GB2264904A - Wheelbarrow extension. - Google Patents

Abstract

The extension 10 comprises generally flat wall panels, 16, 18, 20, 22 joined at their edges to define a downwardly tapering structure. Slotted corner angle members connect the wall panels. The panels are located on the upper edge of the wheelbarrow container by inwardly pressed flanges 30 formed at the lower edges of the panels. The attachment fits outside the barrow top edge 28 and is supported and located by the flanges. The attachment can be either fixed to the barrow or located thereon according to whether the fasteners of the corner connectors are tightened with a tight or loose fit of the attachment on the barrow. The adjustability of the corner connection means permits many different barrow sizes to be accommodated. The pants of the attachment can be supplied as a flat pack. <IMAGE>

Description

WHEELBARROW ATTACHMENTS This invention relates to wheelbarrow attachments for providing an upward extension of the load carrying container of a wheelbarrow, in order to increase its ability to handle large volumes of material, for example grass cuttings, leaves, prunings etc.

To the best of the Applicant's knowledge, such an attachment is not currently available, or widely available in the UK, and perhaps not elsewhere. The reason for this must presumably be that, in the case of a product of this kind for which there has always been a need, that either the products proposed to-date have been either inconvenient to use, and/or too costly or complex, and/or problems must have arisen in relation to transport or storage. It will be understood that wheelbarrows are essentially simple structures which can be readily and relatively cheaply manufactured as a metal pressing/fabrication operation, and the same considerations applied to the manufacture of wheelbarrow attachments and extensions. Simplicity and inexpensive construction and use are obviously of considerable importance, with cost an associated closely related factor.

In the course of investigating prior proposals in this field, I have identified (SAS search reference A8443) US-A2,805,885 and FR-A-2,574,360. There is disclosed in the US patent a wheelbarrow attachment providing an upward extension of the load carrying container, and formed from four generally L-shaped wall elements formed with slots to receive adjustable fasteners, and having spring clips for connecting the attachment to a wheelbarrow. In the French specification there is disclosed a wheelbarrow extension in which, in Fig 4, there is shown a 4-piece assembly of shaped wall elements which are exactly constructed to fit on a particular wheelbarrow.

These prior proposals suffer from several if not all of the above-mentioned shortcomings, including complications of initial construction and fabrication, a degree of lack of versatility in terms of ability to fit on a wide range of barrows, and related problems with respect to transport and storage of the shaped components of the attachment.

An object of the present invention is to provide a wheelbarrow attachment adapted to be mounted to provide an upward extension of the load carrying container of a wheelbarrow, and offering improvements in relation to simplicity of construction and/or one or more of the other factors discussed above, and/or improvements generally.

According to the invention there is provided a wheelbarrow attachment as defined in the accompanying claims.

In a preferred embodiment there is provided a wheelbarrow attachment in which each of the wall elements is in the form of a generally flat wall panel. This form of the wall panel leads to great simplicity of construction and ease of storage and transport. For example, the product can be supplied in the form of a flat pack.

In the preferred embodiment, the structure of the attachment has corners defined by the adjacent edges of the generally flat panels, and connection means is located at those corners.

In this way, the construction is able to utilise the flat panels to form the necessary three dimensional structure which can have a wide variety of forms.

In order to locate the attachment with respect to the wheelbarrow, the preferred embodiment has location means comprising an abutment member provided on at least two of the wall panels, the abutment member being arranged to locate on an edge of the container of the wheelbarrow. The abutment member may be in the form of a flange formed at an edge of its respective wall panel. The flange may be formed by stamping or cutting and/or pressing. In this way, a flange is provided in a simple and cost-effective way which can define with the adjacent edge of the panel a slot to receive the barrow edge.

The flanges extend into the barrow. The attachment fits outside and is located and supported by the flanges, whereby considerable size tolerance is provided.

By the provision of locating means as mentioned above, in combination with adjustable connecting means between the wall panels, a simple arrangement is provided whereby the attachment can be adjusted to any given barrow, since it is only necessary to locate the attachment on the edges of the barrow container, followed by tightening of the connecting means with the wall elements in their thus-required positions.

