GB2213411A

GB2213411A - Vehicle repair apparatus

Info

Publication number: GB2213411A
Application number: GB8830356A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Bevan Maxwell Flannery
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1988-01-05
Filing date: 1988-12-29
Publication date: 1989-08-16
Anticipated expiration: 2008-12-29
Also published as: GB8830356D0; GB2213411B

Abstract

The apparatus includes a base frame (10); an assembly of carrier beams (17, 18) pivoted on the base (10) for rotation about an upright axis; clamps (19, 23) adjustably mounted on the carrier beams (17, 18) for clamping a vehicle supported on the carrier beams; retaining means (34) for releasably locking the assembly of carrier beams (17, 18) in rotatably adjusted position; a standard (36) on the base (10); and tensioning means (50) mounted for vertical adjustment on the standard (36), for connection by a chain (51) direct or via a beam (52) and a further chain to parts of a vehicle clamped on the rotatable carrier beam assembly (17, 18). The tensioning means (50) comprises a hydraulic cylinder (48) swingable about the standard (36) and an associated yoke (50). <IMAGE>

Description

APPARATUS FOR REPAIRING DAMAGED VEHICLES THIS INVENTION relates to apparatus for use in repairing damaged vehicles.

The chassis and body of a car damaged in an accident are likely to require fairly extensive repairs including careful and accurate straightening and correction of deformation. Apparatus to facilitate this, by the application of hydraulically applied tension in any required direction, is well-known. Such known apparatus, however, is very costly and also very large, and so is not well-suited to small or mediumsized crash-repair shops, both because of the capital cost. involved, and also the space required to accommodate it.

The present invention has been devised with the general object of providing vehicle repair apparatus which, although suited to economical construction and convenient storage, is capable of handling efficiently the correction of the great majority of accident-related damage short of that which may be expected to cause a vehicle to be written-off as beyond repair.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention resides broadly, in apparatus for use in repairing damaged vehicles including a base, an assembly of carrier beams pivoted on the base, vehicle clamps adjustably mounted on the carrier beams, a standard on the base, and hydraulic tensioning means mounted adjustably on the standard for connection by a chain or the like to parts of a vehicle clamped on the rotatable beam assembly. Other features of the invention will become apparent from the following description.

In order that a preferred embodiment of the invention may be readily understood and carried into practical effect, reference is now made to the accompanying drawings, wherein: FIG. 1 is a perspective view of apparatus according to the invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of one of the vehicle sill clamps of the apparatus, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an adjustable mounting bracket of the apparatus, FIG. 4 is a sectional detail drawing showing the pivotal arrangements of the carrier beams, FIG. 5 is a partly broken-away side elevational view of an adjustable pulling mechanism of the apparatus, and FIG. 6 is a plan view of the mechanism shown in FIG. 4.

The repair apparatus shown in the drawings includes a mobile base frame 10 having a longitudinal box-section member 11 with a front cross-member 12 and a rear cross-member 13, the base frame being supported by castor wheels 14 mounted under the ends of both crossmembers 12 and 13.

A turntable 15 mounted near to the front of the base 10 has an axial shaft 16 on which there are centrally pivoted a lower carrier beam 17 and an upper carrier beam 18, each beam being capable of being pivoted independently of the other.

On each of the four arms of the carrier beam assembly there is mounted an adjustable sill clamp assembly indicated generally at 19. Each of these clamp assemblies includes a rectangular-section sleeve, those of the upper carrier beam being. indicated at 20, those of the lower carrier beam, of increased height so that the tops of all sleeves will be level, being indicated at 21. Each of the sleeves 20 and 21 is slidable on its carrier beam arm and may be releasably locked in place by a set screw 22. On each of the sleeves 20 and 21 there is pivoted a clamp 23, see particularly FIG. 2, its base plate 24 being apertured centrally to receive a threaded stud 25 extending up from the top of the sleeve, passing through the aperture and engaged by a nut 26.The clamp 23 includes a plain first jaw 27 through which pass a pair of clamp bolts 28 threadedly engaged in a second jaw 29 formed with upper and lower serrated sections 30. A pair of hinge lugs 31 extending from the second or serrated jaw are connected by hinge bolts 32 to a pair of hinge lugs 33 fixed on the lamp base plate 24. The clamp 23, then, may be pivoted about the stud 25 and locked in adjusted position by tightening the nut 26, and the pair of jaws 27 and 29 may be tilted about the axis of the hinge bolts 32 and locked in required position by tightening these bolts, the clamp being operated or released by tightening or slackening the clamp bolts 28. In this manner a vehicle may be securely clamped on the carrier beams 17 and 18, and it may be easily rotated, the carrier beam assembly turning about the turntable shaft 16.The vehicle may then be locked releasably in desired position by means of a locking brace 34 having one end pivoted to an end of the lower carrier beam 17 and having a series of downwardly extending pegs 35, any selected one of which may be dropped into a hole in the longitudinal base member 11.

A box-section standard 36 extends up from the rear end of the base longitudinal member 11 and is reinforced by gussets 37 and a stay 38. A traveller 39 (see FIGS. 5 and 6) is retained slidably against the rear of the standard by a pair of angle members 40 welded to the rear corners of the standard and is releasably held in required adjusted height by a chain 41 (omitted from FIG. 5), fixed to the traveller and carried up, and dropped down into the standard, one link engaging in a slot 42 in the top of the standard. A series of spacer blocks 43 welded to and extending rearwardly of the traveller 39 are welded at their rear ends to the middle part of a guide plate 44, arcuately curved in plan view with its extremities close to the sides of the standard 36.An arcuately curved slide plate 45 is slidable from side to side of the guide plate, being retained against the guide plate by a pair of arcuately curved angled rails 46 fixed about the upper and lower parts of the guide plate 44.

