GB2317368A

GB2317368A - Sifting wheelbarrow

Info

Publication number: GB2317368A
Application number: GB9619522A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Christopher Anthony Grayling
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1996-09-19
Filing date: 1996-09-19
Publication date: 1998-03-25
Anticipated expiration: 2016-09-19
Also published as: GB9619522D0; GB2317368B

Abstract

A sifting wheelbarrow 3 comprises a wheelbarrow with a sifting means within the container 4 and a means 1 for selectively disabling said sifting means; the sifting means preferably being in the form of a mesh 2 provided in the bottom of the container and the disabling means preferably being a rigid layer that can be slid into position below the mesh on rollers or in channels (8 figure 2). The layer may have a handle 9 and may be made of metal or plastic.

Description

SIFTING WHEELBARROW The present invention relates to a sifting wheelbarrow.

Wheelbarrows are well known in the art of ameliorating the effort required for manually transporting material from one location to another.

They lend themselves, inter alia, to a variety of uses many of which are included within the category of gardening equipment.

Often there is a need to sieve or sift material, in order to separate fine from coarse grade particulate, at one location and then transport one of the sifted grades to another location. Conventionally a device called a sifting ring is used to achieve this (supra), for example in grading soil or compost, comprising a circular profile of mesh housed within the lower lateral position of a peripheral ring / band. This arrangement forms a circular box into which the soil or compost is deposited and then shaken; the Fmer particulate falls through the mesh while the coarser particulate remains within the ring; the coarser particulate may then be either discarded or deposited elsewhere.

During sifting the user of this prior art system generally adopts a rather caboose body position, bent over, with most of the load being supported by the back. Many users find this discomfiting especially after working for long periods of time. By virtue of this uncomfortable working position if the user of the above system decided upon processing much larger quantities of material then the result would be more excessive loads being exerted on the spinal column. Eventually the user would incur either back strain or possibly, at worst, some other form of damage to the back.

Therefore, relatively smaller loads are processed to ease any discomfort.

These smaller loads subsequently then have to be repeated in order to process a much larger load.

Accordingly, systems and methods of sifting particulate, similar to the one described in the above example, can be tedious since they rely upon processing relatively small quantities of material.

There is a requirement to ease any discomfort caused by the working position of the sifting whilst potentially increasing the load of material being processed thereby relieving the operator of musculoskeletal problems. At the same time there is a particular requirement to reduce the tediousness of the previous systems.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a sifting wheelbarrow for sifting particulate material of a fmer grade to be deposited at a first site location from particulate material of a coarser grade in preparation to be transported by the wheelbarrow to a second site location, said sifting wheelbarrow comprising a container wherein said container includes a selectable sifting means, said sifting means being selectable by selection means between a sifting position and a transport position.

Preferably said sifting means comprises a mesh. Advantageously the mesh may be made of any material such as metal although a plastics material would suffice.

Preferably said selectable sifting means comprises channels located either side of the container for advantageously receiving a slidably mounted selection means thereby providing selection between sifting and transportation of material. Alternatively, or inclusively, the selectable sifting means may comprise a plurality of rollers located either side of the container wherein the selection means slidably engages.

Preferably the selection means comprises a sheet. Advantageously the sheet may be made of any material such as metal although a plastics material would suffice.

Preferably a handle is provided for sliding said sheet in or out of the container.

Preferably the selectable sifting means is mounted at a base location of the container.

Various aspects of the present invention are hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a plan view of a sifting wheelbarrow according to the present invention; and Figure 2 is a side view of the sifting wheelbarrow of Figure 1.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown a sifting wheelbarrow 3 for transporting and sifting fmer grade particulate material from coarser grade material.

The construction of a conventional wheelbarrow is generally well known in the art and therefore will not be described in detail for the purposes of this application.

The sifting wheelbarrow 3 comprises a container 4 of the conventional form and further includes a selectable sifting means 7. The selectable sifting means 7 is preferably defmed by a mesh section 2 and a slidably mounted selection means 1 preferably in the form of a metal sheet 1. The metal sheet 1 is disposed between channels 8 located either side of the container 4. Alternatively, or inclusively, the selectable sifting means 7 may comprise a plurality of rollers (not shown) located either side of the container 4 wherein the selection means 1 slidably engages.

Advantageously the mesh 2 may be made of any material such as metal although a plastics material would suffice. Handle means 9 is provided and is preferably located at the rear of the selection means l.

In use the sifting wheelbarrow 3 is loaded with material to be sifted and at some desired site location it is selected to sift by slidably withdrawing the selection means l by pulling handle 9 in a direction represented in the drawings by A. The sifting wheelbarrow 3 is then shaken by a desired exuberant degree by means of holding the handles 6 of the sifting wheelbarrow 3. The finer particulate material is thus deposited. The coarser particulate material remains within the container 4 of the sifting wheelbarrow 3 and may subsequently be transported to another site location whereby the wheelbarrow is tipped in a conventional manner.

Claims

1. A sifting wheelbarrow for sifting particulate material of a finer grade to be deposited at a first site location from particulate material of a coarser grade in preparation to be transported by the wheelbarrow to a second site location, said sifting wheelbarrow comprising a container wherein said container includes a selectable sifting means, said sifting means being selectable by selection means between a sifting position and a transport position.

2. A sifting wheelbarrow according to claim 1, wherein said sifting means comprises a mesh.

3. A sifting wheelbarrow according to claims 1 or 2, wherein said selectable sifting means comprises channels located either side of the container for advantageously receiving a slidably mounted selection means thereby providing selection between the sifting position and the transport position.

4. A sifting wheelbarrow according to claims 1 or 3, wherein the selectable sifting means comprises a plurality of rollers located either side of the container wherein the selection means slidably engages.

5. A sifting wheelbarrow according to any preceding claim, wherein the selection means comprises a suitable layer of rigid material.

6. A sifting wheelbarrow according to claim 5, wherein the selectable sifting means is made of metal

7. A sifting wheelbarrow according to claim 5, wherein the selectable sifting means is made of a plastics material.

8. A sifting wheelbarrow substantially as herein before described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

8. A sifting wheelbarrow according to claims 6 or 7, wherein the selection means has a handle provided for sliding said layer in or out of the container during selection.

9. A sifting wheelbarrow according to claim 8, wherein the selectable sifting means is mounted at a base location of the container.

10. A sifting wheelbarrow substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Amendments to the claims have been filed as follows 1. A sifting wheelbarrow for sifting particulate material of a finer grade to be deposited at a first site location from particulate material of a coarser grade in preparation to be transported by the wheelbarrow to a second site location, said sifting wheelbarrow comprising a container wherein said container includes a selectable sifting means, said selectable sifting means comprising channels located either side of the base location of the container for advantageously receiving a slidably base-mounted selection means thereby providing selection between the sifting position and the transport position.

3. A sifting wheelbarrow according to claim 1, wherein the selectable sifting means comprises a plurality of rollers locate either side of the container wherein the selection means slidably engages.

4. A sifting wheelbarrow according to any preceding claim, wherein the selection means comprises a suitable layer of rigid material.

5. A sifting wheelbarrow according to claim 4, wherein the selectable sifting means is made of metal.

6. A selectable sifting means according to claim 4, wherein the selectable sifting means is of a plastics material.

7. A sifting wheelbarrow according to claims 5 or 6, wherein the selection means has a handle provided for sliding said layer in or out of the container during selection.