In the preferred embodiment, the wall panels can be profiled, for example with non-rectangular end edges so that, when joined, the three dimensional quadrilateral structure of the extension has a downwardly tapering form.

In a first preferred embodiment, the wheelbarrow attachment comprises four wall panels bolted together with corner connection angles, and located on the barrow by means of outwardly-pressed flanges. The connection means comprises slot-formed holes to provide adjustment with respect to the width and length of the attachment. The attachment is constructed from galvanised steel sheet for durability and it is noteworthy that the extension is easily assembled in a few minutes, and can be made to fit both square-cornered and round-cornered barrows by the use of alternative square or round - profile connection brackets at the corners of the attachment. The wall panels are assembled in a splayed or upwardly-diverging configuration whereby the capacity of the barrow is considerably increased (as compared with the abovementioned US patent disclosure).In the embodiment, the top edge of the attachment is reinforced to increase its rigidity and ease of handling and safety. The attachment can be easily disassembled for storage by disconnection of the bolts at opposite corners, leaving the attachment in two halves, which will fit into a corner of a shed, thus occupying little space.

In a further preferred embodiment, adapted for even less costly manufacture, the extension is designed to fit one particular size of wheelbarrow. The two ends of the attachment are generally flat in form, but are formed with flanges at each side, and the side panels of the attachment are bolted to these flanges. Slot-form connection holes are provided to ease assembly and provide some length-adjustment.

This form of the invention can be provided by a wheelbarrow manufacturer as an optional addition at the time of original purchase of the barrow.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which Fig 1 shows a perspective view of a first embodiment associated with a wheelbarrow; Fig 2 shows the embodiment of Fig 1 in side elevation; Figs 3, 5 and 7 show the front, rear and side panels of the embodiment of Fig 2; Figs 4, 6 and 8 show end elevation views of the wall panels of Figs 3, 5 and 7 respectively; and Figs 9, 10, 11 and 12 show four alternative corner connection members of rectangular and rounded forms; Fig 13 shows an exploded perspective view of a second embodiment having flat panels but formed with end brackets; Fig 14 shows a plan view of the assembled condition of an end and side panels of the embodiment of Fig 13; and Fig 15 shows an end elevation view of a side panel of Fig 13.

As shown in Figs 1 and 2, a wheelbarrow attachment 10 provides an upward extension of the load carrying container 12 of a wheelbarrow 14.

Attachment 10 comprises generally flat wall panels 16, 18, 20 and 22, which are joined at their edges by corner members 24, 24 and 26, 26.

Panels 16 to 22 are located around and outside upper edge 28 of barrow 14 and supported by inwardly pressed flanges 30 formed at the lower edges of the panels, which flanges extend over the edge and into the container of barrow 14 so as to support the attachment 10 in a size tolerant manner.

Fasteners associated with slotted openings in the corner members 24, 26 and corresponding apertures in the wall panels, enable the attachment to be either fixed to the barrow or located easily-removably thereon, according to whether the fasteners of the corner members are tightened with a tight or loose fit of the attachment 10 on the barrow 14.

Figs 4, 6 and 8 clearly show the relationship of the flanges 30 to the adjacent structure of wall panel 18, whereby a slot is defined to receive the barrow edge 28. The upper edge of each wall panel is formed with an outwardly turned flange 32 for lifting purposes.

In Figs 9 to 12, the corner members 24 and 26 are shown with right-angled (Figs 9 and 11) and rounded (Figs 10 and 12) profiles to accommodate differing forms of the upper edge 28 of barrow container 12.

In the embodiment of Figs 13 to 15, parts corresponding to those of the first embodiment are given the same reference numeral increased by 100. Thus, attachment 110 comprises panels 116, 118, 120 and 122. These are formed with flanges 130.

In place of corner members 24 and 26, the end panel members 116 and 120 are formed with end flanges 134 having apertures for fasteners, to co-operate with corresponding slotted apertures formed in the adjacent edges of panels 118 and 122.

