US2930583A - Handle for sheet material - Google Patents

Description

March 29, 1960 l. J. NOE ET AL 2,930,583

HANDLE FOR SHEET MATERIAL Filed March 18, 1957 INVETQRS. Issac John Noe Roy V. Norton WHITEHEAD, VOGL 8 LOWE ATTORNEYS :l-LE FOR SHEET MATERIAL Isaac John Noe, Greenland, and Ray V. Norton,

Castle Rock, 3010,

Application March 18, 1957, Serial No. 646,596 3 Claims. (Cl. 254-113) Throughout the years, the use of sheet and slab material in the building arts has steadily increased, and now large sheets of plyboard and gypsum wallboard are being used in many instances in place of lath and plaster. These sheets are made as large as can be handled by one or two men, and are often as large as four feet wide and twelve feet long. They may be as much as or more than one-half inch thick and quite heavy. While such sheets are not beyond the lifting capacity of a man, they are often so unwieldy that it is exceedingly difiicult for a man or even two men to handle them. This difliculty becomes even more manifest when such large sheets, have to be carried through narrow openings up stairways and set against a wall and lifted a short dis tance above the floor to hold them in place for permanent attachment to the wall. gypsum wallboard are bound together as for transportation, the bundle is not only unwieldy but very heavy and difiicult to lift let alone manage it.

With' such and other factors in view, the present invention was conceived and developed to provide for a novel and improved handle for the grasping, lifting and holding of sheet material. It follows that the'objects of the invention are to provide such novel and improved sheet-material handle which: (a) permits a workman to lift, carry and manipulate otherwise unwieldy sheets of plyboard and the like; (b) facilitates the handling and transportation of heavy bundles of sheet material; (0) permits slabs, once set as against a wall to be easily and slowly lifted and held short distances above the floor level to their proper permanent position; (d) isespecially adapted to hold doors in position in their openings and against their jambs for marking hinge locations and for other operations in hanging doors; (e) may be used for direct lift prying where objects must be lifted straight up and where it is important not to mar finished surfaces; and (f) is a simply-constructed, neat-appearing, economical, rugged and durable unit.

' With the foregoing and other objects in view,*all of which more fully hereinafter appear, our invention comprises certain novel and improved constructions, combinations and arrangements of parts and elements as hereinafter described and as defined in the appended claims, and illustrated in preferred embodiments in the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure l is a side elevation view of one embodiment of the invention with the lifting elements thereof shifted to a lifting and holding position.

Figure 2 is an end elevation of the unit as viewed from the indicated arrow 2 at Fig. 1.

Figure 3 is a side elevation v ew, similar to Fig. l, but with the lifting elements retracted and illustrating Where several sheets of asserts the unit being used as a handle for a sheet of plywood or the like.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary section as viewed from the indicated line 4-4 at Fig. 1 but on a somewhat enlarged scale.

Figure 5 is a side elevation view of the lower portion of the apparatus but illustrating an alternate lifting arrangement, the retracted position of the lifting element being shown in broken lines.

Figure 6 is a side elevation view similar to Fig. 5 but showing another alternate lifting arrangement.

Figure 7 is a side elevation view similar to Fig. 5 but showing yet another alternate lifting arrangement.

Referring more particularly to the drawingfthe invention combines an improved handle H and lift L associated therewith. It is contemplated that the handle H may be used for the purpose of holding and carrying sheet material or the like while the primary function of the lift L is to permit the handle to be forcibly raised a short distance as from a floor level by direct lifting action of the lift L as hereinafter described in detaiL. ..The handle H is formed from a flat rigid bar of steel or like metal having one end looped to form a hand grip 10 in the form of a simple oval loop ,of sufiicient width to receive the fingers of an individualwhen'fb eing held in a simple direct-lifting grip ,with the, shank 11 of the bar depending centrally from the grip. The'op; posite end of the bar is twisted and bent to forrnl a fiat outstanding finger 12 whereon the edge of a sheet'S'of plywood or the like may be supported as in the manner clearly illustrated at Fig. 3.

The flat loop of the grip 10 must necessarily be' held spaced from and in spaced parallelism with the adjacent surface of the sheets supported upon the finger 12 and the flat sides of the bar forming the shank 11 are thereby perpendicular to the sheet surface with one edge 13 of the shank being adjacent to the sheet. To permit an individual to hold the handle and lift a sheet of plywood or the like with the edge 13 abutting against the adjacent surface of the sheet S but with the grip 10 spaced therefrom to protect his hand, the fiat shank bar 11 is formed with an offset 14 near the grip. To properly position the finger 12 at the base of the handle, the base end of the shank 11 is twisted in a -degree twist 15 immediately above the 90-degree bend at the outstanding finger 12. 4

The length of the shank is such that when an individual standing upright is holding the grip 10 a sheet S held upon the finger 12 will be held a suitable distance off the floor or ground as the case may be. It is contemplated that the shank may be made of a single piece of suitable length for an average individual. However, it may be made'with adjustable length, with an upper shank portion 11a and lower shank portion 11b being suitably overlapped and interconnected at a selected length. A preferred, simple connection is the provision of evenly spaced orifices 16 in each overlapping shank portion which will lie in mutual registration, and a pair of bolts 17 extending through certain registered'o'rifices in the manner clearly illustrated in the drawing.

