US3438514A

US3438514A - Apparatus for lifting and aligning building material

Info

Publication number: US3438514A
Application number: US639967A
Authority: US
Inventors: Gordon D Bose; Victor E Bose
Original assignee: GORDON D BOSE; VICTOR E BOSE
Current assignee: GORDON D BOSE; VICTOR E BOSE
Priority date: 1967-05-22
Filing date: 1967-05-22
Publication date: 1969-04-15
Anticipated expiration: 1986-04-15

Description

April 15, 1969 G. D. BOSE ET AL 3,438,514

APPARATUS FOR LIFTING AND ALIGNING BUILDING MATERIAL Sheet Filed May 22, 1967 INVENTORS.

Gaeaou 0 505:- We 7'00 E. 6052 ATTQ A/t-YS United States Patent US. Cl. 2141 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A powered lift for elevating sheetrock or the like to a substantially horizontal position adjacent a ceiling. The device includes a frame having vertically extending, telescoping sleeves and a motor mounted thereon, with the motor driving the inner sleeve through a screw jack connection for elevating the inner sleeve relative to the outer sleeve. The inner sleeve has a material supporting structure movably secured to the upper end thereof, and resiliently biased to a substantially horizontal position by a plurality of spring elements. The spring elements are yieldable to permit a monoplanar sheet of building material carried by the supporting structure to be depressed from a horizontal plane by a force acting downwardly on the sheet at any point on its upper surface.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention relates to devices used for the purpose of elevating building materials to a location adjacent a ceiling so that such materials can be attached or secured to the ceiling with a minimum of difliculty. More particu- Brief description of the prior art A number of jacks, hoists and elevating devices have heretofore been proposed for permitting a carpenter to mechanically elevate a large and heavy sheet of building material, such as sheetrock or wall board, from approximately floor level to a position adjacent a ceiling to which such building materials are to be secured. Many of these devices include supporting platforms or structures upon which the sheet of building material is initially placed in a horizontal position. The supporting structure is then mechanically raised by a screw jack, or a hydraulic lift of some type, or other suitable device, until the horizontally extending sheet is pressed against, or is immediately adjacent, the rafters or other ceiling substructure to which the sheet is to be secured.

Frequently, particularly in older houses, the ceilings are not precisely horizontal, or are not in exact parallelism with the floor. In some other structures, the ceilings are characterized in having imperfections in the manner in which the rafters or lathing are constructed 50 that the sheetrock or other finishing material must be warped or bent to some extent in order to accommodate it to the ceiling. Where buildings having defects or non-uniformities of the type described are encountered, the sheetrock or building material lifts heretofore provided present some difficulty in use. This is due to the fact that, in almost every instance, the apparatus provided is constructed so that the sheetrock or other monoplanar sheet of building material is raised upwardly in a position in which it occupies a plane extending substantially horizontally with respect to the floor. In such situations, it is necessary for the carpenter or sheetrock craftsman to bodily fit the sheetrock to the ceiling which is defeotively constructed, or is for some reason, out of precise parallelism with respect to the floor. Thus, it may be necessary for the carpenter to manually lift one side of thee sheetrock off of the supporting structure of the elevator in order to lift it up to the ceiling after it has been secured along one edge to the ceiling, or he may have to exert considerable manual force to bend the sheetrock to the contour of the ceiling.

Brief description of the present invention The present invention provides an improved apparatus for elevating monoplanar sheets of building material to a position in which they can be easily and quickly secured to a ceiling or other overhead structure. The improvement in the apparatus of the invention is felt to reside primarily, though not exclusively, in the provision in the apparatus of means which permits the sheet of building material to be firmly supported from below despite the necessity to elevate or depress one or more corners or portions of the sheet as it is installed on the ceiling. Broadly described, the apparatus of the present invention comprises a frame, a pair of vertically extending, telescoping members mounted on the frame, a material supporting structure secured to the upper end of one of the telescoped members, a prime mover supported on the frame, and means drivingly connecting the prime mover to one of the telescoped members for elevating said one telescoped member relative to the other telescoped member. The material supporting structure includes a plurality of vertically extending, spaced rigid support elements, a plurality of horizontally extending, spaced support elements, and resilient means supporting the horizontally extending support elements on the vertically extending support elements. The horizontally extending support elements can thus move relative to the remainder of the apparatus to accommodate necessary departures from a true horizontal plane of substantially monoplanar building materials rested on, and supported by, the material supporting structure.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, a motor or other prime mover mounted on the frame drives one of the telescoping members in vertical reciprocating movement through a screw jack mechanism in which a threaded shaft driven in rotation by the prime mover engages a threaded nut secured to, and movable with, the telescoping member which is to be elevated by actuation of the prime mover. It is also a preferred construction of the invention to make each of the telescoped members tubular in construction and to extend the shaft of the screw jack mechanism concentrically in the inner tubular member to cause this member to move upwardly within a surrounding tubular member, and by this means to elevate a material supporting structure secured to the upper end of the inner tubular member.

