. 1.

Upstanding from the platform 1 6 substantially vertically midway between the wheels 18 is a tubular mast 20, which may if desired be telescopic. Near to its upper end two short stub-like spigots 22 project from the mast in alignment with one another and approximately parallel to the longitudinal sides of the platform 16. Telescopically fitting into the upright mast part 20 is an upper part 24 which can be secured in any desired extended position by a steel pin 26 and which has an upper angled handle part 28. A robust eye or loop 30 is fixed to the handle part 28 near to its upper extremity.

A manually operable winch 32 is connected to the most upper part 24 to provide a hoisting rope or cable 34 passing through and depending from the eye or loop 30. This rope or cable 34 has, on its lower end, means, represented by hook 36, enabling a load to be connected thereto. Such arrangment may be a sling, claws or the like, not specifically illustrated. The winch 32 embodies a manuallyoperable handle 38, is very low geard so that it requires very little effort even when raising a very heavy load, and embodies an automatic brake preventing back-run of a load on the cable 34.

The equipment further includes strut means provided by two leg units which are indicated generally by the reference numerals 40, and which may be telescopic. These leg units 40 each have a respective angled upper socket part 42 whereby they fit onto the respective spigots 22 on the mast 20. When fitted in place as s;iown in Fig. 1, these leg units diverge somewhat in the donward direction.

Figs. 2 to 5 illustrate how the equipment can be used in a very simple convenient and safe manner to raise a very heavy load, for instance the barrel 10 when full and weighing, perhaps, as much as 250 kgr, from the public house cellar 12, firstly to ground level, and thereafter to the height of a wagon platform 42 for loading it on said platform 42.

Firstly, as shown in Fig. 2, the equipment is positioned with the platform 1 6 adjacent an edge of the opening to the cellar 1 2 and with its wheels 18 remote from the opening, and it is then strutted in place by means of the leg units 40. These are shown as resting against projections 44, but it will readily be understood that they can be located in any suitable recess or the like from which they cannot readily be shifted. This having been achieved, it is a simple matter to operate the winch 32 firstly to pay out the cable 34 to enable it to be coupled onto the barrel 10, and thereafter to draw in the cable to raise the barrel 10, as has been shown in Fig. 3 until such time as it has been brought up to ground level and has been slid onto the platform 1 6.

At this stage, the cable 34 is disconnected from the barrel 10 to ensure that it rests stably on the platform. Thereupon, the leg units 40 are removed and the upper part 24 of the mast is loosened, is turned around to the position shown in Fig. 4 wherein it serves as a handle, and the equipment may then be used as a trolley to wheel the barrel to a desired location which is illustrated in Fig. 5 as being adjacent the platform 42 of a wagon.

When this position is reached, the upper most part 24 is extended and returned to its disposition with the eye 30 disposed above the platform 16. Thereupon the winch 32 is refitted and the cable is paid out and connected to the barrel again. Then, of course, as shown in Fig. 5, the winch can be operated to raise the barrel to just above the level of the platform 42 as shown in Fig. 5.

This position having been reached, the barrel 10 can now be depcsited on the platform 42 by the simple expedient of tilting the equipment about the front edge of the platform 1 6 remote from the wheels 18, as shown in Fig. 6. Practical tests indicate that this can be effected quite easily and safely by manually pulling on the barrel 10 to swing it over the wagon platform 42, when the equipment will tilt automatically. The winch can then be operated to slacken the cable 34, for the latter to be released.

It will readily be understood that the arrangement of the invention provides in a very simple manner equipment which is sufficiently versatile to permit safe initial raising of the load to ground level, subsequent moving of the load to a new location, and further raising thereof for loading it onto a vehicle, wagon or the like. Of course the invention is not confined to the precise arrangement as described.

It may for instance, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, embody a steadying strap or harness 46 which can be secured to a stationary object such as a ground anchor (not shown) or even the wagon platform 42, to ensure that the equipment will not move when in use for initially raising the barrel 10. The precise shapes of the various components of the equipment and the form of the winch can, of course, differ from what has been shown.

Claims (10)

1. Mobile hoisting equipment comprising a wheeled platform supporting an upstanding mast to the upper end of which is connected a manually-operable winch whereby a suspension cable or the like, depending from the mast, may be raised and lowered, and strut means, connected to the mast for strutting the latter in a vertical or substantially vertical disposition during a hoisting operation.

2. Equipment as claimed in claim 1 wherein the mast is telescopically extensible.

3. Equipment as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein the upper part of the mast forms a handle by which the equipment may be propelled after the manner of a trolley.

4. Equipment as claimed in claim 3 wherein the upper part of the mast forming the handle is angled relative to the rest of the mast.

5. Equipment as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the strut means comprises a pair of legs each of which is detachably connected to the mast.

6. Equipment as claimed in claim 5 wherein each leg comprises an angled upper socket part which fits onto a respective spigot projecting laterally from the mast.

7. Equipment as claimed in claim 5 or 6 wherein the legs are telescopic.

8. Equipment as claimed in claim 5, 6 or 7 wherein the legs diverge downwardly.

9. Equipment as claimed in any preceding claim further including a restraining strap or the like to enable it to be anchored stationarily.

10. Mobile hoisting equipment substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.