US2693230A - Mobile sunshade for casting shadows - Google Patents

Description

2,693,230 MOBILE SUNSHADE FOR CASTING SHADOWS 3 Lowell Burks, Louisville, Ky. I

Application August 11, 1953, Serial No. 373,653

Claims. (Cl. 160-351) My invention relates to mobile sun shades for casting a shadow on base ball diamonds, athletic fields, and the like to protect players from the sun rays.

The primary object of my invention is to provide a shadow casting sun shade in the form of a large vane mounted for movement along a fieldand for vertical adjustment, rotation and tilting so as to cast a large shadow over selected areas of the field.

Another object is to provide a device of the character and for the purpose above specified which is adapted for easy operation by one man and is of simple construction and inexpensive to manufacture and use.

Other and subordinate objects together with the precise nature of my improvements will become readily apparent when the succeeding description and claims are read with reference to the drawings accompanying and forming part of this specification.

In said drawings:

Figure 1 is a view in side elevation, partly broken away, of my improved sun shade in the preferred embodiment thereof;

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view in vertical section partly in side elevation;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary view in horizontal section taken on the line 33 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary enlarged view in vertical section taken on the line 4-4 of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary enlarged view in vertical section taken on the line 5-5 of Figure 1, and

Figure 6 is a fragmentary view in end elevation and vertical section illustrating one use of the invention.

Referring to the drawings by numerals, my improved sun shade comprises a rectangular carriage 1 including a platform, 3 pairs of flanged end wheels 5 running on tracks 7 and a pusher structure 9 on one end of the carriage 1 for propelling the shade along the tracks 7 to selected locations.

A rectangular opaque vane 11 of suitable rigid, light strong material surmounts the carriage 1 and is mounted in an upright U-shaped T-iron yoke 13 for tilting about a horizontal axis by means of a pair of axially aligned, longitudinally slotted, horizontal shafts 15 straddling the vane 9 in its longitudinal center and bolted to said vane 11, as at 17, with their outer ends journaled in upright side arms 19 of the yoke and their inner ends spaced apart upon opposite sides of the transverse center of said vane 11.

Transverse channel, brace bars 21 on opposite sides of the vane 9 in its transverse center are bolted thereto, as at 23.

As seen in Fig. 2, the yoke 13 is supported for vertical adjustment to correspondingly adjust the vane 11 by a hollow vertical screw shaft 25 rising above the platform 3 in the center thereof and having a washer 27 on its upper end seating a depending central shank 29 on the yoke 13. Gusset plates 28 brace the yoke 13 and shank 29.

The screw shaft 25 forms part of means for vertically adjusting the yoke 13 to correspondingly adjust the vane 11, the remainder of which will now be described. An internally threaded sleeve 31 surrounds and threadedly engages the screw shaft 25 in a cylindrical upright casing 33 rising from the platform 3 in the center thereof and suitably secured at its lower end thereto, said casing 33 having its upper end extending into the bottom of an enlarged circular gear housing 35 closed by an annular cover plate 37 bolted thereto, as at 39,

2,693,230 Patented Nov. 2, 1954 The sleeve 31 is rotatably suspended at its upper end by a bevel gear 41 formed concentrically on said end and which meshes with and is supported by bevel gear pinions 43 fast on horizontal, radial stub shafts 45 journaled in the side of the housing 35 and in the upper end of the casing 33.

A hand wheel 47 on one shaft 45, outside the housing 35, is provided for rotating one of the gear pinions 43. A ball bearing unit 49 bolted, as at 51, in the casing 33 around the lower end of the sleeve 31 coacts with the gear 41 and gear pinions 43 to suspend the sleeve 31 coaxially in the casing 33. A key lug 53 projects into a longitudinal key groove 55 in the screw shaft 25 to prevent said shaft 25 from rotating, and is preferably formed on the cover plate 37..

Means are provided for rotatably adjusting the yoke 13 and vane 11 about the axis of the screw shaft 25 as follows. A hand wheel 57 at one side of the casing 33 is fast on the upper end of a vertical drive shaft 59 journaled in a shaft housing 61 rising from and suitably fixed on the platform 3. The drive shaft depends through the platform 3.