By the described construction, the carpenter is permitted to achieve a major object to the present invention, i.e. the fitting and accommodation, with a minimum of manual exertion, of sheetrock and other monoplanar building materials to ceilings which are not in parallelism with the floor, or which have local deformities or departures from uniformity which require the sheet of building material to be adjusted in its position.

An additional object to the present invention is to pro vide a power driven, automatically operated apparatus for lifting sheetrock and the like from a position relatively close to the floor to a location in juxtaposition to a ceiling to which the material is to be secured.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved device for lifting, with a minimum of effort, a large, substantially monoplanar sheet of building material to a position of securement on a ceiling or other overhead structure in a building or the like.

A further object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for lifting sheet building materials to an overhead location, which apparatus is relatively simple and inexpensive in construction, but which is mechanically strong and characterized in having a long and troublefree operating life.

Additional objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the following detailed description of the invention is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of the lifting apparatus of the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the lifting apparatus of the invention.

FIGURE 3 is a section taken along line 33 of FIG- URE 2.

FIGURE 4 is a section taken along line 4-4 of FIG- URE 2.

FIGURE 5 is a section taken along line 55 of FIG- URE 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION In the following detailed description of the invention in which reference is made to the accompanying drawings, a combination referred to in the description which includes a plurality of subcombinations will :be designated in the drawings by a reference character having an arrowhead-carrying lead line associated therewith. Subcombinations which include a plurality of elements will be de signated by underlined reference numerals having plain lead lines, and individual elements of structure will be designated by reference characters which are not underlined, and which are associated with plain lead lines having no arrowheads.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, and particularly to FIGURE 1, the lifting apparatus of the invention includes a main supporting frame desginated generally by reference numeral and including vertically extending bars or rods 12 interconnected by horizontally extending upper rods 14 and horizontally extending lower rods 16. A pair of transverse rods 17 extend between two of the horizontally extending lower rods 16. A generally H-shaped subframe designated generally by reference numeral 18 is secured to the horizontally extending lower rods 16, and functions to provide reinforcement for the frame and additional support for an elevating assembly hereinafter described. The subfr'ame 18 includes a pair of horizontally extending end members 20 which are secured between the vertically extending rods 12, and a pair of spaced parallel transverse supporting rods 22 which are superimposed on, and welded or otherwise suitably secured to, the coextending transverse rods 17 welded agetween two of the horizontal lower rods 16 of the main ffa rne. Disposed at the corners of the main frame and secured to the lower side of the horizontally extending lower rods 16 are a plurality of casters 26 which permit the lifting apparatus of the invention to be easily moved from one location to another.

A support plate 30 is secured to the upper side of the spaced transverse supporting rods 22 of the subframe 18, and the support plate 30 is used to support the weight of an elevating assembly designated generally by reference character 32. The elevating assembly includes, in the illustrated embodiment, an outer tubular member 34 which has its lower end secured to the support plate 30, and an inner tubular member 36 which is telescoped in the outer tubular member 34 and is axially movable with 4 respect thereto. Both of the

tubular members

34 and 36 are preferably rectangular or square in transverse cross section. For the purpose of further reinforcing the frame 10 and stabilizing the outer tubular member 34, a pair of parallel cross members 38 are secured between two op posed horizontally extending upper rods 14 of the framework 10 and bear against, and are secured to, opposite sides of the outer tubular member 34.

For the purpose of driving the inner tubular member 36 in vertical reciprocation with respect to the outer tubular member 34, an elongated threaded shaft 40 extends upwardly inside the inner tubu-lar member and is supported at its lower end in a thrust bearing 42 mounted on the upper side of the support plate 30. The lower end portion of the threaded shaft 40 extends through an aperture 44 provided in the support plate 30, and a sprocket 46 is keyed to the lower end ofthe threaded shaft below the support plate. A nut housing 48 is secured to the internal walls of the inner tubular member 36 and closely surrounds and encloses a threaded nut 50 which engages the threads of the threaded shaft 40 but is prevented from rotating relative to the tubular member 36 by reason of its close proximity to the nut housing 48. The nut housing 48 also functions to limit the axial travel of the nut with respect to the threaded shaft 40.

Near its upper end, the threaded shaft 40 carries a sleeve 52 which coaxially surrounds the shaft and is prevented from moving axially along the shaft by the pins 54. The sleeve 52 has secured thereto a circumferential flange 56 which extends outwardly to the walls of the inner tubular member 36 and thus, by virtue of the square or rectangular cross-sectional configuration of the inner tubular member, prevents rotation of the sleeve relative to the inner tubular member as the threaded shaft 40 is driven in rotation. The sleeve 52 and circumferential flange 56 thus function as a guide for retaining the upper end of the threaded shaft 40 in alignment with respect to the inner tubular member 36 during the operation of the device as hereinafter described.

