US3049243A

US3049243A - Wallboard lift

Info

Publication number: US3049243A
Application number: US848707A
Authority: US
Inventors: Horace L Buice
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1959-10-26
Filing date: 1959-10-26
Publication date: 1962-08-14
Anticipated expiration: 1979-08-14

Description

3,049,243 WALLBOARD LIFT Horace L. Buice, Rte. 1, Signal Mountain, Tenn. Filed Oct. 26, 1959, Ser. No. 848,707 2 Claims. (Cl. 214-1) This invention relates to a wallboard lift and more particularly to such a lift supporting a tiltable platform.

In the construction of houses and other buildings, it has heretofore been a difficult task for a builder to lift and hold a plasterboard or Wallboard while it is being nailed to the ceiling joist or rafters. This is especially true in the case of sloping ceilings, for the construction of which no wallboard lift known to me has heretofore been devised. A sheet of plasterboard /z inch thick, 4 feet wide and 12 feet long weighs almost 100 pounds. In the past, such plasterboards have been supported against ceiling joists or rafters by holding them manually, requiring the services of at least two workmen to hold the board in place and a third to nail it to the ceiling joists or rafters. Wallboard lifts heretofore constructed have been designed for use only with horizontal ceilings, so that hand labor has been necessary to install wallboard on sloping ceilings. They have also generally been complicated and expensive in construction.

One object of this invention is to provide a wallboard lift by means of which a sheet of wallboard can be raised and held in position for nailing it to a ceiling having any slope.

Another object is to provide such a lift in which a tiltable wallboard supporting platform is pivotally mounted in a bearing, the friction of which against the platform is adjustable.

A further object is to provide such a lift having provision for a quick approximate adjustment of the platform height. 7

Still another object is to provide a wallboard lift with a platform having a central frame and at least one removable extension frame.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

'FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of a wallboard lift made in accordance with my invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view, partly in section showing details of the manner of connection of a jack piston to a bearing plate for a platform used in my invention;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged detail view showing a jack, jack base and means for securing the jack base to a vertical standard used in my invention;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view of a bearing and of a plateform used in my invention; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary view, partly broken away, showing a means for attaching an extension frame to the central frame of a platform.

Referring now to the drawings, it will be seen that a wallboard lift made in accordance with my invention comprises a base 1, which may preferably have crossed legs, the outer ends of the legs being supported on casters 2 having locking levers 3 thereon to actuate locks for preventing rotation of the casters, as when loading a piece of plasterboard on the lift. To the upper surface of the base 1 is attached a metal plate 4, to which are secured, as by welding, a plurality of nuts or threaded sockets 5, four of these sockets being illustrated in the drawing. A vertical standard, generally indicated at 6, preferably comprises a plurality of relatively large pipes 7 having threaded lower ends engaging in the nuts or threaded sockets 5. The upper ends of the pipes 7 are threaded into nuts or sockets 8, extending through a horizontal 3,049,243 Patented Aug. 14, 1952 fie plate 9, to which they are attached. The pipes 7, extending from the nuts or sockets 5 to the nuts or sockets 8 in the plate 9, constitute the lower section of the vertical standard. The upper section of the standard comprises a plurality, equal in number to the pipes 7, of smaller pipes 10, which telescope within the larger pipes 7. The upper ends of the pipes 10 are threaded to engage nuts or threaded sockets 11 which are attached, as by welding, to a bearing plate 12. The pipes 10, the sockets 11 and the bearing plate 12 constitute the upper section of the standard.

A jack 13, having a socket 14 for a jack lever or handle 35, is attached to a jack base 15. The base 15 is positioned within the lower section pipes 7 and to its corners are attached a plurality, equal in number to the pipes 7, of sleeves 16 encircling those pipes. Each of the sleeves 16 is provided with a set screw 17, by means of which the sleeve can be securely attached in any position to its respective pipe 7. The cylinder 18 of the jack 13 extends upwardly through an opening in the plate 9 which is sulficiently large to allow the cylinder to move up and down relative to the plate. A piston 19, extending from the cylinder 18 of the jack, has a reduced upper end 19A which is adapted to pass through an opening 12A in the center of the bearing plate 12, as shown in FIG. 2. Thus, the piston 19 abuts against the bearing plate 12, but is not attached thereto, except by the reduced end 19A fitting within the opening 12A.

