US3760964A

US3760964A - Drum transporter

Info

Publication number: US3760964A
Application number: US00225768A
Authority: US
Inventors: H Trapp
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1972-02-14
Filing date: 1972-02-14
Publication date: 1973-09-25
Anticipated expiration: 1990-09-25

Abstract

Apparatus for transporting an object such as a drum or the like employs means for lifting the drum into a transporting position under a substantial mechanical advantage. A carriage is configured to partially surround the drum and the carriage is in three-point contact with the supporting surface. The two points at the side of the drum are located over center to assure that the weight of the drum will be concentrated on the carriage. A pair of upright supports on the carriage mount a pair of arms which are movable into engagement with the drum by a lever arm coupled with the arms. Without tilting the drum or moving it in any way the arms may be moved to grip the drum and then lift it off the surface on which it is disposed. A wheel located at each point of contact of the apparatus with the surface accommodates easy movement of the apparatus with the object supported thereby, over the surface.

Description

United States Patent 1191 Trapp 1451 Sept. 25, 1973 DRUM TRANSPORTER Harold D. Trapp, 915 Tulane Ave., Salina, Kans. 67401 [22] Filed: Feb. 14, 1972 [21] Appl. N0.: 225,768

[76] Inventor:

[52] US. Cl. 214/390, 214/384 Rosenzweig Koontz Primary ExaminerAlbert J. Makay Attorney-Bradley and Wharton ABSTRACT Apparatus for transporting an object such as a drum or the like employs means for lifting the drum into a transporting position under a substantial mechanical advantage. A carriage isconfigured to partially surround the drum and the carriage is in three-point contact with the supporting surface. The two points at the side of the drum are located over center to assure that the weight of the drum will be concentrated on the carriage. A pair of upright supports on the carriage mount a pair of arms which are movable into engagement with the drum by a lever arm coupled with'the arms. Without tilting the drum or moving it in any way the arms may be moved to grip the drum and then lift it off the surface on which it is disposed. A wheel located at each point of contact of the apparatus with the'surface accommodates easy movement of the apparatus with the object supported thereby, over the surface.

6 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures DRUM TRANSPORTER This invention relates to apparatus for moving barrels or the like and, more particularly, to a hand truck for moving objects without requiring the object to be tilted or otherwise moved for use of the hand truck.

Hand trucks have long been utilized for moving barrels, boxes and other objects from one location to another. A major shortcoming of previous hand trucks has been the need to tilt the object which is to be moved to allow the-supporting platform of the hand truck to slip under the object. Once this has been done, the object must again be tilted onto the hand truck to place it in a transporting position. With objects of any size or weight this tilting movement is inconvenient and time consuming. With heavier objects such as a 55 gallon drum the need to tilt the drum before it can be moved is extremely difficult and in some cases requires two persons to accomplish loading of the drum onto the hand truck. Once the drum is loaded, substantialefiort must be exerted by the person to hold the drum as it istransported on the truck. Whenthe drumis to be removed from the truck it is again" necessary to tilt the drum to allow the hand truck to be removed from-beneath it. Still another disadvantage of prior hand'trucks has been the fact thatbecause they do'not positively grip the object being moved, butinstead the object normally lies in a shallow cradle, there is always the danger that if the hand truck should'strike an uneven surface the object may become dislodged and fall fromthe hand truck.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide apparatus for transporting adrum or the like which does not require tilting of the drum for either pick-up or set-down operation; I Afurther object of the invention is' to provide apparatus for moving objects over a surface wherein the object may be set down by simply releasing the leverage handle without the need to operate any releasing mech anism or remove the apparatus from beneath the obect.

It is also an important aim of this invention to provide a hand truck for moving objects wherein the object to be moved is lifted under a substantial mechanical advantage thus requiring expenditure of a minimum amount of work to move the object.

It is also one of the objectives of my invention to provide a hand truck for moving drums or the like wherein a pair of arms positively grip the drum and hold it when it is being moved to preclude any danger of the drum becoming dislodged from the truck.

It is also an aim of this invention to provide a hand truck for moving objects wherein the object is gripped and lifted in a single continuous downward movement of a lever arm.