For the purpose of driving the threaded shaft 40 of the elevating assembly 32 in rotation about its longitudinal axis, a reversible motor 60, or other suitable prime mover, is mounted on the frame 10 by any suitable means, and, in the illustrated embodiment, is shown as bolted to a vertically extending plate 62 which is welded to the transverse supporting rod 22 of the subframe 18. The vertically extending plate 62 is braced by a diagonal bar or rod 64 which extends from the upper edge of the plate to a horizontally extending lower rod 16 of the frame 10. The motor carries a sprocket (not visible) which is drivingly connected by a suitable chain 66 to the sprocket 46 on the lower end of the threaded shaft 40. A switch 68 utilized to close an electrical circuit to deliver power to the motor 60 can conveniently be mounted on the frame 10 in the manner depicted in FIGURE 1.

A material supporting structure designated generally by reference character 70 is secured to the upper end of the inner tubular. member 36 for vertical reciprocation therewith. The material supporting structure includes a horizontally extending rectangular plate 72 which is welded or otherwise suitably secured to the upper end of the inner tubular member 36. Secured along two parallel edges of the plate 72 are a pair of parallel bars or rods 74 which bracket or pass on opposite sides of the outer tubular member 34 when the inner tubular member 36 is lowered to move the material supporting structure 70 I to the position depicted in FIGURES 1 and 3. Secured to the opposite ends of each of the bars 74 are upwardly extending bars or rods 76 of relatively small diameter (see FIGURE 4). A pair of relatively large diameter tubular members 78 are telescoped over the rods 76 located at each end of each of the bars 74, and are yieldingly retained in spaced axial relation with respect to the rods 76 by a helical spring 80 or other resilient element in the manner depicted in FIGURE 4. Thus, where the helical springs are used, these springs can be placed around the rod 76 and extended upwardly beyond the free end thereof.

At its upper end, each of the tubular members 78 is secured to a horizontally extending material supporting runner 82, so that two of these runners extending in parallelism are provided and afford support for a monoplanar sheet of building material rested thereon. The material supporting runners 82 are also connected by support elements 84 which extend parallel to each other and horizontally between the runners (see FIGURE 2). It will be noted in referring to FIGURES 2 and 4 that the construction of the material supporting structure 70 is such that a monoplanar sheet of building material may be firmly supported upon the runners 82 and cross members 84, which are in turn supported upon the rods 76 by the springs 80. The springs, however, resiliently and yieldingly mount the runners 82 and cross members 84 so that, if it should be desired to depress the sheet of building material from a horizontal plane to accommodate it to a ceiling which is out of parallelism with the floor, or in some way distorted, such realignment or repositioning of the sheet of building material can be accomplished merely by depressing the one side or corner of the building material to achieve the position sought.

OPERATION In utilizing the lifting apparatus of the invention for elevating the sheet building materials to a location adjacent a ceiling to which they are to be secured, the carpenter first moves the apparatus to the desired location by pushing on the frame 110 to cause the apparatus to roll on the casters 26. In some instances, it may be desirable to move the shcetrock or other building material with the lifting apparatus, and in this case, prior to moving the apparatus in the manner described, the sheet of building material is raised upwardly and positioned on the runners 82 and cross members 84 of the material supporting structure 70. This is accomplished, of course, at a time when the motor 60 has been energized to drive the threaded shaft 40 in a direction which lowers the inner tubular member 36 and the supporting structure carried thereby to its lowermost position as depicted in the drawings.

When the lifting apparatus has been moved to a posi- 4 tion below the portion of the ceiling to which the sheet of building material is to be attached, the reversible motor 60 is energized to drive the shaft 40 in a rotational direction such that the inner tubular member 36 is moved upwardly by its engagement with the shaft 40 through the nut 50. The inner tubular member 36 can move freely with respect to the outer tubular member 34, and upward movement of the inner tubular member can be continued until the nut housing 48 strikes the retaining pin 54 near the upper end of the threaded shaft 40. At or prior to this time, the material supporting structure 70 secured to the upper end of the inner tubular member 36 will have been moved into juxtaposition to the ceiling, and the sheet of building material carried thereby will either flatly abut the ceiling, or at least a portion of the building material will contact the ceiling.

In the event that the ceiling does not extend parallel to the floor upon which the lifting apparatus is supported, or in the event of a local non-uniformity in the ceiling, the sheet of material can nevertheless be pressed into fiat abutting relationship to the rafters or lathing by continuing to elevate the material supporting structure 70 for a slight distance. As one portion of the sheet of building material contacts the ceiling under these circumstances, its movement will be arrested and the result will be that that portion of the runners 82 which supports this part of the sheet material will also be arrested and one or both of the runners will be depressed with respect to the rods 76 by distortion of the helical springs 80. This adjustability inherent in the lifting apparatus of the prescut invention overcomes a difficulty which has been experienced by carpenters and craftsmen in using sheetrock lifts and other structures as previously constructed for the purpose of securing large, substantially monoplanar sheets of building materials to a ceiling.

