US2099487A

US2099487A - Automobile jack

Info

Publication number: US2099487A
Application number: US12766A
Authority: US
Inventors: Carl W Johnson; Gilbert M Smith
Original assignee: JOHNSON
Current assignee: JOHNSON
Priority date: 1935-03-25
Filing date: 1935-03-25
Publication date: 1937-11-16
Anticipated expiration: 1954-11-16

Description

Nov. 16, 1937. c. w. JOHNSON ET AL AUTOMOBILE JACK Filed March 25, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 NGV. 16, 1937. c. w Q N r AL I v AUTOMOBILE JACK Filed March 25, 1935 2 Shets-Sheet 2 r r 2 I Z7 25 12 22 J6 18 J5 37 51'; 25 2g 36 .23

ii 41] J3 2 20" 25 Patented Nov. 16, 1937 PAT ENT OFFICE AUTOMOBILE JACK Carl W. Johnson, Glencoe, and Gilbert M. Smith,

Congress Park, 111;; said Smith assignor to I said Johnson Application March 25, 1935, Serial No..12,766

3* Claims.

ur .inventioni contemplates and provides a novel and improvedrjack adapted to be applied to the bumper of an automobile and to be operated with easeand facility by a person standing clear of the 'vel'licle;v

Our jack; inlits' preferred embodiment herein described and claimed; comprises a rack-bar which is detachably received and supported by theupper end of a: standard which in turn has its lower end articulated in a suitable base. Embracing the rack-bar, and vertically. movable wlth respect thereto,.is a gear housing provided with bifurcations for the reception of bumper bars, or bumper'bar brackets, of different thicknesses. Vertical movement of the gear housing on the.- rack-bar'is accomplished by rotation of a spurgear which is'permanently inrmesh with the rack-bar and adaptedto be. driven up or down therack-barithroughthe agency'of a worm gear and itscq-operating worm,-the said worm operating on an axis inclined to the horizontaland being arranged for detachable cooperation with awrench held and operatedby a person standing alongside the jack and: away fromthe 'vehicle to be lifted;

Otherfeature's-, objects and advantages of our inventionwillappear "from the following detailed descriptiongwherein reference is made to the accompanying drawings, in which- Fig; 1 is an elevational view illustrating our improved jack applied to the" rear bumper bar of an; automobile of modern design;

' Fig. Z'is a side view of the jack in which certain parts of the structure are broken away for clearness in illustrationthe gear housing section in this figure being taken on the line '2"- 2' of 'Fig. 3, and looking in the direction indicated by the arrows; Fig. 3 is a-front view of the jack in which certain parts of the structure are shown in section;

Fig: 4 is arear elevational view of the gear housing and a fragment of the'rack-bar, which view may beiregarded as taken from the plane of the line 4-4 of Fig. 2, and looking in the direction indicatedby'the arrows;

Fig. 5? is a fragmentary sectional detail view taken on the line 55 of Fig. 4,.and looking in the direction indicated by the arrows; I Fig. 6 is a horizontalsectional view taken on the line 66" of Fig. 3, and looking in thedirection: indicated by the-*arrows;' and Fig. 7 is a sectional detail view taken on the line'of'll of Fig. 2; and looking in the direction indicated by" the arrows;

Similar characters of reference refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

As illustrated in, the drawings, our jackcomprises a rack-bar provided with a lower end portion II for detachable reception in a correspondingly shaped receptacle [2 formed in the upper end of a vertical standard I3. It is preferred that the rack-bar portion H and its receptacle l2- be circularin transverse section, as shown, so that the formerxmay be turned in the latter as the hereinafter mentioned gear housing is being propelled'upwardly on the rackbar. The rack-bar is also preferably provided with-anintegral flange M whichrests on the top of standardv l3;

The lower end of the standard I3 is articulated, by the heavy pivot pin [5, toand between the upstanding spaced flanges l6l6 of the base l'l,-the arrangement being such that the bottom of the base may be swung into parallelism with one of the longitudinal surfaces" of r the standard for convenience in packing the jack into a tool box.