Another one of the aimsof this invention is to provide apparatus for moving objects such as drums or the like wherein the apparatus is easily adapted to accommodate drums of different sizes.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of the hand truck apparatus of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the apparatus of FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrating the manner in which a cylindrical drum is grasped by the lifting arms of the apparatus;

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view, similar to FIG. 1, with a drum positioned for movement by the hand truck apparatus of the invention, the drum preferably being raised slightly from the floor; and

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary detail view of the lifting arms and their associated structure.

Referring initially to FIGS. 1 and 2, the hand truck apparatus of the present invention is designated generally by the numeral 10 and includes a carriage 12 which may be of a generally semicircular configuration to complement the configuration of a cylindrical object to be moved by the apparatus. Carriage 12 is comprised of a pair of upright supports which may be formed from a pair of angle irons 14 disposed in aligned, spaced apart relationship. At the lowermost ends of each of the angle irons 14 a plate 16 extends outwardly in spaced relationship to the angle iron to define a yoke structure which mounts a wheel and axle assembly 18.

Extending between angle irons 14 in a generally semicircular configuration is a structural member comprised of upper and lower arcuate elements 20, an integral vertical brace 22 and a pair of arcuate components 24 which extend transversely from upper element 20 to lower element 20. Attached to the rear of the carriage 12 is a bracket 26 which mounts a caster wheel assembly 28 in a position lying in a plane intermediate the wheel and axle assemblies 18 and in spaced relationship'to the latter. Caster wheel assembly 28 is preferably mounted upon a threaded screw (not shown) for adjustment of the vertical height of the wheel assembly.

Referring additionally'to FIGS. 3-5, it is seen that each of the angle irons 14 has a sleeve 30 on the outside thereof for mounting a pair of gripping arms 32. Each of the arms 32 comprises a vertical segment 34 that is received within a respective sleeve 30 and a horizontal segment 36 which may be of generally arcuate configuration for complementing the configuration of an object such as a drum 38 to be moved by the apparatus. Each of the angle irons 14 has a cutawayarea 40 approximately midway along its length and a pair of flanges 42 which are integral with the angle irons 14 present a pair of camming surfaces 44 in alignment with the cutaway areas 40 and extending away from an adjacent arm. Each of the camming surfaces 44 merges into a vertically disposed cam follower surface 46 presented by one face of each of the angle irons 14. Received within each of the cutaway areas 40 is a projection 48 extending laterally from the vertical segment of each of the arms 32 to present a camming means which rides along

surfaces

44 and 46.

Each of the upright angle iron supports 14 also includes a laterally extending plate 50 for mounting a leverage structure 52. Leverage structure 52 includes a pair of elongated lever elements 54 which are interconnected at their ends distal from carriage 12 by a rigid transversely extending handlebar 56. At the ends opposite bar 56 each of the elements is rigidly secured to a pivot plate 58 which pivotally mounts the leverage structure on plates 50. A pair of linkage rods 60 coupled with each plate 58 and a respective block 48 couple lever elements 54 with arms 32.

When an object such as drum 38 is to be moved over a surface, apparatus 10 is moved into partially surrounding relationship to the drum as illustrated in FIG. 4. Because of the complemental configuration of carriage l2 angle iron supports 14 may be moved to a position slightly beyond the center of gravity of drum 38 to assure that the weight of the drum will be concentrated on apparatus 10. The three-point contact of apparatus with the supporting surface allows drum 38 to be picked up without the need to tilt or otherwise move the drum. To this end, handlebar 56 is grasped by an operator and moved from the inclined position illustrated in FIG. 1 downwardly. This raises arms 32 by virtue of linkage rods 60 coupled with the arms. As arms 32 are raised, camming means 48 moves along surface 44 to cause the arms to move into gripping engagement with the drum. Once the drum has been firmly gripped by the arms a continued downward movement of handlebar 56 by the operator will move camming means 48 along follower surface 46 to raise the drum vertically off the surface upon which it is disposed. Because of the substantial mechanical advantage obtained through leverage structure 52, very little effort is required on the part of the operator to achieve lifting of the drum. Once the drum has been lifted off the surface its weight is supported by

wheels

18 and 28 and the drum' is easily moved over the surface to another location. If it is necessary to stop movement of the drum at any point, handle 52 is raised to allow drum 38 to move, under its own weight, back onto the supporting surface. Thus the drum is essentially automatically released without the need for operating any mechanism and can be temporarily deposited at any location without the need to set a brake on hand truck apparatus 10. Manifestly, there is no need to tilt drum 38 either for loading or unloading purposes. Movement of objects such as a drum 38 is made substantially easier with apparatus 10 and the moving operation is greatly expedited because of the time savings which can be realized when the apparatus is used.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the construction of carriage 12 could easily be modified to allow the height of wheel assemblies 18 to be varied if this is desired for accommodating barrels of different sizes.