In this embodiment, side panels 118 and 112 are provided with handles 136.

It can now be seen that the above embodiments provide a simple and easily-used and cost-effective wheelbarrow container extension. The design enables a wide variety of barrow shapes and sizes to be accommodated by virtue of the slots in the corner members and the availability of different flat wall panel sizes and by virtue of the size tolerance arising from the use of the flanges 30 or similar abutments.

Assembly and mounting on the barrow is easily accomplished.

The attachment can either be fixed in position or set so as to be easily removable. If adjustments to accommodate differing barrow sizes is not required, then the embodiment of Figs 13 to 15 represents a further simplification.

Amongst other modifications which could be made in the above embodiments, while remaining within the scope of the invention, are the use of modified abutments in place of the inwardly-pressed flanges 30. For example, welded-on flanges or equivalent abutment members could be used. As regards accommodation of differing wheelbarrow shapes and sizes, it is envisaged that two kits of parts should probably be sufficient to accommodate most available barrow sizes, bearing in mind the size accommodation facilities offered by the slots in the corner members and by the flanges 30 themselves, and indeed by the optional square or rounded corner members.

Claims (13)

1 A wheelbarrow attachment adapted to be mounted so as to provide an upward extension of the load carrying container of a wheelbarrow, said attachment comprising a) a series of wall elements adapted to be interconnected by connecting means; and b) said wall elements when assembled defining an endless open-ended structure providing said extension; characterised by c) each of said wall elements being in the form of a generally flat wall panel, and said panels thus defining, when assembled, a structure having corners at the adjacent edges of said panels; and d) said connection means being located at said corners.

2 A wheelbarrow attachment characterised by a series of generally flat wall panel elements adapted to define a structure having corners at the adjacent edges of the panels and connected by connecting means at said corners.

3 A wheelbarrow attachment adapted to be mounted so as to provide an upward extension of the load carrying container of a wheelbarrow, said attachment comprising a) a series of wall elements adapted to be interconnected by connecting means; b) said wall elements when assembled defining an endless open-ended structure providing said extension; and c) location means to locate said attachment with respect to a barrow; characterised by d) said location means comprising at least one abutment member on at least two of said wall elements to locate the wall elements on an edge of said barrow.

4 A wheelbarrow attachment to provide an upward extension of the load carrying container of a wheelbarrow characterised by locating means on at least two wall elements of the attachment, to locate on an edge of a barrow.

5 A wheelbarrow attachment according to any one of the preceding claims characterised by said wall elements defining a quadrilateral structure when assembled.

6 A wheelbarrow attachment according to claim 5 characterised by adjacent edges of said panels being profiled so that; when assembled, said wall elements converge downwardly.

7 A wheelbarrow attachment according to any one of the preceding claims characterised by location means to locate said attachment with respect to a wheelbarrow, said location means comprising at least one fixed abutment member on at least two of the wall elements of said attachment, said location means being in the form of flanges formed at the edges of said wall elements.

8 A wheelbarrow attachment according to claim 7 characterised by said flanges being formed by stamping or cutting or pressing an edge portion of a wall element of said attachment inwardly with respect to the adjacent edge of the wall element.

9 A wheelbarrow attachment according to claim 8 characterised by said flange defining with the adjacent edge of said wall element, a slot to receive the upper edge of a wheelbarrow container.

10 A wheelbarrow attachment according to any one of claims 7 to 9 characterised by said connecting means being adjustable whereby said wheelbarrow attachment can be fixed on a wheelbarrow by locating the attachment on the wheelbarrow by means of said abutment members with said connection means in an untightened condition, and then tightening said connection means.

11 A wheelbarrow attachment according to any one of the preceding claims characterised by said connecting means comprising corner angle members.

12 A wheelbarrow attachment according to claim 11 characterised by said corner angle members being formed with at least one horizontality extending slot to receive fasteners.

13 A wheelbarrow attachment substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.