Embracing the rack-bar I0 is a vertically movable two-piecegear housing l8 which is provide'd'with aligned rectangular openings l9 and through which the rack-bar slidably extends. The two parts of the gear housing are joined in a plane which includes the axis of the worm .presentlyto be mentioned,and are conveniently secured together by rivets 2|, 2| extending through

abutting flanges

22, 22.

Journalled in the gear housing I8 is a horizontal shaft 23 to which isspli'ned a spur gear 24, which is in mesh with the teeth of rack-bar I0. Also splined to shaft 23 is a worm gear 25, which is permanently in driven relation, and never in driving relation, to a worm 26, which in turn is splined upon shaft 21. Shaft 21 has radial and thrust bearings in the gear housing.

Attention is directed to the fact that the axis of worm shaft 21 is inclined. to the horizontal, its lower end being concave for cooperation with the thrust bearing ball 28. Its upper end 29, which projects" out of the gear housing, is of hexagonal or square cross section for cooperation with the socket of a suitable wrench. Shaft 21 is preferably provided with an integral annular flange 30 to lie between the gear housing and a wrenchv socket applied to the portion 29 of "the shaft. 7

That portion of shaft 21 which occupies its upper radial bearing is desirably provided with an annular groove 31, which is traversed'by pin 32 to limit axial movement of shaft 27 relative to its bearings.

Formed integral with the rear face of the gear housing is an upwardly opening hook 33 arranged to engage the lower edge of a bumper, or bumper bar bracket, to which the jack is applied. The inner surface 34 of the hook inclines downwardly toward the adjacent vertical surface 35 of the housing, so that the hook will readily accommodate itself to bumper bars, or bumper bar brackets, of different thicknesses. face 35 of the gear housing may be provided with a rubber cushion 36 held in position by having integral frusto-

conical lugs

31, 31, sprung into correspondingly shaped apertures formed in that wall of the gear housing to'which the cushion is applied. The cushion serves to prevent marring of an exposed finished surface of a bumper bar engaged by hook 33.

Formed integral with the top of the gear housing, is a heavy bifurcated lug 38 defining a V-slot 39 for the reception of bumper bars or bumper bar brackets of different thicknesses. Usually, in the use of the jack, the hook 33 is utilized when a bumper bar is to be engaged, and the bifurcated lug is utilized when a bumper bar bracket is to be engaged.

' At 40, in Fig. 1, we have illustrated a wrench having a socket for detachable cooperation with the protruding portion 29 of the worm shaft 21.

The jack is most conveniently kept in a tool box with the rack-bar l0 and standard l3 disconnected, and with base I! turned alongside one of the longitudinal surfaces of the standard I3.

When the jack is to be used, the base I! is turned to the position shown in the drawings, and the lower end of the rack bar is fitted into the standard. The worm shaft 21 is now operated, by right hand turning of wrench 40, to cause spur gear 30 to carry gear housing l8 up- Wardly on rack-bar l0 until either hook 33, or bifurcated. lug 38, has embraced and accommodated itself to the lower edge of a bumper bar or bumper bar bracket.

While the gear housing is being moved upwardly on the rack-bar, it may be shifted laterally, around the axes represented bypin l5 and rackbar portion II, to steer either hook 33 or bifurcated lug 38, as the case may be, into alignment and registry with the bumper bar or bumper bar bracket which said hook or lug is to engage.

We find that all necessary movements of the jack, after it has been assembled and placed in the substantially correct vertical position, may be effected by manipulation of the wrench alone.