From the foregoing description of the invention, it will have become apparent that the present invention provides an improved lifting apparatus for lifting or elevating sheets of building material from the floor or other relatively low level to a position adjacent a ceiling with a minimum of manual manipulation being involved in locating the material at the precise position where it is to be secured to the ceiling. The apparatus is relatively inexpensive to construct, has relatively few moving parts, and is characterized in having a long and trouble-free life.

Although a preferred embodiment of the invention has been described in the foregoing specification and illustrated in the drawings, many changes and innovations can be effected in the described and depicted structure without departure from the basic principles of the invention. Changes of this type which continue to rely upon these principles are deemed to be circumscribed by the spirit and scope of the invention except as the same may be necessarily limited by the accompanying claims or reasonable equivalents thereof.

We claim:

1. Lifting apparatus comprising:

a frame;

an elevating assembly mounted on said frame and including a vertically extending member movable in vertical reciprocation relative to said frame;

a prime mover mounted on said frame and drivingly connected to said elevating assembly for moving said member upwardly and downwardly relative to said frame;

a material supporting structure secured to the upper end of said vertically extending member and including material supporting runners;

a plurality of horizontally spaced, vertically extending rods mounted atop said vertically extending member;

spring guide means on said runners aligned with said rods; and

a plurality of springs positioned between said rods and spring guide means and resiliently spacing said runners above said rods.

2. The lifting apparatus defined in claim 1 wherein said elevating assembly is further characterized to include a second vertically extending member telescopingly engaging said first vertically extending member and connected to said frame.

3. The lifting apparatus defined in claim 2 wherein said telescoped members are tubular, and said elevating assembly is further characterized as including:

a threaded shaft extending upwardly inside the innermost of said telescoped tubular members and connected to said frame;

a nut threadedly engaging said shaft and connected to said first-mentioned vertically extending member; and

means connecting said prime mover to said shaft for driving said shaft in rotation when said prime mover is energized.

4. The lifting apparatus defined in claim 3 wherein said spring-guide means comprises a plurality of tubular members corresponding in number to said rods and each extending over and around one of said rods, and wherein said means including said rods comprises:

a substantially horizontal plate secured to the upper end end of said first-mentioned vertically extending memher; and

horizontally extending bars secured to said plate and each having a plurality of said vertically extending rods secured thereto.

*5. The lifting apparatus defined in claim .1 'wherein said spring-guide means comprises 7 a plurality of tubular members corresponding in number to said rods and each extending over and around one of said rods; and wherein said means including said rods comprises:

a substantially horizontal plate secured to the upper end of said vertically extending member; and

6. Apparatus for elevating substantially monoplanar sheets of building materials While such sheets are horizontally positioned comprising:

a pair of telescoped tubular member having one of said members movable vertically relative to the other of said members;

a threaded rod extending inside the innermost of said pair of tubular members;

av nut threadedly' engaging said rod and connected to said one member;

means for rotating said rod;

a plurality of spaced, horizontally extending, substantially parallel bars mounted on the upper end of said vertically reciprocating member for vertical reciprocation therewith;

a plurality of runner elements spaced vertically from said bars and each extending in a generally horizontal direction;

a plurality of horizontally spaced springs positioned between said runner elements and bars to resiliently support said runner elements on said bars;

a pair of horizontally spaced, vertically extending rods on each of said bars and each concentrically surrounded by, and providing alignment for, one of said springs; and

spring guide means on each of said runner elements receiving and aligning said springs with said runner elements.

7. Lifting apparatus comprising:

a frame;

means mounted on said frame for vertically reciprocating said vertically extending member relative to said frame; and

a material supporting structure secured to the upper end of said vertically extending member and includmg a horizontally extending plate secured to the upper end of said vertically extending member and movable therewith;

a plurality of rods secured to said horizontally extending plate and projecting horizontally therefrom;

material supporting runners spaced vertically above said rods; and

resilient means yieldingly supporting said runners at four spaced points, and extending between said runners and said rods at locations on said rods spaced from said horizontally extending plate. References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,574,857 11/1951 Ball Z1495 2,910,883 11/1959 Reed 25410 3 XR 2,964,293 12/1960 Foth. 3,083,948 4/1963 Goldfader 254103 XR FOREIGN PATENTS 661,682. 11/ 1951 Great Britain.

a GERALD M. 'FO'RLENZA, Primary Examiner.

F. 'E. WERNER, Assistant Examiner.