To opposite sides of the bearing plate 12 are attached a pair of upstanding lugs 20. Through aligned openings in the lugs 20 passes a bolt 21 having a nut 22 screwed onto its threaded end. To the inner faces of the lugs 20 are attached wooden blocks 23, as by means of bolts 24 passing through the lugs 20 and the blocks 23, the blocks being countersunk on their inner sides to receive the bolts without the latter projecting inwardly from the inner surfaces of the blocks.

To the bearing comprising lugs 20, bolt 21, nut 22 and bearing blocks 23 is pivotally attached an open frame work platform, generally indicated at 25. This platform comprising a central longitudinal member 26, such as a 2" x 4" board, to which are attached a plurality of transverse members 27. The members may, if desired, be reinforced With sheet metal, such as aluminum, in which case they may be smaller, for example, 2" x 2" boards. An open framework is thus provided which facilitates Work on the ceiling by enabling the workman to nail the wallboard anywhere except at the precise points where the longitudinal member 26 or the cross members 27 are in contact with the wallboard. The platform 25 can be tightened on the bolt 21, the bearing plates 23 serving as a friction brake on the pivotal movement of the platform. By tightening or loosening the nut 22 on the bolt, the amount of friction between the bearing blocks and the platform and, thus, the relative freedom of pivoting movement of the platform can be readily adjusted.

As shown more clearly in FIG. 5, the length of the platform can be readily adjusted by attaching to or detaching from the central frame member 26 at least one removable extension frame, generally indicated at 28. The longitudinal member 26 of the central frame is provided at each of its ends with a channel-shaped sheet metal sleeve 29 attached to the sides of and extending across the bottom of the member. The lower portion of the end of the member is cut away to leave a tongue 30 and an opening 31. The opening 31 and the sleeve 29 form a well for receiving snugly a tongue 32 of a longitudinal member 33 of the extension frame 28, which also preferably has only one transverse member 34. Screws or bolts, not shoum, may be passed through the sleeve 29 and into or through the tongue 32 to hold the extension frame 28 firmly in place, if desired.

As shown more clearly in FIG. 3, a longitudinal jack lever or handle 35, preferably made of lightweight material, such as aluminum, is fitted within the jack handle socket 14. Like an automobile jack, when the handle 35 is reciprocated vertically, the jack 13 pumps fluid into the cylinder 18 under the piston 19 to elevate the piston, and thereby elevates the platform 12, the bearing lugs 20 and thus, through the bolt 21, the framework platform 25. When it is desired to lower the plat-form, which is accomplished by gravity, a valve 36 on the jack is opened a suificient amount to permit escape of hydraulic fluid from beneath the piston 19.

As a modification, a rod, not shown, may be inserted through a pipe 37 welded or otherwise attached to the lower surface of the jack base 15. With one man on each end of the rod, the set screws 17 being released, the jack base 15, carrying with it the jack cylinder 18, the piston 19 and the platform 25, may be raised quickly to a higher elevation, where the jack base 15 is secured to the pipes 7 of the lower section of the standard by tightening the set screws 17. Thereupon, further lifting of the platform may be accomplished by operating the jack 13.

-In use of this device by one man, the nut 22 on the bolt 21 is adjusted to give the desired amount of friction between the bearing plates 23 and the platform 25. The locking levers 3 on the casters 2 are actuated to lock the caster wheels against rotation and the jack base 15 is put into its lowest position, in which it is not necessary that the set screws 17 be tightened. The piston 19 and thus the bearing plate 12 and the platform 25 are lowered to their lowest positions by opening the valve 36. The platform is tilted slightly, so that one man can readily slide onto it a sheet of wallboard or plasterboard. The outer, upper, edges of the

platform members

26, 27, 33 and 34 are rounded slightly to avoid damage to the wallboard as it is loaded onto the platform. The sheet i approximately centered on the platform and, if a long sheet is being put in place, one or both of the platform extensions 28 are first attached to the central portion of the platform. The

lengths of the platform members are so chosen that the wallboard, when properly centered on the platform, is supported to within approximately 6 inches of each side.

With the wallboard in place on the platform, the long handle 35 is then inserted in the jack handle socket 14. The long handle extends out to the side appreciably to enable one man to raise the platform and the wallboard on it from approximately waist height. As the platform and the wallboard on it are raised into contact with celling joists or rafters, one or the other ends of the wallboard on the platform engages the joists or rafters first. Thereafter, as the platform and wallboard are raised further, the platform and wallboard are pivoted about the bolt 21 as an axle until the platform and wallboard are parallel to the lower surfaces of the ceiling joists or rafters. When the wall board is a very short distance, about /2" to 1", away from its final position, since the piston 19 and the pipes of the upper section of the standard have a small amount of freedom of lateral motion, the wallboard is moved slightly with one hand to place it in exactly the correct position. With the other hand, the lift is then moved further upward by operating the lever 35 until the wallboard is held firmly in place against the ceiling joists or rafters. The lift is left in that position while a wallboard is nailed in place.

