US1007677A - Hand-truck. - Google Patents

Description

E. B. BDDYa. W. R. GLARK.

HAND TRUCK. l. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 2, 1908. 150076'77. Patented Nov. 7. 1911.

UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEIoE.

ELBERT B. EDDY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, AND WALTER R. CLARK, OF MINNEAPOLIS,

MINNESOTA.

HAND-TRUCK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 7, 1911.

` To-aZZ whom t may concern.'

neapolis, in the countyfof Hennepin and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hand- Trucks, of which the following is a speciiication.

` The invention relates to manually-.propelled trucks, such as are generally used at railroad stations and express oices for transporting baggage and packages, between the cars and the station or from one part of the station to another. These trucks when not infuse, are usually left on the platform of the station and it frequently occurs that persons hurrying to ory from a train, or to the ticket oiiice, stumble over the handle when it is left in lowered position and frequently the railroad or express companies are obliged to pay large claims for damages arising from accidents of this sort. To some extent these accidents may be avoided by providing latches or locks for holding the handle in elevated position. In practice, however, it frequently' occurs that baggagemen or expressmen neglect or overlook the necessity of lifting the handle and locking it in raised position particularly when hasteis necessary in their work.

A further desideratum in baggage or express trucks is to apply brakes to the wheels of the truck so that it will not be free to be pushed around the platform or off the platform, and onto the tracks where it might cause an accident. It has heretofore been proposed to provide tongue-operated brakes to hold the truck wherever it may be left but in practice it frequently occurs that the expressmen or baggagemenin the hurried performance o-f their duties, neglect to lift and lock the handle into position to cause the'brakes to be applied to the wheel of the truck.

The invention designs to provide an improved truck in which the handle will be automatically lifted whenever it is released by the operator, so that it will be impossible for any person to stumble over the handle when the truck is not in use, because automatic lifting-means will cause the handle to be held in lifted position at all times, except when the user is holding the handle in lowered position. Therefore it will be impossible for the handle to be in lowered position, except when it is held there by the user and if the lattershould hurriedly leave the truck the handle will be automatically lifted into position to avoid a possible accident.

The invention further designs to provide a truck with an automatic brake-operating mechanism which will cause the brakes to be automatically applied when the handle is released by the operator, thus relieving the operator of the necessity of lifting and locking the handle to apply the brakes. Therefore when the brakes are operated by an' automatically lifted handle, the-latter will at all times, except when held by the user, be in lifted position'and the brakes will be automatically applied whenever the user releases the handle and there will be no accidents occurring, either from the handle being left in lowered position or from the truck rolling around or being-pushed off the platform.

With these objects in View, the invention consists in the several novel features of construction hereinafter set forthand more particularly defined by claims at the conclusion hereof.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a' side elevation of a truck embodying the invention, the handle being shown. in lifted position to which it is automatically shifted and in which it will be held atall times except when in use. Fig. 2 is a similar view, parts being shown in section, the handle being shown in lowered position. Fig. 3 is an inverted plan, the parts being shown in position illustrated in Fig. 1. l

The truck comprises a body 10, rearwheels 11, front-wheels12, which are mountwhich permits the front wheels and the axle to be swung laterally and all of these parts may be of usual or any suitable construction, as well understood in the art. The handle 15 is connected to the front-axle 13 by pivots 16, so that the handle may be lowered for use and so that the front axle and wheels may be swung laterally to guide the truck.

The handle is normally held in raised position shown in Fig. 1 by a weight 17 which is adjustably connected to a lever 18 by a screw 18. The lever is pivoted as at 19 in a bracket 2() secured to the bolster 13*1 and axle 13 and has its front end pivotally and adjustably connected to the rear end of a link 21. The front end of said link is connected to an arm 22 which is pivoted, as at 23, in the front end of the bracket 20 and is rigidly connected to another but shorter arm 24, said arms 22 and 24 and intermediate part pivoted at 23 forming a double crank having a long and a short arm, whereby movement of said long arm 22 will be imparted to short arm 24 with increased leverage. A rod 25 is connected to the end of arm 24, said arms 22 and 24: and intermediate secured to the handle as at 26. The weight 17 is suiicient to overbalance the pivoted handle 15 and the connection between the lever and the handle is such that it will cause the latter to be held in raised position at all times, except when it is manually held in lowered position for use. The weight and its connection with the handle thus serve as means for automatically lifting the handle when it is released and for retaining it nor# mally elevated above the position in which it is used for drawing the truck. When the handle is in lowered positionl and released by the operator, weight 17 will cause the rear portion of lever 18 to be lowered to swing said lever about its pivot 19 and to operate the link 21 forwardly to rock arins 22 and 24, which will operate rod 26 to raise the handle 15. Resultantly, whenever the operator leaves the truck the handle will be immediately and automatically raised so that accidents resulting from leaving the handle in lowered position where persons are likely to stumble over it will be avoided. The weighted lever and link-connection for the tongue are arranged in close proximity to the axle to leave as much clearance as possible below the axle and so that when the truck is in use' the connections will not encounter obstructions on the platform. Furthermore, the weight-lever 18 is arranged to rise and fall beneath the body of the truck and not in too close proximity to the ground or platform.

A brake-shoe 30 is provided for each of the front wheels 12 being secured to a rod 31 which is pivotally held in a bracket 32 which is secured to the front bolster 13a by a bracket 33 and to bracket 20 by a bolt 31 which also secures the brackets 20, and 33 together. The brake-shoes are secured to arms 35 at the outer ends of rod 31 so that by oscillation of said rod the brakes will be shifted into or out of engagement with the Wheelrims. The brakes are caused to be automatically applied when the operator releases the handle by a connection between rod 31 and link 21 of the connection for automatically liftingthe handle. The connes tion for automatically operating the brakes comprises an arm 36 rigidly secured or connected to rod 31 and a link 37 pivoted to the lower end of said rod as at 38 and to. the link 21 as at 39. The end of link 37 is adapted to be connected to the link 21 by means of either of a series of holes 40 so that the brake-operating connection may be adjusted or set to timely apply the brake-'shoes to the wheels. Result-antly, whenever the handle is operated by the automatic lifting-y means, link 37 will also operate arm 36 to rock brake-shaft 31 and force the brakeshoes 30 into engagement with the rims of wheels 12, thel weight 17 being suiiicientto cause the brake-shoes to be held in engagement with the wheel-rims. The invention thus provides an improved truck embodying-- occur either from permitting the handle to remain in lowered position where some person might stumble over it or the truck might roll or be moved around the platform, because at all times, except when the handle is held by the operator, the handle will be in raised position and the brakes will be set.

The invention -is not to be understood as restricted to the details described since these may be modified within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what we` claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. The combination in a truck comprising carrying-wheels and a pivoted handle, of means for automatically swinging said handle upwardly above its working range of movement, comprising a counterweighted lever, a link connected to said lever, and connections between said link and handle for increasing the leverage on said handle.

2. The combination in a truck comprising carrying-wheels and a pivoted handle, of means for automatically swinging said handle upwardly above its working range of movement, comprising a counterweighted lever, a link connected to said lever, a brake

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