Welded to the upper part of the slide plate 45 is a boss 47 engaged with one end of a hydraulic ram 48 which extends perpendicularly to the standard 36. The other end of the ram is engaged in an adaptor 49 in which is pivoted the rear end of a draw yoke 50 in the form of an elongated loop the sides of which clear the sides of the guide plate 44. A chain 51 is looped through the other or front end of the draw yoke 50.

In the arrangement shown in FIG. 1, the chain 51 is used, with the draw yoke 50, to connect the ram 48 to a curved boom arm 52 having two eyes 53 to either of which the chain may be connected by a shackle 54. The bottom of the boom arm is fulcrum in an adjustable mounting bracket 55 shown particularly in FIG. 3. This bracket has a plate 56 secured adjustably to the base longitudinal member 11 by a pair of U-bolts 57, a pair of parallel lugs 58, reinforced by gussets 59, extending up from the plate 56 and apertured to accept a pin 60 which serves as a fulcrum for the boom 52 or, as shown in FIG. 3, may carry a pulley wheel 61 if the boom arm 52 is first removed from the mounting bracket 55.

In use, the vehicle is mounted above the carrier arms 17 and 18, secured by the adjustable sill clamp assemblies 19 and rotated to the required position in which it is held by the locking brace 34, the clamp assemblies 19 then being stabilised by adjustable jacks 62. The chain 51 may be connected directly from the yoke 49 to a part of the vehicle to be pulled or, as shown in FIG. 1, the chain may be connected to the boom arm 52 which has anchorage points at 63 any of which may be connected to a part of the vehicle by a further chain (not shown), cable or the like.As a further alternative, the boom 52 may be disengaged from the mounting bracket 60 and replaced by the pulley wheel 61 and, after the ram 48 and its associated parts have been lowered, the chain 51 may be carried under the pulley wheel 61 and then upwards to a part of the vehicle to be pulled by the operation of the ram.

It will be appreciated that the mounting of the ram 48, permitting its vertical adjustable and also oscillation about a vertical axis together with the draw yoke, which furthermore is pivoted about a horizontal axis to the ram adaptor 49, enables direct pulls to be achieved between the ram and the part of the vehicle to which it is connected. The boom 52 may be reversed for working inside a vehicle.

Thw mounting bracket 55 may be used for mounting a variety of tools (not shown) on the base 10 of the apparatus; for example a telescopically adjustable post carrying an adjustable clamp which may be generally similar to the sill clamps 23.

Apparatus according to the invention will be found to be very effective in achieving the objects for which it has been devised, and very versatile in its applications, as well as being simple and economical to manufacture and readily mobile and capable of being conveniently stored in a fairly small area.

It will, of course, be understood that the particular embodiment of the invention herein described and illustrated may be subject to many modifications of constructional detail and design, which will be readily apparent to skilled persons, without departing from the scope of the invention hereinafter claimed.

Claims

The claims defining the invention are as follows:

1. Apparatus for use in repairing damaged vehicles including: a base frame, an assembly of carrier beams pivoted on the base for rotation about an upright axis, clamps adjustably mounted on the carrier beams for clamping a vehicle supported on the carrier beams, retaining means for releasably locking the assembly of carrier beams in rotatably adjusted position, a standard on the base, and tensioning means, mounted for vertical adjustment on the standard, for connection by a chain or the like to parts of a vehicle clamped on the rotatable carrier beam assembly.

2. Apparatus according to Claim 1 wherein: the carrier beam assembly comprises two carrier beams centrally pivoted in superimposed arrangement on an axial shaft of a turntable near to one end of the base frame, and constituting four carrier beam arms, the standard being near to the opposite end of the base frame.

3. Apparatus according to Claim 2 wherein: each of the clamps is mounted on a sleeve slidably adjustable on one of the carrier beam arms, the sleeves being such that all clamps are substantially level, and locking means are provided for releasably locking each sleeve in slidably adjusted position.

4. Apparatus according to Claim 3 wherein each of the clamps includes: a base plate rotatable about a vertical axis on the sleeve, and a pair of clamp jaws interconnected by clamp bolts and rotatable about a horizontal axis.

5. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims wherein: the retaining means includes a locking brace pivoted at one end to the carrier beam assembly and means for releasably locking it at any one of a number of points to the base frame.

6. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the tensioning means include: a traveller vertically slidable on the standard, means for releasably holding the traveller in vertically adjusted position, a hydraulic ram connected to the traveller -substantially perpendicular to the standard and for oscillation about a vertical axis, a draw yoke connected at one end to the hydraulic ram and at the other end to the chain or the like.

7. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims wherein: there is mounted on the base frame for adjustable movement between the carrier beam assembly and the standard a mounting bracket.

8. Apparatus according to Claim 7 wherein: the mounting bracket carries a pulley wheel for directing the chain or the like from the tensioning means and a vehicle clamped on the rotatable carrier beam assembly.

9. Apparatus according to Claim 7 wherein: the mounting bracket carries a fulcrum for a boom arm having an anchoring point for the chain or the like from the tensioning means and a further anchoring point for a further chain or the like to a vehicle clamped on the rotatable carrier beam assembly.

10. Apparatus according to Claim 7 wherein: the mounting bracket carries a vertical post surmounted by a clamped device.

11. Apparatus for use in repairing damaged vehicles substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.