US1502067A - Hand truck - Google Patents

Description

Jul 22, 1924. 1,502,067

F'. STEEL-ER HAND TRUCK Filed June 14, 1921: 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 n F 3 I F 2 1b D n O O fi Zd d July 22, 1924. 1,502,067

F. STEBLER HAND TRUCK Filed June 14, 1922 Z Sheets-Sheet 2 mam Q:

Patented July 22, 1924.

' estate? UNETEQ STATES PATENT @FFQQE.

FRED STEIBLER, OF RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA. ASSIGNOR T STEIBLER PARKER 00., OF A RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA, A' CORPORATION OF CALIFORNIA.

HAND raucxi Application filed June 14, 1922, Serial no. 568,205.

T 0 all whom it may concern.

Be it known that. I, FRED STEBLER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Riverside, in the county of Riverside and State of California, have invented a new and useful Hand Truck, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to hand-trucks and is particularly directed to that type of truck in which gripping means operated by mechanism associated with the truck are adapted to grip the sides of the article to be transported. An object of the invention is to generally improve and simplify the construction and operation of a truck of the above character and to, provide an operating mechanism having a tendency of maintaining the gripplng members under load in load gripping position so as to eliminate the necessity of locking means of any character.

Another object is to provide an operating mechanism in which the lines of stress are so distributed as to positively insure against a premature dropping of the load by release of the gripping means.

Various other objects and advantages will be more fully apparent from the following description of the accompanying 3o drawings which form a part of this disclosure, and which illustrate a preferred form of embodiment of the invention.

Of the drawings:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of my improved truck showing the gripping members and the operating mechanism in normal position. 1 4

Fig. 2 is a side elevation.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical section on line 33 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged plan section on line 44 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged vertical section on line 5-5 of Fig. 1. 1

With particular reference to Figs. 1 and 2, the truck frame comprises the usual siderails 1011, preferably of wood and'terminating at thelr upper ends with handles 12, cross bars 13-14, and transverse plates 15, 16 and 17, said bars and plates forming with the side-rails a rigid frame structure.

The upper portions of the side-rails are provided with suitable hand-grips 18 which serve also as legs for supporting this portion of the truck in a horizontal position when desired, and attached to the lower portions of said side-rails are brackets 19 carrying a transverse shaft 20 u on the ends of which are journaled groun wheels 21. 1

The lower ends of the side-rails are slotted as at 22 and the rails are faced with metal strips 23 which form the outer walls of said slots, the lower walls of said slots being formed by the transverse plate 17.

Right-angled gripper members 24 are slidably positioned within the respective slots 22 and have forwardly pro ecting arms 25 provided with inturned points or spurs 26, these gripper members being adapted to be translated in the slots 22 towards and away from each other to efiect a clamping or releasing of boxes or other articles to be carried by the truck.

Positioned on opposite sides of the plate 15 and pivot-ally connected thereto at 27-27, are pairs of depending cam links 28-28, each pair of said links being oppositely curved and extended downwardly on opposite sides of the plate 16 and on the opposite side of the respective gripper members 24 to which they are pivotally connected at, 29, the lower ends of said links being extended below the members 24 on opposite sides of the lower plate 17 to guide the members 24 throughout their movements.

The mechanism which cooperates with the cam links to translate the gripper members, includes a double wall slide bar 30 which slidably engages the opposite sides of the plates 15 and 16, and which is guided in its sliding movements by guide pins 31 and 32 on the plates 15 and 16, respectively.

A cross-head 33 is positioned between the walls of the slide bar 30 intermediate the plates 15 and 16, and is secured to said slide by rivets 34, the op osite ends of the cross-head 33 extending etween the links 28 of each pair of said links. Journaled on opposite sides of each end of the cross head 33 are duplicate pairs of rollers 35,

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36, the rollers 35 of each pair engaging the outer edges of the respective links 28, and the rollers 36 of each pair engaging the inner edges of said links, (see particularly Fig. 4).