After loading the wallboard on the platform, it may be necessary to unlock the casters 2, so that the entire lift can be rolled to a position in which the wallboard is to be installed, when the casters are again locked.

With the modification heretofore described, using a rod inserted through the pipe 37 and two men lifting the assembly, the jack base then being clamped securely in position by tightening the set screws 17, considerable time is saved. Not only is time saved but, with such a modification, the lift can be used with a much higher ceiling, for example, a 12-foot ceiling, and yet it is loaded on the same level as loading is performed for use of the wallboard on a low ceiling. With extremely high ceilings, it may be desirable to use

long pipes

7 and 10. Alternatively, to reach high places, it may be desirable to provide additional pipes 38 telescoping within the lower pipes 7 and having the upper pipes 10 telescoping within them. In that case, the upper pipes 10 would have longitudinal slots 39 extending therethrough along the greater parts of their lengths, with pins 40 passing through the slots 39 and fixed to the pipes 38, the outer ends of the pins 40 being flush with the outer peripheries of the pipes 38.

One of the advantages of this invention is that, with use of the smaller, basic supports only, this lift may be used to lift smaller sheets of wallboard in closets, bathrooms and other small rooms. Even though the transverse members 27 on the lift preferably have a total length of about 36", the lift can nevertheless be taken through an inside house door having only about 30 of clearance by angling the lift through the door opening in the same manner as is used to move a table having fixed legs.

The platform extensions 28 can be added or removed within two minutes, for use in lifting wallboards of diiferent sizes. They can readily be made to accommodate any ength of wallboard in commercial use, either now or later.

One advantage of this invention is that, the lift being supported only in its center, a workman can walk under it to nail the wallboard all the way across. Since one man can load a wallboard onto the lift, raise the lift to the proper position to hold the wallboard in place and then nail the wallboard onto the ceiling joists or rafters, considerable saving in the cost of labor is effected. There is also a considerable saving in time in attaching wallboards to ceilings and in fatigue resulting from holding heavy wallboards against ceilings while they are nailed in place. Moreover, by use of this wallboard lift, the wallboards are held more accurately in position while they are being nailed.

As described above, the wallboard lift automatically conforms the wallboard to the slope of the ceiling. The first end of the wallboard which touches the ceiling causes the platform to tilt until the entire surface of the wall-board parallels the ceiling joists or rafters.

This wallboard lift has a further important advantage in that it can be disassembled and carried in the trunk of an automobile, so that use of an expensive truck is not necessary.

The size of the platform 25 is adjustable by use of the detachable extensions 28, thus being small enough for use in bathrooms, closets and other small rooms. It is also large enough to support rigidly any length of wallboard commercially available, by adding the extensions 28.

-A wallboard lift made in accordance with this invention is simple and inexpensive in construction and convenient in use, since the open framework platform permits a man to nail a wallboard onto the ceiling joists or rafters while the lift holds the wallboard in place. The mechanism of the platform perm-its a man to walk under it while he is working. This device, being easy to disassemble, is also, of course, easy to assemble after shipment.

-It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made in the invention, without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, and therefore the invention is not limited by that which is shown in the drawings and described in the specification, but only as indicated in the appended claims.

Iclaim:

1. A wallboard lift comprising a base, several spaced first pipes attached to and extending vertically from the base, a jack base having sleeves encircling said pipes and set screws for releasably clamping said sleeves onto said pipes, a hydraulic jack and a jack cylinder attached 5 to said jack base, an equal number of second pipes smaller than and telescoped within said first pipes and attached to a bearing plate, a piston within said cylinder having its free end in contact with the bearing plate, a bearing attached to the bearing plate and a platform journaled in said bearing.

-2. The invention according to claim 1 in which means are attached to the jack base for elevating and lowering the jack base, jack, cylinder, second pipes, bearing and platform.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Young Apr. 20, 1909 Taylor Aug. 3, 1909 Russell Nov. 9, 1926 Blandford Aug. 20, 1929 Walberg Dec. 22, 1931 Baker Dec. 28, 1943 Jones Oct. 13, 1953 Burns June 9, 1959