A hollow driven shaft 63 rotatably fitted in the screw shaft 25 depends out of the lower end of said shaft 25, and through a bearing 65 in the platform 3. The drive shaft 59 is operatively connected to the driven shaft below the platform 3 by a gear pinion 67 keyed, as at 69, on the lower end of said shaft 59 and meshing with a larger gear 71 pinned, as at 73, on the lower end of the driven shaft 63 below the bearing 65.

An antifriction step bearing 73 suitably mounted on the carriage 1 supports the hub 75 of the gear 71 and the lower end of said shaft 63.

The driven shaft 63 is operatively connected to the shank 29 of the yoke 13 to rotate said yoke and the vane 11 by means of a polygonal spline shaft 77 pinned, as at 79, in a socket 81 in said shank 29 and depending coaxially therefrom into a polygonal axial bore 83 in the driven shaft 63.

As seen in Figs. 1 and 5 vane 11 is tiltable about the axis of the horizontal shafts 15 by means including a hand wheel 85 on a shaft 87 journaled in a bearing yoke 89 bolted, as at 91, on the bottom of the yoke 13 and depending therefrom with said shaft 87 transverse to the yoke. The shaft 87 is operatively connected by bevel gearing 93 to a horizontal shaft 95 mounted beneath the yoke 13 in bearing brackets 9799 on said yoke and shaft 95 is operatively connected by bevel gearing 101 to a vertical shaft 103 mounted in bearing brackets 105, 107 on one of the arms 19 and also mounted in the bracket 99. Worm gearing 109, 111 on the shaft 103 and one end of one of the shafts 15 operatively connects the shaft 103 to the ,vane 11.

Referring now to the use and operation of the invention, by operation of the hand wheel 47 the sleeve 31 may be rotated through the driven gear pinion 43 and bevel gear 41 to feed the screw shaft upwardly or downwardly for vertically adjusting the yoke 13 and vane 11. By operation of the hand wheel 57 the driven shaft 63 may be rotated through the gear pinion 67 and gear 71 to rotate the yoke 13 and vane about a vertical axis as will be clear. By operation of the hand wheel 85 the shaft 95 may be rotated through the bevel gearing 93 to impart rotation to the shaft 103 through the bevel gearing 101 so that the worm gearing 109, 111 will rock the shaft 15 to which it is connected and thereby tilt the vane vertically as desired.

The sun shade is preferably mounted on a high elevation at the edge of a field 13, for instance on a grandstand 115 and propelled along the tracks 7 into a desired location by a conventional crank operated drive 117 geared as at 119 to one of the wheels 5. When in location the vane 11 may be vertically adjusted, rotatably adjusted or tilted in the manner described so as to cast a shadow as indicated in Figure 6 on the field 113 to shade a selected area for the benefit of a player or players on the field or for other purposes.

The foregoing will it is believed suffice to impart a clear understanding of my invention without further explanation.

Manifestly the invention as described is susceptible of modification without departing from the inventive concept and right is herein reserved to such modifications as fall within the scope of the invention as herein disclosed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. A portable sun shade for casting a shadow comprising a mobile carriage, a vertical yoke, a vane pivotally mounted in said yoke on a horizontal axis for vertical tilting adjustment, a vertically acting screw feed means on said carriage for adjusting said yoke vertically to correspondingly adjust said vane, and manually operative means on said yoke operatively connected to said vane for tiltably adjusting the vane.

2. A portable sun shade according to claim 1, said screw feed means comprising a vertical screw shaft on which said yoke is seated, a driving sleeve for said shaft threadly connected thereto, a plurality of gears rotatably suspending said sleeve, and manual means for driving one of said gears to rotate said sleeve.

3. A portable sun shade according to claim 2, said yoke being rotatable on said screw shaft, a hand wheel on said carriage, and means operatively connecting said hand wheel to said yoke to rotate the yoke in difierent vertically adjusted positions ofsaid vane.

4. A portable sun shade according to claim 1. said yoke being rotatable relative to said screw feed means, a hand wheel on said carriage, and means operatively connecting said hand wheel to, said yoke to rotate said yoke in different vertically adjusted positions of said vane.

5. A portable sun shade according to claim 1, said screw feed means comprising a hollow vertical screw shaft, on which said yoke is rotatably seated, a hand wheel on said carriage, and means operatively connecting said wheel to said yoke for rotating the yoke comprising a rotary hollow shaft in said screw shaft, and a shaft splined in said last named rotary shaft and vertically slidable thereon and rotatable thereby, and operatively connected to said yoke.

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