By this arrangement it will be evident that upon an upward translation of the slide 30, the rollers 35 by their cooperation 40 which is with the outer edges of the links 28 will cause said links to be drawn together and the links being pivotally connected with the gripper members 2=t, operate to move said members towards each other to clampin 1y grip the box or other article positioned etween the arms 25. 1

When a box has been clamped by the grippers 24, the weight of the box exerts a downward force on the outer ends of the grippers and this produces an upward thrust of the inner ends of the grippers throughthe links 28. The links 28, of course, resist this force, and as the thrust in the links will be substantially in line with their pivots 27, there is no tendency for this force to loosen the spurs 26. For this reason it is unnecessary to provide any locking device for the grippers 24.

The means by which the slide bar 30 is translated upwardly comprises a foot treadle ivoted in the upper end of a bracket 41, with its inner end pivotally connected by means of a link 42 hingedly connected at 43 to the bar 30, the bracket 41 being secured to the transverse plate 17 and further supported by the shaft which extends through said bracket. (See Fig. 5).

The bar is provided with a pedal step 44 upon which the operator may step to cause a downward translation of the bar 30 to effect a spreading of the gripper members and a release of the load.

It will be noted that the body portions of the links are inclined with respect to the longitudinal axis of the frame while the up er ends of the links incline toward this axis and the lower ends incline away from this axis.

While the form of mechanism herein disclosed in detail, is admirably adapted to fulfill all of the objects primarily stated, it is to be understood that I do not wish to limit the invention to such specific embodiment, for it is susceptible of embodiment in various other forms, all coming within the scope of the following claims.

I claim 1. In a hand-truck, a frame having relatively spaced side-rails, opposed transversely movable gripper members slidable on the frame towards and from each other and extending beyond the side-rails, opposed cam links extending in a general'direction longitudinal of the frame with their upper ends pivoted on the frame adjacent the respective side-rails, said links being each curved downwardly and inwardly with their lower ends pivotally connected to the inner ends of the res ective gripper members, and a longitudina ly movable slide bar having a cam engagement with said links and manually naoaoe'r operable to effect an opening or closing of the gripper members.

.2. In a hand-truck, a frame having relatively spaced side-rails, opposed transversely movable gripper members slidable on the frame towards and from each other and extending beyond the side-rails, opposed cam links extending in a general direction longitudinal of the frame with their upper ends pivoted on the frame adjacent the respective side-rails, downwardly and inwardly with their lower ends pivotally connected with the inner ends of the respective gripper members, a longitudinally movable slide bar between the op posed links, and rollers on the slide bar having a cam action o-n the links to effect an opening or closing of the gripper members.

3. In a hand-truck. a frame having rela tively spaced side-rails, opposed transversely movable gripper members slidable on the frame towards and from each other and extending beyond the side-rails, opposed cam links extending in a general direction longi tudinal of the frame with their upper ends pivoted on the frame adjacent the respective side-rails, said links being each curved downwardly and inwardly with their lower ends pivotally connected to the inner ends of the respective gripper members, a longitudinally movable slide bar between the opposed links having a cross-head providing opposed arms extending adjacent said links, and rollers carried by said arms and having a cam engagementon the links during a translation of the slide bar to effect an opening or closing of the gripper members.

4. In a hand truck, the combination of a frame, a pair of oppositely disposed grippers guided on the frame to move laterally in and out thereupon, each gripper having a spur for engaging the side of a box, a pair of oppositely disposed links pivotally attached to the frame at their inner ends and pivotally attached at their lower ends respectively to the grippers, the upper ends of said links inclining inwardly toward the longitudinal axis of the frame and the lower ends of the links inclining outwardly, the body portions of said links being inclined with respect to the longitudinal axis of the frame, and a cross head guided to slide longitudinally on the frame and having means for engaging the edges of said links, and an operatin member connected to the crosshead, said cross-head and said links cooperating when the cross-head is moved, to move the grippers in or out.

Signed at Los Angeles, California, this 7th day of June, 1922.

FRED .z'iTlEBLlElEt.

said links being each curved

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