While the invention has been described with particular reference to a cylindrical drum, it will be appreciated that apparatus 10 could be modified to handle other objects of different configurations. Tothis end, the same advantages attendant to the embodiment of the invention herein described may be employed without departing from the scope of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. Apparatus for moving an object over a surface upon which the object is disposed, said apparatus comprising:

a carriage adapted to be moved into partially surrounding relationship to the object,

said carriage comprising first and second spaced apart upright supports and having three-point contact with the surface, there being wheel means disposed at the lowermost end of each of said upright supports for engagement with the surface at two of said points, each of said supports having a camming surface; first and second arms coupled with said first and second supports, respectively, each arm including camming means engageable with a corresponding camming surface on an upright support when the arm is raised whereby to move the arm into gripping engagement with the object as the camming means moves along the camming surface; and

leverage means coupled with said first and second arms for moving the latter into engagement with said object,

said leverage means operable to lift said arms with the object held therebetween off said surface whereby the weight of said object is transferred to said wheel means to permit movement of the object over the surface.

2. The invention of claim 1, wherein each of said upright supports is provided with a cutaway area, each of said surfaces being disposed in alignment with said area and extending away from the arm mounted on the sup port, said camming means comprising a tongue extending through said area into engagement with the surface.

3. The invention of claim 1, wherein each of said camming surfaces merges into a vertical cam follower surface whereby subsequent to gripping said object said arms are guided upwardly in a vertical plane by movement of the camming means over said cam follower surface.

4. The invention of claim 1, wherein said leverage means comprises a first elongated lever element pivotally mounted on one of said supports, a second elongated lever element pivotally mounted on the other of said supports, first linkage means for coupling one of said arms with said first element, second linkage means for coupling the other of said arms with said second element, and connecting means rigid with each of said elements to assuremovement of the elements in unison.

5. The invention of claim 4, wherein said carriage comprises a structural member extending between said supports in complemental configuration to the object to be moved, and including third wheel means mounted on said member at said third point of contact.

6. The invention of claim 4, wherein each of said arms is provided with an object-embracing segment of complemental configuration to the configuration of the object to be moved. i i 4

Claims

1. Apparatus for moving an object over a surface upon which the object is disposed, said apparatus comprising: a carriage adapted to be moved into partially surrounding relationship to the object, said carriage comprising first and second spaced apart upright supports and having three-point contact with the surface, there being wheel means disposed at the lowermost end of each of said upright supports for engagement with the surface at two of said points, each of said supports having a camming surface; first and second arms coupled with said first and second supports, respectively, each arm including camming means engageable with a corresponding camming surface on an upright support when the arm is raised whereby to move the arm into gripping engagement with the object as the camming means moves along the camming surface; and leverage means coupled with said first and second arms for moving the latter into engagement with said object, said leverage means operable to lift said arms with the object held therebetween off said surface whereby the weight of said object is transferred to said wheel means to permit movement of the object over the surface.

2. The invention of claim 1, wherein each of said upright supports is provided with a cutaway area, each of said surfaces being dispOsed in alignment with said area and extending away from the arm mounted on the support, said camming means comprising a tongue extending through said area into engagement with the surface.

4. The invention of claim 1, wherein said leverage means comprises a first elongated lever element pivotally mounted on one of said supports, a second elongated lever element pivotally mounted on the other of said supports, first linkage means for coupling one of said arms with said first element, second linkage means for coupling the other of said arms with said second element, and connecting means rigid with each of said elements to assure movement of the elements in unison.

6. The invention of claim 4, wherein each of said arms is provided with an object-embracing segment of complemental configuration to the configuration of the object to be moved.