US3339767A - Device for engaging slings or like members over lifting hooks - Google Patents

Description

J. HUMBERT ETAL 3,339,767 DEVICE FOR ENGAGING SLINGS OR LIKE Sept. 5, 1967 MEMBERS OVER LIFTING HOOKS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 1, 1965 INVENTORS J cal/Es HUMBEET R4 rmo/vo Psmeov BY ficwv/ MM ATTORNEYS p 5, 1967 J. HUMBERT ETAL 3,

DEVICE FOR ENGAGING SLINGS OR LIKE MEMBERS OVER LIFTING HOOKS Filed July 1, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS \Jk cqwe's HuMBE/e T F4 YMOND v PEL 420 Y BY fi n/ fm ATTOR NEYS United States Patent 3,339,767 DEVICE FOR ENGAGING SLINGS 0R LIKE MEMBERS OVER LIFTIN G HOOKS Jacques Humbert, Manosque, and Raymond Pelardy, Perthuis, France, assignors to Commissariat a lEnergie Atomique, Paris, France Filed July 1, 1965, Ser. No. 468,679 Claims priority, application France, July 16, 1964, 981,786 Claims. (Cl. 214-628) This invention relates to a device for hooking a sling or like element which terminates in an eye or shackle, said device being specifically designed for attachment to a hook which is difiicult of access.

This is especially the case of slings which have to be engaged by the lifting anchor of an overhead traveling crane, access to such a lifting anchor being usually obstructed by the large bulk of the booting plate. In addition, such slings are often of very substantial weight and are consequently all the more ditficult to handle within a limited space.

The device of the invention permits of automatic hooking-on and releasing of slings or of anyother elements to be attached to hooks, the term slings being employed hereinafter for the sake of convenience as a general designation.

This invention accordingly has for its object 'a device for engaging slings over lifting hooks, characterized in that said device comprises a support for the terminal slingshackle in the vertical position, a rocking lever which is pivotally attached to said support, one end of said lever being fitted with a balance weight for restoring to the rest position and the other end of said lever being adapted to cooperate with the lifting hook, the pivotal motion of said lever under the action of said hook resulting in the tilting motion of said sling-shackle and the engagement of said hook in said shackle.

According to a preferred form of embodiment, the device comprises two levers which are mounted on the support and each of which controls the tilting motion of a sling shackle on the hook of a lifting anchor.

The positioning and disengagement of the slings are thus controlled by the lifting hook itself which, 'as it moves produces the swinging motion both of the levers and of the sling shackles and permits said shackles to pass around the curved arms of the hook. No manual operation of the sling or of the lifting anchor is required, since it is merely necessary for the operator to be able to supervise the correct performance of the operation.

A number of other advantages and characteristic features of the invention will in any case be brought out by the following detailed description in connection with one embodiment of a device for the engagement of two slings on the lifting anchor of an overhead traveling crane, said embodiment being given by way of non-limitative example and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows in perspective a device in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 shows two half-views, looking on the side, of the same device in two successive positions of engagement of the slings over an anchor;

FIG. 3 is a partial view on a larger scale of the engaged sling-shackle;

FIG. 4 is a side view of the device in the disengaged position.

In order that two slings 2 (as shown in FIG. 4) which are fitted with sling-shackles 24 may be engaged over a lifting anchor 3 such as the anchor of an overhead traveling crane, for example, the invention contemplates the use of a device such as that which is shown in FIG. 1,

which consists of a frame 1 formed by two parallel sidebeams 4 supported on four feet 7 and joined to each other by two spacer members or cross-beams 6. There are fixed above each side-beam 4 two sloping ramps 8 which meet at their vertex at 9 so as to form an inverted V.

A slightly elbowed lever 10 is pivotally mounted on the central portion of each cross-beam 6 by means of a pivotpin which is rotatable in a yoke 12 fixed to the underside of said cross-beam 6. One of the arms 10a of said lever 10 which is directed outwardly of the frame is adapted to carry a balance-weight 14 whilst the other arm 10b is fitted inside said frame with a stirrup 16 on which the lifting member is intended to rest. The arm 10a is also provided with a swivel-block 18 to which is pivotally attached a link-rod 20, said link-rod being curved at its free end 20.

When the 'device is not in use, the lever 10 is in the position shown in FIG. 1, wherein the balance-weight 14 has the effect of lowering the arm 10a and lifting the arm 10b, thus placing the stirrup 16 in the top position thereof.

The shackles 24 of the slings 2 to be hooked-on are set vertically on the ends 4a of the side-beams 4 on each side of the sloping ramps 8 and rest in stable equilibrium on the enlarged end portion 25 or sling support. Thereupon, the lifting anchor 3 of the overhead traveling bridge, or any hook of similar type, is brought above the frame 1 in such manner that the axis of downward motion of the hook passes between the vertices 9 of the sloping ramps 8. Progressively as this downward motion takes place, the bottom portion of the lifting anchor 3 comes into contact with the stirrups 16 and bears on these latter. Under the action of this load, the levers 10 progressively swing downwards. The balance-weights 14 thus swing upwardly with the swivel-blocks 18, which cause the slingshackles 24 to swing in the direction of the sloping ramps 8 (shown in FIG. 2).