While the wrench 46 may be of the type having a socket provided with a ball plunger adapted to engage in recess 41 in the protruding portion 29 of the worm shaft 21, we achieve entirely satisfactory results when operating. our jack with a wrench having a plain socket for reception of the worm shaft extremity 29. The fact that shaft 21 is inclined to the horizontal, makes it extremely easy to shift the jack housing to and fro, to get proper alignment with the bumper bar or bumper bar bracket, by manipulation of the socket wrench engaging shaft portion 29, and without there being any necessity for the operator grasping any part of the jack proper.

After either hook 33 or bifurcated lug 38 has accommodated itself to either a bumper bar or bumper bar bracket, the bumper, and the portions of the automobile to which it is attached, are forced upwardly to the requisite height by right hand turning of the wrench by an opera- If desired, the surtor standing alongside the jack on the side thereof which lies away from the automobile.

Due to the fact that worm gear 25 and its associated spur gear 24 are always in driven relation, but never in driving relation, to worm 26, the gear housing and automobile parts supported thereby are automatically locked in the elevated positions to which they are carried by right hand rotation of the jack wrench. I

When the purposes of the jack have been served, the wrench, being applied to the worm shaft extremity 29, is turned in the left hand direction until the gear housing has disengaged and cleared the bumper bar or bumper bar bracket to which it was applied. The rack-bar l0 may then be removed from standard l3, the base I! may be turned alongside standard l3, and the disassembled jack may then be put away, in a small space, in a tool box or the like.

It will thus be understood that we have provided a simple, sturdy and easily manipulated jack which is particularly suited to theljacking requirements of present-day automobiles which, with their knee action wheels, shortened chassis frames and overhanging bodies, render jacking with old style jacks very difiicult, unsafe and disagreeable and, in many cases, impossible.

When in the appended claims we mention a bumper, we mean to include not only the impact bar thereof, but also the supporting brackets, usually of strap steel, by which the impact bar is attached to the body or chassis of an automobile.

What we claim is new and desire to, secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A jack comprising a rack-bar of rectangular cross-section, a lower bar in alignment therewith of substantially the same length on which the rack-bar is mounted for rotation around its axis, a base whereon the lower end of the lower bar is connected for pivotal movement on a horizontal axis, a housing having an opening similar in shape to said cross-section, mountedon the rack-bar for longitudinal movement thereon a gear journalled by the housing and cooperating with the'teeth of the rack-bar to propel the housing along the rack-bar as said, gear is rotated, non-reversible driving means for said gear comprising an element for engagement with and rotation by a suitable wrench, a worm mounted on said element and a worm gear operable there by to drive the said first gear, and a channel defined by the housing and opening toward that end of the rack-bar which lies away from the base, said channel being adapted to receive the lower edge of a bumper bar and being capable of being brought into proper registry therewith by manipulation of the wrench utilized to actuate the gear driving means, the housing being capable of to-and-fro movement in one direction only and rotary movement about its axis.

2. A jack comprising a base, a riser in the form of a bar pivotally mounted on said baseabout a horizontal axis, a rack-bar of rectangular crosssection of substantially the same length mounted .on the upper end of said bar in alignment therewith so that it can rotate on said bar aboutits longitudinal axis, a housing having an opening similar to said cross-section mounted to travel on and longitudinally of the rack-bar, non-reversible propelling means carried by the housing cooperating with the rack-bar to effect movements of the housing longitudinally of the rackbar, and said propelling means comprising an element arranged for cooperation with and 1:0-

tation by a suitable manually actuated wrench, a worm mounted on said element, a worm gear in mesh therewith mounted in said housing and a gear operatively connected to said worm gear cooperating with said rack-bar, said housing being provided with a channel which opens without obstruction towards that end of the rack-bar which lies away from the base, whereby the operator, by manipulation of the wrench may steer said channel into alignment with the lower edge of a bumper bar while the housing, by rotation of the same wrench, is being propelled upwardly toward that bumper bar.

down thereon, and means carried by said hous- 10 ing for engaging an article to be raised.

CARL W. JOHNSON. GILBERT M. SMITH.