The lift L illustrated at Figs. 1-4 is hingedly connected to the lower portion of the shank 11 at the side of the handle opposite the sheet contacting edge 13 and the elements comprising this lift are fiat rigid steel bars similar to that forming the handle H and these bars are hinged and oriented to lie substantially in the plane of the flat surface of the bar forming the shank 11. This lift includes a leg 18 which is shiftably connected to the handle H by a top link 19 and a lower lever link 20. The links are connected to the shank 11 and to leg 18 by pivots 21 and the respective elements form a swinging grasping and lifting handle and its load upwardly.

assures 1 s parallelogram with the leg 18 being in spaced parallelism with the shank 11 regardless of its position relative to the'finger 12. The base or" the leg 18 terminates as a foot 22 which is adapted to lie above the finger 12 when in the retracted position, as illustrated at Fig. 3, and to extend below the finger when in the lifting position. This pivot is suitably widened to provide a good bearing surface and may include a padded underside, not shown, to prevent the marring of finished floors or the like;

The lever link 26 extends outwardly from the pivot connecting it to the leg as a handle and the flat bar forming this link is formed with a 9'D-degree twist and partial bend 23 to form a fiat foot pedal 24. The manner of using this lift L and handle H is very simple and quickly apparent. The apparatus is useful in many instances, and for example, it may be used whenever a heavy sheet or the like or even a'piano or piece of furniture which is sitting on the floor must be lifted above the door a short distance. For example, a heavy wall panel must usually be lifted an inch or two above the lioor level before it is secured to wall studs. After the edge of the panel is seton the finger of the lift and is positioned against the wall studs, the operator will then step upon the pedal 24 to depress the leg 19 and lift the While so depressed the operators hands are free to secure the plyboard in position as by nailing. The end of a piano or heavy piece of furniture may be lifted in like manner for various reasons, such as to free or set a rug.

In the operations of lifting a sheet S or objects a short distance ofi the floor as by foot pressure it becomes desirable to lock the lift leg in any desired position to free the operator so he can go elsewhere. To accomplish this a detent 25 .is pivotally connected to the leg 18 as on a pivot 21 and this detent 25 swings against a notched or serrated edge 2s on the shank 11 to be locked at any selected position. A spring 27 resiliently holds the detent against the serrated edge 26, and a thumb lug 28 may outstand from the detent to facilitate releasing it from the edge 26. To permit complete retraction of the leg above and against the shank, as illustrated at Fig. 3, a notch 29 may be cut in the edge of the leg 19 to prevent the point of the detent from interfering with movement of the leg 19 to the position against the shank 11.

The modified construction illustrated at Fig. incorporates a wedging type lift L which uses a single leg 18' pivotally attached to the shank 11 as at 21. This leg 18 is of such length that when rotated against the shank it will extend below the finger 12 and in movement to that position will act as a wedge to lift the handle upwardly above the floor level, all as in the manner clearly illustrated at Fig. 5. To facilitate such movement and wedging and prevent the end of the leg from cutting into the floor, the end of the leg 18 is twisted as at 23' and terminated as a loop 30. The length of the leg 18 is such that it may be folded upwardly against the shank 11 when not in use, as clearly indicated by the broken lines of the figure.

The modified construction illustrated at Fig. 6 incorporates an hydraulic lift L" which includes a cylinder 31 allixed to the shank 11 as by bolted clamps 32 with the 4 lifting piston 33 being directed downwardly to extend below the finger 12. A simple form of pump head 34 is located at the top of this lift and includes a conventional pump handle 35 which is reciprocated for lifting. This construction is especially adaptable for the direct lifting of heavy masonry slabs to set them in place.

The modified construction illustrated at Fig. 7 incorporates a mechanical lift L which is mechanically equivalent to the lift L of Figs. l-4 but places the detent 25, the notched edge 26" andtne holding spring 27' above the leg 19 and upon an extension 36 of the top link 26. The detent 25' is attached to this extension 36 as at a-pivot 37.

While we have described our invention in considerable detail, it is obvious that others skilled in the art can devise and build alternate and equivalent constructions which are within the scope and spirit of our invention. Hence, we desire that our protection be limited, not by the construction herein illustrated and described, but only by the proper scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A jacking handle for holding and forcibly raising an upright sheet of sheet material, and comprising, a. vertically disposed shank having a handle at the top and an outstanding finger at the bottom thereof, said shank being adapted to be held against the vertical face of an upright sheet to hold the sheet in place as against a wall with the finger under the bottom edge of the sheet, a lift leg shiftably affixed to the shank and being adapted to move the shank upwardly whenever the base end of the lift leg is moved against a floor, or like abutment Surface, a pair of links interconnecting the shank and lift leg including a bottom link and a top link, spaced pivot connections on each link spaceclly interconnecting the shank and lift leg -to form a shiftable parallelogram and an outward extension of the lower link from the lift leg forming a foot lever adapted to permit the jacking handle to lifit the upright sheet when the shank is held against the sheet and the foot lever is depressed.

2. 'In the organization defined in claim 1, said upper link extending outwardly from the lift leg, a detent mounted thereon adapted to press against an edge of the shank and notches in the shank edge adapted to receive the end of the detent to lock the shank in position when it is moved upwardly.

3. In the organization defined in claim 1, a detent pivotally mounted on the lift leg adapted to bear against an edge of the shank and notches in the shank edge adapted to receive the end of the detent and lock the shank in position when it is moved upwardly.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 621,685 Leidenfrost Mar. 21, 1899 943,013 Fichter Dec. 14, 1909 1,334,482 Brittain Mar. 23, 1920 1,363,928 Shirkey Dec. 28, 1920 2,425,395 7 Root Aug. 12, 1947 FOREIGN PATENTS 299,825 Germany Aug. 14, 1917 389,095 Germany Feb. 1, 1924

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