Upon reaching the end of their travel, the sling-shackles are applied against said sloping ramps 8 and are accordingly inclined at an angle over the hooked ends 26 of the lifting anchor 3. Said anchor is then raised and said hooked ends pass into the sling-shackles 24 (as shown in FIG. 2) which remain on the sloping ramps 8 until the top portions thereof are in contact with the bottom of the anchor-hooks. Said sling-shackles are then drawn up by the lifting anchor 3 and progressively straighten so as to follow the movement of this latter. The hooking action is then completed and the slings are displaced by the traveling crane.

During the upward motion thereof, the lifting anchor 3 has progressively lifted the lever 10b and enabled this latter to pivot gradually under the action of the balance weight 14. When the anchor leaves the frame 1, the levers have returned to the position of FIG. 1 or rest position.

The operation has been extremely rapid, the range of motion both of the lifting anchor and of the sling-shackles being relatively short and the hooking-on is nevertheless highly reliable.

Disengagement or unhooking takes place in a similar manner.

The lifting anchor 3 which carries the slings 2 is lowered between the sloping ramps 8, the bases 25 of the sling-shackles 24 come progressively into contact with the sloping ramps 8 whilst the lifting anchor itself moves into position within the stirrups 16 and is applied against the levers 10b, thus causing these latter to swing downwards and to lift the balance-Weights 14 and swivelblocks 18.

The lifting anchor 3 then places the sling-shackles 24 on the sloping ramps 8 (as shown in FIG. 3), then comes to a standstill. Each link-rod 20 which is attached to a swivel-block 18 is thrust either by hand or by any other suitable means against the base 25 of the corresponding sling-shackle 24, the curved end 22 being directed towards said shackle, as shown in FIG. 3.

When the lifting anchor is once again set in motion and thus caused to move downwards to a further extent, the hooked ends 26 are consequently displaced within the shackles or eyes 24 and the levers are caused to swing downwards until the moment when the swivelblock 18 comes into contact with the base 25. The extremity 22 of the link-rod 20 passes over said base 25 and engages the top portion of this latter.

The lifting anchor 3 then begins its upward movement which changes the direction of pivotal motion of the levers 10. The balance-weights 14 return in a downward direction together with the swivel-blocks 18 and the link-rods 20 which are secured to the bases 25 of the sling-shackles 24. Said shackles are gradually restored to the vertical and disengage from the hooks 26 of the lifting anchor 3, as shown in FIG. 4.

When the sling-shackles have been completely set upright on their bases 25 and are consequently once again in their vertical positions on the ends 4a of the sidebeams 4, the lifting anchor 3 has left the stirrups 16 and is in readiness for another operation.

Although slightly slower than the hooking-on process, the releasing operation is also very rapid since the positioning of the link-rod 20 can be carried out almost instantaneously. This simple operation is in any case possible even when accessibility is difficult and the slings cannot be easily handled, since it calls for no special effort or delicate manipulation.

It will be apparent that a number of different modiflcations could be made in the from of embodiment which has just been described without thereby departing either from the scope or the spirit of the invention. In particular, the lifting member could be designed for hooking onto a different number of slings or only a single sling, for example.

What we claim is:

1. Device for engaging slings or like members over lifting hooks, said device comprising a support for the terminal sling-shackle in the vertical position, a rocking lever which is pivotally attached to said support, one end of said lever being fitted with a balance-weight for restoring to the rest position and the other end of said lever being adapted to cooperate with the lifting hook, the pivotal motion of said lever under the action of said lifting hook resulting in the tilting of said sling-shackle and the engagement of said hook in said shackle.

2. Device in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that the support is provided with two lateral inclined slideways for guiding the lifting of the sling.

3. Device in accordance with claim 2, characterized in that the slideways are arranged in the form of an inverted V.

4. Device in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that the device comprises two levers which are mounted on the support and which each control the tilting motion of a sling-shackle over the hook of a lifting anchor.

I 5. Device in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that a curved link-rod for restoring the sling-shackle to the vertical position thereof is pivotally mounted on the lever arm which carries the balance-weight.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 908,019 12/1-908 Lynch 214-318 FOREIGN PATENTS 367,376 1/1923 Germany.

GERALD M. FORLENZA, Primary Examiner.

R. B. JOHNSON, Assistant Examiner.

Claims (1)

1. DEVICE FOR ENGAGING SLINGS OR LIKE MEMBERS OVER LIFTING HOOKS, SAID DEVICE COMPRISING A SUPPORT FOR THE TERMINAL SLING-SHACKLE IN THE VERTICAL POSITION, A ROCKING LEVER WHICH IS PIVOTALLY ATTACHED TO SAID SUPPORT, ONE END OF SAID LEVER BEING FITTED WITH A BALANCE-WEIGHT FOR RESTORING TO THE REST POSITION AND THE OTHER END OF SAID LEVER BEING ADAPTED TO COOPERATE WITH THE LIFTING HOOK, THE PIVOTAL MOTION OF SAID LEVER UNDER THE ACTION OF SAID LIFTING HOOK RESULTING IN THE TILTING OF SAID SLING-SHACKLE AND THE ENGAGEMENT OF SAID HOOK IN SAID SHACKLE.

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